Page 130 of The Single Dads Club
“What is it?” he asked, breaking the tension sitting between us.
“You said you’ve had Lily since she was three. I’m just wondering…what happened to your parents?”
He pulled back a healthy swig of his own beer before answering. “That’s too generous a term for them.”
I kept quiet, wrapping my fingers around the chilled bottle, waiting for him to continue.
“I was raised by my grandparents, and was left this place when they passed away. I was barely twenty, and my mother had given birth to a baby, and dropped the toddler off here. Lily wasn’t walking yet and needed more care than they were prepared to give her.”
I couldn’t help but compare how very different our lives were. My parents and I vacationed in Italy and spent Christmases at our ski lodge, and I never wanted for anything growing up—except for maybe more freedom. Cade was abandoned by his parents and then saddled with a special-needs child all because his parents couldn’t be bothered to care for her.
“I took one look at that little girl, and she stole my heart. I work hard and would do anything I needed to do to ensure her safety. I’m determined to give Lily the life my parents couldn’t. They were later busted for running a meth lab out of their trailer and are now in prison for a very long time.”
Wow.
Sensing my inner turmoil, he gave my hand a squeeze. “I promise you, we’re managing.”
“I know, I can see that.” And they truly were. Cade, or Caden as Lily called him, was doing the best he could, providing a safe, loving home, even if he went about paying the bills in unconventional ways. Who was I to judge?
“Why’d you come today?”
I knew the question hadn’t been forgotten. I hesitated for just a second before recovering. “For Lily.” Which was mostly true.
He waited, eyeing me curiously. “Are you sure that’s all?”
Images from the sexy video replayed in my mind—the sensual curve of his mouth as he devoured hers with kisses. His large, rough hands softly caressing her skin. The skillful way his fingers touched her and rubbed slow circles in just the right spot. “I… I don’t know,” I breathed.
He ran a hand across the back of his neck, and let out a deep, rumbling sigh. “Fuck. Don’t tempt me, Lex.” His voice was a rough plea in the silence of the room. The nickname on his lips felt far more intimate than it had any right to. Friends shortened my name all the time, but never before had it made my heart jump, never made my pulse skitter like that.
I turned to face him on the couch, knowing this was crazy. He was a freakin’ porn star. Not someone I should crush on, but there it was all the same, pulsing in my chest. A want, a fierce desire I couldn’t name. Something I definitely wasn’t supposed to explore.
I wanted to be at the receiving end of that touch. I wanted to have those big hands, strong and calloused from working construction, yet still gentle, all over my body.
I wondered if it could be a simple infatuation, like the kind you developed for a movie star. I’d watched him in the most intimate of moments, so maybe my brain had created some type of freaky fascination that wasn’t based on anything but his sexy body sending my sexless one into overdrive.
But when Cade turned to me and brought his hand up, cradling the back of my neck to pull me close to him and his waiting lips, all coherent thought escaped me.
He leaned in slowly, giving me time to pull away before his mouth captured mine in a slow, scorching kiss. Oh, God, it was mouthwateringly good. Tender and sensual, worshipping at my mouth, nipping at my lips, tasting me and making my sex wet and needy. My tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip and his responded in turn, colliding with mine in a tangle of wet heat. His fingers threaded themselves farther into my hair while his thumb traced slow circles on the sensitive skin at the back of my neck.
A mix of emotions flooded my system. Everything from desire to fear that Lily might catch us, to shame that to my parents would never approve of him as my boyfriend. I knew I was getting way ahead of myself even thinking like that when Cade stopped suddenly, and pulled back.
His eyes studied me, trying to understand what had just transpired between us. “You’re going to be the death of me, cupcake.” He brushed the dampness from my top lip with his forefinger.
I glanced down and caught sight of the huge bulge straining against his jeans. I pressed my lips into a tight line, trying to avoid grinning like a fool at the thought that I’d affected him just as much as he did me.
He lifted my chin with a single finger and made me meet his eyes. “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t get shy on me now.”
I swallowed and relaxed into his hand. His thumb stroked my cheek and I automatically moved in to his caresses, my lids drowsily closing.
“That’s better.” He smiled and dropped his hand. “I don’t know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours, but if you ever really do want this, I’ll be the one to do it. Hell, I’d be honored. But you should do it when you’re ready, and with someone special.”
I nodded, sucking in my bottom lip so Cade wouldn’t see it tremble.
“It’s late. You should probably get going.” He stood and adjusted his erection. “Come back and see Lily anytime.”
He ushered me to the door and out of the house, and if I didn’t know better I would have thought he was trying desperately to get rid of me.
I drove home, still breathless, and totally confused. But when I pushed the thoughts of Cade aside and remembered Lily’s little face smiling up at mine, or her determination to excel at each exercise I showed her, it tugged at my heart and I held onto those memories, wondering if I’d see either of them again.
