Daring Wes: Cade Brothers Series

by Jules Barnard

  Bran rubbed his forehead. “That isn’t how it works—not that I’m an expert. You can’t beat yourself up over something you couldn’t control.”

  Wes looked over. “Have you stopped beating yourself up? You’ve changed since high school, yet you barely glance at women.”

  Bran pulled his cap back on, his posture stiff. “This isn’t about me. You have Kaylee back. If you want her.”

  Wes chuckled darkly. “You ever wonder why I never commit to women?”

  “Because you’re a player?”

  He gave Bran a hard look. “Because I was so pissed at Kaylee for leaving me, I punished every woman that came after her. Wouldn’t let them in, and I made damn sure they knew where they stood. I blamed Kaylee for everything, and it was never her fault. This whole time, it was me. I was the problem.”

  Bran rolled his eyes. “Okay, I’m only going to say this once, because I hate to inflate your ego. You’re a good man, Wes. A gentleman. You never committed to women after Kaylee, but I’ve never seen you be unkind. If you hurt Kaylee, it was unintentional. And given that you’re just finding out about this baby, she holds some blame in how things worked out.”

  “No she doesn’t. She went through it alone. And then she found out that she couldn’t have children. I’m responsible for that.” Wes dropped his head into his hands, elbows on his thigh.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Keep Levi at bay. Tell him I’ve got things under control.” He lifted his head. “Every vendor I’ve spoken to has jumped through hoops to get me what I needed for this event. No one wants to be left out of something this lucrative.”

  Bran nodded. “Same here. I’ve got enough outdoor food vendors lined up to feed a small village… All right, I’ll tell Levi I’ve spoken to you. I don’t suppose you want to tell him about Kaylee and the baby?”

  “Fuck no. But I’ll let Kaylee know I’ve told you. Sorry to unload. You caught me at the wrong time.”

  Bran slapped him on the shoulder. “Always here for you.”

  Wes and his brothers might have raised themselves and been independent, but they had each other’s backs. They argued and fought, but were there when Wes needed them.

  He stood and scanned the dark. Dumbass. Now he had to go find his favorite club, which he’d pitched into the night. “What time is it?”

  “One. Go home and get some sleep. You sure you’re going to be okay?”

  No. “Yeah.”

  “I prefer Levi’s couch if I’m going to crash at one of your places,” Bran said, “but I’ll sleep on yours if you need someone around.”

  “I’m fine. But—have you seen Kaylee today? Does she seem okay?”

  “I saw her on the beach with her crew of kids. She’s good with them.”

  Of course she was. She should have been a mother… Wes’s throat locked up. “Okay then.” He turned on his cell phone flashlight and headed into the dark for his club.

  “Wes. Call me if you need anything. And consider talking to Kaylee. I’m going to take a wild guess and assume you haven’t shared how torn up you are about the baby or what she went through.”

  Wes shot him a look over his shoulder. “What do you think?”

  “Exactly. So maybe you should. It might make her feel better, and it might do you some good too.”

  “Nothing good can come from what I did to that girl.”

  “She’s not a girl anymore,” Bran called. “And she might appreciate a man humbling himself. Especially one who still loves her.”

  Wes nearly stumbled. The last place he wanted to delve was into his feelings for Kaylee. And how her leaving him had nothing to do with her not loving him and everything to do with Wes not being there for her.

  If not for him, they might still be together. And that was something that stripped him raw. Because if he was honest with himself, he’d never gotten over Kaylee.

  Chapter 17

  Kaylee watched as the kids built sandcastles under Hunt’s instruction. Instructor should be used loosely here, given Hunt was only marginally more mature than the children.

  “No sand fights!” she called, shaking her head.

  Hunt looked up from across the beach and raised his hands in confusion. But Kaylee had just seen him nail a kid in the back with a sand ball.

  “It’s no use.”

  Kaylee glanced behind her and saw Emily walking precariously across the beach in her heels, mouth twisted as she stared at Hunt.

