“He just wants you to make something of yourself.” Cade had served as the go-between for the two for years, but he might as well have been a brick wall, given how little Carter and their father communicated. Cade wondered sometimes if his Type-A, workaholic father envied Carter’s footloose approach to life.
“I did make something of myself,” Carter said.
“What I made wasn’t good enough. He wanted me to be a lawyer. I’d sooner commit hari-kari than spend all day locked up with legal briefs.” Carter snorted at the very idea. “Do you even like being a lawyer?”
Cade sighed and dropped into one of the kitchen chairs. “No, I don’t.”
“Then why the hell are you doing it?”
“Because Dad paid for me to go to college. Gave me a job when Melanie and I had nothing. No money, no apartment, nothing but a baby on the way.”
“And he’s made you pay him back ten times over,” Carter said, sliding into the opposite seat. “If you hate your job, quit.”
“I don’t have a backup plan, Carter. It’s not like I can take my law degree and be a really good bartender.”
“You took your law degree and made really good coffee. Mixing a margarita on some beach in Jamaica should be a piece of cake after that.”
Cade laughed, then returned to reality. To a mortgage, college tuition and a retirement to fund. “I’m not going to throw away a twenty-year career to serve women in bikinis.”
“You have got issues, my brother.” Carter chuckled. “I’d do just about anything to serve women in bikinis.”
“That’s why you’re the bachelor and I’m the—” Cade cut himself off. He wasn’t the married one, not really. “Okay, bad point. Still, I’m not applying for any jobs in Jamaica.”
“There may be an opening as a toy company CEO soon if I keep helping this business run into the ground,” Carter said, then glanced at his watch.
“Anyway, I have to go. I have a date.” He rose. “I may be a bachelor, and a disappointment to my father and a guy whose still trying to figure out who he is, but at least I’m honest about it. One piece of advice. The sooner you get honest with yourself, the sooner you can get honest with Melanie, too.”
Then Carter left, leaving Cade with a mental mirror finally large enough for him to see the reflection of himself. He got out a piece of paper and began to write.
“LAST TIME I SAW YOU in one of those, it was light blue,” Melanie said. “You looked like the Easter Bunny.”
Cade chuckled. “If you prefer the blue…”
“Oh, no. the black is nice.” Maybe too nice because she had to remember to breathe. She noticed everything about him, especially the way the tux framed the muscles and planes of Cade’s body. Every hormone in her body itched to undo the tie, then start on the tiny black buttons, unfastening one after the other until she got him down to his boxers—
And nothing else.
It was a major change from the business casual he’d worn to the bank earlier. True to his word, Cade had stayed quiet throughout the loan process, letting Melanie run the show—and collect the check at the end. Cuppa Life was going to finally fulfill what Melanie had envisioned, which made her excited about the days to come.
But right now, the only thing increasing her pulse was Cade and the sexy cut of the fancy black suit.
“You look amazing.” The compliment shone in his eyes as much as it did in his tone. Cade took a step forward, then reached out and ran a finger along the thin strap of her dress. “Absolutely incredible.”
Her breath caught in her throat, her gut twisted with a want that had never seemed this strong, this overpowering. Before she could think about what she was doing, Melanie closed the gap between them, lifted her chin and pressed her lips to his.
He groaned, then his arms stole around her waist. He pulled her to him, hard and fast, nearly catching her breath in her throat. She knew all it would take would be one word—no, one glance—and she and Cade could be in her bedroom, undoing all they had so carefully done to get ready for tonight.
“Oh, Melanie,” he said against her mouth, his voice heavy with want, need—the same river rushing through her veins, begging for release.
“We should…go,” she breathed in the space between their lips, not wanting to go at all, not wanting to do anything but keep on kissing him.
“Yeah.”
But neither of them moved.
“I want you,” he whispered. “I’ve always wanted you. From the first time I saw you, there’s never been anyone but you, Mellie.”
“Cade—”
He put a finger to her lips, shushing her protest. “I’ve never wanted another woman and I never will.”
“We should go,” she repeated, but everything within her rebelled against the thought. Of leaving what was happening right now unfinished. “We should go…” and then, the need for him conquered her doubts, and she took his hand. “To my bedroom,” she whispered, ignoring the warning bells rung by common sense, heeding only the need that tightened and curled inside her gut, a call that knew exactly how Cade would answer.
“Oh God, Melanie,” he said, his voice nearly cracking. He scooped her up, cradling her to his chest, his lips drifting across hers in a soft, sweet caress. Melanie wrapped her arms around his neck, craving more of this, craving him, needing him to fill that empty space inside her.
“I want you, too, Cade,” she said.
He pulled back to look at her, his eyes filled with the gentle kindness that was quintessential Cade.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “First door on the right,” she whispered as he headed down the hall, her hands going to his bow tie. She tugged it loose, then worked her way down the tiny black buttons of his shirt, anxious to feel his skin beneath her palms, the sure strength of Cade against her body.
He deposited her gently on the bed, then kicked off his shoes. They landed with a clunk, matched by the twin sound of her heels following. Electricity filled the air, charging the space between them. His mouth on hers was hungry yet still tender, his hands warm and tight on her hips. He lowered himself beside her, their bodies carving together as easily as two puzzle pieces.
She worked his shirt out of his waistband, flicking the last two buttons out of their fasteners, then tugging it down and off his arms. She paused a moment, allowing herself the agonizing pleasure of running her hands along his chest, feeling the planes and muscles she had memorized over the years. He was familiar, and yet new, after all this time apart, and she marveled at the warm hardness beneath her palm.
Their mouths met, a ravenous kiss that tasted lips, tongue, every inch of each other. Cade tugged her dress up and over her body, then paused, his gaze softening as it swept over her body. “I’ve had this dream many times over the last year.”
“Oh, yeah?” She grinned, teasing him. “And how did it end?”
He leaned down, trailing kisses along her neck, between her breasts, skirting the lacy edge of her bra. “Let me show you,” he said, his voice nearly a growl.
An instant later, Cade was fulfilling her with the knowledge of a man who had had twenty years of learning his wife’s body. He touched all the right places, stroked at just the right pace and sent every one of her nerve endings into another stratosphere.
She