“See, I have that covered too, because I asked Beth, Janie’s daughter—you know Janie—to watch the place. She’s seventeen, and a really good kid. Plus, she needs to get community service hours for a school project due next semester, and I told her we could count this.”
Natalie laughed; her eyes still closed. She shifted to her side. “Well, I guess I can’t say no now. Which was probably your plan all along.”
“It was. I’ll be over to get ready at five, and our dates need to pick us up at six. Sound good?”
“Good is a relative word. How am I supposed to find a date in forty-eight hours?”
“You could always ask Cade.”
“I’m not asking Cade.”
April sighed. “Then download a dating app. I promise you’ll find someone within an hour. Remember, your list of requirements isn’t long. I, however, spent five hours vetting various guys to make sure they didn’t play a sport or have a fantastical need to watch sports every weekend. Plus, I had to ensure they have siblings, a career outside of finance, and don’t have dark hair and a beard. Most of the guys now think I’m a psycho.”
Natalie suppressed a laugh. April had probably sent a legitimate list of questions over to each guy. She only wished she could read all of their responses.
“So, for you to find any random guy should be easy!”
Natalie’s smile dropped and she groaned. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Don’t.” April sounded too optimistic. “I’ll see you in a couple days!”
Then she hung up before Natalie could protest, which was too bad because Natalie had some first-rate protests queued up.
After another two minutes of lying in bed being a bad businesswoman, Natalie forced herself up, got dressed, and pulled her hair into a ponytail before heading out through the kitchen. She caught her reflection in the microwave as she passed, and grimaced. If she couldn’t keep Cade at arm’s length on her own, the way she’d deteriorated in the last few years would.
She stopped, scowled, and mentally reprimanded herself. This lady she followed on social media kept saying words were powerful. And Natalie was using some pretty mean words.
With immense effort, she squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she looked ridiculous. Agh—negative words again! She squeezed her eyes tighter, prepping some affirmations she’d heard were supposed to cure one’s inner mean-girl. I’m beautiful, I’m strong, I’m capable, I’m... really hungry. Her eyes popped open. That had to be enough, right? Yeah... she felt a little better, which was a good sign. Now she could go get food.
Quickly, she made some toast, folding it in half to eat faster. The phone started ringing in the other room, so she made a dash for it. Jumping headfirst into a busy day, she forgot all about her inner bully, Cade staying at the inn, and how broken she was.
Mostly.
***
“Hey, Nat.”
Natalie jumped ten feet into the air at the familiar voice. Or at least ten inches. She probably could have won a competition with her vertical jump at that moment.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” Cade shoved his hands in his pockets as Natalie calmed her racing heart.
“It’s fine,” she glanced at her computer, before looking back up at him. “Do you need something?”
“No, just saying ‘hi.’ What are you up to today?”
Natalie raised her brows. Just saying hi? Okay, then... “I’m finishing up some of the financials from last month, then I need to drive to Woodcastle to pick up stuff for the North Pole display.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Uh-huh,” her gaze didn’t seem capable of staying on his. She kept thinking back to her conversation with April that morning and how she’d much rather take Cade on the date than one of the three guys she was currently considering on her new dating app.
“Need any help?”
His offer surprised her. He’d been short and cold when they’d talked at the hotel—and he had every reason to be. She’d been horrible to him when she broke up with him in a letter. A letter. He’d probably only been nice over hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls because she’d caught him off guard when he’d been upset about his patient. But now he was standing in front of her offering help? She needed to build up the walls around her heart a little more.
“No, I’m fi—” she stopped. Actually, she did need help. But she didn’t really want to ask Cade.
“Maybe?” he asked, apparently noticing her sudden consideration.
“Well.” She sighed. She’d already asked three people today and she was running out of daylight. “You don’t happen to have a truck, do you?”
His face visibly fell. “No, actually, I don’t.”
Relief warred with disappointment. Dumb emotions. “No problem then. I’m just looking for someone with a truck to help me pick up supplies for this display.”
He folded his arms, and his eyes narrowed in thought. “Actually, my dad has a truck. I could probably borrow it for the day.”
Oh? That would be helpful, but also dangerous—spending time with Cade. Plus, did she really want to see his family?
Reading at least one of her thoughts, he quickly added, “I can go grab it and pick you back up in a half hour?”
She hesitated for half a second, tapping a pencil against the desk. She really needed to get these supplies today, and part of her selfishly wanted a little time in Cade’s company, even if she wasn’t brave enough to ask him on a date. A quick errand couldn’t hurt. “Sure. That would be great, thanks.”
He smiled, a devastatingly handsome smile that made his eyes crinkle and her heart do a tap dance, and said he’d be back soon.
While he was gone, she finished up the spreadsheets and grabbed a coat. She’d been working furiously since waking up late, and the upcoming break was more appealing than she’d admit. He walked back into the entry at the same moment she came in from the kitchen.