  Emily made it to Kaylee’s side and squinted at the sandcastle melee. “He’s like a larger version of them.” She tipped her head to the side. “If you aren’t looking directly, you might even mistake him for one. But he does make sure they’re safe.”

  “That’s true,” Kaylee said, also staring at the “sandcastle building.” Which was, essentially, about two hundred dollars of equipment, sand, and a whole lot of inexperienced builders digging and dumping sand everywhere. “He’s fierce with his whistle when the kids get too close to the water. He’s kind of paranoid about it, actually.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” Emily said. “Hunt insisted on two lifeguards for the beach. It’s overkill, but Levi relented because it makes the beach safer.”

  Kaylee glanced at the lifeguards on duty and snorted. “I’m going to assume Hunt chose them?”

  Emily stared in utter seriousness. “Obviously.”

  The lifeguards Hunt hired were great at their job, even Kaylee could tell that much. And she wasn’t a big swimmer. But Hunt chose female lifeguards, one blonde and one brunette. Both had slim figures and large breasts, and their faces and long hair were naturally beautiful. Neither of the girls could be a day over nineteen, and they were incredibly toned. Okay, they had perfect bodies.

  Kaylee wasn’t overweight, but she was a normal woman. She had dimples on the backs of her thighs. If these lifeguards had even a single dimple of cellulite on their flawless athletic figures, Kaylee would swallow a handful of sand. They were smooth-skinned and waxed to perfection.

  Kaylee nudged Emily playfully. “You think he had them show up in their swimsuits before he hired them?”

  Emily snorted. “Without a doubt. I mean, come on, Hunt Cade passing up the chance to see women nearly naked?”

  They laughed, and it felt good. Ever since Kaylee told Wes about the miscarriage a few days ago, she felt like she’d lost something. She thought there wasn’t anything left to lose. Not after she found herself starting her life over from scratch. Twice. But watching Wes walk out the door after she’d told him the truth, she realized she was wrong.

  Whether she’d acknowledged it or not, she and Wes had started to form a friendship again. And she hadn’t realized how much that meant to her. Now she worried she’d severed anything that could have existed between them.

  “He couldn’t even get in trouble for sexual harassment,” Emily said, still talking about Hunt. “He made a swim and rescue test as part of the job requirements. Everyone who applied—male or female—had to show up in their bathing suits.”

  Kaylee nodded sagely. “He is wily in his attempt to secure beautiful women for his inner sanctum.”

  Emily grinned, and then her eyes flashed to the side. She ducked a split second before a sand ball hit Kaylee in the back of the head, flinging her hair forward, along with sand into her face. “What the…”

  Kaylee turned to find Hunt fist-bumping with Bella. “I saw that!” she shouted.

  Hunt tossed something plastic over his shoulder. Likely the plastic snowball builder she’d bought for the kids.

  Kaylee dusted off her face and shook out her hair.

  “I’m sorry,” Emily said, chuckling. “I saw it coming, and my first instinct was to duck and cover.”

  “Wise. I should have never bought those snowball things Hunt insisted he needed for this project. But he always comes up with fun things for the kids to do, which is why I put up with stuff like sand in my hair.”

  Emily bit her lip. “So things are goin
g well? You’re happy here?” She sounded anxious.

  Despite Kaylee’s reasons for coming to Lake Tahoe, and the fallout after those plans had imploded, she was happy she’d chosen to stay. No matter how things ended with Wes, this was the first time in years she felt like she could breathe. A part of that was finally telling Wes the truth, no matter the outcome. The other part was working at Club Tahoe. The guys might fumble here and there as they tried to run the resort, but they’d brought something magical to the place, an energy that touched everyone who came here.

  “I enjoy my job at Club Kids. It’s not social services, but I still feel like I’m doing something special. No matter what’s going on in these kids’ lives, they can put that aside and come here, where it’s safe to explore who they are and the world around them.”

  Bella peeled off from the group and worked her way over. She’d been around most of the summer, and Kaylee loved having her at Club Kids on a regular basis. Wes had taken her in and trained her at golf, but Bella seemed even more confident since Club Kids started.

