Somewhere Along the Way_Kobo

by Ruth Cardello

Luke gave her a sexy smile that brought a flush to her cheeks. “Good to know.”

  Cassie called to Tilly, “I’m upstairs. I’ll be down in a minute.”

  “Just checking in to see how you made out in the storm. We lost power. I figured you did, too. Did you get your baking done?” Despite Tilly’s age, she was fast on her feet. She was halfway up the stairs when she saw Luke and stopped dead. “Well, look at you two.”

  Cassie jumped back from Luke. “Tilly, this is Dr. Andrade. He’s in town for Emma’s funeral.”

  Tilly looked back and forth between them. “Dr. Andrade. I’ve heard good things about you.”

  Luke went halfway down the stairs to meet her and offered his arm to Tilly. “Please, call me Luke.”

  Tilly took his arm and began to descend the stairs with him. “He’s a doctor, Cassie.”

  “I know,” Cassie said with a grimace. Tilly wasn’t known for keeping many thoughts to herself, but Cassie couldn’t see a way to break the two apart.

  Tilly gave Luke’s arm a pat. “And so strong. Are you the one who shoveled Cassie out?”

  Luke winked at Cassie as the three of them entered the kitchen. “I couldn’t sleep anyway.”

  Tilly caught Cassie’s blush and a wide smile spread across her face. “It’s so nice to have a man around here again.”

  “Again?” Luke asked. Although his tone was casual, the look he gave Cassie was that of a territorial male assessing if he had competition.

  Cassie poured Luke a cup of coffee and handed it to him abruptly. “It’s a shame you have to get back to New York this morning, Dr. Andrade. Let me get you that bill you asked for.”

  Tilly made herself a cup of coffee. “You’re leaving so soon, Luke?”

  “Apparently,” Luke said dryly, taking a sip of the piping hot brew.

  Cassie bent over the small built-in desk in the kitchen and wrote out a bill for one night. “I’m giving you a discount since a full breakfast is usually included in the price of the room.”

  Tilly made a disapproving sound. “What? You’re not even feeding him?” Tilly sat down at the kitchen table. “He’s easy on the eyes. Sweet as your pecan pie. And he has a job. Men like that don’t come through this town every day. If I were your age, I’d show you what to do with a man like that. And it’s not starve him half to death.”

  Cassie rolled her eyes toward the ceiling in mortification. Luke looked pleased with himself. He sat next to Tilly and said something to her that made her blush and swat him. “Cassie, you’re a fool if you run this one off.”

  “I’m not running him off,” Cassie said impatiently and put a completed bill on the table beside Luke. “He has patients waiting for him. Don’t you, Dr. Andrade?”

  Luke sat back in his chair with a sexy cockiness. “Usually the answer would be yes, Cupcake, but I’m technically on vacation this week. So, I’m not in much of a hurry to go anywhere.”

  Tilly’s smile grew as she watched their exchange.

  Cassie glared at him, but Luke smiled back at her shamelessly. She grabbed her coat off its hook and snapped, “I have a delivery to make. Tilly, do you want me to drop you off on my way?”

  Tilly stirred creamer into her coffee. “I don’t mind keeping Luke company while you’re gone. He and I can just sit here and get to know each other until you get back.”

  Cassie froze midway through buttoning her coat. “Dr. Andrade, can I speak to you for a minute?”

  Luke didn’t budge. “Luke.”

  “Luke,” Cassie said between gritted teeth, “could you help me carry a few things to the car?”

  Tilly slapped the table gleefully as Luke stood up. “That’s a great idea. Take him with you. Feed him while you’re out as a thank you for helping you shovel. Don’t worry about me. I’ll putter around here until you two return.”

  In a forced pleasant tone, Cassie said, “You know who I saw outside a few minutes ago? Myron. He might still be out there. Should I tell him you were looking for him?”

  Cassie shared a long look with Tilly, a standoff of sorts. Tilly blinked first. “Oh, fine. I can see why you’d want your privacy. I don’t need a ride, though. My son can pick me up. If he complains, I’ll remind him why he’s my chauffeur now.”

