A Lifetime to Find Love (20 page)

“Was there anything in particular you were looking for, doctor?”

“Creamer and something to make you for breakfast. You have nothing in this house to eat, Tess.  And what is with this ‘doctor’ stuff?  I’m going to take you right down that hall and show you doctor.  I can do some amazing things with a tongue depressor.”

“Okay, I so set myself up for that one.  I’m out of creamer, so you’ll just have to use milk.  And you are not cooking for me again.  I’m just gonna grab a bagel and get out of here.”

Shutting the door to the refrigerator, he turned back to look at her.  She was absolutely breathtaking.  Her dark hair was pulled back in a pony tail, her blue jeans showing every luscious curve that he’d had his hands and mouth on the night before, and she was wearing a simple v-neck white tee that accentuated her perfect breasts.  He felt himself growing hard again just looking at her.  It was like he was back in high school having no control whatsoever over his hormones or his erection.  He quickly turned and opened the freezer.  He needed the coolness from the ice box to calm him down.  He’d take the ice tray out and pour the contents down his pants if he thought he could get away with it without her thinking he was crazy.  He felt that hopeless in that moment. 

“Cade?  What the hell are you doing?”

“Um, I’m just going to get some milk for the coffee.”  He tried to sound as normal as possible, but he was certain it didn’t come out that way.

“Well, that’s fine and dandy, but I don’t normally keep my milk in the freezer.  Is that where you keep yours?”

She had to turn away from him to keep from bursting out with laughter.  She knew why he was flustered, she’d seen the evidence as he stood there staring at her, the hunger in his eyes growing along with the bulge in his jeans.  She reveled in the fact that she was the cause of his rock hard reaction.  She tried to feel sorry for him, but she couldn’t. She enjoyed it way too much.  She didn’t want him to ever get to a point where he didn’t respond to her this way. 

Tessa looked at the clock and realized she didn’t have much time before her first appointment.  As it was, she would be getting there just in time to set up.  She grabbed her bagel and coffee and started toward the door.  Cade was on her in a heartbeat, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back into him.

“I know you aren’t leaving without kissing me goodbye.”

“No, of course not.  I do need to get you a key so you can lock up when you leave.  I really need to get out of here now.  What time do you have to be at the office?” She pulled out of his arms to retrieve the extra house key.

“My first appointment isn’t until ten o’clock, so I have plenty of time.”

“Lucky you,” she said as she handed him the key. 

“Are you sure you want me to have this?” he asked holding up the key.

“Well, I don’t want you to leave my house unlocked.  I don’t have a lot of nice things, but what I have, I’d like to keep.”

“So, I’m assuming I’m giving this back to you then next time I see you.”  Neither his voice nor his expression gave away what he was thinking.

Tessa was a little taken back.  She wasn’t sure how to respond.  When she told him she would give him a key, she hadn’t even put much thought in to it, just that she had to leave and she didn’t want him to feel rushed to.  Now standing there facing him, with no hint of what he was thinking, she wasn’t sure if he were asking to keep it or making it clear he would give it back.

“Whatever you want to do with it, Cade.”

She’d wanted to scream
yes, keep it, stay as many nights as you want, hell, never leave. 
But she wasn’t taking a chance of him telling her he’d planned to give it back.  Damn it, it was just a key.  Why was she getting so worked up about it?  It’s not like he wouldn’t be coming over here again and it’s not like if he kept the key he’d be moving in. 

”Just keep it.  Besides, I’m always locking myself out and if I can’t get a hold of Rowan to let me in, at least I know I’ll be able to call you.”

“So, you do want me to keep it.”

“Damn it, Cade.”

Her frustration with this conversation was getting the better of her.  If he wanted to keep the damn thing, he needed to just come out and say it.  Hell, they were grown adults who should be able to say what was on their minds and not beat around the damned bush.  They had already shared some of the most intimate times with each other. A key should be a walk in the park as far as their relationship went. 

“I want you to keep the key.  Honestly, I hadn’t thought past today, but yes, I would like for you to have a key to my place.  If you don’t want to hold on to it, just give it back to me tomorrow.  It’s not really a big deal.”

He leaned in to place a kiss on her mouth.  His tongue traced the seam of her lips.  She tried to resist him.  She really needed to get the hell out of this house.  The man was driving her batty and if he,
oooh
, if he kept stroking her lips with that sinful tongue of his, they would find themselves, once again, on that hard wood floor.

“Just for the record, I was hoping you wanted me to keep it.  Now, instead of using the doorbell to wake you in the middle of the night, I can find other, more exciting ways to arouse you.” 

He melded his mouth to hers once again, probing with his tongue.  Tessa gave in.  Either she was going to have to kiss him now and get out of there or he was going to keep her until she did his bidding.  She gave back to him with her mouth what he was dishing out to her.  Cade abruptly pulled away from her.

“Out,” he told her as he pulled further away.

“Excuse me.”  Give the man a key and apparently he takes possession of more than just her mouth.

“You are going to be late.  Go.”

“Cade?”

“Tess, please go.  I don’t want you to be late and, honestly, if you stay any longer, I promise you, I so promise you, I will make you late.”

