Meeting His Match (A Match Me Novel) (Entangled Lovestruck) (10 page)

But then Caine squeezed her thigh, a bare inch below the hem of her dress, effectively reminding her that she wasn’t wearing a whole lot beneath it. It wouldn’t take much for him to find out how little—just a couple inches higher and he’d find her completely bare. The possibility of him exploring her with his fingers drowned out her growing anger better than any Valium.

“Are you going to tell me what’s been bothering you since this morning?”

He’d noticed? She’d thought she had a handle on things, had stuffed them down enough that no one would notice, but apparently she couldn’t even do that right. It wasn’t as if she could tell him that she was bothered by just how much she liked him. Caine wouldn’t understand. He lived in a world where black was black and white was white. To him the fact that they had an obvious attraction between them wasn’t an issue—it was something to be pursued.

He didn’t even believe in soul mates.

Needing the focus off her before they ended up fighting about that again, Addison changed the subject. “I’m surprised you frequent a place like this enough to be on a first-name basis with the bartender.” It was a stay of execution more than anything else—they would have to talk about it eventually. But she wanted to have this night of happiness before reality intruded.

Caine frowned, and for a moment, she was sure he’d pursue his earlier line of questioning, but then he seemed to decide to let go. “It used to be that Brock never met a drinking establishment that he wouldn’t frequent. This was one of his favorites when he still lived down here.”

She hadn’t met his little brother until after he’d moved to New York to be with Regan, but some of the stories he told gave the impression that he’d made a lot of questionable decisions while trying to escape the constant disappointment his father always turned on him. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like growing up with that. Both her parents were incredibly supportive of whatever choices she made in life. They might not always agree, but they recognized that she wasn’t a little clone of them that had been created solely so that they could have a second chance at life.

It was enough to make her wonder how Caine felt about his father. It wasn’t something they’d talked about yet. They’d done an excellent job of avoiding the majority of the deep conversations people who were rapidly falling for each other had.

Addison took a deep breath and let it go. She was supposed to be enjoying the evening—not obsessing about things she wasn’t sure she wanted to change. “Brock’s not like that these days. He’s really settled into being a father.” Both he and Regan had taken to parenthood like ducks to water. They showered the twins with love and affection and were even talking about having more children once the girls were potty trained.

And she was happy for them. Really, she was.

But that didn’t stop the little spike of envy that went through her every time she held one of the girls. Or spent time with them. Or even thought about them. They seemed to grow by leaps and bounds every time Addison saw pictures of them. It was just another reminder of all the possibilities that had been torn from her along with Aiden.

Caine’s squeezing her knee brought her back to herself. “I come here when I want to get away from it all.”

“Get away.” It sounded like a dream. But she couldn’t escape the thoughts in her head as easily as she caught a flight out of New York.

“Yeah. Here, no one expects anything from me except a good tip.”

It made a certain amount of sense. As CEO, he was in demand every second of every day—or at least that was how it appeared. In the days she’d been here, the only place other than home that he spent time was the office. No one could live under that level of stress indefinitely without breaking.

How long did he have?

After five years of her company being her life, she felt brittle and so unhappy there were days when every breath hurt. Caine had been CEO for fifteen, and if Brock’s comments were anything to go by, he’d worked full-time for McNeill Enterprises even longer. No wonder his misery had been practically radiating from him when they met.

Everyone had to have a place where they felt safe, a place where they could go and let some of the stress of normal life fall away. With people like Addison and Caine, that place was often the only thing that got them through the day.

And he’d brought her to his.

Chapter Fourteen

Caine made a conscious decision to let his concerns about Addison go. Yes, she’d changed the subject when he flat-out asked her what was wrong, but the whole point of tonight was to make her comfortable and show her how good things outside the bedroom could be between them. The rest of the date had gone well, their conversation easy and light and full of laughter. It was only when they were back in the Jaguar that he brought up the idea he’d been mulling over for most of the evening. “I’d like you to meet my parents.”

It was hard to tell in the shadows, but he thought her eyes might have gone wide. “Your parents?”

“Yeah.”

“Technically, I’ve already met your father.”

Which had been a clusterfuck from beginning to end. His father hadn’t had to say anything to get his opinion across. He didn’t approve of Addison, but that was because he didn’t
know
Addison. There is no way the old man could spend any time in her presence and not be charmed. In order for that to happen, though, he had to get them together in a respectable situation, and for
that
he needed her cooperation. “That hardly counts, and you know it.”

She sighed, the sound barely audible over the rush of the wind. “First a date, and now you want me to meet the parents. I don’t know what to think of you.”

