by Carsen Taite
Emily heard the question in Cade’s voice and dispelled it quickly. “Clara brought those over. Guess she didn’t want the house to look like I’m never here.”
“That’s okay, Next time, I’ll bring something not as common, like maybe a Venus flytrap.”
“Don’t be silly.” Emily poured water in the vase and arranged Cade’s bouquet. “I like these better.”
“Thanks.” She sniffed the air. “Dinner smells delicious by the way.”
“I may as well go ahead and tell you that Clara is responsible for dinner too. She brought the food anyway.” Emily poured them both a glass of wine and handed one to Cade. “I’m pretty sure she pilfered it from my parents’ house. Their chef is out of this world.”
“You didn’t have to confess, you know.” Cade sipped the wine and tilted her glass in a kind of toast. “This is nice. But returning to the subject of your scandalous ways, I probably wouldn’t have noticed until our fourth or fifth date that you weren’t cooking your own meals.”
“Fourth or fifth date, huh?”
“Yep. Although I’m beginning to wonder if you want to be seen in public with me. First you take me to a secret coffee house, then dinner twice, but only at your house. Makes a girl wonder.”
Emily considered her answer. The truth was she wanted Cade all to herself, but she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to admit that, not right now and not so soon, so she settled on a version of the truth. “Well, on our first date, I introduced you to Becca, and she’s my best friend and pretty much the town gossip. On our second and now third date, I invited you here, the historic Sinclair house—maybe you noticed the plaque on the porch? Everyone in town knows this house, and everyone in town notices when there’s a strange car in the driveway. I could take out an ad in the paper and it would get less notice.
“The truth is, I don’t always get a lot of peace when I go out to dinner. People like to stop and tell me their problems. Everything from the barking dog next door to how the corner store could use better lighting. I imagine after the hearing this afternoon, that’s likely to be even more true.” She set her wine glass down and walked across the kitchen, stopping when she was only inches from Cade. “We can go out another time.” She reached out and ran her hand from Cade’s shoulder to her hand and curled her fingers into Cade’s palm. “Right now, I’d like to get to know you, and we don’t need an audience for that.”
Cade raised Emily’s hand to her lips and kissed her palm, sending shivers of anticipation through her. All thoughts of dinner and getting to know you talk receded to the back of her mind. Emily stepped closer. “Kiss me.”
Cade’s smile was super sexy. She used her free hand to feather Emily’s hair away from her face before she leaned in and brushed her lips against Emily’s in a teasing gesture of foreplay. “Like this?”
Emily groaned at the close, but not quite close enough contact. “More.”
Cade ran the tip of her tongue along Emily’s lower lip, tracing her way past her parted lips, and this time, she was the one who groaned. Emily ran her hands along Cade’s hips and pulled her closer, rocking gently against her pelvis. The kiss was slow at first and gentle, then fast and hard, until kissing wasn’t enough and the growing ache between her legs screamed for release. She leaned her head back and panted, “Follow me.”
Emily grabbed Cade’s hand and led her out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and down the hall, silently cursing the large house and the time she was wasting because her bedroom was so damn far away.
*
Cade paused in the threshold of Emily’s bedroom. She hadn’t anticipated they would begin their evening here, but now she couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Emily’s soft lips, her commanding touch—she was helpless to resist. Besides, sex meant no talking, no uncomfortable questions about the past and future.
“What are you thinking, right now?”
Cade looked down. Emily’s arms circled her waist and her eyes were dark with desire. “Thinking is overrated.”
“Good,” Emily said with a slow sexy smile. “I was starting to wonder if you were deciding between me and lasagna.”
“Easy choice.” Cade kissed her, losing herself in the heady haze of arousal. When they came up for air, she said, “Not to dis your lasagna, but I can’t imagine it tastes better than this.”
Emily placed a hand on Cade’s chest and began toying with the buttons on her shirt. “Before we walk through this door, I want to tell you something.”
“Sounds serious.”