With one last quick kiss and a squeeze of his hard ass, she was out the door.  She had two doctors to photograph then she would be done with the exception of Cade’s shoot tomorrow.  That was one photo shoot she was looking forward to though.  They would be going up the coast to Cade’s favorite spot to shoot.  A few hours in the car, an hour for the shoot at most, and then he would be all hers. 

Chapter 20

When Tessa left, Cade went back to the kitchen, finished his coffee, then got himself dressed and headed home so he could make it to the office on time.  He never had the girls come in early on days that he had late appointments.  He wasn’t one of those doctors who expected his staff to work harder than him and he had a great staff, so he tried to make them happy.  He always tried to get to the office before anyone else because he liked to have coffee ready for them. They all worked hard for him and he really did appreciate each of them.  Since he had to stop at his house before heading over that wasn’t going to happen this morning.  He was certain one or two of them would make it there before him.  Sure enough, when he arrived, Erin was just opening up. 

“Sorry I’m late,” he told her.

“Cade, you’re not late.  Your first appointment isn’t for another forty-five minutes.”

“Well, I guess I feel like if I don’t have coffee ready for you all by the time you get here, I’m late.”

Cade held the door open for her and they both walked to the front desk.  He started going through messages from the previous day, hoping to find the one Tessa had left for him.  He knew Erin was a spiteful bitch, knew he wouldn’t find a message, but he continued to look.  “Hey, did I get a call from Tess yesterday?”  He asked looking up from the message pad.

“Tess?  Rowan’s sister?”

“Yeah, she said she called yesterday and left a message, but I don’t remember getting it.”

“I don’t recall if she did.  Sorry, Cade. We were pretty busy,” she said smugly.

“That’s okay, it’s no big deal.  I’ll just be in my office.”

Cade made his way to his office to prepare for his day.  As he sat at his desk and turned on his computer he couldn’t help but think of Tessa.  He felt his heart swell with just a thought of her.  In all his relationships, he never had someone consume him the way she did.  Of course, he hadn’t known the other women like he had Tessa.  He was comfortable with her because she knew all his faults, his quirks and she still wanted to be with him, just as he knew all her faults and he just couldn’t see himself without her.  They were comfortable with each other.  There was no possible way that he could ever go back to just being friends with Tessa.  She was his other half, she completed him body and soul.  For the first time in his life he felt as if he were ready for that next step and he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that he was ready to take their relationship down that path.  Although they’d only been dating a short time now, he had known her practically her whole life. It was just right for them to be together.  He’d wanted to tell her last night that he loved her, but he couldn’t find the words to.  He didn’t want to just blurt it out to her and certainly not in the throes of passion.  Nothing would have been worse than telling her for the first time that he loved her while he was buried deep inside her.  That would come later.  He would tell her over and over and as many different ways as he could.  He wanted it to be special the first time she heard the words leave his lips.   He wanted her to know beyond anything else how deep his feelings were for her.  What he really wanted was to shout if from the rooftops so that everyone would know that this woman held his heart in the palm of her hand.  He’d held his excitement in check this morning when she had handed him the key to her place, but inside his heart was doing flips.  He knew she’d not thought past this morning when she decided to give it to him, but the fact that she gave it to him made him happier than he’d ever been.  He pushed himself away from his desk and leaned back in his chair.  He was turning into a big pansy when it came to Tess and being honest with himself, he didn’t care one iota.  He welcomed it.   A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts.

Erin sauntered in with coffee in hand.  “I thought you might like a cup before your first appointment.  Seems we are going to be short handed today.  Isabelle called in, something about her kid being sick.”  For the first time, Cade caught a glimpse of what Rowan and Tessa had revealed.  She had distaste in her tone in regards to Isabelle having to stay home with a sick child.

“That’s no problem.  Hopefully, he isn’t too sick.  It can’t be too fun dealing with a sick child all day.  I, at least, get to send them home.”

“I guess.  Yet another reason why I don’t want kids.  What about you Cade?  Are you looking forward to having kids some day?”

Cade was feeling a little uncomfortable with the quick turn of this conversation.  He didn’t like Erin being there in the first place, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.  To actually have a conversation with her about something so private and personal would only make her think that he had forgiven her for what she had done to Rowan and to him.  He had no intentions of giving her the wrong impression, so he ignored the question.

“Thanks for the coffee, Erin.  I really need to get some things in order before my first appointment.”

“No problem.”  Erin shrugged and walked out of his office.

Cade’s day seemed to drag on and on.  They were busy, but every time he looked at the clock it was as if the hands never moved.  The only bright spot to his day was when Tessa had called him after she’d finished her last shoot.  She had editing to do, but she’d wanted to go get something to eat after he was done at the office.  Because they were short handed, however, his appointments were running later and later and he knew he wouldn’t be getting out in time for dinner.  He had to turn her down, though everything in him screamed to take her up on the offer, even if they didn’t eat until midnight.  Now, here he was wishing that the day would finally come to an end.  Three hours later he sat at his desk finishing up the last of his paperwork.  He’d finally sent everyone home around eight when the last of his appointments left.  Thankfully, tomorrow would be a short day for everyone.  He hated having the girls stay late, most of them had families to go home to, but they never complained.  Shutting down his computer and pushing away from his desk, he headed out the door, looking forward to a hot shower and his comfortable bed.