by Tawny Weber
“You’re taking Eden to the Spring Fling?” Janie asked in the same tone one would use to humor a two-year-old who’d just claimed they were going to fly to the moon on their teddy bear.
“And me, with nothing special to wear,” Eden deadpanned, thrilled to throw Janie’s words back at her.
Cade leaned closer, his breath tickling her ear as he whispered, “Something that goes with that red bra would be nice.”
Despite her irritation over his disappearance, Eden gurgled with laughter and slanted him a naughty look.
“How interesting,” Janie snapped, tucking her purse under her arm and grabbing Crystal with her other hand. “I guess we’ll just have to do that shopping trip without you, Eden. See you at the ball.”
With that, a chilly look and a tug on her stunned friend’s arm, Janie glided out like she was floating on ice.
“Aww, I think you upset them,” Eden said, still laughing as the front door slammed shut. “It’s going to be painful, given that they came in for gossip and you sent them off with the best of the season. But Janie’s going to have to choose between spreading the word or being pissed that you’re claiming to take me to the social event of the season.”
“Claim? I don’t lie.” At her doubtful look, Cade frowned. “Why wouldn’t I take you?”
Easing out from under his arm so as to reboot the circuit to her brain, Eden rolled her eyes.
“Why wouldn’t you take me, in their opinion? Or in reality?”
She blinked a couple times at the flash of fury in his eyes, but before she could do more than bite her lip, it was gone.
“Let’s get their opinion out of the way, since it seems to matter to you.”
“Oh, no,” she exclaimed wide-eyed, giving a dismissive wave of her hand as if she could as easily shoo away the truth. “I don’t care what they think. Although this will put an interesting spin on the Who’s Cade With Now chitchat.”
She could imagine the shock, dismay and questions. Drinks at the Wayfarers were one thing. Bringing the equivalent of a poor relation to the biggest social event of the year? That was like stepping up to pitch in the gossip major leagues.
“You have a problem with your name being linked to mine?”
Eden’s lips twitched, wondering if he knew he sounded like a pouty ten-year-old.
“It sounds like you’re the one worried about gossip,” she said, gathering up the kittens and putting them back in their cage. Then she went to the supply closet to finish up her closing cleaning routine. “And their reasons are three-fold. I’m not wealthy. I might break something of yours they’re going to want to use if you date them. And taking me means you’re not taking one of them.”
There. Three simple reasons, presented in her best nonwhiny fashion.
“And what about you?”
“Me?” she asked, glancing up from her task of cleaning one of the cat boxes. “I’m closer to poor than non-wealthy. I never try to break things—it just happens. And I’m sure the perception that you already have a date will keep them from dogging you in hopes of getting asked out.”
When he didn’t respond, she finished the last cat box, then made her way through the lobby, reception area and exam room to empty trash bins. She returned two minutes later to find him still standing in the center of the room, arms crossed over his chest and a grumpy frown on his face.
“Do you have an excuse lined up?” she asked, hoping they were good ones. She’d realized that being blown off after starring in the How’d She Get Him To Do That gossip was going to be quite a slap. “Will you say you were called back to duty? An overseas emergency?”
“What are you talking about?”
Leaving the garbage bag by the door, she pushed a stray hair behind her ear and gave him a chiding look. “Well you’re not really going to the Spring Fling with me, and I can’t not go because I promised your grandmother I’d help out. So what excuse are you going to give?”
“I’m going with you,” he insisted.
“Oh, please, you are not. You just said that because Janie was being a brat. That was a typical Cade Sullivan rescue.”
His frown turned deadly.
Eden tried to swallow, but the look in his eyes dried up her throat.
Wow.
She’d always thought of Cade as a charmer, an easygoing guy who looked sexy as hell in a navy uniform. But she rarely thought of him as military. Until the other night when he’d mentioned losing his friend, she’d never thought of him as a fighter.
But that look, the one right there on his face?
That twisted her perception all around.
And made her shiver with apprehension. He wasn’t just the boy next door. There were depths there, things he’d done, things he could do, that were beyond her ability to relate to. He wasn’t just the guy she’d always crushed on now.
Now, he was a dangerous man who was suddenly way more than she could safely handle.
“A typical rescue?” he repeated, his words low, with a cold edge. Like he was seeing her in a whole different light, too.
Eden didn’t care. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, pretend to be something she wasn’t. Which included being meek and sweet just to get her forever crush to like her. Dammit, she wasn’t in eighth grade and this wasn’t child’s play. Even if it did include an end-of-season dance.
“Of course this is another Cade Sullivan rescue. You’ve never attended the Spring Fling with a date, and nothing you say will convince me that you wanted to this year. The only reason you said you were taking me was to get Janie and Crystal to back off,” she dismissed, irritated that her words came out shaky and hoping he’d take that as nerves instead of hurt.
“That wasn’t bullshit,” he denied. “I want to take you to the party.”
Her heart leaped, excited and hopeful. She stomped it down quickly, since the defensive tone and quick flash of regret on his face didn’t scream happy date to her.
