Chasing the Runaway Bride (18 page)

The door whipped open. Cade’s mouth fell when he saw her. “Hey.”

She lifted her chin. “Hey.”

“Something wrong at the store?”

She shook her head. “I was just…” She cleared her throat. Like her, he wore jeans and a T-shirt, but his showed off sexy tattoos and even sexier muscles. Muscles that reminded her he wasn’t just a rancher; he’d once been a arine. He was strong. Male…

Which was exactly why she was here. She was tired of being plain Piper, proper Piper, polite Piper…she wanted to be real Piper. And the real Piper wanted to sleep with him.

“I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.”

He opened the door wider. “Well, come in then.” Closing the door behind her, he said, “Would you like a sandwich or something?”

She shook her head, noticing how dark his grandfather’s house was, and the dust. From where she stood, she could see the well-lit kitchen was clean, but dust coated the unused formal dining room table and every other flat surface. It was as if he’d cleaned the rooms he intended to use and left everything else alone.

Because he was leaving.

The indicators of his very temporary situation were a good reminder that she had to tread lightly. No falling in love. No groping for a commitment to make her inner good girl feel like she wasn’t a slut. Just fun.

She smiled up at him, feeling around in her gut for the certainty she’d discovered that afternoon. It failed her.

But he smiled, and everything inside her melted.

“You know why I’m here.”

He looped his arms around her waist and smacked a quick kiss on her lips. “I want to hear you say it.”

“Wow. Can’t you ever just go with the flow? Do I have to
say
everything?”

“I want to make sure there are no mistakes. No misinterpretations.”

“Okay then, I’m here to have fun, because you and I are good together. And since you’re such a stickler for no misinterpretations… I hope you dusted your bedroom.”

He laughed, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned her in the direction of the stairs. “Yes. And cleaned the bathroom.”

She started up the steps. “Then we should be fine. Which room is yours?”

“First on the left.”

“Oh, nice view of the street, then.”

“You’re not going to be looking outside.”

They stopped at the top of the stairs, and, as if he’d reached his limit, he scooped her off her feet, carried her into the room, and dumped her on the bed.

He had most of his clothes off before she’d removed her jacket and tossed it to an available chair.

She sat up and pulled off her T-shirt. He sat on the bed, turned her around, and undid the clasp of her pretty yellow bra.

“You have sexy underwear.”

“If you’d given me a minute I’d planned to do a nice striptease.”

“We’ll save that for another day.”

She laughed, but he spun her around and kissed her deeply as he lowered her to the bed. Every nerve ending in her body lit up with pleasure as his mouth made love to hers and his hands began to travel.

The right one slid down her side, tickling her sensitive skin as it caressed her. She would have giggled, but it felt too good, so damned good that she lifted her hands and gave herself over to the joy of touching him.

With total abandon, she grazed her fingers down his muscled back to his tight butt. She absolutely, positively could not get enough of the feeling of his skin beneath her palms. There was something about the supple strength, the unleashed power, that resonated through every lean muscle.

His mouth opened over hers. Their tongues entwined. And she gave herself over to the pleasure.

Nuzzling her neck, he said, “This is going to be a fun night.”

She had absolutely no doubt about it.

…

She arrived at O’Riley’s the following afternoon, working not to feel smug. She had a lover. Piper O’Riley, woman who couldn’t seem to have a relationship without getting engaged, was having sex with a man she had no intention of marrying.

It was the most freeing thing she’d ever done, and it was hard not to be a little giddy.

But with her mother standing at register one and Jenny Forsythe pushing groceries past the scanner of register two, this was the wrong time to glow.

When she reached the checkout lanes, she said, “Good afternoon,” and kept going. She calmly opened the door of the cashier’s cage, walked through, opened the door of the office, and let herself in.

Cade rose from the desk. “Hey.”

“Hey.” It was a struggle to keep the flutter in her heart from rising up to her throat, but she did it. Her relationship with Cade was sophisticated. Not bubbly.

But he strode across the room, caught her by the waist, and hauled her up for a long, slow kiss before he put her down again.

