Somewhere Along the Way

by Ruth Cardello

  “Don’t—” Luke held out a hand to Cassie, but she retreated another step.

  It was too easy to forget she didn’t know Luke. Cassie turned away with determination and composed herself while she retrieved the key from a hook on the wall. What she was feeling had to be a side effect of attending a funeral earlier. Death, especially when it came to someone as young as Emma, had a way of shaking people up.

  She handed Luke the key without making contact with his hand. “Your bedroom is upstairs at the end of the hall on the left. The stairs are right through that door. If you need anything there’s an intercom in your room.”

  Please don’t need anything.

  Luke looked as if he wanted to say something, but instead he nodded. “Thank you, Cassie.”

  Warmth spread through her, and she knew he was thanking her for more than the room and the meal. “You’re welcome. Good night.”

  “Good night.”

  Once Luke was out of the kitchen and Cassie heard the sound of his footsteps on the steps, she sank into a chair at the table. Safely alone, she raised both hands to her warm cheeks. If she were anyone but herself and they had met at another time, in another place, what she felt when she was near him might have led to something scandalously decadent.

  She smiled shyly. At least I’d like to think it would have.

  She pushed herself out of her seat and began to clear the dirty dishes. She heard the door to Luke’s room open and close. It’s better this way.

  Her mood improved as she turned on the large ovens she’d purchased for Cassie’s Creations. Life was full of unexpected revelations. Two years ago, if someone had told her she would be happy to spend hours in a kitchen baking, she’d have thought they were crazy. But she found joy and pride in making desserts people clamored for.

  Cassie remembered when she’d first moved to Defiance and had stayed in this bed and breakfast. It had been love at first sight. Although the building was almost a hundred years old, it had been lovingly preserved. The décor was comfortably country. Fresh flowers, scented candles, soft colors, and even softer cushions. If a home were capable of it, Cassie would have said Home Sweet Home had embraced her.

  The elderly couple who had owned it had been just as welcoming. They’d fed her what she’d considered the best meal of her life. Looking back, it had been rather simple fare, just a pot roast with the trimmings. Perhaps it’d had less to do with the food they’d served than with the warmth in their smiles and the genuine interest they’d taken in Cassie. Cassie had stayed with them for two weeks while seeking work in town.

  Tilly had been friends with the couple who owned the bed and breakfast and had been there the night they’d said they were considering selling the place and moving to the West Coast to live with their children.

  Tilly had asked Cassie if she’d ever considered running a bed and breakfast. Cassie remembered explaining that, although she had some savings, she doubted it was enough to buy the place.

  True to form, Tilly had said, “I didn’t ask if you had the money to buy it, I asked if you had the desire to own it. If you want something badly enough, you make it happen. So, speak up, Cassie, do you want it?”

  “Yes.” Cassie remembered answering with everything in her.

  Just as Tilly had said it would, everything fell into place once Cassie made owning the home her goal. She worked crazy hours waitressing at a restaurant in town. She saved for the down payment and took out a loan for the rest.

  In the beginning money had been tight, but with Tilly’s connections and a few brainstorming sessions, Cassie’s Creations was born. Several restaurants and local shops featured her desserts on their menus, which provided income between guests. If she stayed the course and continued to work hard, she’d have her loan paid off in ten years.

  As Cassie prepared the kitchen for a bout of baking, she flipped her recipe book open and ran a hand lovingly over a blank page. She’d intentionally left every other page blank. One day each of those pages would hold a photo of a child baking with her.

  She briefly closed her eyes.

  Good things happen when you stay focused. I’m where I want to be, making a living doing something I enjoy. She leaned back against the counter and wrapped both arms around her stomach. Maybe it’s wrong to want more than this, but I do.

  I want a baby, a family. I want to fill this home with love and laughter. And I don’t want to wait, hoping some man will come into my life and make my dreams come true. I’ll be thirty in a few years. What if he never comes? No, I’m not waiting on a whim of fate.