“Why?” she asked, suddenly tired of being his pet project. Someone only worthy of his attention if she needed rescuing. Well, dammit, she was tired of having him see her as a mission. If he couldn’t want her as a woman—a desirable, strong, worthy-of-him woman—she wished he’d just leave.
Again.
“Why?” he repeated, frustration and anger clear on his face.
“Yes,” she challenged, lifting her palms to the air. “Why.”
Cade’s jaw worked, emotions chasing too fast through his eyes for her to keep up. Then, clearly reaching a conclusion—one that looked like it was going to scare the hell out of her, if that dark look was any indication—he stomped over.
“What—”
Before she could finish asking what he was doing, he grabbed both her arms and lifted her off her feet. Pulling her body tight against his, he bent low.
“This is why,” he told her just before he took her mouth.
Eden melted, sinking into the kiss with a low moan.
He was so yummy.
And he wanted her.
That cautious—and totally inconvenient—little voice screamed out a warning. He was out of her league. So far out that she didn’t have the first comprehension of what his real life was like. Four days ago, he’d been her hero. The boy next door who always pulled her out of the tree. But he was bigger and sexier and scarier and more intense now.
Slowly, reluctantly, she forced herself to pull away from the most delicious kiss of her life. She barely held back a protesting whimper.
Her lashes fluttered as she made herself meet his gaze. His green eyes were like lasers, looking past her soul and into that corner where her fears hid. He saw everything, could do anything.
She slid out of his arms before she could curl up closer and beg for another taste.
She wanted him.
And she was desperately afraid she was falling in love with him.
10
“WELL,” EDEN SAID, breathless as she pressed her fingers to her lips, looking like he’d just shocked her all
to hell and back. “That’s a good reason for a lot of things. But are you sure you want to do them in public? Because there’s nothing more public than this event.”
Hands fisted in his pockets so he wouldn’t grab her again, Cade paced to the window to glare at the overgrown paddock.
What the hell was he doing? He’d wanted to see her, yes. But his reasons for coming here were much more practical. He needed to fill her in on the loan his father was trying to collect from her mother. And he wanted to arrange for her to get a pet for his grandmother. Next thing he knew, he was throwing out public declarations and playing grab-ass like a desperate sailor on his first leave.
He’d lived within specific protocols long enough to know he was stepping way over the line. There were times you took one for the squad, you risked it all for the mission. And then there was going so far off the deep end that you were practically AWOL. Doing this? Going after Eden? That was the equivalent of going rogue.
He knew what he was supposed to do.
He’d spent four days solidifying his mission plan and choices, outlining the known factors, considering the options and detailing his escape routes.
The mission was to get out of Ocean Point with everything the same as when he’d arrived. Which meant no crazy commitments, no broken hearts, no emotional drama.
The choices had been simple. Give in to his desire for Eden. Or do some damage control, convincing her that nothing had changed between them.
Known factors?
Eden was the girl he rescued, and even though she didn’t know it, she currently needed his help.
She was tied to Ocean Point, and would have to face the gossips and innuendos long after he left.
She was deliciously sweet, in more ways than one.
She was fun and cute and made him feel like he could leap, fly and save the world.
If it wasn’t for his dedication to the military, to his career as a SEAL, she was the kind of girl he’d want to settle down with. Which made her about as dangerous as a mountain of explosives in a lightning storm.
So her pushing him away?
It was the best thing she could have done for both of their sakes.
“Are you saying you don’t want to go to the party with me?” he asked, totally aware as the words left his lips that he’d crossed the line.
“I’m just saying that I don’t think it’s a really good idea,” she told him, her words slow and careful, as if she were measuring each one before she let it cross her tongue. “It’s not like it’s two buddies going out for a drink, you know? If we went to this event—because the dance isn’t just another country club party—we’d be making a statement.”
“You mean the gossips will go crazy talking about us, making up all kinds of stuff and trying to outdo each other with their brilliantly manufactured insider information?”
Eden’s lips twitched and she rolled her eyes as if to say he was being ridiculous. Good. He was glad she could see how stupid it was to let other people factor into whether or not they went together.
“Exactly.”
“Exactly, what?” Cade frowned. Was she agreeing with his gossip assessment? Or had she tapped into his thoughts and was reassuring him that she’d be totally on board with having a no-strings relationship with him in front of the entire town?
“The gossips would go crazy over the news that you were dating me. They already are, actually. It won’t matter that it’s a pity date thrown out in another of your routine rescues.”
Cade wasn’t sure which phrase sent his pissed meter through the roof. Pity date, or routine rescue. Both were pretty damned insulting.
“You think that’s all there is between us? Pity rescues?”
She winced, then lifted her palms and gave him a sad look. “What else is there?”
He’d had it. He was so tired of denying his wants, turning away from his needs. He was sick of being the nice guy, dammit.
“What else is there? Do you need a reminder,” he asked, giving in to the need to pull her close again. He took her lips before she could voice the protest he saw in her dark eyes. It only took a few seconds before passion blurred her gaze and she kissed him back.
