by Leanne Banks
Jasmine swatted at her with the towel, but Abby successfully dodged her sister. “I gotta run. Hope you guys win your bets this time.”
“Fat chance,” Jordyn said with a mock scowl. “Brody almost always manages to win.”
Abby headed for her bedroom to gather her laptop and books. Just as she turned around, Laila appeared in the doorway. “Lovesick?”
Abby’s stomach sank. She really didn’t want to have this discussion. “Not me,” Abby said. “I don’t have time to be lovesick.”
“But Jazzy had a point. You look like you’ve lost weight and you have circles under your eyes,” Laila said. “I can’t help thinking Cade is responsible.”
“Cade is not responsible. You know I have a crazy schedule,” Abby told her, grabbing her coat from the back of her chair, mentally scolding herself for almost forgetting it. She needed to get her head together. She was far too distracted.
“I also know you’re crazy for Cade,” Laila said.
“So what if I am?” Abby tossed back at her sister. “You don’t quiz Jazzy about all her boyfriends. Why me?”
Laila hesitated. “Because you’re different,” she said. “Your heart is softer. I’m afraid you could really get hurt.”
Her sister’s concerns slid past her defenses and Abby fought the sting of tears in her eyes. She dumped her stuff on the desk and wrapped her arms around Laila in a hug. “I’m lucky to have a sister who cares so much about me, but you can’t stop this. You can’t keep me from getting hurt. This isn’t the same as when I was learning to ride a bike and I scraped my knees. I can’t turn away from the most amazing man in the world.”
Laila groaned. “Oh, no. You really do have it bad.”
Abby pulled back and forced a tiny laugh from the back of her tight throat. “Well, it’s about time, isn’t it?” she asked. “However it turns out, I’ll survive. I’ve got the backbone of a Cates.”
Laila sighed. “That’s true. I just hate—”
“Stop,” Abby said. “Be happy for me. When I’m with Cade, I’m happier than I ever dreamed possible.”
Laila gave a slow nod. “But if you need anything from a hug to a place to stay for the night, you let me know.”
“I will. Thanks,” Abby said. “Now, I’ve really got to go.”
“And don’t forget to eat,” Laila yelled as Abby flew out the door.
That night at the library, Abby typed notes on her laptop for two more papers with a deadline before Thanksgiving. She took a sip from a bottle of water as she scanned one of her research books for more facts pertinent to her topic. She’d been so distracted by her time with Cade that she’d slipped up and forgotten about these papers. Plus she’d checked on Katrina today just before her mother showed up for a parental visit. That situation was looking up since Katrina’s mother had kicked her boyfriend out of her house and life.
She scratched a note on her notebook and decided to look for another reference. Glancing at the time on her cell phone, she winced. The library closed at midnight and it was already ten-thirty. She searched for a couple more titles that looked promising and headed back to the section that held those books. “Not that, not that, not that,” she murmured then found one of her books. “There you are.”
“Exactly. There you are,” a male voice said from behind her.
Abby swung around to find Daniel standing just a few feet away from her. “Oh, you startled me.”
“Gotta keep a girl like you off balance to keep you interested.”
Except, she had never been interested, she thought, irritated, as she turned back to the bookshelf. “I really can’t chat tonight, Daniel. I’ve got to find one more book to make some notes.”
“You’re always busy, Abby. You need to take a break. You know what they say. All work and no play is bad for your health.”
“My health is fine. It will be a lot better when I get through this semester,” she muttered as she surveyed the shelves.
Daniel stepped between her and the shelves she was searching. “C’mon, Abby. I’ve been chasing you for weeks. What’s it take to get your attention?”
She noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath and her irritation intensified. “Daniel, I told you I don’t have time for this tonight. I don’t have time for this at all. I’m not interested in you,” she said bluntly. Surely that would make him leave.
“Why not?” he asked, moving toward her, so that she backed against the opposite shelf. “Your friends tell me you need to get out more. You’re not involved with anyone.” He lowered his head. “I think we could be good together. Very good,” he said as he lowered his mouth.
Shocked, Abby turned her head and tried to step away, but Daniel closed his arms around her. “You ought to give me a chance. Just one. I could change your mind.”
“Let me go, Daniel,” she said, her heart beating with a combination of surprise and fury.
“You smell so good,” he said. “I’ve had dreams about you.”
“Daniel!” she yelled, not wanting to alert the entire library over his foolish behavior, but he had crossed over the line.
He slid his mouth over her forehead.
“That’s it. I warned you,” she said and jerked her knee sharply upward into his groin.
Daniel yelped in pain and doubled over. His whimper made her feel sorry for him, for about a half of a second then her anger came back full throttle.
“What the hell did you do that for?” he asked. “I was just trying to give you a little kiss.”
“I didn’t want a little kiss,” she told him. “I didn’t want any kisses from you, and if you ever put your paws on me or anyone else I know in the future, I’m calling the police. When I say no, I mean no. And here’s a news flash, that goes for all women. Do you understand me?”
He looked behind her, still grimacing. “Yeah, me and everybody else,” he said and limped past her.
