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I padded into the kitchen and looked in the freezer for an icepack. When I saw none I grabbed a bag of frozen peas instead.
I jumped when I heard the glass door onto the deck slide open.
Cade saw me and kept his face turned, so that I wouldn’t see where his dad hit him.
“I saw, Cade,” I whispered, my voice soft. “I know.”
He didn’t move his head, but his shoulders sagged—from relief or despair, I didn’t know.
“Come here,” I coaxed.
Head downcast, he slowly made his way over to me.
I pointed to one of the stools in front of the bar. “Sit,” I commanded.
His lips tipped up. “I didn’t know you could be so bossy.”
“I don’t like seeing you hurt.” My hand shook as I lifted the bag to press it to the tender skin beneath his eye. His hand clasped around my wrist, steadying it.
“Why don’t you like seeing me hurt?” His eyes were dark and his voice became husky. In the dim kitchen his face was etched in shadow.
My lips parted with a breath. “Why do you think?”
“Say it, Rachael.”
My eyes closed.
Rachael. He called me Rachael again. After the accident, I hated being called Rachael, but hearing Cade say my name…yeah, I liked that.
“Say it.” He prodded when I didn’t immediately speak up.
“Because I care about you,” I snapped. “I care about you more than I should and I don’t want you hurt.”
“You care about me?” He smiled. The hand on my wrist dropped to my waist and I squeaked when he pulled me into the space between his legs. “That’s good to hear, because I care about you a lot.” His other hand tangled in my hair.
“How can you still like me after what I did?” I asked, and the tears threatened to fall once more. After our confessions yesterday neither of us had discussed it again—which left my mind free to run wildly with thoughts of how disgusted he was by me.
“You didn’t do anything, not on purpose anyway. I’m not saying what you did was right, you shouldn’t have looked at your phone, but you didn’t set out to kill them, Rae. There was no intent there. You’re not a murderer like you think.”
“How’d you know I think that?” I bit my lip to stifle a sob.
His eyes softened and he rubbed his thumb against my cheek. “Because I see more than you give me credit for.”
I backed away and grabbed the other stool. Being that close to Cade was making my brain fuzzy. Once I was seated I held the frozen peas against his cheek again.
“You know, you’re nothing like the guy I thought you were during our first few encounters.” I admitted with a soft laugh.
He chuckled with a small smile. “And what did you think of me, Sunshine?”
“Well, I thought you were h
ot,” he grinned at that, “but an arrogant, egotistical, jerk.”
He laughed. “A jerk, huh?”
“Well, you were really laying it on thick and you did drink my coffee. That was rude.”
“Hey, I gave you mouth to mouth, sharing a drink was no big deal,” he countered, grinning so his dimple showed.
