He looks at me. Really looks. “Because you’re special. And when they meet you, they’ll know it too, just like Levi did.”
I swallow. And swallow again. Je-sus. When Adam Cade charms, he does it in a spectacular fashion.
The warm press of his hand on my lower back, the intense look in his eyes, and his words—all from a man who wears a sarcastic expression like it’s his second skin. Except he hasn’t worn that look around me in weeks. In fact, I don’t remember seeing anything on his face lately except humor and affection. Which has my head swimming.
He stops in front of his brothers, all of whom are smiling and discreetly checking me out, some more so than others. “Hayden, I’d like you to meet Wes, Bran, and Hunter,” Adam says.
We exchange greetings and Hunter flashes me a mischievous grin. “Do I get to dance with the charming Hayden?”
“No,” Adam responds automatically. The others laugh, but the air grows thick.
My face warms and Adam shakes his head. “Ignore him. He has no shame.”
Hunter downs his drink. “Well, Hayden, when you get tired of the cheap imitation, you know where to find the real Cade.”
I glance at Adam. “Is it a family tradition to steal each other’s dates?” I’m kidding. But the glare Adam shoots Hunter has me wondering.
“Don’t mind them.” Adam pulls me close. “They wish they had a date as beautiful and intelligent as you. Jealous—the lot of them.”
Wes raises his glass. “Truer words were never said.”
“There you all are.” Adam and I spin around at the voice from behind. An older man approaches, his rich, slightly cultured baritone much like Adam’s. He glances past us. “Where’s your brother?”
“Levi’s at the bar,” Adam says. “His leg…”
“Right.” The man nods. “Well, at least the four of you are together.”
Wes and Bran exchange an awkward glance.
“Father,” Adam says. “This is Hayden. Hayden, meet my father, Ethan Cade.”
Adam’s dad studies me like I’m an insect. “And how do you know each other?”
Wow, not exactly a warm welcome.
“Through work,” Adam answers, his voice laced with anger. “But Hayden is also my girlfriend.”
I squeeze his hand involuntarily and shoot him a nervous glance. What’s he talking about?
“Girlfriend?” his father says. “This is a first.”
My brows pinch together. What is it with firsts tonight? Adam has had girlfriends. I’ve heard about his past relationships. Well, little bits, anyway. He didn’t seem like much of a boyfriend, according to Mira and Cali. But the Adam they described isn’t the man I’ve come to know.
“Hayden, do you mind if I steal Adam for a moment?” his father says. “I’d like to speak with my sons.”
“No,” Adam says before I can answer. He takes a sip of his drink, his hand in his pocket, though his jaw is tense. “I brought Hayden as my date. I’m not leaving her.”
Adam’s brothers look between Adam and their father, then at me.
“It’s only for a moment,” his father says. “And then you can have your…girlfriend back.”
Adam stretches his neck, and I sense Wes inch between Adam and Mr. Cade. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Excuse me?” His father’s tone is filled with warning.
“Hey now,” Bran says. “Can’t have you two sparring. You’re the only ones who get along.” He smiles, but the gesture is strained.
Ethan Cade sucks in a deep breath. His eyes flicker for a moment. “I didn’t ask you here to argue.”
“Adam,” I interrupt, “I’ll be at the bar.” I give his hand a quick squeeze and hurry away. When I glance back, Adam is frowning and watching me leave, his brother Wes’s hand on his shoulder. I smile back and keep walking. Because something serious is going down, and I get the sense Adam needs time with his family, even if he doesn’t believe it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Adam
“You didn’t say anything about private meetings,” I growl at my father. “I brought Hayden tonight. I won’t treat her the way you do the people in your life. She deserves my attention.”
My father’s face turns red and his shoulders square. “She seems like a big girl. I’m sure she can handle herself.”
“That’s not the point. It’s rude, and I don’t like it.”
His eyes narrow. “Since when did you care about treating your girlfriends with such courtesy?”
I run stiff fingers through my hair and glance at my brothers, who don’t seem the least bit inclined to help me out. “I’ve always treated them with courtesy.”
“Perhaps, but not warmth.”
And doesn’t that rankle. The Ice King himself has called me out.
“I’m only going to say this once,” I tell him. “That girl over there deserves all of your respect.” I glance at my father and each of my brothers individually.
My brothers and I have always given each other shit, but tonight their flirting pissed me off more than usual.
I direct my next comment to my father. “If you wish to spend time with me, you had better include her.” I don’t know where I’m going with this, or why I called Hayden my girlfriend in front of my entire family, but it feels right. It’s how I see her. And—fucking hell—not even since we kissed. Hayden’s been special to me for a long time.
It’s why I haven’t been with anyone else.
Why I’m protective of her.
I shake my head and stare down, rubbing my temples. I’m in deep. Deeper than I’ve ever been.
“All right, Adam. I see you’ve grown wings since you started working at Blue.” My father’s tone is condescending, but I’m used to that coming from him, so I ignore it.
Hunt yawns, clearly bored now that the fireworks between our father and me are over. “Why are we here?” he says. “You know we don’t like coming.”