  I’ll make my own happy ending.

  ***

  Luke placed his cell phone on the nightstand beside a twin-sized bed and laid his suit jacket across the back of a chair. He slowly removed his tie then tossed it on his jacket. Sitting on the edge of the bed he stepped out of his dress shoes and leaned forward onto his elbows.

  When he closed his eyes he saw the beautiful face of the woman he could still hear downstairs in the kitchen. For some reason she brought back memories of a simpler time in his life.

  He remembered how his brothers had responded to his first serious girlfriend. His oldest brother, Gio, had handed him a box of condoms and lectured him on the importance of using them. His youngest brother, Max, had chortled on the couch, a thoroughly amused audience. Nick had sauntered into the conversation, laid a hand on Luke’s shoulder as if he were about to impart a pearl of wisdom and said, “Luke, nice guys never get laid. And if they do, it’s never that good.”

  Luke considered himself a nice man. Maybe that’s the problem.

  In his family, he was the one who didn’t get angry. He’d seen the destructive nature of it too many times to allow himself that weakness. Instead, he’d always focused on what Uncle Victor had told him when he was a child. “Luke, you’re an Andrade, and to an Andrade, family is everything.”

  Luke stood, stripped, then washed the day away beneath the hot spray of a shower. He didn’t want to think about his family or anything he’d left behind in New York. He’d go back to them, but for a few days he wanted to wash it all away. What had Cassie said about family? “You start asking yourself who you would be without them. Who they would be without you.”

  Who am I?

  Outside of the Turners, no one in the town knew much about him. In Defiance, Ohio, he wasn’t a rich surgeon from a powerful family. He was just a man trapped in a storm, sleeping under the same roof as the most remarkable woman he’d ever encountered. A woman who had essentially already declared she wasn’t interested in him.

  Even if her eyes told a different story.

  He hadn’t seen a ring on her finger, but there was a chance she was already emotionally committed to a man. That particular thought hadn’t occurred to him earlier. He dressed in lounge pants and a T-shirt then paced his bedroom restlessly.

  Was she downstairs waiting for her lover to arrive?

  He hadn’t known her long enough to care what she did with her days or her nights.

  But he did, a fact that frustrated him considering he was on sabbatical from caring.

  The man he was in New York would have respected her hint to retire to his room for the night. However, he’d watched his brothers shamelessly pursue women they were interested in and succeed in winning them over.

  That wasn’t Luke’s style. Women liked Luke, and that often led to sex. It wasn’t something he’d spent much time thinking about.

  He headed back down the stairs and stopped just before walking into the kitchen. His body tightened with anticipation at the sight of her. She was humming a soft tune, bent over in front of a large oven, checking the contents. The simple black dress she wore beneath her apron clung to her ass. When she straightened, her face was flushed, and she had an adorable smudge of frosting across one of her cheeks. In all his life he had never seen anything sexier. His senses were in pleasure overload. The heavenly scent of whatever sugary concoction she was baking only heightened the lust that rushed thr
ough him as he watched her. He wanted to taste every inch of her.

  Luke fully understood the way the human body functioned. He’d even written a paper in college on the physical effects of desire and hormonal cascades. However, knowing which chemicals were responsible for the giddiness he felt didn’t make it less real.

  Being near her was so good it was painful. He shifted as his cock swelled enthusiastically in the loose confines of his lounge pants.

  His movement must have caught her attention because she swung around with a spatula raised as if in defense. When she recognized him, she lowered it and said, “Sorry. Do you need something?”

  He considered being honest, but chose a safe subject. “What are you baking?”

  A smile spread across her face. “So, you’re a sweets man. One guest told me she put on five pounds from the mere scent of my cupcakes. There were always a few missing when I woke in the morning, so I suspect she did more than smell them.”