Why did she have to think anything? Because when a woman made comments like that, it didn’t mean anything positive. He hadn’t dated much in recent years, but he remembered that just fine.

Which brought the point home that she wasn’t all right. “I asked you before, and when you changed the subject, I let you. Now I’m going to ask you again, and I want an answer—what’s wrong?”

She was quiet so long, he thought she might dodge the question yet again. But then she turned in her seat to face him. “I told you I haven’t been with anyone in six years. There’s a reason it’s been so long.”

He knew that, but he wasn’t about to confess that he’d been checking up on her. Besides, he wanted to hear what happened directly from Addison. He’d trusted her enough to take her to his bar, and she seemed to understand the significance of that. Now it seemed she was returning the favor of trust. “Tell me.”

“When I was in high school, I was the perfect daughter, student, and friend. And I loved it. I loved pleasing other people, and I loved school in general.” She looked out the window. “There was a boy—isn’t there always?—and as much as I was everything to everyone else, he was everything to me. He was my rock, and he was there for me whenever I needed him. Everyone thought it was just young love, the kind that flares hot and only lasts a moment.”

He only knew about that stuff—in theory. Caine had dated in high school, but nothing particularly serious. He’d had friends who fell in love, and some even married their high school sweethearts. But like so many statistics, over the years most of those relationships had ended in divorce.

“We got married the summer after high school, and I was so happy I’m surprised I didn’t burst from it.”

He wasn’t sure what he expected to hear in her voice when she talked about this boy-man she’d loved, but there was nothing but a bittersweet tone. She wasn’t seeing Caine anymore, or even the present—her gaze had gone into the past where he couldn’t follow. “I had three years with the love of my life—my one true soul mate—before he died, and a decent portion of those were spent apart.”

“How did he die?” He already knew, but hearing it from Regan and hearing it straight from Addison felt like two completely different stories happening to two different people.

“He was in the Army. He wanted a job that was going to provide for us while I went to college.” She shook her head. “I never went. I kept putting it off because I wanted to be there for him when he wasn’t deployed. And after he was gone, I just didn’t have the heart for it.”

He hated hearing this, hated knowing she thought this dead man was the only one for her. “You seem to have done pretty damn well for yourself.”

She shrugged. “It started off innocently enough. I had a group of friends determined to get me out of my house on a semi-regular basis. I saw that two of them would be amazing as a couple, so I pushed one and pulled the other.” She smiled for the first time since they’d started talking about this. “They just had their fourth baby and are still madly in love.”

There it was—that wistfulness that he’d heard when they spoke at the bar. That wasn’t the tone of a woman ready to be done with the possibilities of life. He’d have to be blind to miss the longing in every line of her body. She wanted kids. Maybe it made him a bastard to want to take her out of the corner she’d painted herself into, but he wanted to be the one to give her that dream. A more honorable man would respect her wishes in this and let their affair fizzle out.

Over his dead body.

But he’d figure out how he’d change her mind later. Right now he needed to keep her talking. “And then?”

“And then things just sort of spiraled out of control. I loved watching my friends fall in love. It was the first time I’d felt alive since Aiden died, and so I grabbed on to it with both hands.”

Because she wasn’t ready to join him in the grave—even figuratively. He wondered if she realized what her actions meant, though all signs seemed to indicate she didn’t. “I think it’s amazing what you’ve put together. What’s your success rate up to now?”

“I don’t choose to measure success in rates or percentages. It takes the heart out of the business to say I have a ninety percent successful match rate. But since I’ve started my own business, I’ve been invited to nearly a hundred weddings.”

Christ. “Did you make it to all of them?”

She frowned. “Yeah. It’s the realization of a happily ever after between two soul mates. It’d be wrong if I didn’t go.”

The crux of the problem of a potential future with them—she still believed that soul mate crap. Which wasn’t to say he
didn’t
believe. But limiting yourself to only one person for the entirety of your life was pretty damn shortsighted. Her husband died when she was twenty-one. By her theory, she should spend the rest of her life alone because he was the only one for her. It was bullshit.

He didn’t particularly like being jealous of a dead man, but Caine couldn’t help himself. “What happens if one of them dies?”

She jerked back as if he’d struck her. “Why would you say something like that?”

“I’m serious. What if one of these married couples was in a car accident and one of them, let’s say the wife, dies.”

“Caine—”

“Humor me, please.”

She bit her lip, looked away, and finally shrugged. “That would be a terrible tragedy.”

“I’m not arguing that. But what if, say, five years later, the husband comes to you, looking for you to match him again.”

