Heartless (Chestnut Springs, #2)(76)

“You scared, Eaton?” I shout.

“No, baby. Just enjoying the view. Your ass looks mighty fine from back here.”

We both laugh and joy bubbles in my chest. I don’t let up though. He can stare at my ass, but I’m still going to kick his.

“Thank you!” I shout back as a joke. But deep down, it doesn’t feel like a joke.

It feels like he’s wiggling his way into my heart.





26





Willa





Summer: I feel like we live on the same piece of land and yet, I haven’t seen you at all.

Willa: Been busy.

Summer: With what?

Willa: Saving horses.

Summer: Oh, yeah?

Willa: Sum, I’ve saved so many I might as well open a rescue.

Summer: Good lord.

Willa: Would it be legal for me to have Cade write me a charitable donation receipt to offset my taxes?

Summer: I think he’s fucked you stupid, bestie.





Cade’s head pops out the back door, and butterflies erupt in my chest. I can tell by the way he scans the backyard that he’s been looking for me.

“Hi,” is all I say from the far side of the hot tub, steam wafting around me. We’re well into the dog days of summer now. It’s August and the nights have cooled. The air is fresh against my chest and shoulders, but the hot bubbling water caresses my body, chasing away the chill.

I’m not cold at all. Especially watching Cade step onto the patio, barefoot with thin lounge pants slung low, signature black T-shirt hugging his biceps, and hair all mussed from a shower and lying down with Luke.

“Luke asleep?”

“Yeah.” His eyes rake over me hungrily. “I meant to come find you sooner, but I think I fell asleep in there.”

“That’s okay. I’ve been keeping busy,” I reply, not missing the way his head quirks and his eyes narrow.

“Yeah? Busy with what?”

“Thinking about last night,” I reply boldly, stretching my arms above my head and showing him the way my nipples have pebbled beneath my thin, purple bathing suit.

The same one he couldn’t take his eyes off of the last time we found ourselves in here together.

Rather than approaching me, he props a shoulder against a thick wooden beam, still standing under the covered portion of the patio. He crosses his arms over his chest and regards me like he’s unaffected. However, when my eyes drop below his waistline, I know that’s not true.

“What part?” His voice is a rumble, thunder that rolls over my skin and shoots straight to my core.

“Well, I started out thinking about how I got on my knees for you.”

“You do look beautiful on your knees,” he replies smoothly. My heart rate ratchets up under his gaze. Recounting last night has every nerve ending firing. “More beautiful when you struggle to take it all. I love watching you work so hard.”

A smile twists my mouth.

“Pull the bathing suit down, Red. Let me see those perfect tits.”

My thumbs hook under the straps as I lick my lips and swallow against the dryness in my throat. Peeling the wet nylon back, I hold his gaze. It burns like hot coals, following my every movement.

“Good. Now, play with your nipples while you tell me more about last night.”

He doesn’t move an inch, and I try to gather courage to keep going because, while I’ve had some good sex in my life, I’ve had nothing like this.

Or anyone like Cade.

My forefingers and thumbs twist my nipples, and it makes my voice go all breathy when I say, “I liked when you came after me. I’m sorry I stormed off before you could finish talking.”

He blinks at me, like he’s a little surprised by what I just told him. “You don’t need to apologize, Red. I haven’t exactly sent clear signals with you.”

Pinch. Roll. Swipe. The truth tumbles out.

“Neither have I.”

His jaw shifts. “No one would expect you to be the mature one in this relationship when I’m the one who’s in his late thirties.”

I tip my nose up, refusing to let that comment make me feel childish or young. Cade isn’t looking at me that way, so I push the thought away, focusing on another word he used.

My hands smooth over the fullness of my breasts, and he watches, eyes glued to me, his length straining hard at his pants. “Is that what this is? A relationship?”

I realize I want him to say yes—take control of how out of control I’m feeling around him—and tell me how this is going to work. Because I want something to work.

But he says, “It’s whatever you’re comfortable with, Red. We can let it be gradual. We can skip a label. We can figure it out when the time comes. But whatever it is, it’s important to me. You’re important to me.”

My hands stop moving because I feel like this might be a chance to tell him I want him to go full caveman and tell me I’m staying here with him and Luke.

I’ve flitted around doing whatever I want for years with no real tether to anything except my best friend and my brother. I’ve enjoyed seeing his career take off, but none of that was for me.

I feel grounded out here. At this house. With Cade and Luke. It’s happened slowly, but I feel like I belong here, which seems absolutely insane to blurt out to this man who just very clearly reiterated our age difference or pointed to my maturity as a reason for my behavior.