Playing with Fire

by Jen Talty

  The idea that Jeff had wanted her to go work-out with her face all dolled up had been so ludicrous, she’d laughed the first time he mentioned it. When she refused, he’d gotten pissed off. More angry than what she deemed normal. But the day she found herself standing in front of the mirror, in exercise clothing, dabbing on lipstick, was the day she knew she needed to get out of her marriage.

  Two weeks later, Jeff hit her for the very last time.

  A loud knock echoed through the hallway.

  “Come in,” she yelled. Her heart hammered so hard she thought it might burst through her chest. She bolted through the house as fast as her legs could take her, until she got to the bottom of the stairs. Sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she rounded the corner into the kitchen.

  Cade had his back to her as he set a bottle of wine on the counter. The fresh smell of a musky soap filled her lungs. He wore a pair of light blue shorts and a white t-shirt with some surf shop image on the back. Her fingers twitched, wanting to run her hands through his soft, wet hair.

  “Sorry I took so long, I needed a quick shower.” He turned, smiling. “Well, hello,” he said, closing the gap between them. His eyes smoldered with a flicker of flames.

  His arm wrapped around her waist, yanking her to his chest. His other hand palmed her cheek, and then he took her chin between his forefinger and thumb. “You’re one hell of a sexy woman, Dr. Holbrook.”

  Before she could respond, his tongue brushed against her lips with a hot sizzle. He tasted of fresh mint and smelled like a cool night around the campfire. He held her tight, raising her up on tip-toes as he deepened the kiss. His touch glided across her skin as his hands slid under her t-shirt. Everything about the kiss felt like home.

  He backed up and stared at her for a long moment.

  “What was that for?” she asked in a breathless moan.

  “You dress up real nice, but damn, I like this look the best.”

  Heat filled her cheeks and tears threatened to sting the corner of her eyes. The fact he found her beautiful when she wasn’t even trying made her want to rip his clothes off right in the middle of her kitchen.

  Immediately after that thought, she shivered, remembering his size and strength. God, she loathed her ex-husband. Somehow she had to take her life back. All of it.

  “That’s ridiculous. I look like—”

  He placed his finger on her lips, hushing her. “You look like the prettiest girl ever.”

  She cocked her head. “Flattery might get you somewhere.”

  He smiled.

  “I can’t believe you never had braces. You’re teeth a perfectly straight,” she said.

  “Now that’s a buzz kill, considering you’ve been insanely intimate with the inner workings of my mouth.”

  She lowered her heels to the floor “Well, when you put it that way, I suppose it does.”

  “I started the grill, so let’s put the steaks on.”

  “You do that and I’ll open the wine.” Not wanting to let him go just yet, she rubbed her hands across his shoulders, looping them behind his neck, leaning her chest against his.

  He groaned. “I haven’t had anything substantial to eat since I broke that tooth. I’ll pass-out before I get to second base.”

  “Well, that would suck for you.” She leaned up and gave him a quick but wet kiss before patting his chest. “Let’s cook us some food. Oh, I forgot to tell you to be careful chewing on the right side. Could pop the temporary out.”

  “Buzz kill.” He waved his hand in the air, pulling the steaks off the counter. “But thanks for the tip.” He stepped outside, the door clicking shut behind him.

  Oy. She jumped into the deep end of the ocean without a lifeline. Wrestling with the bottle of wine, the doubts and insecurity about her judgment in men wiggled their way into her mind. Jeff had never said a negative thing about her appearance until after they’d gotten engaged. Even then, it had been more of a backwards dig. “Oh, baby, that’s cute, but a Westerfield wife has to dress the part.”

  She shivered at the memory.

  Maybe she needed to slow the train down.

  After pouring two glasses of wine, she stepped outside into the hot, humid Lake George evening air. Her patio wasn’t quite as nice as Cade’s, with weeds coming up between some cracks. She had a small round picnic table, two Adirondack chairs, and a gas fire thing she’d never been able to get working.

  “Here you go.” She handed a glass to Cade. “Cheers.”

  Her backyard butted up to the house of a newly married couple. She’d met them at the barbeque. Cute young couple trying to get pregnant. She sipped her wine, curling one arm around her middle, watching Suzie dart between some trees, trying to catch one of her bothers. When she’d chosen to go to medical school and then dentistry, she knew marriage and kids would come later in life, and she was okay with that.

  But she’d thought she’d have at least one kid by the time she’d turned thirty-six and that was seven months ago.

  “How do you like your steak?”

  “Medium, but a little more on the rare side, if that makes sense.” She perched herself in one of the chairs and watch Cade master the grill. The sounds of kids laughing and neighbors chatting filled her ears. She closed her eyes, focusing on the sweet noise of…normal. At least she had that. No more dinner parties where the expectations of children were so high that with each event someone fell from glory, giving everyone something to gossip about the next week.

  “Is the salad inside?”

  She jerked at the sound of Cade’s voice.

  “I’ll get it,” she said.

  “Nope. You’re too comfortable right there.”

  She wasn’t about to argue with him. She inhaled the thick scent of grilled spices. Her stomach growled like a lion on the hunt.

