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“I thought I heard something outside my door…” The deep voice behind me made me nearly drop my steaming mug of cocoa. “You couldn’t sleep, either?”
An embarrassingly high-pitched noise—okay, maybe it was a tiny scream—came from the back of my throat as I turned around and tried not to have a heart attack while also trying desperately not to spill the drink that I’d just painstakingly made.
“Oh, my God,” I said, my heart beating so fast it seriously felt like it might burst right out of my chest. “Cade Winslow, you scared me half to death. You can’t go around sneaking up on people in the middle of the night like that.”
He just grinned and shook his head. After spending a little time with him earlier in the evening, I was pretty sure that good-natured but sort of cocky smile was his default expression. And I had to admit, it suited him. He was a handsome man even when he wasn’t smiling, of course, but the way he was looking at me now? With those mischievous brown eyes and that little half-dimple in his left cheek?
Cade was downright sexy, and I was pretty sure he knew it.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who woke me up first,” he said, taking a few steps closer until he was standing next to me at the kitchen counter. “Those old floorboards don’t lie, you know.”
“You heard me coming down the stairs?” I asked, my eyes going wide. “Did I really wake you up? I was trying to be quiet, but—”
“No worries,” he said, cutting me off with another smile. He leaned in to nudge me with his shoulder, an innocent, friendly move that really shouldn’t have made my whole body tingle—except that’s exactly what it did. “I’m a pretty light sleeper.” He winked. “And I won’t promise I wasn’t already awake.”
God, the way he was looking at me and the way his low voice was rumbling like thunder made everything he said sound so… hot. Like a sexy secret just between the two of us.
Which was definitely just in my head.
Almost definitely.
Guys like Cade gave everyone that same flirty smile, right? And he’d certainly always been a complete gentleman around me, no matter how many times I might have fantasized about how that low, sexy voice would sound saying dirty things in my ear.
“Everything okay?” he asked, quirking a brow as his eyes quickly dropped to my lips before returning to hold my gaze again. “You seem… a little flustered.”
Oh, God.
I was a lot flustered, but was it that obvious? And the way he’d just looked at my lips hadn’t helped. What had made him do that, anyway?
Not that I was complaining at all. Except now the only thing I could think about was how his own lips might feel against mine. Would they be rough? Would that light stubble on his chin hurt if it brushed against me?
I blinked, belatedly remembering he had asked me a question.
What was it?
Oh, right. Flustered. That was putting it mildly.
“I’m good,” I lied. “I was just, um…” Wondering if you wanted to kiss me. Wondering what it would be like. Wondering if I could go back to your room. “I think I probably just need to get some sleep.”
The second part wasn’t a lie, at least. Going back to bed before I could say anything stupid was probably the best thing I could do.
“I should get some sleep, too,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “But instead, I’m here in the kitchen with you.”
And there he went again, with every word that came out of his mouth sounding way sexier than it should. It was like his super power, and whether he knew it or not, it was really hard to resist.
He shifted his weight against the counter, and I was pretty sure he was standing closer to me than he had been before. Or maybe the room had tilted sideways. I couldn’t tell for sure. I just knew that my body was suddenly hot. Too hot.
I parted my lips slightly to try to catch my breath, and I saw it this time for sure—Cade leaned in just a little closer. Our faces were just inches apart, and I realized that maybe it was the heat coming off his body that I could suddenly feel.
Oh, God.
Was this really happening? Was he going to—
“You two having a party down here?” The voice from the darkened kitchen doorway made Cade and me both jump back away from each other. Boone stepped into the kitchen, a knowing look on his face as he looked from me to Cade. “And you didn’t even invite me?”
“Not a party,” Cade answered, looking more than a little embarrassed. “We were just talking.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” I offered, raising my mug. “So I came down here for some cocoa. I was just getting ready to go back to bed, though.”
