AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Without a word, he hooked an arm around her waist and erased any distance between them. He dipped his chin as if asking another question.
A question she understood deep in her soul. A question she only had one answer for.
She lifted herself onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. Stars exploded behind her closed eyelids. Her core tingled with excitement.
His other arm wrapped around her, and he deepened the kiss. His tongue flicked into her mouth, and she moaned, accepting whatever he could give her.
This was what she’d been missing. Her whole life she’d searched for someone to make her feel loved and cherished and desired. With one simple kiss, Cade had all those feelings whirling inside her, leaving her begging for more.
Pulling away, Cade gripped her hips in his large hands and smiled at her.
Oh no. Had she done something wrong? Had he not wanted to kiss her?
He leaned down and pressed his lips to the center of her forehead before he whispered in her ear, “The eggs are burning.”
12
Standing in the line at the bank an hour later, the taste of her lips still lingered on Cade’s tongue. If the assaulting smell of burning eggs hadn’t interrupted Cade’s kiss with Laura, it would have been impossible to put any distance between them.
Damn eggs.
Only the night before he’d warned himself to take things slow—to not scare her away with the intensity of his feelings. Then she’d shocked the hell out of him by making the first move.
Now, excited energy swirled through his body at high speed. He wanted nothing more than to grab Laura by the hand and haul her back to his house to see all the wonderful places another kiss could lead.
But there were other things he needed to focus on, no matter how difficult.
“Good morning, Cade.” The pretty brunette teller flashed him a wide smile and gave a little wave. “What can I do for y’all this morning?”
With Laura by his side, he walked to the open window. He dipped his chin in greeting. “How ya doing, Brenda? I need to have some statements printed.”
Brenda kept her smile, but questions shined behind her thick, black glasses. “You know you can print those out from your online banking, right?”
Cringing, he scratched the back of his neck. “I’m horrible with that stuff.” He didn’t want to admit he didn’t have the information he needed to even log in to the online accounts. Matthew handled all of that.
“Not a problem. Do you just need last month’s statement?”
He glanced at Laura with raised brows. “How far back should we look?’
“Look?” Brenda asked. “Is there a problem?”
Laura set a palm on his arm as if sensing his increasing panic at the simple questions being lobbed his way. “Can we get statements going back the last two years?”
Another hooked-brow glance at Cade. “For the company or personal account?”
“Business,” he said, clearing the discomfort from his throat.
“That will take a minute or two.” Brenda typed on her computer then spared Laura a quick glance before returning her focus on him. “I have to step away to grab the copies. I’ll be right back.”
The vise in his chest tightened as she walked away. Once he understood what was going on with the botched numbers and mysterious flash drive, he needed to keep better tabs on what was going on at the office. Just because numbers generally pissed him off and he was better with his hands, didn’t mean he should be so far removed from the finances.
“Once we get the statements, we can take them back to the office and compare what we see on the flash drive,” Laura said. “Maybe we can find more details on the actual billing of clients.Then we can see if the amount billed matches the amount deposited.”
“Sounds like you’re suggesting embezzlement.” He hadn’t put the word to the action yet, but the thought of Matthew taking money from their business sat like a boulder in his gut.
They were best friends. If Matthew needed money, he would have done everything he could to help. There was no reason for him to steal, sneak, or lie to get his way.
Unless there were more secrets tangling up this web they’d discovered.