  Cade came back out with the salad and everything else they needed, including the rest of the wine. They set the table like they’d been doing it together for years, not saying a single word to one another.

  Little whispered voices echoed from somewhere behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted Suzie and her brother spying from the bushes. “We have company,” Heather said, sitting down next to Cade at the table, steak and salad already on her plate.

  “I noticed.” Cade wasted no time carving into his steak and shoving a huge chunk in his mouth, moaning a little.

  “Chew on the left side, please.”

  He paused the movement of his mouth with both elbows on the table, fork in one hand, knife in the other and stared at her as he shifted the food in his mouth before swallowing. “Yes, ma’am.” He carved out another piece and stuffed his mouth like this was his last meal.

  She chuckled as she dug into her own plate of food. To say Cade had some skills at the grill would be a disservice to the man’s cooking. “This is fantastic, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He winked. “And I don’t think I really thanked you for this morning. You might have changed my mind about one particular dentist.”

  “You might not feel that way when you get my bill.”

  The both laughed, catching each other's gaze as two children giggled behind them.

  “What are we going to do about those two?” she asked.

  Cade wiped his mouth with his napkin. She still had half a steak left, and his plate looked as if it had been licked clean.

  “Well, we can do nothing and they will go report back to Mrs. Baker that we shared a private dinner. Or we can give them something juicy to report that will also make them scurry on home.”

  “Juicy how?”

  He leaned over, gliding his hand across the back of her neck. His deep, dark eyes glistened with intense passion. Tilting his head, he pressed his mouth against hers in a sweet kiss. It wasn’t anything magical, but it was potent.

  A loud giggle echoed in the night.

  “Ewe, gross,” a little boys’ voice whispered.

  Leaves rusted and the sound of little feet clo
mping on the ground tickled her ears.

  But her entire focus was on the mouth glued to hers and the hand smoothing over the very top part of her ass…on her bare skin…fingers dangerously close to being inside her shorts.

  “Mommy!” Suzie’s voice shrilled. “Guess what I just saw!”

  Cade pulled away, a smile so wide his cheeks had to hurt.

  “We just scarred two children for life,” she said, her body flush from a combination of excitement and embarrassment. “Not to mention everyone will officially believe we are dating.”

  “Would that be such a bad thing?” His hand remained on the small of her back, his thumb doing little circles on her spine. “I kind of dig you.”

  She laughed at the expression with as much lightness as she could muster, while her insides rattled like a snake’s tail. “I kind of dig you back, but—”

  “Did you have to go and ruin it with a ‘but’?”

  All night she’d waffled between wanting to sleep with him, and all her insecurities about trusting men kept nagging at her. “I haven’t dated at all since my divorce and we’ve seemed to have started off pretty fast.”

  “You want to slow things down?” he questioned with an arched brow.

  “I do. I want to date, because thus far we haven’t gone on a single one.”

  “This feels like a date.” He raised his glass before taking a good swig.

  “I suppose it is, but—”

  “There is that damn ‘but’ again.”

  His tone indicated he was being somewhat playful, but she could tell by the way his eye twitched, he wasn’t too keen on slowing down.

  “You’ve been divorced longer than I have and you’ve dated a few women since, right?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ve haven’t dated anyone, so as much as I’d like to let you move around my bases, can we go on a few more dates?”

  His wine must have gone down the wrong pipe, because he coughed, gagged, and spit a little out on his plate. “An old song by Meat Loaf is now playing my head.”

  “Oh my God.” She gathered up the plates, as the words from the famous song blared in her brain.

  Cade pounded his chest, then took a long sip of water. “Okay, we go on a few more dates before I try to move past first base.”

  “I’m never going to be able to watch baseball again.”

  He gave her back a little squeeze. “Let me clean off your grill and maybe we can go for a walk.”

  “I’d like that.” She carried the plates inside, surprised he helped her clear the table.

  While she did the dishes, she watched him through the window as he wiped down the outside of her grill. He reminded her of a big old teddy bear, all sweet and cuddly.

  Especially the cuddly part.

  Cade broke out in a jog, darting across the yards toward the young couple’s house. They were trying to get something off the roof of their car, but it didn’t look like it was going to well.

  Cade to the rescue.

  She watched in awe as he helped the couple before heading back, stopping quickly to pick up and toss back a stray ball that one of the Easton’s had just kicked over.

  No way could anyone fake having that big of a heart.

  “Sorry about that,” he said as he walked through the door. “The—”

  She cut him off by wrapping her arms around him and smashing her mouth against his in a fury of passion…or lust…or just plain animal heat.

  She didn’t care what it was, only that she wanted it with Cade.

  “Whoa.” He curled his fingers around her hips and gently pushed her back. “What happened to taking things slow? Dating?”

  She leaned her chest against his, raising up on tip-toe, and cupped his face. “We’re dating, and people make-out all the time while they are dating, and often making out leads to heavy petting which—”

  He covered her mouth with his hand. “Breathe,” he whispered, gliding his fingers across her cheek. “I only made out about half what you said, because it came flying out of your mouth so fast.”

