Page 42 of Worthy

“Touché!” Ally laughs, letting him off the hook.

″Need anything else, or can I clock out now?” he asks dryly.

″I’m good,” Ally sing-songs like she’s proud of having pushed his buttons.

″Me too.” I’ve got just the slightest buzz going on, and that’s my cue to stop since I have work to do tomorrow.

″How are you getting home, Madd?” Cade asks, his tone suddenly gentle.

″My car is still over by the park.” I pull a twenty out of my wallet to pay the tab.

″I’m parked that way too. I’ll walk with you.” He waves away my money and puts his own in the register.

″Okay.” I stick my twenty in the tip jar instead, earning another frown from Cade. He comes around the bar to meet me and we say our goodbyes, earning a sly smirk from Ally, and an annoyed glare from Deacon.

″So, who came up with the drink game?” I ask as we step into the chilly air.

″Ah, that was me.” He rubs his hand over the back of his neck.

″You can’t just leave it at that. What made you think of it?”

″I had to look up the recipe for a drink one time when I was helping Dex.” He exhales. “I jumped behind the bar because he was swamped, kind of like tonight, and even though I didn’t know how to do much else than pour beers I figured another set of hands would help him. Then this girl comes in asking for a fancy drink I’d never heard of, and Dex was too busy to jump in, so he told me to look it up. I found a book of drink recipes, and as I was flipping through, I found a couple that were…” He shakes his head, searching.

″Suggestive?” I supply.

″Yeah, you could say that.” He chuckles. “The next time I was in the bar I grabbed that book and started reading it, then ordered these drinks just to piss Dex off. One time a girl overheard, and instead of being offended she seemed curious. So, I upped the ante and started ordering multiple drinks at a time, but instead of rattling them off like a list I dropped them into sentences. It sort of caught on. Been using it to pick up women ever since.” He shrugs sheepishly.

“The sexy shot game doesn’t work as a pickup for men?”

“I’ve never tried it on a man.”

My feet come to a halt of their own accord. “You’ve never… So, this…” I draw an imaginary line between us. “Never? As in…ever?”

Cade faces me, a wary expression on his face that I can’t decipher, which makes it infinitely harder to reconcile what’s happening.Didthe notorious flirt just admit he’s a baby bi? There’s no way. He’s too self-assured, too fearless.

“I’ve never been with a man, never picked up a man, never looked twice at… Actually, that’s not true. I’ve been looking a lot recently, I just never felt the urge to act on it.”

“So that kiss…?”The one he abruptly cut off.

“Yeah.” He shoves his hands in his pocket and rocks back on his heels as my heartbeat slows to a crawl.

Oh my God, I ruined his curiosity.“That’s why you stopped.”

“What?” His blue eyes darken as his brows draw together.

“That’s why you stopped kissing me. You didn’t like it. You tried it and hated it and gave me some excuse about your past to spare my feelings. How did I mis-read that?” I run my hand through my hair with a groan.

“I didn’t hate it, I fucking loved it.” Cade’s narrowed brows morph into a full-on frown. “And I wasn’t using my past as an excuse, it’s a legitimate reason for you to stay away. I’m the definition of a player, and for that alone you should steer clear, but add my bi-awakening bullshit and you better believe I’m too much of a risk.”

I’m so stuck on theloved itpart that I almost miss the rest of what he says, and while I’d like to focus on the fact I didn’t turn him off guys, his desperate expression tells me now isn’t the time.

“A risk how?” I press.

“The better question is how am I not. I don’t know how to do anything other than hook up, which we both know isn’t in your nature. And don’t even get me started on the bi thing. Aside from the fact it’s new to me, it’s new to the whole damn town. They’ll all be curious about you because of me, and I don’t want to put you in that spotlight.”

That’s a fair point, but not a deterrent considering who made it.

“Being gay I’ve been in the spotlight my whole life. Besides, didn’t you tell me you won’t survive in a small town if you focus too much on what people think?” Cade’s mouth snaps shut at my retort. “And as for your past hookups, you keep talking about them as if they define who you are, and maybe for you they do. But I define you based on what I see, and I see someone who loves life, loves his family and friends, and loves his town. Those are hardly bad qualities.”

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