“A little.” Emily ducked her head. “It’s just…”
Cade looked over her shoulder into the bedroom. The light was off, but the moonlight through the window illuminated a beautiful four-poster bed. When she looked back into Emily’s eyes she saw hopeful anticipation, and suddenly, she knew what was up. “Let me guess. You don’t bring women up here on a regular basis.”
“Hardly.”
“Never?”
“That makes me sound like a prude.”
Cade looked down at her partially unbuttoned shirt and grasped Emily’s hands. “I don’t think you’re in danger of winning that title,” she said with a smile. She held Emily’s hands to her lips and kissed each knuckle, careful to keep her touch light and playful. “We can go back downstairs and eat dinner if that’s what you want.”
She pulled back slightly, while still holding on, and waited for Emily’s reaction. She was hungry for Emily, but it wouldn’t be right unless they were both hungry for the same thing.
When Emily pulled her hands away, Cade sighed and took a few slow deep breaths to rein in her libido, but she’d barely managed to catch her breath before Emily’s hands were back on her chest, finishing what she’d started. Her entire body hummed as Emily pushed her shirt open and bent down to deliver featherlight kisses along her chest. She ran her hands through Emily’s soft hair, drawing her face up to meet hers. Emily’s eyes were glistening with arousal, black with need. She had her answer and she didn’t waste any time. She tugged Emily’s sweater over her head, and gasped at the sight of her beautiful breasts encased in a lacy black brassiere. “You’re so beautiful,” she murmured as she kissed her way around the lace. She reached around and unfastened the bra, and pushed the straps off Emily’s shoulders. “Is this okay?”
Emily groaned and arched into her embrace. “Way better than okay,” she murmured.
Cade smiled as she slid her tongue across one of Emily’s nipples, enjoying the way she pushed into the touch. She licked and nipped at her breast until Emily’s nipple was a hard point, aching with arousal. She lifted her head and looked into Emily’s eyes, still dark with want. “Bed?”
“Yes.”
Cade took her hand and led her across the room. The tall queen, four-poster bed was like something out of a magazine, perfectly made up with lots of decorative pillows and matching everything. Cade thought about her own bed at home with its tangled sheets and haphazardly placed pillows. She wondered what Emily would think if she saw her room.
“Is something wrong?”
Cade looked at Emily’s face, her expression tentative. “No, not at all.”
“I promise I don’t always make my bed,” Emily said. “I’m not that person, I swear. In fact, I didn’t even sleep up here last night. I was downstairs prepping for the hearing, and I fell asleep on the couch.”
Cade placed a finger on her lips. “It’s okay. I have to admit I do think you might be more of a neat freak than I am, but as long as you don’t mind if I wreck this little magazine layout you have going on here, it’s all good.”
Emily reached up and locked her hands around Cade’s neck, pulling her close until their lips were almost touching. She whispered, “Wreck away.”
Cade didn’t hesitate. She pushed aside the fancy pillows and gently lowered Emily to the bed. With her auburn hair fanned out over the crisp white duvet, Emily was absolutely breathtaking. Cade bent over and ran her tongue along the waistband of Emily’s skirt, while her fingers
unfastened the button on the side. Emily lifted her hips, and Cade tugged the skirt off and tossed it on the floor, sending her panties to join it.
Emily turned her head and looked at her cast-off clothing. “I’m kinda liking your anti-neatfreakness.”
Cade leaned over her and nipped her way from Emily’s navel to her neck. “Tell me what else you like,” she whispered into her ear.
Emily reached up and began unfastening the rest of the buttons on Cade’s shirt. “I’d like you to lose these clothes, and I’d like to feel your skin on mine. Let’s start with that and see where it goes from there.”
Cade stood up, kicked off her boots, and shucked out of her jeans and underwear. She climbed onto the bed and stretched out next to Emily who wasted no time letting her hands travel from her waist down along her thigh. “That feels so good.”
“There’s more where that came from, but you have to lose the shirt,” Emily said with a teasing tone.