  Luke told Tilly it had been nice to meet her. He shrugged on his coat and didn’t seem to mind at all that Cassie piled box upon box of cupcakes into his arms. Did he have to be so damn nice?

  She grumbled to herself as she walked out of the house until she caught him watching her with interest. She opened the hatch and secured the boxes in the back of her SUV without looking at him again. “You don’t have to come with me.”

  He stepped closer and waited until she raised her eyes to his. When she did, he said, “I want to.”

  She searched his face for a sign of what he was thinking. “You know you can’t stay here tonight.”

  He caressed one of her cheeks gently. “Because you don’t trust me? Or yourself?” He brushed his thumb lightly across her bottom lip then brought his other hand up so he was cupping her face. “Is it because you know this will happen?”

  By the time his lips closed over hers, Cassie had gone onto her tiptoes to meet him halfway. It didn’t matter that she knew it was a bad idea. Unlike the brief, almost chaste kisses they’d shared earlier, this one was explosively passionate. Cassie gripped the front of his coat desperately, clinging to him as desire shook through her body. She opened her mouth to him, inviting him to deepen the kiss and moaned with pleasure when he did.

  His tongue flicked across her lips, then plunged to meet hers, circling it in a primitive, sensual dance. The cold was forgotten along with any care about someone watching. His hand moved to the nape of her neck, tightening possessively. Cassie writhed against him, reveling in how he seemed as blown away by the kiss as she was.

  When he broke off the kiss, he laid his forehead on hers and closed his eyes as if gathering strength. Their ragged breaths were visible in the cold air. Cassie struggled to reconcile her scrambled thoughts.

  She didn’t want this.

  But, oh, how she wanted this.

  He raised his head, and she couldn’t look away from his truly spectacular brown eyes. At first she’d thought they were almost black, but in the bright light of day, she saw warm flecks of amber. He was a man who became more beautiful each time she looked at him.

  “You don’t know what you do to me, Cassie. I want to take you, right here, right now, in the middle of all those damn boxes. You make me feel alive in a way I didn’t know I was missing. How do I walk away from this?”

  Cassie tried to catch her breath. She believed him because he’d articulated exactly how he made her feel. She wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t while looking into his eyes. “What’s the alternative? I don’t want to be your vacation fling.”

  “It would never be like that,” he denied hotly.

  She gently removed the hand he had on her face, but continued to hold it. “That’s exactly what it would be. It’s all it could be. My life is here. And you have a job and family waiting for you in New York. There is nowhere this could go.” This is where I tell him I might be pregnant. Right now. Cassie let herself soak in how good it felt to be desired by Luke. She knew everything would change in a moment. “And there’s something I need to tell you . . .”

  “If it’s about the man Tilly mentioned, I don’t care about him. He’s not here now. Give me tonight, and I’ll make love to you until you can’t remember anyone before me.”

  Cassie cocked her head to one side. She hadn’t been with anyone since she’d moved to Defiance. Tilly had probably been referring to the previous owner of the bed and breakfast. “Simon was—”

  Luke pulled her to him and growled, “I told you, he doesn’t matter.”

  He’s jealous. Luke had that primal, possessive look on his face again that sent Cassie’s heart into a wild beat as her body quivered with need. He held her to him, and she couldn’t resist. She needed to feel him. She
slid a hand down between them and boldly caressed the bulge of his engorged cock through his jeans. He sucked in an audible breath.

  Luke leaned down and whispered into her ear, “Oh, Cupcake, you’re torturing me, but don’t stop.”

  Lost in a daze of desire, Cassie struggled to regain control of herself even as she continued to stroke him. He was so hard, so big. Her panties were soaked at the idea of how he would feel inside her. “We shouldn’t do this.”

  He kissed her neck hotly. “Or this.”

  Cassie arched her neck to the side. He kissed his way down it, then pulled the top of her coat open and rained kisses across her collarbone. Breathlessly, Cassie said, “I don’t know how to say no to you.”

  He raised his head, his breathing as ragged as her own. “Then say yes.”