  Luke would have said something witty, if anything had come to mind. Instead, he simply enjoyed how easily she was speaking to him and the wide smile on her face. She’d been guarded with him earlier, and he’d wondered if it was merely the challenge that made her so attractive. No, in that moment she was approachable and lighthearted and somehow even more beautiful. “Amazing.”

  “They really aren’t. Cupcakes are an easy enough recipe, but I’ll admit that I add a little something special to mine. I have a batch already cooling. Would you like one?”

  “More than I should,” Luke murmured.

  Cassie’s smile widened, and she piped frosting on a cupcake for him. “You’re not alone. I don’t know what it is about cupcakes. Maybe they remind people of every school party they had as a child, but no one can resist them.” She removed the wrapping and held it out to him. “I never thought I’d spend so much of my time baking them, but they sell. Go ahead, indulge this once.” Once? He doubted that indulging once in a woman like Cassie would ever be enough.

  Unable to stop himself, Luke placed his hand on hers and brought the cupcake to his mouth. His eyes never left hers. He took a bite and felt her hand shake beneath his, but she didn’t withdraw it at first. Rather, she traced his bottom lip with her pinkie then stepped back, leaving him holding the remainder of the cupcake and wondering if he’d lost his mind. I can’t resist her. Just like the cupcakes he had indulged in as a schoolboy, he knew he couldn’t leave Ohio without sampling her. “Cassie . . .”

  She shook her head and held up a hand. “No. Forget it. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  He took a step toward her. “Are you seeing anyone?”

  Cassie frowned as he’d seen her do earlier. “It doesn’t matter.”

  He placed the cupcake on the table and took another step closer. “It matters to me.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Don’t what.”

  “Don’t look at me like that.”

  “Like you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen? Like I want to taste that sweet mouth of yours as much as you thought I wanted the cupcake?” She didn’t retreat, and he leaned close enough that his lips hovered above hers.

  “Yes.” Her breath was warm on his lips.

  “One question: Are you?”

  Her irises widened, a telltale sign she was equally as affected by him. “Am I what?” she whispered.

  “Seeing someone.”

  “No.”

  Yes. He wanted to pull her to him and claim her mouth, but pleasure could also be in the anticipation. His breath turned ragged as he looked down into her eyes.

  She put her hands up on his chest in a move that may have started as a push, but became more of a caress. Her voice was husky when she said, “Please don’t.” She closed her eyes, not yet removing her hands from his chest.

  His hands went naturally to her hips. “You’re just too tempting, Cupcake.”

  When her eyes opened again there was such a complex mixture of strength, yearning, and anger that he fought to catch his breath. Nothing he’d ever known had prepared him for Cassie.

  She stepped back from him sadly. “I’m sorry. I know I’m sending you mixed signals, but you’ll be heading back to New York as soon as the airport reopens. Some women would be into that, but I’m not.” She turned away from him, paused momentarily, then bent to remove a pan of cupcakes from the oven.

  “I don’t have to.”

  She looked back at him. “Don’t have to what?”

  “Leave tomorrow. I’m technically on vacation.”

  She bit her bottom lip and glared at him. He couldn’t understand the emotions raging in her brown eyes. “Check into a hotel tomorrow.”

  He couldn’t walk away even when she turned her attention back to the stove. “Do you throw all of your guests out after one night, or just the ones you want to sleep with?”

  When she spun to face him again, there was more passion in her eyes than anger. Still, her tone was harsh. “I’m . . . I don’t—” She stopped mid-denial, then glared at him again. “I’m not having this conversation.”

  “Because I’m right.”

  “Because I’m not interested.”

  “I don’t believe you.” He closed the distance between them and laid his hands on the counter on either side of her. “I’m a doctor. We base our opinions on symptoms presented.” He raised one hand to her throat. “Your pulse is racing. You’re eyes are dilated. Your cheeks are flushed. You can lie to me and yourself, but your body knows what you want.”