Abby whirled around and found at least twenty students, along with the librarian, staring at Daniel, then her. Her face flamed with embarrassment. She made a habit of not calling attention to herself, and to have everyone observing her in this situation was, oh, humiliating. She cleared her throat. “Sorry for the interruption. I, uh, need to get back to work.”
Chapter Ten
Another jam-packed day. Abby worked with the kids at the community center, went to two classes, worked more on her two papers and squeezed in a little surprise shopping for Cade. She would have been more excited about her purchases, one of which was burning a hole in her pocket, if she hadn’t gotten a late start for his house because her mother had phoned her cell to ask her to pick up some groceries.
She pulled into his driveway and bolted out of the car. Before she could make it up the steps to his porch, he opened the door and leaned against the doorjamb. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the nutcracker herself.”
Abby blinked at him and her mental to-do list fell into a pile of dust. “Nutcracker?” she said. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about your new nickname,” he said.
Confused, she walked up the steps, noticing a couple sleds propped against the house. Her gaze was drawn back to Cade, and she lifted her shoulders. “What do you mean?”
“As of last night, there are stories going around that a young man named Daniel Payne suffered bodily injuries that you inflicted,” Cade said. “Stories I’m certain are not true. Because you would never let a guy get to the point of no return in the college library.”
Anger soared through her. “He walked into that library past the point of no return. He’d been drinking. I told him I wasn’t interested and never would be, but he wouldn’t stop. Crowded me against one of the bookcases. I yelled. I warned, but he wouldn’t listen. There was only one thing left to do.”
“Did it occur to you to call me?” he asked, something dark flicking through his blue gaze.
“I didn’t have my cell phone on me when I was reaching for the book on abnormal psychology. It wa
s very embarrassing. By the time I stopped yelling, a crowd of people were watching and listening. For a minute there, I was afraid I might get banned from the library, but this was not my fault. I have not encouraged that guy in any way.”
“You still should have called me,” he said, scowling at her.
“I told you I didn’t have my phone,” she said.
“Afterward. You should have called me afterward. You had to be shaken up and I could have paid this guy a visit to make sure he didn’t bother you again,” he said.
She felt a rush of warmth at Cade’s protectiveness. “That’s nice of you,” she said softly. “But I don’t think there’s any danger of him coming anywhere near me again.”
“He better not or he’s going to have to answer to me,” Cade said, pulling her inside his foyer. He opened the closet door and grabbed a hat.
“There’s no need to get physical, Cade. You’re a lot bigger than he is. You could squash him with one of your feet,” she said.
“Look who’s talking about not getting physical, nutcracker,” he said. “And I’ve rarely needed to resort to violence in my life. I’ll just reason with the guy.”
Her stomach began to lurch. Abby had tried not to think about the incident, but down deep it really had bothered her. She knew, based on her studies, that she would have to work through it sooner or later, but later just sounded better to her right now.
“Can we talk about something else? It’s not a happy subject for me,” she said.
His gaze softened. “Sure, and I have just the thing to take it off your mind,” he said, pulling on the hat he held in his hand then following up with his gloves. “We’re going sledding.”
“Now?” she asked, the idea appealing to her in a surprising way.
“Now,” he said. “The hill behind my brother Dean’s place is perfect.”
“Aren’t you worried he’ll see us and ask questions about you and me?” she asked.
“Dean knows about you and me,” he said, guiding her out the door.
She gaped at him. “He does?”
“Yeah, I told him about it a couple weeks ago. He knows not to discuss it,” he said and grabbed the sleds.
Abby was so stunned she didn’t know what to say, until a thousand questions entered her mind. Exactly what did you tell Dean? How much does he know? Two weeks ago? You were still saying I was too young then. Did you tell him you’ve fallen desperately in love with me and can’t live without me? She rolled her eyes at the last one because she knew the answer to that. No and no.
Within an hour, she felt seven years old again. Flying down a snow-covered hill shrieking with joy. Cade dared her to race him. She won once. He won the second time. Then he double-dared her to ride down the hill on his back. Unable to resist, she joined him and they took a tumble in the snow.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice anxious as he rolled her from her front side to her back in the snow. “I must have hit some ice.”
“I’m fine,” she said and started to laugh. “I’m going to be so wet by the time we get back to your house.” She laughed again. “And it’s all your fault because you are a reckless sled driver.”
He frowned with consternation. “I’m not reckless. I just hit some ice. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Fine except for all the snow that’s gone all the way down my neck to my back. I never dreamed that perfect Cade could be reckless,” she teased.
He looked as if he were trying to be stern with her, but her giggles must have gotten to him. “Sit up, so you don’t get any more snow down your sweater,” he said, pulling her up. “Look at you. You’ve got snow all in your hair. You’re a mess,” he said, shaking his head.
“All your fault, Mr. Reckless,” she said and smiled up at him. “I have an early Christmas present for you.”
He looked at her in confusion. “Christmas? We’ve got a whole month to go,” he said.
“You wouldn’t know that by your display window at Pritchett & Sons,” she said.