“That’s a much more proper greeting.”

“Not on the sales floor.”

He laughed. “You really don’t want people to know we’re sleeping together.”

“Neither one of us wants the gossip.”

“Oh, I think the store could weather it now.”

She shrugged. “Maybe. But I don’t think we should risk it.”

He pushed the hair off her neck. “Whatever you want.”

“Besides, sneaking around is kind of sexy.”

“I told you.”

She laughed and stepped away from him. “Anything I need to know?”

“Yes, don’t eat dinner. I’ll cook for you when you come by.”

She pivoted to face him. “I’m coming by again tonight?”

“Unless you want me to come to your house.”

“Two nights in a row?”

“Wow, you really haven’t ever had an affair, have you?”

“No.”

He shook his head. “I have so much to teach you.”

And he proceeded to continue teaching her that night. And every night for the rest of the week. Until the night they both fell asleep, and she awoke at a quarter till four. With a gasp, she grabbed the old alarm clock, just to make sure the big hand really was on the nine and the little hand was closing in on the four. When she saw that it was, she jumped out of bed, slid into her clothes, and bent down to kiss Cade before she left.

She put her hand on his cheek and paused, struck by how handsome he was. Just looking at his face took her breath away. She stared at him for a minute, the long black lashes so visible with his eyes closed, the square cut of his jaw.

Something soft floated through her, but she wouldn’t let it take root. She stepped back and ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door. As she turned away from closing it, the newspaper whipped by her nose.

She froze.

Suzie Singletary rode by on her bike, continuing her newspaper delivery.

The way Suzie tossed papers from the basket in the front of her bike, without looking, without stopping, Piper didn’t think Suzie had seen her, but it was a close call.

Close enough that her heart thudded in her chest and her feet all but flew up the sidewalk to her car.

Wide awake, she drove home and debated going in to work early that day to tell Cade. In the end, she decided not to. He really didn’t care if anyone found out.
She
cared.

The disconnect followed her around that morning as she ran errands, did laundry, made herself a sandwich for lunch.

She drove to work at the normal time, walked in, and said hello to the clerks before she strode through the cashier’s cage to the office the way she always did.

But everything felt wrong. Off. The fact that Cade wouldn’t care if someone saw her leaving his house rattled through her. Made her feel off, empty. Alone. What was she doing having sex with a guy who had absolutely no feelings for her? Oh, he liked her…but temporarily. Two years from now if he visited his family for Christmas, it wouldn’t even cross his mind to give her a call and say hello. He’d be done with her.

She opened the office door, and Cade didn’t even look up.

“I was thinking maybe we shouldn’t work overlap hours.”

That got his attention. “What?”

She ambled to the desk. “There’s really no reason for the two of us to be here.”

He rose. “Except we could get in a few minutes of preliminaries before tonight’s main event.”

He stepped close. She moved back. “You know what? I think maybe I need a night off.”

…

Cade studied her face. “A night off?”

She shrugged. “I get home late. I got up early this morning.” Her gaze met his and he saw something in her eyes. An emotion he couldn’t quite identify.

“Did something happen?”

She smiled stiffly. “No.”

“Yet you want me to leave now, and you aren’t coming to my house tonight.”

“That makes me sound bitchy or bossy, and I’m not.” She took a long drink of air. “Cade, I’m tired.”

He laughed. “I get it. Five days of being up until two or three every morning can take a toll.” He gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

But as he left the office, walked through the cashier’s cage, waved good-bye to the clerks, an odd feeling began to build in his belly. Something that told him she’d been lying. Or at least hedging the truth.

He climbed into his Silverado.
But she did look tired.

He started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, heading for his grandfather’s house, which, today, seemed an interminable distance away.

Every night she drove to his house. Every night she had to dress and go out into the cold early October air. While he stayed in bed.

That didn’t feel very gentlemanly. The woman was the softest, warmest, most interesting person he’d ever met. A smart man did not take that for granted. And if he followed that whole train of thought correctly, that was the real bottom line. He had been taking her for granted.