My father looks around, his gaze suddenly uncertain. “I thought it would be nice for us to get together.”
My brothers are silent, staring at a man who’s clearly lost his mind.
Bran speaks first. “We get together.” The unspoken meaning—we get together, just not with the man who sired us.
“I see,” my father says. “I’d hoped to smooth things over and spend more time together as a family.”
Every one of my brothers glares at the brother next to him, assuming the same thing I have. Who put it in the old man’s head that we wanted to spend time with Daddy?
“Why?” Levi says.
My father turns, noticing Levi, who walked up once Hayden moved to the bar. “Because we are a family, and we are all we have.”
Too stunned to say anything, I don’t.
Levi downs his drink. “Speak for yourself. You should have thought about that before you made this place your priority.” He spins around and storms off as best he can in a walking cast, and exits the party that’s supposed to be the thirty-year anniversary of Club Tahoe. Not that any of us cares.
“I’ve got to be somewhere.” Bran looks to Wes, who reads his silent offer of escape.
“I’ll walk you out,” Wes says.
“I see someone at the bar I’ll be knowing by the end of the night.” Hunt starts off, but I grab his shoulder, halting him. He looks back. “Not your Hayden,” he barks. “I’m not as bad as you all make me out to be.” He yanks his shoulder from my grasp and beelines for the bar, flagging the bartender.
My father raises his eyebrow, but says nothing. He stares off at my brothers as they leave, or take up residence at the bar in Hunt’s case, his expression one of regret and longing. And I’m left standing with him. The way it’s always been. Except this time, I don’t want to be here either.
I glance at Hayden. She’s sitting prettily at the bar, peering around the room. “Are we finished?”
My father sighs and suddenly looks ten years older than his fifty-eight. “Not quite. I’d hoped to mend
the riff that exists between your brothers and myself. I’m the cause, but I don’t know how to fix it.”
“You’re asking me for advice?” I say, stunned.
“Yes.”
I shake my head. “Well, for starters, you could explain to them what you just told me. Let them know you care and that you’re trying, instead of ordering us to a party and expecting us to spend happy time together after years of fighting.”
He smiles, a sharp, quick twitch of his lips. “We have fought, your brothers and I. You were always the sensitive one. Until…”
He doesn’t finish the thought, and I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. I’m the most unfeeling of the group, which is why I can put up with this man. Because I tune out his shit.
“I was never good with people outside of business,” he says. “Except with your mother. In any case, I don’t know how to mend what I’ve broken. You’re the only one left.”
I glance at Hayden again, and catch sight of a vulture in a three-piece suit preparing to descend. “It didn’t go well tonight, but you’ve got a lifetime to mend things. Next time, don’t try so hard. It comes across as overbearing, and you know how much my brothers love to be ordered around.”
My father looks down and chuckles. “About as much as I do.”
“Dad, I’ve got to get back to my date. Are we finished here?”
He lifts his head. For the first time in—ever—there’s a soft expression on his face. “Your girlfriend?”
I nod. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but the most efficient way to explain what she means to me. I didn’t miss her questioning look, though. I’m fully prepared to pay for that slip later.
“Before you go,” he says, “I need to tell you something.”
I glance at the bar. Mr. Three-Piece is only one person away from Hayden now, and he’s staring at her, trying to get her attention. “Can it wait?”
“No. I think you should hear it, especially because of Hayden.”
I sense my blood pressure rising. “Don’t say one disparaging remark about her. She is better than you, me, and every person in this town—”
He holds up a hand. “That’s not what I wanted to say.” He gestures to the window overlooking the lake. “It’s quieter over there. Do you mind?”
I reluctantly follow him to the window.
“Your mother was an amazing woman,” he says after a moment of staring out at the lake.
My frustration grows. How long is this going to take? I should have cut out when my brothers did.
“The four of you—before Hunter came along—damn near drove her mad, but she loved you more than anything in this world.”
I stare at the side of my father’s face. It’s difficult to hear about my mother, but I’m listening because I know this conversation will end sooner if I do. And because my father never talks about her.
“She wouldn’t have changed anything, except to be there for you as you grew up. That was the one thing she couldn’t come to peace with during those last few months. That she wouldn’t be able to take care of you.” My father’s voice breaks, and my eyes grow wide.
I’ve never seen him cry. Not even after my mother died.
“I tried to reassure her that I would provide,” he says, having cleared his throat. “But nothing I said comforted her. The only thing—” My father’s throat bobs and he coughs into his fist. “The only thing that comforted her was you.”
“What are you talking about?”
His gaze turns to me. And it’s sincere. “I would find you lying next to her in her bed once the nurses had finished making her comfortable. She was fading, but she’d have a smile on her face as you kissed her forehead and petted her hair.”
I let out a shaky breath. Holy shit. I knew none of this. I have no memories of my mother while she was ill, only flashes of her when she was healthy. And I remember the deep love. So fucking deep. I loved that woman more than I’ve loved anyone in my life.