  She licked her bottom lip nervously. “Is that supposed to be sexy?”

  He grinned. “Yes.”

  The corner of her mouth twitched as if she almost smiled back at him. “I don’t want to like you.”

  He kissed her lips quickly, nothing more than a tease of a touch. The sweetness of frosting from her lips lingered on his, insanely delicious, but he told himself not to rush. She looked conflicted about how she felt, and they’d only just met. When she came to him, he wanted it to be without reservation. Running his tongue over his top lip and armed with the knowledge that humor was the key to putting her at ease, he joked, “Too late, Cupcake.”

  She shook her head, but her cheeks were pink. “Goodnight, Luke.”

  As he walked to the door of the kitchen, he felt her eyes on him and his skin burned for her touch. He glanced over his shoulder and winked at her. “I’ll leave my door open in case you change your mind. Goodnight, Cassie. Thank you for sweetening my evening.” His candid desire for her brought a smile to his face. He was a considerate lover, but Cassie brought out a playful side of him he’d never imagined he had. Before meeting Cassie, he’d imagined himself spending a week on a sandy beach. That idea had lost all appeal.

  He wasn’t leaving in the morning. He had no idea what that meant, but he’d never been more certain of anything. Back in his room, he removed his shirt and flopped on his back on the bed, folding his hands beneath his head.

  He didn’t bother to turn off the light. There was no way he’d sleep.

  Chapter Three

  “Damn.” Cassie finished decorating the final batch of cupcakes and looked around in frustration. She couldn’t remember who she’d made them for. Normally she was very organized, however, the spreadsheet she always tacked to a corkboard near the fridge was missing. She remembered being distracted that morning. She’d been halfway out the door, heading to Emma’s wake, when one of the coffee shops she baked for had called and added to their order.

  It’d be helpful if I remembered which one. But the list is gone . . . along with my sanity.

  She decided to pack them up and make awkward phone calls in the morning. She quickly glanced at the clock on the wall. Shit. How could it already be two in the morning?

  What am I doing?

  Besides hiding in my kitchen, she admitted wryly to herself. Yes, Luke was upstairs in a bedroom, just three doors down from hers, but that shouldn’t matter. All of the doors had locks. Actually she enjoyed having people in her home. Usual
ly her guests were married couples visiting their parents. Every once in a while she had a single traveler. One or two had attempted to flirt with her. However, Cassie always made it clear she wasn’t interested and they usually respected that.

  Luke shouldn’t be any different. But he was. She brought her hand up to her lips and closed her eyes as she savored the memory of his touch. He kissed me. Worse, I liked it.

  I should have told him not to call me Cupcake.

  But I liked that, too.

  Cassie cleaned the kitchen on autopilot as her mind raced. Luke might be attracted to her, but he didn’t know her. When he said he could stay, he meant for a day or two. He was a successful doctor with a life outside of Defiance. He was looking for a casual hook-up and probably considered her the most available option.

  But I’m not.

  Easy or available.

  Still, there was something disarmingly attractive about the way he smiled at her. It was as though they were already close, sharing some private joke. He had a way of talking to her that made her melt on the inside.

  He was strong without needing to prove himself. She was used to men puffing up, strutting around like peacocks showing off, and often mentioning their financial prowess like it was an aphrodisiac instead of a turnoff. Luke had an easy confidence, almost a humble presence, that made Cassie think he must be a very successful surgeon.

  She’d never connected with anyone the way she had with him. Every conversation they had felt . . . significant. That was the only word Cassie could think of to describe it.

  Maybe everything feels more significant right after a funeral.

  After the final batch of cupcakes was decorated and boxed, Cassie headed upstairs to her bedroom. She paused at the top, and her eyes flew to the open door of Luke’s bedroom. She couldn’t help it; she smiled. He’s a man of his word.

  Her mouth suddenly went dry as she imagined how the night would go if she took him up on his invitation. Would it be so wrong?