From This Moment

by Lexi Buchanan

  “Taking some time off?” Jake queries.

  Glancing at Rona, I see I have her full attention now as I reply to Jake, “Yes, I am. I want to spend more time with Rona. I’m planning on taking her away somewhere, but until she’s well enough to travel I’m going to stay close. I’m worried Nick might show up, although if he has any sense he’d be long gone.”

  “Okay, Dad. What is on the schedule can be handled by me, or a couple of the part-timers, if needs be. We don’t have anything major for the next six weeks though, so you should be good.”

  “When you’re in the office later, can you mark on the calendar that I’m unavailable for the next four weeks?”

  “What are you planning?” Rona asks me.

  I smile at her. “A surprise.”

  “Oh good, I love surprises.” Her wink indicates an opportunity for her to shock Jake. “Does it involve being naked?”

  As expected, Jake reacts by choking on his coffee. “I think I’ll leave you two alone,” he says, making a dash for the door.

  “Jake, please don’t go. I promise to behave.”

  Jake glances at Rona and then me, before deciding to stay. He takes his seat again.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I’m not usually so, well you know,” Rona says, waving her arm around, wincing in pain.

  “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart, I’m sure he’s heard worse from his friends.”

  “They’re not usually talking about my dad and his girlfriend getting naked, though.” Jake shudders.

  It isn’t long before breakfast is over, and after Jake’s cleaned up he heads over to the stables to check on things.

  Even though I’d prefer different circumstances, I’m glad he’s home and becoming part of the family business, at least for now.

  Rona

  Cade helps me to the sofa after breakfast, and then disappears upstairs for a few minutes.

  I’m still in a lot of discomfort, mainly with my hip, although I keep having shooting pains in my leg, and the bruising is horrid to look at but will hopefully start to fade soon.

  I’ve never seen anyone killed before, and I’m thankful I only looked briefly, and didn’t really take anything in. I was just relieved to be away from him. I think Cade was expecting me to be affected more than I am. I hadn’t met Tom until yesterday, so whether my reaction would have been different if I’d known him, I don’t know. Maybe. He was an evil person and I for one am glad he can’t hurt anyone else. I just have Nick to worry about.

  Although I suspect Cade is doing enough worrying for the both of us. Thinking about Cade always brings a smile to my face. I feel as though we’ve been together a very long time, and in the time I’ve known him, he’s come to mean everything to me. He has me curious about what he’s planning over the next few weeks though. I’m just going to have to try my best to get it out of him.

  I glance toward the stairs in time to watch Cade descend, holding a few things. My favorite cardigan being one. It’s nothing special to anyone else, but to me it’s heaven. Made of the softest, pale blue knit I’ve ever seen, and it’s what I wear when I need comforting.

  “I’ve brought your iPad down in case you want to read or something, while I do some work on my laptop.” Cade breaks through the silence and sets his laptop up on the coffee table. Coming over to me, he helps me slip my arms into my cardigan.

  “Cade.” I pull him close for a quick, hard, wet kiss.

  “Rona,” he cups my head and brings me in for another kiss.

  He tastes of chocolate from the muffins, and coffee. I really want him to make love to me, but I have to agree with Cade about waiting because I’m in too much pain.

  “Hell.” Cade pulls away from me, taking some deep breaths while rearranging himself in his sweats.

  “I want to be naked with you,” I tell him.

  “I know, sweetheart. I want that too.” Cade moves my hand to the front of his sweats, so I can feel just how much he wants me. He moves my hand away. “It will only be a few more days while your hip heals, then I’ll have you naked in my arms.” He grins. “My hand and mouth can work wonders until your hip is fully healed and you can take me inside you again.” He passes over my iPad, sitting at the end of the sofa with his hand on my ankle, as though he has to touch me.

  Finally booting up his laptop, he starts concentrating on whatever it is he’s doing.

  I leave him to it for a few minutes, when I decide to add, “It was a serious question that I asked at breakfast, about being naked, you know.” I look at him with raised eyebrows.