“Ready to go?” he asked. He seemed uncomfortable as he shifted his weight and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Yup, let me just lock up and call my neighbor to keep an eye on the place.” She made the call, put the sign in the window, and locked the door. “Alright,” she said as she stepped through the small courtyard in front of the B&B to join Cade on the sidewalk. Instinctively, she reached for his hand, only to jerk her own back hard enough she stumbled.
“Careful, it’s pretty icy,” he warned.
Yeah, icy. That was the problem.
He led her to a truck parked on the curb and opened the passenger’s side door. Freaky déjà vu of their dating years came back to her. She muttered a thanks, but she was pretty sure it sounded more like “Shpanks.” Then she sat in the cab and forcibly stopped herself from hitting her forehead in disgust while he walked around the truck.
“Okay, where to?”
“Just drive toward Woodcastle. I’ll direct you once we get there.”
He nodded, and turned the car on.
It was dead silent for a full minute. She knew, because she counted. Sixty full seconds that felt like an eternity. Thankfully, he turned the radio on when she got to sixty-five. Blaring Christmas music flooded the car, making her jolt in surprise. With a sheepish smile, he adjusted the volume to be much lower. “Sorry, guess my dad really loves Christmas music.”
She laughed a little. “Who can blame him?”
He gave her an indecipherable look but didn’t say anything. The mini concert seemed to have thawed some of the ice between them though, and he spoke without much discomfort. “The carnival seems to be coming along nicely.”
“Yeah, it really was a great idea, thank you.”
“No problem.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel while they waited at a stoplight. A car careened through the intersection in front of them, way faster than it should with the road in its condition.
Cade chuckled.
“What?” she asked.
He pointed after the car as he eased the truck forward under t
he now-green light. “Just remembering the time you ran a red light.”
She pressed her lips together. “I swear that light went straight from green to red.”
His sidelong glance expressed his teasing disbelief. “Whatever makes you feel better.”
“It’s better than the time you got us stuck in a snowbank,” she threw back at him.
“Pretty sure that was you, too,” he laughed.
“No, that was definitely—oh.”
“Yeah,” he grinned over at her. “I think you’re remembering I was the one who got us out of the snowbank.”
“I plead the fifth.”
He laughed outright. “Driving with you was always a high stakes game. Who needed Vegas when I could simply bet on whether I would survive our next road trip?”
“Hey! That’s hardly fair. You drove most of the time anyways.”
He gave her a speaking glance. She gasped. “Wait. You did that on purpose? I thought you were being chivalrous, offering to drive!”
“Chivalrous. Yes, of course. That.” His grin was wicked, and Natalie laughed.
“And here I thought I knew you. Apparently not.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized they could easily change the subject to topics she did not want to discuss. She quickly redirected. “How are your parents?”
Cade seemed to see through her hasty topic change, but allowed it. “They’re great. They love retirement. Although, I guess my mom still volunteers at the elementary every once in a while. She misses working in the schools a little, but dad is loving being out of the corporate sphere. He bought a riding lawn mower last summer, and I think he was more excited about that than any of the big deals his company ever made. How’s your mom?” He didn’t ask about her dad like most guys would at this point in the conversation. He knew she hadn’t seen her dad since she was nine-years-old and he’d told her he’d never wanted a daughter, and now that her mom had moved on from him, he was moving on from her. From Natalie.
“I’ve told you pretty much everything already,” she shrugged. “She’s in Paris with her new husband and occasionally sends me postcards with only the generic ‘wish you were here’ message on it.”
“I’m sorry, Nat. I know it’s hard on you.”
She shrugged away his concern and her pain. “I’m used to it. Turn left here.”
They’d made it into Woodcastle, and after a few more directions, they stopped in front of the store where she’d ordered the North Pole scene supplies from. Cade helped her get everything into the truck, bought her lunch at a drive-through, then they drove back to Greenbank, steering clear of heavy subjects. They talked about the carnival, a movie that had come out recently, and what Cade’s family had planned for New Years before dropping everything off at the hotel.
By the time they got back to the B&B, Natalie felt filled. There’d been an empty portion of her that sat for so long, she hadn’t even realized it until the last hour and a half with Cade. He completed her in a way no other relationship could.
It was dangerous. Her past hadn’t changed—not her emotional baggage or the physical baggage. And Cade didn’t deserve any of that.
Really, she didn’t deserve him.
Chapter 7
Cade
“Oh, hey Cade.” April saw him first when he walked into the hotel’s event room to help for the day. He’d much prefer to help Nat in the way he had yesterday—with some alone time to break through her walls in hopes of getting answers to his many, many questions—but this would have to do.
“Hey guys, what do you need help with today?” He stopped before them, and noticed how Nat didn’t quite meet his eyes.
“Depends. How good are you with a hammer?” April asked when Nat didn’t say anything.
“Better than I am with a recipe.” He’d tried to make some of his family lunch that afternoon and had nearly caught his mom’s kitchen on fire. Which was exactly what they needed. A basement flood and a kitchen fire. They were never going to want him back. Luckily, he’d had a ready excuse to leave—needing to come here.
April raised her eyebrows, as if recognizing there was more of a story there. “Well hopefully that means you're good enough for what we need. And how strong are you?”