I look up and blink back the burn, my chest tight. Why is he bringing this up now?
When I glance back, my father is staring at me. “Your mother loved all of you boys, but you had a special bond with her. I’m not sure how much you remember. You were five, six? But I wanted you to know how much you meant to her. It’s okay to love a woman, Adam—”
“Whoa.” I step back and shove my hands in my pockets. “That’s enough. We don’t need to go there.”
“But we do.” He glances at the bar. “I watched the walls build around you after your mother died. You didn’t think I noticed those things. None of you did. But my weakness is with communication, not observation. The communication breakdown in this family is something I’ve never known how to overcome.”
He peers at Hayden waiting. “You care for this girl?”
“I already said I do.”
“Then don’t allow the loss of your mother to prevent you from letting another woman in. Trust me. I speak from a lifetime of experience.”
I stare at my father, thinking he really has lost his mind, but he’s looking at me with such caring and understanding, I can’t look away.
I shake my head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately. I appreciate you sharing things about Mom. But yeah, I’m just not used to talking about my feelings with you.” Or anyone.
“Fair enough,” he says. “But I wanted to make sure the words were said.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hayden
“Are you okay?” Adam barely said two words when he returned to the bar and told me we were leaving. He looked upset, and I didn’t ask questions. But I’m asking now.
“I’m fine.” He pulls down Club Tahoe’s long, winding drive on the way to the main highway. “Do you mind if we go to your place?”
“Of course not. But if you’re planning on blowing out some walls in your frustration, maybe we should go to your place. I don’t have many left after your work on the closet, and the ones I do have I want to keep.”
He shoots me a quick smile. “I thought we could grab a bite and bring it back. Hang out.”
“I’d like that.”
He reaches over and holds my hand. Who knew Adam was such a touchy-feely guy?
On our way to my place, we swing by a taco joint. In cocktail wear. And it’s interesting. And also the most natural thing in the world.
“Two chicken burritos.” Adam glances at me. “Hot sauce?” I shake my head. “Hot sauce on one, and please label it.”
“And a churro,” I tell him, poking him in the rib to make sure he gets it. I’m starving. And a little buzzed after that second glass of wine I downed without food while waiting for Adam to finish talking to his dad.
“Two churros,” he tells the guy.
Adam pays for our meal, and we stand off to the side, people-watching and eating churros while we wait for the rest of our order. He grabs paper napkins and hands me one, then dusts off sugar from his mouth. People come in and out of the two-table taco joint, staring blatantly, but I don’t mind. Waiting inside the taco place eating churros with Adam is the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Come to think of it, spending any time with Adam is the most fun I’ve had in forever, even when he was antagonizing me and driving me crazy at work. I just didn’t realize it then.
“Sooo, girlfriend?” I say, once we’ve finished our churros. There is no way I’m letting the comment he made to his father slide.
He raises an eyebrow, challenging me.
This is how he’s going to play it? He’s not even going to discuss it? “I take it you will be forgoing all women henceforth.” I’m joking, but seriously, if he thinks he can call me his girlfriend and go around hooking up, he is crazy. I’d rather keep things casual with dates than label us before there’s a commitment.
Adam walks across the room and fills small paper cups with water from the dispenser. He hands me one. “I haven’t been on a date in almost a year,” he says.
My eyes widen. “A formal date. But
other types of…intimate relations?” My face heats. I sound like a politician. “You know what I mean.”
“Nope.” He finishes the water, crushes the cup, and tosses the crumpled paper at the garbage, making a perfect basket. “None of that for a long time either.”
“Really?”
“Really. You?”
“I’ve been busy.”
He wraps his arm around me, grabs my hip, and pulls me close. “Busy doing what?” There’s an edge to his tone.
I laugh nervously. “Not that kind of busy. Busy with work.”
He leans in and brushes his lips over my ear. “So you’re not seeing anyone? Besides me, that is.”
I lean back and stare at him. I remember our conversation at Nessa and Zach’s about my dating status. He tried to fish it out of me then, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Particularly since the truth wasn’t very exciting. But now I don’t mind him knowing. In fact, it makes sense, given all the kissing business that almost led to other business.
“No boyfriends,” I say. “Can’t remember the last date I went on, though I don’t think it was as far back as a year. Maybe six months.”
He stares at the floor a moment, as though gathering his thoughts. “I called you my girlfriend because nothing else fits.” He looks up. “You’re more than a friend or a coworker. More special than just about anyone. It seems fast, but not when you figure I’ve been…thinking about you since I started working at Blue. And probably subconsciously since I was sixteen and talked Jaeg into breaking up with you so I wouldn’t have to watch you with another guy. It’s been a long time coming.”
“You know, you’re kind of a shitty friend,” I say, humor in my voice. “I can’t believe you sabotaged your best friend’s love life for your own nefarious purposes.”
He leans over and kisses my neck, tickling the skin with his warm breath and causing me to squirm beside him. “If he’d liked you the way he should have, he wouldn’t have fallen for it. I did you a favor. And Jaeg too, because he found Cali.”
Cocky Prince Page 18