  Emily let out a breath. “I’m so glad to hear that you’re happy with us.” She beamed as she handed over a slip of paper. “This is an extra paycheck. I had finance draw it up instead of a direct deposit into your account. I wanted to give you the good news in person.”

  “Good news?” Kaylee accepted the slip of paper, watching Emily.

  “The children’s program has grown twofold since we started, and you’ve been instrumental in keeping it running efficiently and, more importantly, in helping the program flourish. The parents love you, the kids love you, and I love you. So we’ve given you a raise.” She gave Kaylee a hug. “Never leave us.”

  Kaylee laughed. She might have even cried if she weren’t in front of the children. Emily had no idea how much this program, and Levi and Emily’s kindness, had given her since she moved to Lake Tahoe. “I don’t plan to leave.”

  “Well, just in case you get other ideas, this raise should entice you to stay.”

  Kaylee finally looked at the check. “Wow. Emily, you didn’t have to do that. But it does help knowing I can pay my bills if I need to move out of my parents’ place. Thank you so much.”

  “The pleasure is all mine.” Emily glanced up. “Looks like your kids need you. I’ll leave you to your sand ball—I mean sandcastle project.”

  “Coward!” Kaylee called as Emily hurried away seconds before Bella reached her.

  Bella flung her small, sandy arms around Kaylee’s waist, giggling.

  “What are you laughing about? I saw how you goaded Hunt with that sand ball. And since when is it okay to throw sand?” She pretended to spit out a granule, causing more giggles to erupt from Bella.

  “It was Hunt’s idea.”

  Kaylee narrowed her eyes in Hunt’s direction. “I’m not surprised. In any case, no more throwing sand. We don’t want the kids to get it in their eyes.”

  Bella peered past Kaylee and her arms loosened. “Wes!” she screamed, and ran off.

  Wes was crossing the beach, one hand tucked in his golf khakis, a serious expression fixed on his face. His gaze flickered to Bella and softened as the little girl bounded near him.

  Kaylee’s stomach clenched and her heart raced. Telling Wes about the pregnancy—and her inability to have children because of it—hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. She’d surprised him with the truth; she got that. Even if he’d comforted her for a moment, he’d done the one thing she’d always feared: walked out. And she hadn’t heard from him since.

  Bella leapt at Wes, and he gave her a quick squeeze. He was a tall guy, well over six feet. And Bella was tiny. Wes always knelt when he spoke to Bella, like he was doing now.

  He said something low in her ear and handed her an envelope. Bella nodded excitedly.

  “How’s Club Kids going?” he asked loud enough that Kaylee could hear.

  “Great!” Bella said. “Hunt just nailed Kaylee in the head with a sand ball.”

  Wes’s mouth twisted. “Is that so? Guess I need to teach Hunt a few lessons in sand balling after work.” He looked at Kaylee. “You okay?”

  “Nothing like chewing on sand grains for the rest of the day.”

  “I’ll talk to Hunt.”

  She shook it off. “No, really, I’m fine. It was all in good fun. The kids love Hunt.”

  Wes stood and rested his hand on Bella’s small shoulder. “That’s because they recognize their own kind.”

  Kaylee smiled. “Emily and I were just discussing that.”

  The corner of Wes’s mouth didn’t so much as turn up as it softened. And that small gesture was a relief. She needed to know they were okay.

  He looked down at Bella. “Well? What do you think?”

  She held up the envelope he’d given her. “Look, Kaylee. Wes says I can go to the big golf tournament with my parents.”

  “That’s wonderful, Bella. I’ll be there too, and I’ll make sure to look for you.”

  Bella ran back to the group, waving her hands and the envelope. She talked animatedly with the other children, likely sharing the news.

  Kaylee was watching the kids, but she sensed Wes move to her side.

  The skin along the side of her body sensitized—as though happily anticipating an accidental touch or brush of his arm.

  She’d hoped that telling Wes about the pregnancy and why she’d left would create closure for them. But nothing was closed. And the tension between them hadn’t entirely gone away.