  A man’s voice startled both of them. “Is my mother inside?”

  Cassie jumped back from Luke. Tilly’s son, Jimmy, was in his early fifties. He’d moved in with his mother after a divorce and never moved out. He was normally vaguely pleasant, but at that moment he had a disapproving look on his face. Cassie fought back a nervous, guilty giggle.

  “She’s probably still in the kitchen.”

  “I can see why she called me.”

  Luke stood straighter and looked about to say something, but Cassie caught his eye and silently pleaded for him not to. Luke kept his comment to himself, but didn’t look happy about it. Cassie decided introductions could wait for another day. She closed the hatch of her SUV. “Well, we’re off to make a delivery.”

  Jimmy didn’t look convinced. He walked to the house without saying another word.

  Suddenly feeling the cold, Cassie bolted for the warmth of her car. She settled into the driver’s seat while Luke quite happily took the passenger seat. With both hands on the steering wheel, Cassie said dryly, “I bet he doesn’t let Tilly come over again until you’re gone.”

  Luke ran a warm hand up and down one of her thighs. His caress held a promise of more. “That’s probably for the best, Cupcake.”

  Cassie knew Luke was right, but thought it safer not to agree. She started the car and pulled out onto the road, trying to ignore how her body was throbbing with need for his touch. She wasn’t an inexperienced virgin. She’d slept with a few men. Some had been better than others. None had made her feel the way Luke did.

  Just a look from him, a heated glance, and Cassie was squirming in her seat. How could she walk away from something like that?

  He’d asked her that question, and she honestly didn’t know the answer.

  She was beginning to fear that maybe she couldn’t.

  ***

  Luke considered himself a levelheaded man. He didn’t rush into decisions. He gathered information, came to logical conclusions, and acted upon them. He admitted his family had the ability to derail him sometimes, but he’d never met a woman before who made him feel off balance—excitedly so.

  If it was simple female companionship he was seeking, that was plentiful back in New York. He couldn’t imagine he’d be alone long if he flew off to that beach he’d considered traveling to. Neither option held appeal anymore.

  What had Cassie said? She didn’t want to be just a woman he’d slept with on his vacation. He’d denied it would be like that, but her concerns were valid. Although he was enjoying stepping out of his life, he had no intention of staying in Defiance. Eventually he’d have to go back.

  Not wanting to think about that yet, he turned his attention back to Cassie and her beautiful profile. She was concentrating on navigating the snow-covered streets. The care she took while approaching each stop sign was endearing.

  The feel of her hand on his cock was still vivid enough to keep him uncomfortably hard. He wanted to tell her to pull over so he could taste her sweet lips again. They were as irresistible as the frosting on her sugared cupcakes. If their exchanges so far were anything to go by, sex with her was going to be phenomenally tasty.

  “How did you start a baking business?” he asked. It wasn’t the most thought-provoking question, but he hoped it would distract him temporarily from how much he wanted her. He literally ached for her.

  She glanced at him quickly then kept her eyes glued to the road. “It started with the cupcakes. I enjoyed baking them for my guests. I’d send them away with boxes of them. Some guests went to town and told people about them. Tilly made some calls and before I knew it, Bonnie and Greg were ordering cases of them for their restaurant. Now I sell to quite a few places.”

  “What did you do before you moved here?” Luke asked.

  Her lips pressed together unhappily. “I worked in a sandwich shop in downtown Detroit.”

  He knew he had touched upon a topic she wasn’t comfortable with by the way her expression tightened. “I imagine living in Defiance is quite different.”

  “It is,” Cassie said abruptly. “I’m happy here. Happier than I can ever remember being.”

  He gave her thigh a supportive squeeze. “And you’re afraid being with me could change that?”

  She glanced at him again quickly. “I don’t want to get all heavy, and someone like you could never understand.”

  “Like me?” He frowned.

  She took a corner with extra care. “You’re good-looking, obviously successful at what you do. Bet you went to a private school.”

  “And you are a gorgeous, independent woman who runs both a bed and breakfast and a side business. We’re not as different as you think.”

