"Raya worked... for you?" I ask, silently cursing myself for how choppy that sounded.
He laughs while nodding. "Yeah. She was a waitress. Kade caused a scene in my club one night, and I had to kick him out. I've barely seen him since then, other than at Tag's wedding, and briefly at Wren's wedding."
Tag got married. That's still shocking the hel—
Whoa. Huh? "You had to kick Kade out of your club?"
He shrugs while grabbing his phone and keys. "Yeah. Long story. Obviously things worked out for him in the end."
He heads toward the door, slips his shoes on, and then turns back to me. "I've got to run home and do some things, but I'll pick you up in two hours to drive out to the vineyard."
We're going together? When did we discuss this?
"Umm," is all I manage to get out before he disappears through the door.
I'm sure my beach neighbors are enjoying the shirtless beauty on my sandy lawn, but they're not enjoying him as much as I am. He's driving me crazy. It's probably a good thing my post-op instructions included no sex for six weeks. I'd have already thrown myself at him otherwise.
It's amazing how good at distracting me he has been. My life was sliced up and a huge chunk of my future was stolen because of my cursed genes. I expected to still be falling apart, but Dane... It's just like before; he makes everything better.
My phone rings, and I glance down to see Raya's name flash across the screen. I answer, curious as to why she's calling me.
"Hey," I say while trying to shake the scandalous thoughts of Dane from my mind.
"Can you ride with me?" she asks, sounding nervous.
"Um..." Crap. I want to ride with Dane. What's she even doing here?
"Please, Rain. Kade is so frigging nervous for some reason, and I'm on edge. If he's this nervous, then the people coming must be intimidating. I could seriously use your help. He wouldn't even let me help with the setup, which makes me feel crappy. I thought I was getting better with all you uppity people.
"I came to Sterling Shore this morning to pick my brother up from the airport, but apparently he got an earlier flight and Kade sent a car to get him. So now I'm still here, and I'm a train wreck. Please," she begs.
I can almost hear her pouting, and it forces me to stifle a laugh.
"Fine," I groan, even though I hate being around her and Kade when I'm alone. The two of them are that sweet, madly-in-love sort of couple that makes a person gag. Of course I could just be strangling on my own envy.
"Thank you," she squeals, and I actually do laugh.
"You look sore or something," Raya says as we get out of the car.
I forgot how far away the vineyard is, and that long ride wasn't good on my three-day-old surgery. Neither was Raya's driving. Damn, her driving could make a thrill-seeker tense.
"I am sore. I had surgery the other day. Nothing major," I murmur absently, glancing around at all the gorgeous decorations that are set up outside, and ignoring the pang of misery that tries to strike.
I have to stop thinking.
"Kade!" Raya yells happily, and I start preparing to vomit.
His brittle, forced smile is... odd. Kade always melts when he sees her. What's going on?
"Hey," he says as he reaches us, but it feels like he doesn't want to be here right now.
Raya seems to notice, but she brushes it off, forcing her composure to remain intact. The girl has a hell of a poker face.
"It looks so beautiful. I wish you had let me help," she says with a smile that could slay a man.
But Kade is... uh-oh. He looks... Surely he's not...
"Thanks. I should go. I've got... stuff to do. See you in a while," he says before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek and taking off.