  Between her body anticipating Wes’s touch and her anger with him for leaving her the other day, it was damn confusing—this mix of attraction and displeasure.

  He nodded at Bella. “I’m giving a few star pupils passes to the tournament. I wanted Bella to be there, so she can see where she’ll be someday.”

  “What if she decides to take up piano?”

  He gave her a look. “Are you really going there again?”

  She held back a smile. “It’s possible.”

  A low growl rumbled from his chest. “No matter what she ends up doing…I support her,” he said reluctantly, and she couldn’t help laughing.

  “You have a one-track mind, Wes Cade.”

  His face fell. She hadn’t realized he was smiling with her until that moment. That the tension had eased for a second, until it was back.

  His eyes flickered away. “I’m sorry, Kaylee. For being so focused on golf in college I forgot about everything else.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, taking her by surprise. “Sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

  She stared at their hands together, then back at his eyes, lighter in the sun. A royal blue and not the dark, cryptic navy swirls they were the other night.

  She nodded, throat tight. This was the conversation she’d wanted to have with him. The mutual sharing of loss she’d not been able to express years ago. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything when it happened. The depression… It took hold and I couldn’t see my way out of it. I lost direction.”

  He looked over her head toward the lake. “That’s my fault. I didn’t make it easy for you.” His gaze dropped to hers. “But you can talk to me about anything from now on, okay?”

  He was taking the blame, but it wasn’t entirely his fault. She’d been an emotional wreck, and part of that was simply from a profound loss he couldn’t have controlled.

  She studied his handsome face, dark hair tumbling over his brow, those eyes so sincere. The way they used to be. Back when they’d first fallen in love...

  Were they finally moving on? Finally putting the past behind them? He hadn’t let go of her hand. And she really, really liked the way his hand felt wrapped around hers—warm and strong.

  And then he did let go. “I better get back.” He shifted his weight and hesitated. “One more thing. Adam and Hayden are going to invite you to the wedding. I wanted to give you a heads-up. Don’t feel like you have to go or anything. If it’s difficult or…”

  She smiled. “It’s fine. I’m not down on marria
ge. I should have ended my relationship with Eddy years ago, but hindsight is always clearer.”

  His gaze met hers and held. And damn those sensitized nerve endings. The cool, tingly sensation was all over the place this time—from the hair follicles on the top of her sandy head to the bottom of her exposed legs.

  Her heart kicked up a notch, face warming, and she looked toward the kids.

  Bella jumped on Hunt’s back, and Kaylee smiled. That girl loved her some Cade men. Not that Kaylee could blame her. What wasn’t to love? “There’s always room for love and new dreams. I’ll have that again someday.”

  “You will.” He squeezed her arm and walked off.

  Kaylee’s stomach stopped swooning from that one touch, and she took a deep breath. Wes was Wes—he’d always make her head foggy. It didn’t mean anything.

  He’d had time to cool down and they were on good terms again, and that was all that mattered. After she’d emerged from her depression, making things right with him needed to happen. And now she finally had.

  Chapter 18

  Wes smirked as Levi tugged at the collar of the shirt beneath his tux.

  “Hate these things,” Levi grumbled.

  Wes grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “Really?” he said. “With all the times you’ve had to wear them lately, I thought you’d grown used to them.”

  Being the protector in the family wasn’t the only reason Levi had originally chosen to become a firefighter. He was a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy. Being a firefighter suited his casual look. A nice flannel was about as flashy as Levi used to get. But all that changed once he became CEO of Club Tahoe.

  Levi had stepped up his game in the clothing department. The results were hysterical. Oh, he looked as good as any of them in a suit, but Levi hated it. He bitched, he moaned—it was hilarious to watch.

  Missing the sarcasm in Wes’s tone, Levi said, “Still not used to them…but Emily likes me dressed up.” A hint of bashfulness crossed Levi’s face.

  “So the velvet hammer is working her magic on you?”

  “Shut it,” Adam snapped from beside them. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “All of you.” He included everyone in that statement, even Hunt and Bran, who’d remained silent thus far.