Eager for more, Cade started to pull off her shirt when she remembered the ugly scar on her right side where Fontana’s bullet had ripped through her flesh. She reached over and tugged the shirt off her left shoulder, and then shifted so she was lying on her right side, and finished the job by reaching behind her back, hoping Emily didn’t notice her contorted machinations. “Better?”
“Much.” Emily pulled Cade closer, into a deep kiss. Cade was an amazing kisser, and as she imagined her talented tongue touching the rest of her body, Emily felt a rush of wetness between her legs. The kissing was amazing, but she wanted—no needed—more. “Touch me. Please.”
Cade slid a hand between her legs and ran a single finger through her slick, wet folds. Emily bucked at the touch, and then gasped when she felt Cade’s mouth close around her breast. “That feels amazing. Please don’t stop.”
Cade answered by adding another finger to the teasing between her legs. She lifted her head. “Tell me what you want.”
“Anything. Everything. I want to feel you inside me.” She barely got the words out before Cade entered her, gently at first, and then again with more fingers, more force until she established a steady rhythm. Emily turned her head back and forth, unable to be still, but not wanting to disturb the perfect moment. “So good…” Cade’s lips were back at her breasts, her tongue licking fast, keeping a steady pressure with her fingers down below. She could feel the swell of orgasm coursing through her body, begging for release, but she wanted something more, and she reached to claim her desire.
As consumed as she was with drawing pleasure from Emily’s body, Cade barely felt the touch at first—a light, feathering trace of a touch along her side, agonizingly slow, but deliciously sure. Her own rhythm lost a beat as Emily’s fingers traveled further down, with increasing pressure, teasing and tormenting their way along her inner thigh. “You’re killing me,” she whispered against Emily’s breast, punctuating the remark with a flip of her tongue.
She looked up to see Emily’s eyes locked on hers. “Come with me,” Emily said. Cade’s response was reduced to a groan as Emily smoothed the palm of her hand over her breast and massaged her nipple in tandem with the teasing touch between her legs. She was wet and hard and ready, and she would’ve said yes to anything.
Chapter Fifteen
Emily opened her eyes to a dark room and rolled over to look at the clock. Nine—a.m., p.m.? She raised up on one arm and looked next to her. Cade was lying on her side, her arm stretched across her stomach, looking adorable with her ruffled hair and sleepy eyes. “Have you been lying there watching me sleep?”
“Maybe,” Cade said, her voice crackling with sleep. “Is that a bad thing?”
“No.” She nudged her way into the crook of Cade’s arm. “I’ll tell you what’s a bad thing though.” She felt Cade’s body tense, and she spoke quickly to dispel any notion Cade might have that she thought what they’d just done had been a mistake. “Someone who invites you over for dinner, but doesn’t actually feed you.”
Cade held her closer. “I’m amazingly satisfied for a hungry person.”
“Shall I go downstairs and fix us a plate?”
“I’ll come with you.”
Emily traced Cade’s naked chest with her fingers and shook her head. “I’m not sure I’m ready for you to put your clothes back on.”
“Won’t the neighbors talk if they see a strange car in your driveway late at night?”
Emily was torn. The neighbors would talk, but talk was just that, talk. If she was going to keep seeing Cade, was she going to be satisfied with early dinners and no sleepovers when it was clear they’d zoomed past that point tonight?
She looked at Cade’s body, only partially covered by the sheet, and a surge of heat flooded her body as she remembered every touch they’d shared. She made up her mind. She might not be ready for an overnight, but she wasn’t ready for this night to end.
As if sensing her dilemma, Cade pulled her close. “Tell you what, let’s compromise,” she said. “We’ll get dressed, go downstairs, and eat dinner. Then we’ll kiss good night, make plans for another date, and repeat this all over again sometime this week.”
Cade was right. Hell, it was Monday night and the rest of the week was going to be insane, especially since she’d been crazy enough to agree to Brody Nichols’s ludicrous request for a super speedy trial. “Okay, it’s a deal, but only because if I don’t eat soon I won’t have the energy to do this again.” Emily gestured at the tangled sheets and piles of tossed-off clothing on the floor. “This was quite the aerobic exercise.” She reached over and switched on her bedside lamp, blinking as the bright light filled the room.