  He laughs at me. “Will you please stop talking about being naked? Because you’re not helping me here.”

  “I was referring to what you’re planning for the next four weeks.”

  “You will have to wait and see. One thing I can promise is that I’m going to take you somewhere warm and private, and dedicate my whole time to you.” Cade kisses my foot.

  “When are you going to tell me?” I’m all excited.

  “You aren’t by any chance a Gemini, are you?”

  “Why?”

  “Because Beth is and she’s so impatient. She always wants to know her surprise as soon as she knows she’s getting one. Impatience is a sign of a Gemini, or so I’m told.”

  “As a matter of fact I am!”

  We grin at each other in amusement.

  Leaving Cade to get back to his work, I try to read on my iPad, but find it difficult to concentrate. I’m excited he’s planning something for us, but I’m also worried about Elise.

  No matter what she says to Jake, she must be finding it difficult with what has happened to Tom. I know she went from Tom back to Jake really quickly on Jake’s arrival home, but there must have been some feelings there for Tom, otherwise, why agree to marry him? Unless she’d been bullied into agreeing with the engagement, it makes me wonder with him hitting her. Was she frightened of him before, and that’s why she said yes? She did mention to me in town that she was afraid to talk to Tom about Jake.

  The more I think about Elise’s situation, the more upset I feel myself getting, worrying over my friend. I don’t want Cade knowing how concerned I am for her, so I close my eyes and finally let sleep pull me under.

  The last thought I have before I fall asleep is that I hope to get the chance to talk to Elise later today.

  Chapter 23

  Rona

  After my morning snooze, I refused to stay on the sofa and ate my lunch in the kitchen. But the slow walk around the downstairs of Cade’s home has me feeling sleepy again, and I’m back on the sofa ready to go to the land of nod. I probably overdid it some with the walking, as I made it around three times before Cade decided I’d done enough. I had to agree.

  Just as I feel myself about to slip into sleep again, the doorbell chimes. Popping my eyes open, I watch as the girls arrive.

  “Hi, Dad, how’s Rona?” Beth asks hugging Cade, followed by Anna and Elise.

  I’m so relieved to see Elise with them.

  Still feeling groggy, and unable to move that well, I stay put on the sofa.

  Seeing Elise holding back as Anna and Beth take a seat, I hold out my hand to her. “Elise, come here.” I pat the seat to the side of me. As she approaches there are tears in her eyes, which probably match the ones in mine. I blink them away. “Elise, under no circumstances do I want you to blame yourself for what happened to me. The only people responsible are Tom and Nick, not you.” I pull her into my arms.

  Her silent tears turn to sobs of relief and I find myself giving in to all the hurt, all the fear and all the emotion that I’ve been keeping bottled up inside. We sit together, hugging as tears run freely down our faces.

  This is probably what we both need to get it out of our systems. And right here, right now, I’m promising myself I won’t cry again over what happened to me. I’ve done enough of that already. I’m also not sure Cade can cope with much more either, although I know he’d support me if I needed him to. />
  I move slightly away from Elise and dry my eyes on the tissues Cade passes to me. “What about you, Elise?” I ask. “Are you doing okay? None of this must be easy for you.”

  She takes a few, deep breaths and pulls herself together. “I’m doing okay. Jake is helping, but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel. By the time I got away from him, I hated him for what he said about me and Jake and for what he did to me.” She dabs at her eyes with a tissue.

  Cade moves over to Elise and taking her by the hand, he pulls her in for a hug. “You’ll be fine.” He kisses her on the forehead. “Jake will always be there for you. I think he’s learned his lesson.”

  “Thanks, Cade. I think he has as well.”

  Relief washes over me as I watch them and I know Elise is going to be all right. Perhaps the cry has helped. I hope so anyway.

  Trying to get into a more comfortable position while the others hug Elise, I watch as they pull her onto one of the opposite sofas. I can’t hide the wince of pain that comes over me just as Cade spots me struggling.

  “Rona, wait. Let me help.” He’s by my side, his strong hands comforting me.

