“Are you ready to go home?” His green eyes glowed with heat and a smile curved his mouth.
“Oh, yes,” she murmured, smiling up at him.
He bent and slipped an arm under her knees, swinging her up in his arms.
The customers burst into whoops and whistles as Cade carried Mariah out of the café and she buried her face against the warm column of his throat.
“I love you,” she breathed against his skin.
“I love you, too.” He paused to press a brief, hard kiss against her lips.
Mariah wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close, dizzied by the speed with which the future had gone from dismal to a horizon of infinite possibility, filled with love, happiness and best of all, Cade.
Epilogue
“Hey, honey,” Cade’s voice called. “Where are you?”
“I’m in the kitchen,” she called back. Drying her hands on a tea towel, Mariah walked toward the living room but barely made it past the breakfast nook when Cade entered the kitchen.
“Pete went to town. He said to tell you if you think of anything you need, you can reach him at the café in an hour.”
Cade brought with him the scent of sage, fresh air and leather. Mariah’s heart caught as he grinned at her, just before he swept her from head to toe with a glance that turned his green eyes hot.
He strode across the tiled floor and caught her around the waist, lifting her on tiptoe to take her mouth in a kiss that sizzled along her nerve endings. When he lifted his head and let her lower her heels to the floor, she was aroused and hungry.
“What was that for?” she got out, her fingers threaded into the thick black hair at his nape.
“Nothing. You’re just so damned pretty that I can’t be around you without kissing you.” He stroked the tip of his forefinger over the lush curve of her lower lip. “Or tasting you.”
He lowered his head and took her mouth again. When he lifted his head at last, his eyes were heavy lidded with arousal, one hand cupping her breast beneath her shirt. His thumb brushed back and forth over her beaded nipple covered by the soft lace of her bra and she caught her breath, pressing against his hand.
He walked her backward and with one easy movement, picked her up and set her on the kitchen counter. He nudged her knees apart and stepped between them, snugging his arousal into the vee of her thighs.
Mariah gasped and dragged his mouth back down to hers.
For long moments, the charged air in the kitchen grew hotter, breathing coming faster, more ragged.
Just when Mariah knew she could bear no more teasing, a telephone rang. Both she and Cade ignored it. The rings continued.
“Do you need to answer that?” Cade’s voice rasped, roughened with arousal.
“No. Wait….” She suddenly realized the ring tone wasn’t hers. “It’s not my phone.”
Cade growled out a curse and yanked his cell phone from his shirt pocket. Without releasing Mariah, he flipped open the phone and thumbed the on switch. “Yeah.”
The hard body pressed to Mariah’s went still, taut with surprise, and Cade’s green eyes sharpened, losing the fog of arousal.
“Where the hell have you been, Zach?” He waited, listening. “Good to know you survived,” he commented. “There’s no easy way to say this, Zach. The old man died. He left the Triple C to you, me, Eli and Brodie. I’m in Indian Springs and I need you to come home.”
Cade’s free hand moved, his fingers stroking slow, testing circles against the bare skin of her back just below the waistband of her jeans.
Mariah shivered, her hands tightening in his hair. His lashes lifted, green gaze pinning hers as he listened to his brother on the other end of the phone.
“I left a message on Eli’s machine to call me but I haven’t heard from him.” Cade frowned. “And I have no idea where the hell Brodie is—the last phone number I had for him isn’t any good anymore. Have you heard from him over the last six to eight months?” His frown deepened as he clearly listened to Zach’s response. “Damn. I was hoping you’d talked to him.” He fell silent, nodding at last. “All right. Let me know if you need a ride from the airport. And Zach…” He paused. “I’m glad you’re coming home.” Another pause. “Right. See you soon.”
He hit the off switch and tossed the phone on the counter.
“Where were we?” He slipped his hand beneath the hem of Mariah’s shirt and cupped the weight of her breast in his hand. “Oh, yeah,” he murmured. “Right about here….”
Mariah caught his hand, holding him still. “Wait. Tell me—that was your brother, right? He’s coming to help?”
“Yes, that was Zach. And yes, he’s coming home.”
“Soon?” she pushed, hoping.
“Yeah, soon. Or as soon as it’s possible to get here from Nepal,” Cade added. “I have no idea how long that takes.”
“I don’t know, either, but I’m so glad he’s on his way.” Mariah smiled up at him, relieved. “I was beginning to worry about how long it would take to find your brothers.”
“I told you not to worry, honey. We stay in touch.”
“Only guys would consider once a year or so ‘keeping in touch,’” she told him.
Cade shrugged. “I’m more interested in you and me keeping in touch,” he told her, his voice deepening. “Now, where were we….”
Mariah took her hand from his, relishing the instant movement of his fingers on the sensitive skin of her breast.
“I think we were…” she wrapped her arms around his neck and slipped her fingers into the silky hair at his nape once more “…right here.”
His lips curved in a sensual half smile, his green eyes instantly heavy lidded as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Awash in sensation, Mariah realized with hazy delight that Cade had brought her all the love, intimacy and happiness she’d ever dreamed of. He was her family, she thought just before she stopped thinking and gave in to a tidal wave of passion.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6991-4
CADE COULTER’S RETURN
Copyright © 2010 by Lois Faye Dyer
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Cade Coulter's Return Page 18