Cade’s eyes bulge at Elise’s words while Jake looks horrified, which sets me off laughing. “So,” Elise throws a look toward me, rolls her eyes and continues, “I was thinking perhaps we should abstain until we’re married. What do you think?”
Jake finally finds his tongue. “I think you shouldn’t listen to a word Rona says.”
Walking toward Elise, Jake plucks her out of her chair and plants a hot kiss to her lips. As he pulls back, I grin at the bewildered expression on Elise’s face, and so does Jake.
“No more listening to Rona.” Jake quickly kisses Elise on her lips before grinning at me.
I return his grin. “I was only trying to help.”
He laughs. “Oh really? I think we’ll leave those kinds of ideas to you and my dad.”
“I have my ways of changing her mind, if I so choose.” Cade sets coffee, pancakes and syrup on the table. “Breakfast is served.” He plants a hot kiss to my lips. As he pulls back, I see Jake pulling Elise with him further into the kitchen.
He catches my eyes. “I’m expecting a delivery in about ten minutes,” he kisses Elise, “so I need to get over to the house.” He kisses her again.
I don’t know why he doesn’t just take her with him so they continue in private.
He wraps Elise up in his arms once more for a hot kiss and whispered words before he disappears through the backdoor.
Elise joins me at the table and after a few minutes of silence, while we munch on the pancakes, I decide we both could do with some distracting today.
“Elise, would you like to go shopping with me? I need some clothes for my vacation with Cade. I only have winter things with me.”
“I’d love to go. Will you help me choose a sexy dress to wear for Jake?”
I grin back at her. “With pleasure.”
“You’re going to drive him crazy. You know that, right?” Cade adds as he sits down with us as the table.
“Well, that’s my intention.” Elise smirks.
“In fact, Elise, I’ll take you to where I bought the red dress.” I wink at Cade.
Cade
Red dress. Heck, that’s all Rona needs to say and I start to harden. If I live to be a hundred, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the ‘Red Dress.’ Trying to hide what’s going on in my sweats from Elise, I only half-listen to them going on about clothes and shoes. I picture Rona in that dress, the way it felt under my hands, the way it hugged her curves and the way it looked wrapped around her waist as I made love to her. Groaning inwardly, I try to force the memory from my mind so I can get my erection under control.
“Cade.” Rona brings me back to the present. “Will I need underwear on vacation?”
“I think I’ll go and freshen up for our outing.” Elise suddenly jumps up and runs off toward the room she shares with Jake.
“Unless you want to give me a heart attack then, yes, you do, but buy some bikinis. I like those.” I wiggle my eyebrows, which makes Rona laugh.
On a serious note, I say, “I don’t like the idea of you going out while Nick is still at large. In fact, I think I should go with you.”
“Cade, you can’t do that, it’s a girls’ shopping trip and we’ll be in public the whole time. We’ll be okay.” Rona tries to reassure me.
“I still don’t like it. Why don’t I drive you both and wait in the car while you shop?”
“Cade, I can’t stay in a shell. I know you’re worried, but I won’t live my life being afraid that Nick is going to appear again. I can’t live like that.”
“I don’t like this. I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I know you don’t but I also need to know that you’re safe as well,” Rona says, her eyes are full of concern . . . for me.
I sigh. “We’ll figure something out. Are we going to have a disagreement if I give you a credit card to use?”
“Yes, we are. You know that I have my own money. I didn’t push about the vacation, because I could see how happy it made you doing that for us. But it would make me feel very uncomfortable letting you pay for my clothes as well.”