  His arms encircling my waist, he lifts me further up on the sofa. When he turns around he freezes and as I look, there are three pairs of eyes watching us, all smiling.

  I’m hoping, Beth, as well as Jake and Anna are okay with my relationship with their father because this is the first time Beth will have seen us together.

  Cade sits down on the sofa with me, and placing my legs in his lap he takes my hand. Lacing our fingers together, he brings them up to his lips and kisses my knuckles.

  I just hope Beth doesn’t hurt her father if she isn’t happy with his display of affection.

  “Rona, I didn’t see you yesterday.” Beth shares her attention between the both of us. “How are you really?”

  “I’m in pain with mainly my left hip, but my thigh hurts occasionally. Otherwise, I’m fine.” I smile to reassure everyone that I really am doing okay, before asking, “Does anyone know how Grace is doing? I feel partly responsible for what happened to her.”

  “Sweetheart, what happened to Grace isn’t your fault. Nick was already a friend of Tom’s before you even met so for all we know, Grace already knew him. Please don’t blame yourself for what happened to Grace,” Cade says to me.

  “Grace is doing well,” Anna confirms. “I called in to see her first thing this morning and I found her sitting up in bed, blushing away, while that hot DEA guy, Josh, asked her questions.” Taking a much-needed breath, Anna continues, “Actually, when he was leaving, he gave her one hell of a hot look, and if she’d been standing up, she would have ended up a melted puddle at his feet.”

  “Anna. Does Justin know you look at other guys like that?” Cade’s not looking happy.

  “Of course not. It’s a girl thing.”

  “He was giving Rona the eye yesterday. Did you look at him like that?” he asks me.

  “Are you asking me if I found him hot?” I try not to laugh, but it’s hard to do since everyone is snickering the background.

  “Yes!”

  “He’s hot, but you’re a lot hotter than him.” Heat springs to Cade’s eyes but I can tell he’s not happy I checked out Josh when he was questioning me. “If it helps, when I first saw you, I undressed you with my eyes, but I didn’t with him. Does that answer your question, honey?”

  He smiles as a slight blush blooms along his cheekbones. “Yes.” He leans over to kiss me.

  “Idiot, I will only ever love you,” I whisper.

  Settling back on the sofa beside me, Cade starts to fidget. Is he uncomfortable at his display of affection for me? He didn’t seem too bothered before. Not really knowing how to help him, I decide to be honest with his daughters as Elise already knows how I feel about Cade, and I blurt out, “I love your father with all my heart, and he loves me.” I look between Anna and Beth.

  Cade squeezes my hand. I can see his eyes are full of love and pride.

  “What Rona says is the truth. You both know what happened between your mother and me, I’ve made no secret about that. You know I didn’t love her and I haven’t been in love before, until now. I know there is a large age difference, but I hope you will accept Rona as the woman of my heart.”

  “I told you last night, Dad, I’m happy for you both and I meant it.” Anna looks at us both while nudging Beth.

  “I was upset last night,” Beth admits slowly, “until Anna and Jake told me to grow up and to think about how much happier you’ve been since Rona has been here. I realized I was being selfish. Like Anna says, you need someone to love you as a guy and not a father and seeing you with Rona just now, I realize you finally have that. So yes, I’m okay with you and Rona being together, besides, she has good taste in clothes which will probably fit me!”

  A glance at Cade tells me he’s having difficulty controlling his emotions. Letting go of my hand he rises and walks over to Beth, who stands to meet him. His arms wrap around her and tears sting my eyes when I see the kind of father he is, just in that hug.

  Beth buries her face in his chest. Kissing her forehead, he says, “Thank you,” before letting her go and walking back over to me.

  He sits next to my hip and helps me sit up before pulling me into his arms. I have my fingers running through his hair as I nibble his ear. He shivers against me.

  “Mmm,” I moan.

  “Dad, why don’t you disappear for an hour and we’ll look after Rona.” Anna grins when she sees her dad’s expression. “She’ll be fine. Don’t you have some work to do on your laptop? Go get it done, then when you’ve finished, you’ll be able to concentrate on Rona.”

