This was clearly something that she’d been gearing up to say. I nodded in understanding. “I know it’s inappropriate. But you have to admit that there is something between us.”
“I know.” Laura nodded. “Which is why, as much as I hate to lose this opportunity, I’m going to have to resign as your event planner. I’ll refer you to someone else.”
“Please, no,” I blurted out before I could contain myself. The idea of not getting to see her at all felt like torture. “Laura, I understand that you’re upset, but don’t you feel that that’s overreacting? This is a big job for you.”
“I know. But it’s the right thing to do.” Laura got that stubborn glint in her eye that meant that she wasn’t going to back down anytime soon.
There was only one thing I could do: tell her the truth.
12
Laura
Cade looked genuinely heartbroken when I said that I’d need to resign. It confused me. Why would he care? He could get a hot sidepiece anywhere he wanted, if he was determined to cheat on his gorgeous soon-to-be wife. But Cade looked unbearably upset. Despite my determination not to give into him, I felt my heart melting a little.
The fact that I was still wildly aroused probably didn’t help. I had almost let him fuck me. The moment he’d kissed me, full of passion and command, I’d felt like a lamb being devoured by a wolf. He had been a wild animal, kissing me frantically, and then pinning me to the wall. I’d become wet in seconds, writhing against him helplessly.
> Only when I’d felt him moving his hand between my legs to finger me, or maybe just to shove my panties aside before he slid his cock inside me, did I come to my senses. I’d bolted out of there before I’d do something stupid like let him cheat on his fiancée with me.
How could I have let it get that far? My desire for Cade had overwhelmed my common sense, my morality, my dignity—everything. I was still such a fool for him. I felt ashamed.
But now, Cade was staring at me, like maybe…but no, I couldn’t let myself think that his heart was involved in this, too. I’d made that mistake with him once before and look at where that had landed me. I’d been left in the dust, abandoned, in love with someone who only thought of me as a summer fling.
“I need to be honest with you,” Cade said. “You deserve the truth.”
The truth? About what? I was so confused that I didn’t know how to understand that statement.
If I’d not been thrown off track, I might have objected and said that I didn’t need any explanation, I just needed us to go our separate ways and not see each other. But Cade took advantage of my silence to explain himself.
“Della is just a friend of the family. I’m not in love with her.”
My jaw dropped.
Cade went on. “The only reason we’re getting married is because my parents and her father want this match. Everyone believes that it will strength my bid for Congress.”
“You’re…running for office?” I had never, in all the time that I’d dated Cade, thought that he was interested in a life in government like his father.
“My father wants me to. I’ve got to follow in his footsteps, maybe even go farther. I know Dad won’t stop until I’m sitting in the White House.” Cade gave a bitter smile. “You know how it is, fathers trying to do their lives over, better, through their sons.”
I was…shocked was an understatement. I had no idea how to feel about this. But it did explain why Cade had refused to talk about his father when we’d been dating, how he’d kept me away from his father. He obviously didn’t have a good relationship with the man. “And…how do you feel about this?”
Cade sighed and looked out the windshield. “I’m not thrilled. Public service is important, I would never say that it isn’t. But I’m not sure that it’s for me. You have to have a passion for it, and I don’t really…have that.”
I was confused. Cade was always so confident and in charge when I saw him. Was he that way only with me? “Then why are you going to run for office if you don’t want to?”
“I have to do what my family wants. It’s my duty to do as my parents say and to live the life that they want for me.”
My jaw dropped, again. “Cade, that’s—do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? Children aren’t born so that they can be slaves to their parents’ dreams and ideas. A child is a whole, individual person. And you’re not even a child anymore, you’re an adult. To act as though your only purpose is to make them happy…I’ve never heard of anything so absurd. And marriage? You’re marrying someone that your parents picked out for you, because they want it, and you don’t love her? Cade, you’re throwing your life away! You exist to do what you want and to be happy, you don’t exist to be who your parents want you to be.”
Cade shook his head. “At least Della knows what she’s in for. She’s rich, so I know that she’s not after my money. She’s politically minded, so she knows how to behave and how the press will catch you and tear you apart on any little slip-up. She knows all the right people and all the right things to say, and she actually cares about all of this stuff. She cares about public service and running for office.”
“Sounds like Della should run for office herself,” I pointed out.
I was being serious, but Cade chuckled like it was a joke. Based on my disapproving look, he sobered up. “I’m sorry. It’s just—Della’s very shy and withdrawn. It’s demure and elegant in a politician’s wife, and she knows how to be sociable and turn on the charm when she has to but…I don’t know if she has the confidence to run for office.”
Maybe someone needed to give her the confidence. I didn’t say this out loud, though. Cade clearly didn’t have enough confidence in himself to live his own life and refuse to do what his parents wanted. How could he encourage someone else? I was frustrated on his behalf, but also disappointed. I’d thought Cade was a man of more conviction and backbone than this. It saddened me.
“And is Della in love with you?” I asked.