  “No? Have you ever been so hungry you stole food by hiding it in your coat? Did you ever sleep beneath trash bags in a park because your mother was binging on drugs with a boyfriend, and anywhere was safer than your home?”

  “No,” he said slowly, absorbing what she’d said. She didn’t come across as a woman who had been through the life she alluded to. Imagining her in either situation she’d just described filled him with anger and sadness, along with a desire to protect her even though the threat she described was in the past.

  “You said you had no family. What happened to your mother?”

  Cassie shook her head once. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I haven’t spoken to her since I left Detroit. I lived with her until I was eighteen. Then I got my own place, but she followed me. She said she needed me. All she did was steal money from me, bring strange men into my apartment, and apologize. I’m so sick of people who think they can do whatever they want as long as they regret it afterward. Being sorry isn’t enough. Not if you go right back and do it again.”

  Even though her tone was calm, she seemed tense. He needed to hear the rest of her story. “You said Emma inspired your move to Defiance.”

  Cassie shrugged. “I was feeling trapped in my life in Detroit. Then I heard Emma’s story. She sounded so brave. I wanted to be like her. And the way she described this town . . . I didn’t think places like it existed. I was ready to defy my mother and everything she represented, and I thought a place named Defiance might be the answer. Even when I came here—I think I did it half expecting to be disappointed. But I wasn’t. The original owners of Home Sweet Home welcomed me like family returning home to them. My neighbors watch out for me because they know I live alone. That’s why I went to Emma’s funeral. I wanted to thank her for bringing me here.”

  With each word, and each picture she painted of her journey, he found it more difficult to breathe. More than anything else he wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her. “Cassie . . .”

  Something in his tone made her frown. “I don’t want your pity. I’m telling you this to show you why we don’t make sense.”

  He gave her thigh another squeeze. He couldn’t deny they had had very different childhoods. He’d never known a day of hunger. He’d never been cold. But if she thought he pitied her, she was wrong. “All you’ve proven is you’re even more amazing than I first thought.”

  Cassie blinked back tears as she pulled into a parking spot in front of a coffee shop. “I’m not. I’m really a hundre
d times more messed up than you think. I haven’t even told you—”

  With his hand around her chin she was forced to look at him. “Stop, Cassie. Stop trying to push me away before we have a chance to get to know each other.”

  Her eyes burned with an emotion he couldn’t determine. “What do you want from me, Luke?”

  He gave her a light kiss because he didn’t know how else to answer her. He didn’t know how to answer himself.

  She kissed him back with a hunger that he was careful not to take advantage of.

  She was afraid he would mess up her new life?

  Didn’t she know she was turning his upside down?

  Chapter Five

  “Tell me everything. What is Dr. Andrade like?” Bonnie pulled Cassie aside as Luke helped Bonnie’s husband, Greg, carry the boxes of cupcakes to the kitchen of the small restaurant. There were only about thirty tables in the whole place, but they were always full. Fresh cut flowers on every table, beautiful linens, and the best food in fifty miles made it worth the drive—even in a snowstorm. It also happened to be the place to hang out to know what was going on in the town.

  “Excuse me,” an older woman asked from a nearby table. “May I have more coffee, please?”

  Bonnie held up one finger at the customer. “In a minute, Dot. Dr. Andrade is staying at Cassie’s place. I need to get the scoop.”

  “Is that who just walked through with your husband? Oh, he’s good-looking. Will he be here long? My daughter works right around the corner. I can have her here in five minutes.”

  Two younger women from the next table chimed in. “That was Dr. Andrade? He is hot. Is he really single?”

  Bonnie flipped her long blonde braid over her shoulder and waved an impatient hand at them. “No one is bringing anyone in here to meet him. He’s already taken.” She pulled Cassie through the “Employees Only” doorway. Once they were alone, Bonnie gripped Cassie’s hand with excitement. “Do you know how many women are going to be disappointed when they find out Dr. Andrade is off the market.”

  Cassie gently removed her hand from Bonnie’s. “What are you talking about?”