Her gaze flew back to him. “What the hell kind of scenario is this?”

“You’re humoring me, remember?” She glared, but he wasn’t about to let that deter him. He could argue until he was blue in the face that she was entitled to being happy with someone besides her dead husband and it would change nothing. This was the only way to make her see. Addison was pretty damn protective of her clients. She wouldn’t sentence one to a life of loneliness and misery just because she believed each person only got one soul mate per lifetime. “Would you match him?”

“He already had his soul mate.”

That wasn’t an answer. “But would you match him? This guy is begging you to help him out. He’s tried dating, and I’m sure you know what that shit is like, and he’s tried being set up by friends, but nothing’s clicked. All he wants is to share his life with someone.” And then he went in for the kill. “He wants kids, darlin’. He wants to be a grandfather some day.”

“God,
stop
.”

He couldn’t. Not until he made her see. “Then answer the question. Would you turn him away?”

“
I don’t know
. Does it make you happy to know that? I…I don’t know.” She shifted in her seat, facing the passenger window.

Damn it, that wasn’t the answer he’d been after. He wanted her to admit that she’d help that poor guy, which would lead her to the logical conclusion that if she could find happiness for that client, then there was no reason
she
couldn’t find happiness again.

Caine gripped the wheel and turned them toward home. He’d planted the seed in her head. He hoped. Other than forcing her to look at the issue from this perspective, he wasn’t sure what else he could say to change her mind…but he had damn well better figure it out quickly if he didn’t want her to walk out of his life. “Darlin’—”

“I don’t talk about this anymore. Why can’t we keep things simple—have fun and enjoy each other’s company?”

He didn’t want this to end. He wanted this thing with Addison to be more than just enjoying each other’s company. He wanted her to
stay
. But how the hell was Caine supposed to convince her of that if she refused to talk about a potential future at every turn?

They pulled up in front of his house, all the outside lights lit up to welcome them home.
Home
. It was a concept he’d gotten used to since she moved in, and he wasn’t keen on letting go. The thought of this giant house becoming empty again was almost more than he could bear. Bad enough that he had the memories from childhood, but to have something so recent—something he hadn’t realized he wanted desperately—and then lose it… Caine would do damn near anything to keep that from happening.

He got out of the car, determined to close the chasm that had opened up between them during their conversation. She barely got a foot onto the driveway when he pulled her into his arms. The dress was softer than he’d expected, the fabric so light it was almost nonexistent. Good. He wanted as few barriers between them as possible. Caine smoothed his hand down her back and nothing broke the movement. He went still. “You aren’t wearing anything under this, are you?”

Her smile took on a wicked edge. “I was wondering when you’d notice.”

“You’ve been like this all night.” He slid his hands beneath the hem of her dress, his concerns over the future falling away at the feel of her body beneath his palms. Fuck. If he’d known she’d left out that particular piece of her wardrobe, good intentions or no, he really wouldn’t have made it through dinner.

There was nothing stopping them from doing it now. Keeping one arm around her waist, he maneuvered his free hand between her legs. She opened for him, already tilting her hips in invitation. He pressed his palm to her center and groaned when he found her wet and ready for him.

Caine kissed her as he drew a finger through her wetness. His desperation had been building all night—desperation to make her see that there really was something between them, desperation to know her better, desperation to bury himself deep inside her. He couldn’t wait any longer. Still kissing her, he reached around her and popped open the dashboard. There was a God in heaven because condom wrappers crinkled beneath his hand. “I’m going to take you now, darlin’.”

“Good.”

She had his pants undone by the time he ripped open the condom. He rolled it on, kissing her one more time. From there, it was the easiest thing in the world to pick her up and sink himself deep inside her. That first stroke took him to heaven and back. Her whimpers only magnified the sensation. How could she continue to deny the connection between them? It was so strong he could almost see it.

He spread her wider and shoved in again, driving her back against the car. It was too rough, too crazed, but he couldn’t stop, not with her grip urging him on and her moaning in his ear. “Come for me, darlin’. Only me.”

“I—”

He cut her off with a kiss, because if she contradicted him right now he wasn’t sure he could recover. Knowing that struck a note through him that was damn near panic. She might very well walk away from this, leaving him broken and bloody behind her.

And then he couldn’t think anymore because she was coming, her body clenching around him, her heels digging into the small of his back, her hands in his hair. He couldn’t hang on any longer so he drove into her, losing himself in the feel of her surrounding him. It was too damn good—better than good. Fucking outstanding.

How the hell was he going to convince her to stay?