Page 16 of Suddenly Yours

Sure enough, there under the sink was his phone.

The screen showed warnings of my last six messages.

Damn. I tried to unlock the screen with his birthday as the code, and when that didn’t work, I swiped the messages in hopes of deleting them.

“You know, that’s invasion of privacy,” Cade said from directly behind me.

I groaned and closed my eyes. “Just don’t read my last messages.”

His chuckle stopped me. “Why? Did you confess your undying love for me?”

I rolled my eyes even though they were still closed.

“No, I was just… sort of pissed that you weren’t returning my messages,” I said as he gently took his phone from my hands.

I spun around. “Please.” I covered the phone with my hands. “Just delete them.”

His eyes met mine. “Now I really want to read them.”

“Cade.” I groaned, which had his eyebrows rising slowly. “I was hurt.”

“About?” he asked softly.

I glanced around and was grateful that Brit was busy up front and that Meredith had already left for the day. We were alone. “I thought that you’d let something as stupid as a kiss ruin our friendship.”

He tilted his head and then scratched the back of his neck.

“When you didn’t respond, I thought… you were pissed at me. So I got pissed right back.” I shrugged.

“My alarm didn’t go off this morning. Which is why I didn’t get to eat breakfast or lunch. I spent the day trying to catch up. Honestly, I just finally had the time to come get my phone.”

“You aren’t upset?” I asked, feeling stupid.

“No,” he said softly.

My heart did a weird, confused somersault.

“Oh,” I managed. “Okay.”

He stepped closer. Close enough that I had to tilt my chin up. His voice lowered.

“So… the kiss meant nothing?” he asked.

I swallowed. “Well, I mean, I didn’t want to assume…”

“Missy.” His eyes held mine. Steady. Warm. “It didn’t feel like nothing.”

My knees nearly buckled.

Cade’s words were still hanging in the air like some dangerous confession when Brit called back to me that I was needed up front.

Great. Perfect timing.

“I, uh, need to, um.” I gestured uselessly toward the front.

Cade’s mouth curved, soft and knowing. Then he nodded and took a step back.

I spent the rest of the day replaying that look in his eyes until I felt like fainting.