He couldn’t get enough of her.
His lips shifted, his mouth angling to take hers deeper. Why was this a bad idea again?
His need for her overruled everything.
Even his ability to think.
“Stop,” she whispered, her mouth still moving against his.
“No.”
His hands skimmed her hips, up her waist and cupped her breasts. He groaned, reveling in the wonder of her softness. Her fullness. He squeezed, loving how she filled his palms, making his body ache for more.
He angled his body closer, so his hardening length pressed tight against her hip. She moaned, soft and low, making his fingers tighten before he slipped one hand over the curve of her waist to tug the soft fabric of her T-shirt away from her jeans.
Before he could find flesh, though, her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Eden pulled her mouth away from his. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared for a second before giving a regretful moan. She brushed her lips against his, super-fast, then ripped herself from his arms to scurry a few feet away.
“I can’t... Here... Um...” She shoved both hands through her hair, loosened now that he’d tossed her ponytail holder somewhere on the floor. “I work here.”
“So? We can do other things here, too,” he reasoned, reaching for her again. His fingers barely skimmed her waist before she skipped away.
“Nope. Not here,” she said shaking her head. She didn’t look like she wanted to stop, though. Her eyes were eating him up like candy, the heat in them enough to melt his shorts.
“Why not?” he finally demanded, wanting to hear her tell him to his face that she wasn’t interested. Because her nipples were still saying the opposite as they pressed, hard and pebbled, against her T-shirt.
Before she could say anything, the front door opened. In came a handful of women, a gaggle of kids and, weirdly, the goat.
They all stopped, looks of shock and speculation chasing over their faces.
“Hey, Eden,” one of the women greeted. A chorus of hellos followed. “We’re here for the 4H meeting. Thanks again for letting us use the back room.”
“Sure.” Eden look flustered for a minute, then shook her head like she was tossing off a fog and gestured to a wide set of doors. “It’s all set for your meeting. Just lock up when you leave.”
The women slanted curious looks their way but didn’t ask questions as they herded the kids toward the room. He did see one give another a hip bump and a giggle before glancing back and blushing.
Looked like another segment of Ocean Point had something to talk about now.
“When is this over?” Cade asked, wondering which would come first, talking himself out of sex with Eden, or exploding from pent-up frustration. If her meeting ran more than fifteen minutes, either one was distinctly possible.
“The 4H meeting?” Eden glanced back as one attendee led the goat into the room before looking at the clock. “They should wind up around four-thirty.”
“They?”
“I’m not in the 4H,” she said, her shrug a little wistful. Cade wondered why she wasn’t, since she was totally into animals. Was it anything like why she wasn’t a part of the Oceanfront snob patrol, even though she had the family pedigree to qualify?
“So you don’t have to stay?”
“I usually don’t.”
The girl with the goat and the one with the wicked hip bump both stood in the doorway, pretending to inspect the dog food display. Cade was pretty sure they were tilting sideways, considering how close they were leaning to try and eavesdrop.
“Let’s go,” he suggested, wondering if it sounded like begging to everyone else in the room or if that was just in his head.
“Go?”
“Yeah,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the door. “Go.�
�
* * *
“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” Eden’s nerves were jumping all over the place as excitement, fear and anticipation wound through her system. She wanted to show a little pride and pull away, proving she wasn’t a pushover. That she wasn’t going to let him give her another wildly intense, mind-blowing orgasm and then just waltz away without a word.
“Let’s go somewhere private. Your place is close,” he suggested with a wicked smile, his fingers twining through hers.
Eden glanced toward the house for a considering second before sliding her eyes to the cars parked in front of the barn-slash-veterinary-clinic-slash-4H-classroom.
The house was close. A little too close to the barn-slash-vet-clinic filled with kids and curious adults. Many of whom she was sure had their noses pressed against the window at that exact moment.
She couldn’t deny that she’d enjoyed reaping the benefits of the gossips this week. Cade was better than an ad, a coupon and a social-media blitz all rolled into one. But maybe it was time for a little caution. Because it wasn’t just her reputation on the line here.
She was horribly afraid it might be her heart, too.
“How about we walk?” she countered, unable to deny herself more time with him despite the risk. She gestured to the path that traversed between both their properties. “We can take the lakeside trail. It’s always so pretty along there.”
“You want to go to the lake?” he asked, his voice dropping. It wasn’t until she saw the flash of heat in his green eyes that she remembered. If he hadn’t been holding her hand, she’d have used it to smack herself in the forehead. The lake was his spot. Initiations, sexual escapades, good times. She knew that. She’d fantasized about it so many times that the suggestion must have popped out of her subconscious.
Eden clenched her teeth in case some of the butterflies in her stomach escaped. Here it was, her only birthday wish of the last handful of years, ready to come true. All she had to do was let it.
“You sure you want to revisit the lake?” he asked, his words teasing and low. So low that he had to lean closer, so his warm breath washed over her, to deliver them.