  “I guess. At least Rona won’t be able to see what vacation I’m planning since I’ve got everything set up in my office.” He winks at me, but still seems reluctant to leave.

  “Vacation! Hey can we come? I could do with a break,” Beth says.

  “If you need a break, I would have a word with your husband, Beth,” Cade counters.

  “Last time I had a word, he took me away and I ended up pregnant with Edith!”

  Cade shudders. “That really is too much information.”

  “If you think that, then think how we feel knowing our father actually has sex!” Beth says, grinning.

  I start to laugh, but a shooting pain in my hip from the movement steals my breath.

  “Rona, what is it?” Cade asks, his voice full of concern.

  “I’m okay. I just forgot about my hip.” I wince, but can’t hold back the chuckle.

  “All right, fun’s over,” Anna says. “Dad, you go and sort your vacation out, and we’ll take care of Rona.” Anna shoos Cade away.

  He still seems reluctant to leave me, so I add, “I’ll be fine. I’m comfortable here plus all you have to do is look out of your office door to see me.” I give him a kiss, then a slight shove.

  “Now that’s sorted, who wants a coffee? Dad, before you head upstairs, come and grab yourself a cup of coffee and a slice of cake to take with you.” Anna heads toward the kitchen letting Cade know who’s in charge at the moment.

  ~*~*~*~

  I’m having a good time chatting away with Anna, Beth and Elise, but after about an hour, I’m starting to get tired and my concentration is drifting. Wanting a look at Cade, I glance upstairs only to discover him on his way down.

  I smile when our eyes meet and find that I’m unable to look away. Cade walks over to me, and cupping my face in his hands, leans in and kisses me. It’s so sweet it brings tears to my eyes.

  I raise my fingers to caress his face, and he kisses my palm. “Are you okay?”

  “Not really. I could do with some more painkillers.” I smother a yawn behind my hand.

  Cade looks concerned so I slip my hand into his and with a slight squeeze, let him know I’m okay now that he’s with me.

  He turns around to face his family. “Are you girls enjoying your gossip?” he asks my three grinning friends.

/>   “I think I speak for us all when I say we enjoyed that the most.” Beth waves her finger between Cade and me.

  “I’m a very lucky woman.” I laugh as I look at my friends then back to Cade.

  He sits next to me while I take the painkillers. Then, with help, I rearrange myself so I’m using Cade as a cushion. I’ve become tired during the morning. Listening to everyone talking away, my thoughts turn to Elise and Jake.

  “Elise, have you and Jake discussed when your home will be ready?”

  That’s the one thing I keep forgetting to ask Jake.

  “It should be finished within a couple of months. Jake wants to get the house fully furnished before we move in.” She grins. “I told him I’d be happy with a just a bed.” She blushes when she remembers Cade is in the room.

  He laughs. “If I know Jake, it will be ready a lot sooner than a couple of months. He’s always been impatient.”

  “I can help you with the shopping part.” I grin. I love shopping, and not always for clothes.

  “Once you get back from vacation, I’ll take you up on that.”

  “Is it only me who doesn’t know where I’m going?” I’m a little bit disgruntled. I hate not knowing things when everyone else does.

  “No, sweetheart. I’m the only one who knows where we’re going.” He kisses my nose. “You’ll love it so stop trying to find out where I’m taking you.”

  Beth stands and gathers her things together. “Ladies, c’mon. Let’s go and leave them in peace.”

  Saying goodbye to my friends sees the last of my energy draining from my body.

  Once they’ve disappeared, Cade comes over and kneels in front of me. He takes hold of my hands. “You need to rest. Let me be your knight in shining armor and carry you upstairs.”

  “Sounds good, are we going to get naked?” I ask him as he lifts me up into his arms. I lick up from his collarbone to his ear, causing him to stumble.

  “Unless you want me to put you down on the stairs, rip your pants off and slide my cock inside you, keep talking,” he growls.