Page 30 of Claiming His Property

“You’re engaged to her! You’re leaving for California tomorrow!” I sob, feeling every fiber in my body fall apart and my heart deflate.

“I’m not, Sky. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I tried to call you!” I whimper as the tears soak my cheeks. “Your phone was disconnected. Or you blocked me or something.”

“My phone is missing,” Cade explains. “I’m pretty sure Beatrice stole it when she called me over to her house. I couldn’t find it, so I got this.”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a new phone and slips it into my hand.

“I want you to take this and call your phone so I have your number, okay?”

The whole world feels like a tornado of fire and ice. I don’t know what to believe anymore, but there’s a glimmer of hope in my chest that wasn’t there moments ago. I look into his eyes and allow myself to see something there–the way he looked at me that always made me feel loved–like this is the man I was meant to be with.

But he still has so much more explaining to do.

I take the phone and dial my number and hand it back to him.

“My aunt said you’d seen her naked. Is that true?”

Cade groans. I already know the answer before he replies. “Yep.” He nods. My stomach twists as I start imagining all the possible scenarios that could have led to that happening.

“But it’s not what you think.”

“Well what is it, then?”

“She asked me to come into the house to fix a pipe that I’m ninety-nine percent sure she rigged to be leaky, and when I turned around, she had let her robe fall off.”

“Are you fucking kidding?” I gasp.

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “Sky, your aunt has been trying to hit on me for a while now. That’s why I’ve moved all my work to the outskirts of her property and had the other guys working close to the house–so she wouldn’t have a chance to get me alone again.”

That glimmer of hope is starting to grow inside me.

I can totally see Beatrice behaving this way, especially after our encounter when she told me to stay away from Cade and slammed the door in my face.

“You said she called you over to her house?” I ask.

Cade nods. “She is moving to California. She bought a house, and she offered me triple my salary to move with her and be her live-in lawn-care worker basically.”

“What? And what did you say to her?”

“I told her I couldn’t do that but I’d gladly stay here and maintain this house while she’s gone.”

Could this be true?

Could what Cade is saying be what actually happened?

I look up at him and feel the flow of my tears slow, the pace of my heart lessens.

“So…you didn’t try to seduce my aunt?” I ask, my lips trembling as the words pass through them.

Cade laughs tenderly and threads his callused fingers through my hair. My body comes alive as he caresses my scalp.

“Never. I love you, Sky. You are my angel. There is no other woman in this entire Earth I would rather be with.” And here come the tears again. “In fact, it wasn’t just to clear up all this crap your aunt has been saying that I came here tonight. There was another reason…”

Cade takes my hand in his and drops to one knee.

My heart nearly leaps from my chest.

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