“True,” he said. “So what’s this Christmas present? A lump of coal?” he asked with a wary expression.
“Nope,” she said and pulled a mistletoe packet out of her pocket. She lifted it above her head. “Oops. Kiss me quick or it’s bad luck.”
He shook his head and snatched the mistletoe from her. “Trust me, you don’t need mistletoe for me to kiss you.” He lowered his head and his warm lips took the cold away from her within mere seconds. As he deepened the kiss, her temperature heated up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She loved his strength. She loved his wisdom and sense of humor. Being with him made her feel so much more than happy. She couldn’t think of one word to describe all the ways he affected her. Abby kissed him with all her heart and passion.
Cade responded. A moment later, he finally pulled back, his eyes dark with wanting. “We’d better head back to the house or I’m going to strip you and we’re going to give my brother an eyeful. And I would never hear the end of it.”
Cade led the way back to his house and they both stomped the snow from their boots before they stepped inside. He glanced at Abby and spotted her teeth chattering and her blue lips from the cold and swore.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were freezing?” he asked, pulling off her gloves and coat. “Hold on to me while I help you ditch these boots.”
“It wouldn’t have done any good. We still had to walk back to your house. It’s no big deal. I’ll warm up. By next week,” she said, smiling through her chattering teeth.
He chuckled despite himself. He didn’t like being responsible for her getting this cold. He was surprised at how protective of her he felt. When he’d heard about that Daniel guy molesting her at the library, he’d wanted to go after him but, from what he’d heard, the guy was planning on leaving town for a while. Good riddance, Cade thought and gave up on pulling off the rest of Abby’s soggy clothes in the foyer. She needed warm water. He ditched his own jacket and boots.
“Here we go,” he said, picking her up in his arms and carrying her down the hall.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You need a hot shower,” he said, carrying her into the bathroom. He turned on the jets to the shower then pulled off the rest of her clothes and his. “Ready?” he asked, already distracted by her naked body. It felt as if it had be aeons since he’d made love to her.
He hauled her into the shower and she shrieked. “Are you trying to scald me to death?”
Cade dialed the temperature back a little bit and pulled her against him. She was still cold. He pressed his mouth against her shivering mouth and she put her arms around him as she sank into the kiss. He felt a couple of chatters, but he knew he’d knocked off the worst of the chill when she sighed against his mouth. Her sigh said so much. If her sigh could talk, it would say she trusted him and wanted him. Her sigh said she was already feeling pleasure, but there was more to come. That sigh coupled with her naked body against his was the most wicked and wonderful sensation he’d ever had.
“You can turn up the water temperature now,” she said.
He liked the way she heated up, he thought, and he had every intention of making her blood boil with pleasure. Lowering his mouth to her again in a deep, wet kiss with the water streaming over them, he lowered his hands to her breasts, focusing on her responsive nipples.
Abby made a sexy sound and wriggled against him, making him stiff with wanting her. This time, he wanted to make her want and wait. This time he wanted to make her crazy. He lowered one of his hands between her silky thighs and found her warm and wet. He continued to stroke and she began to wiggle against him.
“Cade, I want you,” she whispered. “I want you inside me.”
“Soon,” he promised and dipped his lips to her breasts, taunting her nipples then sliding lower and lower.
Mere minutes later, her body flexed and she climaxed, letting out a high-pitched moan of satisfaction. Taking her with his mouth had nearly put him over the
edge. The ability to wait burned to cinders. He picked her up and with her back propped against the tile wall, he took her.
Her sexy gaze burned into his with each stroke he took and somehow in the middle of taking her, he felt as if she had taken him.
After they got out of the shower, Cade wrapped Abby in his big terry-cloth robe and pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. “Soup and sandwiches okay with you?” he asked as he pulled from the refrigerator the premade deli sandwiches he’d bought from the grocery store on the way home.
“Perfect. You want me to heat the soup?” she asked, walking into the kitchen. She pulled the foot of the turkey still hanging in his kitchen.
“Gobble, gobble, gobble,” said the electronic voice.
Then she pulled it again. “I didn’t want him to feel neglected,” she said to Cade.
“He hasn’t been,” Cade assured her. “His foot is pulled every morning and every evening when I get home from work. Whether he needs it or not.”
She gave a low chuckle. “Glad you’re taking care of him.” She glanced through his cupboard and pulled out a can of soup and poured it into a pot on the stove. “You really do cook like a bachelor, don’t you?”
“How’s that?” he asked, unwrapping the deli sandwiches and putting them on paper plates.
“I mean you don’t cook anything like chicken or soup or stew,” she said.
“I cook barbecue pork. Does that count?” he asked.
“On the grill?” she asked. “Yeah.”
“If it’s on the grill it doesn’t count for real cooking. The grill is great, and I love food cooked on the grill, but sometimes you have to turn on the oven,” she said.
He glanced down at the petite woman with wet, mussed hair and big brown eyes who was trying to give him instructions on cooking. He knew that she could cook circles around him. “That’s when I turn on the microwave,” he said.
“Good for you,” she said and laughed.