  “Come on.” She snagged the second bottle of wine off the counter. “Get our glasses.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Upstairs.”

  “Why?”

  “To play some baseball,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “I know what I said, but let’s face it, we’re going to end up sleeping together sooner or later, why torture ourselves?”

  Heather’s voice may have sounded confident, but her stomach twisted in knots and her damn hands were so sweaty, she found it difficult to maintain a good grip on the wine bottle.

  Not only could she hear Cade right behind her, she could have sworn she felt his gaze roaming over her body like lava rolling down the side of a volcano. But she wanted to have a normal life again and that meant dating.

  And sex.

  God, she needed another glass of wine.

  She stepped into her bedroom and flicked on the lights, even though the sun hadn’t quite settled behind the horizon, her bedroom showed signs of night, with shadows of darkness filling the room.

  Maybe she should have kept the lights off.

  She heard the clinking of glasses and turned. Cade had set them on her dresser.

  “Did you bring an opener?”

  He pulled one out of his back pocket, setting it next to the glasses.

  Her breath hitched as he took the wine bottle from her hands. “No more wine, for now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because if you need another glass to be with me, then we shouldn’t be together at all.” He inched closer, taking her shaking hand.

  “Are you afraid of me?”

  “No,” she said softly, and she meant it.

  “Then why are you trembling?” He smoothed his palm over her hand.

  “I’m nervous, that’s all.”

  He raised her hand and rested it on his shoulder, gliding his across her arm, tangling his fingers in her hair. His gaze tender and kind.

  “It’s been a while,” she said.

  “I want to be with you, but—”

  She silenced him with a kiss. The only way to move forward, whether it be with Cade, or any man, was to get back in the saddle.

  8

  Cade wanted Heather, there was no question about that.

  He cupped Heather’s face, prying her luscious lips from his. She’d been all over the place since he’d kissed her in her office. He understood her being unsure about having sex and being nervous.

  But this wasn’t nerves.

  He fanned her cheeks with his thumbs as her eyelids fluttered open. “We need to talk.”

  She stepped back, lifting her hand to her mouth, chomping down on her finger, eyes filled with hurt.

  And fear.

  “I really like you,” he said, his hands on her hips, wanting to pull her tight against him, but he needed to understand a few things first. “I’ve thought of you every day since I jump started your car and I so want to make love to you.”

  “Then why are you pushing me away?” she asked, finger still halfway in her mouth.

  This wasn’t the same woman who’d coaxed him confidently into the dentistry chamber of torture. The woman who masterfully helped him conquer one of his deepest fears.

  “Let’s sit down.” He took her by the hand, leading her to the bed. Not the best place to have this conversation.

  A million thoughts flew through his brain and all of them ended up with him wanting to land his fist in the center of her ex’s face.

  He sat cross-legged, staring into her eyes, his knees touching hers. Her beauty took his breath away. But it was the woman who’d already wormed his way into his heart. “You’ve been giving me mixed signals all night, and I don’t want you to do anything you might regret later.”

  Her eyes narrowed into tiny little slits ready to shoot daggers at him. “I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions and don’t need you to—”

  “This is what I
mean. You go from hot to cold so fast I can’t keep up.”

  “I don’t like being told what to do or how to feel.” Her words were fierce, but she still chewed on her damn nail.

  “I know that,” he said, trying to keep his frustration in check. “I’m not trying to control you, but I am trying to understand you, and tell you how I’m feeling.”

  “Oh.”

  Finally, she dropped her hand to her lap.

  “I really want you, and I think you want me too, but for some reason you’re afraid of me, and it’s not just normal being nervous about being with someone for the first time. I need to know why.”

  She let out a long sigh, leaning back on her dozen or so pillows. He’d never understand women and their pillows.

  “Most of it is me being nervous,” she said, tucking her knees against her chest. “Like how you felt sitting in my chair this morning.”

  “Vulnerable,” he whispered as rage threatened to surface. “Exposed and terrified you were going to cause more pain than the broken tooth.” He swallowed, hard. “He didn’t…didn’t force you, did he?” Cade clenched his fist.

  “Rape me? No.” She shook her head. “But I’m sure had I not left when I did, he could have.”

  “Bastard,” Cade muttered. “How many times did he…hit you?”

  “Once is too many,” she said, wiping a few tears from her cheek. “He slapped me the first time. The second time he punched me. The third time he pinned me down and…well…that’s when I left, and I’ve never looked back.”

  Cade rubbed the side of his face, sucking in a deep calming breath and letting it out slowly. “I’m about the same size and build.”

  “It’s not just that. You could be short and scrawny and I would still have trouble trusting my judgment. Everyone thought Jeff was such a nice guy. He faked it really well. You’re always helping people and—”

  “I’m nothing like him.”

  “Deep down, I know that. I wanted to take it slow because I like you, but then you ran across the yard and had to be all sweet and whatnot with our neighbors, and it reminded me there are good men in the world. I need to get past this hurdle or I’m going to be stuck in this spot forever.”