CHAPTER 3
Ali stabbed her fork into the overcooked noodles and burnt meat as she bit her tongue so hard that she was scared she was going to bite it off before this dinner was over. It wasn’t easy to screw up a meal as simple as Hamburger Helper, but she’d managed to do just that thanks to the man sitting across from her.
Actually, that was unfair. She was a terrible cook. Something she’d only become aware of since she’d been responsible for two growing humans. Before that, she’d lived on takeout.
Still, Kade deserved some of the blame. If not for the meal, then for her general state of instability. She was holding on by a very thin thread and Kade was a pair of scissors to her sanity.
Had no idea where he was staying my ass.
You don’t show up on someone’s doorstep with a duffle bag not expecting to stay.
Which, in all fairness, was how things had always been for them. But everything was different now. And that was his fault.
She took a large drink of water to wash down the barely edible food and scarcely contained animosity she was choking on as she listened to the boys happily tell Kade about school and life.
Of course, she could barely get five words out of Ricky and everything KJ said to her was laced with arsenic but, hey, she’d only been the one that was there every day of their lives. Why should they talk to her?
If anyone deserved full backstage passes to the twins’ life it was Kade, she thought sarcastically. The man that abandoned them and left her to pick up all the pieces.
Kade had never understood that there are consequences to his actions. And why would he? Life always worked out for him. He did whatever he wanted to do, regardless of who it hurt or inconvenienced and things still just magically fell into place for him. Seas parted. Red carpets were rolled out. Standing ovations spontaneously occurred.
Her blood was boiling but she tried not to let her nephews know how infuriating Kade’s mere presence was. She was doing her best not to show her anger on her face but she wouldn’t be surprised if steam were coming out of her ears like a cartoon character.
If she were being honest with herself, she’d have to admit that the person she was most angry at wasn’t the one that had shown up unannounced, it was herself.
In a moment of weakness, she’d allowed him to hug her. She’d known it was a mistake. Told herself to knee him in the balls when he got close enough. Instead, she’d folded like a cheap suit and melted like an ice cube on a hot tar roof.
And the worst part of all…she’d enjoyed it. More than enjoyed it, she’d loved it. Needed it. Craved it. Being in Kade’s arms and feeling his solid body had been the best thing that had happened to her in a long time, and that infuriated her. He’d disappeared a year and a half ago, with no more than an email with information for a bank account that he’d set up for the boys and instructions to call “if she needed him.” And with one hug her body was ready to forgive him.
That’s why Kade got away with everything. No one could resist his charm, his strength, or his undeniable charisma. He was a warm fire on a snowy night. He was ice cream on a hot day. He was the scratch for the unreachable itch. He had a magic way about him that made everything better.
She’d always had an incurable crush on him, but during her teen years she’d managed to build up a tolerance to him. She’d erected an invisible shield that protected her from being devastated by his voodoo magnetism by always being on the offensive. She picked fights with him, called him out on his egotistical behavior, and never let him get away with anything. But now…now she didn’t know how much fight she had left in her. She was at her most vulnerable. How could she possibly guard herself against him? Especially since he was staying in her house.
It’s fine,she told herself as she took another bite of mushy, burnt food.
Kade never stayed in town long. About the time she finished college and returned home to Whisper Lake, Kade’s MMA career took off. Since then he’d breeze through just long enough to receive all the accolades and glory that came from being a hometown hero and then he’d be gone. Off living his fast-paced life of debauchery.
All she had to do was stay strong for his pit stop and then he would be gone and she could go back to worrying about things that really mattered like keeping KJ out of jail or Ricky from shutting down completely.
She’d just have to ignore him while he was here. She would only speak to him when the boys were around and then it would only be the bare minimum, and she’d do everything she could to avoid contact at all costs. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was all she had.
“Aunt Ali didn’t want me to start taking jiu-jitsu. She tried to make me play soccer.” The horror in which KJ said the word soccer was so dramatic it made Ali’s jaw tense.
It was clear that she was being cast as the villain. She’d made plenty of mistakes over the past eighteen months but encouraging KJ to play soccer wasn’t one of them. Soccer was a good sport. KJ acted like she’d signed him up for ballet and forced him to wear a tutu and pointe shoes.
The image of her nephew dressed as a ballerina made her smile and also gave her an idea if he kept getting into trouble.
Kade took a sip of his water and set the glass down. “I played soccer growing up. Is Coach Finley still around?”
“Yeah. But now his son helps out a lot.” Ricky explained, never looking up from his book that was set beside his dinner plate.
Ali’s eyes betrayed her plan and shot directly to Kade’s, warning him not to tell the story that she feared he was about to. The last thing that KJ needed was inspiration for more trouble. Unfortunately, the memory caused her lips to twitch as she bit back the laughter that threatened. She hoped that the intensity of her stare was enough to get her point across.
The sexy, sinful grin that caused the corner of Kade’s eyes to crinkle sent a shockwave of desire rushing through her. “Timmy Finley. He still driving that Mustang?”
“That Mustang” was at the bottom of Whisper Lake. The summer before their senior year Patrick and Kade convinced Timmy that if he drove it fast enough, he could make it across the top of the water. Ali remembered the phrase “jet propulsion” being tossed around.
To this day she still couldn’t believe that her brother and Kade had actually got him to do it. They’d masterfully fed on his arrogance, cockiness, and ignorance and ended up sinking his brand new Mustang in the lake.