He frowned.

He’d never thought about that with a woman before.

It puzzled him. It sent up red caution lights all over the place. But even the thought that she might be upset with him leveled him. He enjoyed her too much to do anything wrong. And upsetting her? That would be classified as stupidity.

So instead of pulling onto the street for his grandfather’s house, he drove to the florist.

Isabelle Cooper, twenty-something daughter of Reg and Brooke Cooper, smiled when he walked into the small, sweet-smelling sales floor of Buds and Blossoms.

“Hey, Cade! What can I get for you?”

She wore a white lab coat over a pair of jeans. Her pretty red hair flowed down her slim back. A lifetime ago, he would have flirted with her. Today, worry about upsetting Piper filled him.

Confusion nudged at him again. He didn’t worry about what women thought…

But this was Piper. His partner. And she was fantastic in the sack.

“I’d like a bouquet of flowers.”

“Just a bouquet or an arrangement?”

“Just a nice bouquet I can give to…” Oh, crap. He didn’t give a damn what the town, the gossips, thought, but Piper did. “To my mom.” Now he’d have to get twice as many flowers and give half to his mom and half to Piper. Just in case Isabelle asked his mom how she liked the flowers.

She ripped a hunk of white paper from a long, fat roll on the wall behind the counter. “That’s nice. How is your mom?”

“She’s good.” Still waiting for his deadbeat dad to sign a financial document that would give her
her
freedom, but he wouldn’t say that.

She pointed at a refrigerator that held all kinds of fall-colored flowers. “What would you like?”

He winced. “You can’t pick something?”

“I could…but it’s just nicer if you choose.”

He frowned and looked at what was available. “Don’t you have any pink?”

“Pinks are usually more for summer…” She turned and motioned for him to follow her into the greenhouse behind the counter. “But I still have some back here.”

Rows of gorgeous flowers greeted him. Pinks, yellows, reds.

“I like those.”

“Zenia! They are pretty.”

“I’d like a big, fat bouquet.”

She smiled and began snipping.

It took fifteen minutes, but eventually she created a bouquet big enough that he could split it between his mother and Piper. He got the odd, funny feeling in the pit of his stomach again, but he ignored it.

After delivering a bouquet to his surprised mom, he made spaghetti and meatballs, showered, and put on a dress shirt and jeans. He drove to Buzz Hanwell’s street, parked a few car lengths down from his garage, tucked the flowers under his arm, and walked up the shaky steps to Piper’s apartment door. He knocked once and waited.

By the time she answered the door, the flowers were slipping out from under his arm. The handles of the spaghetti pot burned his fingers.

She grabbed the flowers. “Cade. What are you doing here?”

He walked through her living room and set the pot of spaghetti on her dining room table. “I make a mean meatball.”

She laughed. “I don’t doubt it.”

“I know you said you wanted the night off, but I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something wrong.”

She glanced down at the flowers in her hands. “So you bought me these?”

“And made food. I covered both bases.”

She laughed. “Are you really this clueless about dating?”

“No. Believe it or not, I’m usually suave. But we’re not really dating.”

She shook her head.

And he saw that weird look come to her eyes again. It stabbed his heart and tightened his gut with a fear he’d never felt before. Fear that he was losing her.

“We could be dating. We’d just have to face a couple of really mean gossips.”

When she wouldn’t look up, he put a finger under her chin and raised her head until their gazes met.

“You’re not ashamed of me, are you?”

“No!” She shook her head. “Cade, I don’t want to go public. Not because I’m ashamed of you, but because I worry about how I’m going to handle it when you leave.”

She set the flowers on the table, left the room, and returned with two plates, some utensils, and napkins. Motioning for him to sit, she said, “I know it’s right for you to go back to Montana. I know we’re just having fun.” She smiled stupidly and caught his gaze. “Actually, I’m having some of the most fun of my life. But when you leave and I’m sad, I don’t want people saying you dumped me or I dumped you. I don’t want people to know I’m sad. I just want to be left alone.”