“Come on.” Cade stood up and held out her hand. Emily looked up at her naked body, admiring her svelte physique that less than an hour earlier had quivered under her hands. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she had a much clearer view of Cade and her view confirmed what she’d felt earlier, but hadn’t been able to see. Ignoring Cade’s outstretched hand, she reached up and traced a finger around the edge of a nickel-sized scar along Cade’s abdomen. “That looks awful. What happened?”
Cade looked down at her finger and flinched. Her expression telegraphed surprise and then fear and her flushed skin blanched.
“I’m sorry,” Emily said. “Could I be more insensitive? It’s just, it looks like—”
“Hunting accident,” Cade interrupted her with a nervous laugh. “I guess I forgot to mention I’m accident prone.” She grabbed her shirt from the pile of clothes on the floor and had it on and buttoned in record time. “But I won’t be alive much longer if we don’t eat.”
Emily watched while Cade pulled on her jeans, debating about whether she should push the point. Cade clearly didn’t want to discuss her injury, but Emily couldn’t help but feel the intimacy they’d shared should have given her the right to ask. You’re being presumptive. She’ll share if she wants to and how she got her scar doesn’t affect you one way or the other.
She pushed the detail aside to be examined later and focused on the right now, eager to recapture the incredible closeness they’d experienced moments before. She swung her legs out of bed and pulled on a robe. “Well, keeping you alive is definitely in my best interest.”
“Is that all you’re going to wear?”
Emily smiled. She loved the way the black silk robe draped against her skin. It stopped mid-thigh, so it wasn’t exactly practical for cold weather, but practicality paled in comparison to the reaction it evoked from Cade. She reached over and placed a finger under Cade’s chin, pulling her glance back up to eye level. “You keep looking at me like that and you’re going to starve to death.”
Cade laughed. “Yeah, but what a way to go.”
Emily pointed at the door. “Downstairs now. If you still feel the same way after dinner, we can reevaluate the situation.” She could hardly believe her own words, but her resolve was slipping. What was the point now anyway? It was way too late to take things slowly. The sex might have been fast and furious, but the cuddli
ng and the banter signaled she was quickly becoming attached to Cade.
You hardly know her. She’s hiding something. Emily let the refrain play for a few seconds before she pushed the doubts away. The reservations were real, but she was drawn to this woman, both mentally and physically, and she wasn’t ready to pick apart the attraction.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow she’d sort out what was real and what wasn’t, but tonight she refused to let her natural instinct for rooting out the truth ruin this perfect evening.
A few minutes later, they dove into the still warm lasagna.
“This is heavenly,” Cade said between bites. “I’m thinking of breaking into your parents’ house and raiding their refrigerator on a regular basis.” She mocked an alarmed expression. “Guess I shouldn’t have admitted that to the top prosecutor in town.”
Emily laughed. “Don’t worry. I have a feeling I might be a bit too busy over the next couple of months to prosecute a food burglar.”
“That’s right, the murder case. Did you know the victim? I didn’t, but a lot of people I work with did.”
“I recognize his picture, but I don’t know if we ever met. I’ve met so many people over the past year, I started to lose track.”
“Right, the election. I can see where, even in a small county, it would be impossible to get to know everyone.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I know a lot of people in Lawson. Remember, I grew up in a political family, and my dad started on the local level. A lot of my childhood was spent holding an American flag and pretending to enjoy all the Democratic rallies we attended every election season. I hated it at the time, but I guess it’s in my blood.” She took a sip of wine. “It helped me as a prosecutor to know all these people. Made it more real when the time came to talk to juries about the need to protect the community.”
“Speaking of protection, have you tried many murder cases?”
“A few, but they’re pretty rare here.”
“Do you really think the Miller case will go to trial in a month?”
