One Funeral (No Weddings #2)(22)

“I’ll have one,” Kiki shouted.

“What, no oolong tea?” Cade reached up for his beer as I passed by, then settled back into the couch.

Kiki shook her head, reaching for hers. “No. I don’t want to be wired all night. Besides, if it’s good enough for Hannah, I’m down with it.”

I tilted my head in thanks and clinked bottle necks with her. Then a thought occurred to me. I sat beside her, next to the floor pillow in front of the chair. “Hey, do you want to get together sometime? Like hang out, just you and me?”

Neither of us had suggested hanging out before, other than going out as a group once with her sisters to tease Cade at his bar, Loading Zone. Kiki and I had gotten along well in the two college art classes we’d taken together. But back then, I was a little distant with everyone after the break up with my ex.

She nudged my shoulder, smiling. “Yeah. That’d be cool.”

Kiki was a few years older than me but seemed younger with her free-spirited nature. We also had a lot in common: our creativeness, business interests, and maturity level.

“Great. I’ll give you a call.” Both relief and excitement buzzed through me. I was amazed at how easy inviting her out had been once I’d opened myself up to making new friends.

When I returned to the couch, Cade scooted back again, making room.

“You two seem cozy on the other end of the couch,” Kristen remarked.

Cade rolled his eyes. “Nothing to see here, busybody.”

“Mmm-hmm.” Kendall gave Cade a hard look.

And yet, interestingly, whenever we were together around his sisters, he seemed to be extra “non-touching” with me. At the moment, I sat in the space he’d carved out, my jeans barely touching his. But Cade moved at their comments, scooting further back into the couch.

Why was he hiding our interest in each other? We hadn’t outright talked about it, but maybe it was because there wasn’t yet much to tell.

Kiki narrowed her eyes, her gaze shifting from Cade to me. “We see plenty, you two. Deny it all you want. Something is going on between you, whether you choose to admit it or not.”

“Hannah’s hot.” Cade shrugged. “What hot-blooded man wouldn’t want to be near her? I’m not denying anything.”

He didn’t confirm anything, either.

I shook my head and plopped a pillow onto Cade’s face. “Hello? I’m sitting right here. And you can all stop planning my make-believe impending hookup with Cade. I’m good with the brother–sister camaraderie here. No need to rock the boat.”

It was true. I’d become comfortable among this clan. Protected and loved as one of their own. It made me forever grateful I’d met Kiki in college and that she’d thought of me first when they needed a baker for Invitation Only. And I felt honored and humbled to be pulled in even further, becoming a part of their extended family on event-planning nights like tonight.

After we cleaned up the game and I said my good-byes to his sisters, Cade and I tossed the bottles and pizza boxes outside in Kristen’s barrels while he walked me out to my car. Thoughts of his warm and loving family and how tight he and his sisters were swirled around in my head.

When I turned back toward him, he’d moved closer, and I crashed into the brick wall of his solid chest.

He gazed down at me, smirking as he wrapped his arms around me. “So you’re okay with the brother–sister camaraderie?”

Confused by the sudden body contact after distancing himself from me in front of his sisters, I put a palm to his chest, leaning back. “You said I was hot, but you didn’t confirm anything more.”

Tightening his embrace, he leaned down, brushing his lips across my jawline and up to my ear. “I’m confirming. I want you. I need you.”

Shivering from his heated touch, from how he overwhelmed me when holding me like this, my thoughts scattered. I turned my face, teasing my lips over his until he growled. I felt the rumble quake through my body, settling into a hot, demanding ache between my legs seconds before he captured my lips in a fervent kiss.

I wanted him too. And I needed him to touch me like this, even if it was only in private for now. To hell with the whole “non-kissing” thing.

The rest would have to wait.





The following Tuesday, I walked into Abigail’s office with a little more direction on what to expect than the first visit. I noticed the tissue box had been moved just outside of arm’s reach of the chair I’d sat in the last time. I grabbed a green pillow off the couch, propped it behind me in the chair, and stared at the tissue box. The new distance would require me to get up or lean far out of my chair. Funny how I considered a tissue box a security blanket.

“Will you move the tissues further from the chair as we go? Is this your way of weaning me off of getting upset?”

Abigail turned toward me after hanging her in-session sign on the doorknob and closing the door. She suppressed a smile, but amusement danced in her eyes. “Would you like it be?”

Lips twitching at the corners, I shook my head. “No. I wouldn’t want to pull a hamstring lunging halfway across your office.”

Abigail laughed. “So tell me how the week went.”

“It went well. A couple of days after our session, I tried to befriend an employee by taking her to lunch, but bailed on the attempt at the last second, realizing we had nothing in common besides work. But at the end of our lunch, I struck up a conversation with the café owner, Lila. We have a lot in common, both starting up local businesses, both of us having dealt with, or dealing with, loss. We met over the weekend to compare notes and discuss events and people in the local community. I’m looking forward to getting together with her again.”