What was with the twenty questions? And why wouldn’t Nat look at him? “Well, I haven’t been to the gym in months, but I should be able to help with whatever you need.”
April got a funny look on her face. “Natalie, did you hear that? Cade doesn’t go to the gym.”
Nat glared at her friend, who ignored her and looked at Cade. “Natalie had a bad run-in with a guy on a dating app. She has apparently sworn off conversations with guys who go to the gym now. So, for your own personal safety, I’m happy to hear you don’t frequent the hall of jocks.” April laughed a little, but Cade was more focused on Nat. She had a dating app? And what had this guy done?
“Well, I’ve never been prouder to say I don’t work out, then.”
Nat finally looked up at him with narrowed eyes. Her gaze flicked to his shoulders, lingered a breath, then jumped back up. She scoffed, “I seriously doubt that.”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, her expression blanched. He noticed April inching away from them with a grin on her face.
“Come on, you know I spent more time in the library than the gym in college.” It was dangerous ground to bring up their dating years again. Walking over his nephew’s legos dangerous. She’d carefully avoided that topic of conversation after their brief reminiscence of her bad driving, but he was feeling brave after that appreciative gleam when she’d checked out his shoulders.
“Yeah, I also know that was only because you were studying for your classes. Plus, I distinctly remember you trying to drag me out on a run more than once.”
Cade released a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He shrugged, laughing a little. “Running is good for your heart, and I wanted you around for a long time.”
As if someone turned off the power to the room, Nat froze. Cade almost swore as he saw her physically shut him out. Her eyes averted again, she took a half step back, and when she finally met his gaze, there was a guarded look there.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“Don’t worry about it. I need to get back to the bed and breakfast soon, so do you mind if I show you a couple of things you could work on? Where did... where did April go?” She looked around, spotted her friend, and started toward her.
Cade followed slowly behind, trying to pull his foot out of his mouth. He was an idiot for bringing up the past that way. But, while he berated himself, he couldn’t help wondering about her reaction. If she reacted this way to him mentioning their past after four years, she couldn’t be totally emotionless where he was concerned.
The familiar desire to solve a puzzle flared, but so did something else. He frowned as he tried to decipher the emotion swirling slowly within him.
Interest.
He was interested in Natalie Taylor. Now he considered it, he didn’t think he’d ever been uninterested. Sure, he’d been angry and hurt, but if the string of pointless dates—or no dates at all—over the last four years were any indication, he’d never gotten over the beautiful, vivacious woman in front of him, who was now explaining something to April. Complete with hand gestures.
He swallowed. So, he was interested, and a part of him knew Nat was interested in him too. Could he convince her to give them another shot? The idea sent an explosion of heat into his chest. But he was only here for a couple more weeks and Nat was still so guarded. Was it really smart of him to try and start something now?
No.
But he was going to do it anyway.
***
Cade spent the next couple of hours helping April finalize the booths, carrying in supplies and building the first part of the “North Pole” scene, where Santa would give out candy canes to the kids. He also attempted to pry information about her best friend from the incredibly tight-lipped wom
an. It hadn’t been exactly pointless, but Cade didn’t feel like he’d made much progress where things really mattered.
He pulled up to his parents’ house just before six, knowing he was returning to a hornet’s nest of questions. He’d happened to mention he was leaving to help the bed and breakfast’s owner with a project, and he might have mentioned the owner was a she.
Brooke opened the door before he even reached the front step. “Warning; you are about to enter an interrogation room, and there will be no stopping the torture until you reveal information you’d probably prefer to keep hidden.”
Cade stopped, peering over his younger sister’s shoulder. She was holding her baby boy. “Can I hold James?”
She started to shift the sleeping infant, but then stopped and eyed him. “Depends. Are you only using him as a buffer against the interrogators?”
“Maybe. But also because he’s cute.”
Brooke raised an eyebrow and speared him with a look. “He is. But he’s not a shield. You’re on your own.” With a sneaky smile, she turned around and walked back into the house.
Cade hesitated. He’d known they would have questions, but he’d hoped to deflect them. Was it too late to just go back to the Bed and Breakfast? He took a step back.
“Oh, Cade! There you are. Stop letting the snow in and come sit down. Dinner is ready.”
Mothers were the worst.
Reluctantly, he stepped into the house and shook off some of the snow that had accumulated in his hair and on his shoulders. Then he closed the door and slipped off his shoes.
His whole family was already sitting around the table, with nearly all his nieces and nephews seated around a pop-up plastic table just behind the ‘grown-up’ table. Even seated, they displayed a high level of disorder. Brooke had a sleeping James in her arms and was lowering herself into her seat, and two seats down from her sat Abby, who was wrangling two-year-old Claire. Her husband, Jake, appeared to be undergoing hostage negotiations with their twin boys, and nine-year-old Gregory was playing a video game underneath the table. Plus, there were various people who kept standing to reach a drink and kids who kept trying to make a break for it.
Christmas In Love: A Greenbank Holiday Romance (Greenbank Holiday Romances Book 1) Page 4
