I set the playpen up in my office and laid Emma down. She was exhausted and thankfully passed out immediately. With everything that just happened, it’d been a long day for all of us. I was just glad it was over.

A recurring concern kept filling me with dread at this whole situation. How did the driver get the wrong address in the first place?

I checked the email I sent to both the suppliers and the shipping company. There were no mistakes on my end. Someone had to have called them and changed the address… but who would do that, and why?

I put a pin in that for now. Everything had worked out, more or less. I didn’t like how Kade assaulted that guy, but I was glad he was there. I needed that shipment and Kade got it for me. Principles were for the well-fed.

As much as I hated to admit it, I liked that he stuck up for me. My pulse started beating faster at the recent vivid memory. It was like that high school dance all over again. Kade was so intimidating, so take charge… It sent a shiver through me.

But, not quite enough to distract me from my exhaustion or the looming stress of work.

I sat down at my desk and hunched over my work computer, trying to decompress while Kade set up all the new equipment in the shop a few rooms over. When I started my computer up, I saw all the notifications. The non-soap orders were pouring in!

For the first time since taking out that bank loan, I actually had hope that things actually might work out! I wouldn’t be able to start working on these orders until the first half shipment of aloe came in, but this was a great sign!

I placed a baby monitor in the playpen next to Emma and floated into the shop where Kade was finishing setting up.

“You’re beaming. I take it you’ve got good news?” Kade asked with a grunt, sliding the last thirty-gallon barrel back beside the giant melters. They must’ve weighed a ton. How he’d moved them at all blew my mind. Kade had to get creative with reorganizing existing stuff to make room.

“You could say that.” I wore a wide, bright smile as I scanned the room and took in the new equipment. I placed the baby monitor receiver on a nearby shelf so I could easily hear Emma if anything happened. With the new bottling station now in place the room looked a little cramped.

Who knew?

If orders kept coming in at this rate, I might have to get a bigger space just to keep up! Everything was finally coming together.

I loved this feeling.

“OK. That’s the last of it. Let me ask you something,” Kade rubbed the dust from his hands and made his way to the room’s sink to clean up.

“Hmm?” I asked distractedly. His subtly flexing arms, as he washed his hands, stole away my attention. At some point while setting everything up, he’d striped down to his fitted tank-top under shirt.

“I’m just a simple military man, but how does this new gear streamline the creation of soap exactly?” He cocked his head at me, catching me checking him out.

“Well,” I cleared my throat, trying to pretend that I wasn’t just ogling him. “It’s all too technical to go into right now.”

“Yeah?” He asked. There was coyness in his voice that said he didn’t believe me.

“Oh yeah,” I bluffed, swallowing hard. I hated lying and even worse, I wasn’t very good at it. I had an awful poker face, so I tried to keep everything as grounded in fact as possible. “I’m trying to explore the stocking-stuffer market this season with a lot of small packaged goods, hence the new bottling machine over there.”

“That makes sense.” Kade nodded thoughtfully, crossing his arms. Then a wicked smirk crept across his lips as he reached into the back of a shelf and pulled out a cardboard box. “So, what’s this then?”

“Nothing!” I snatched the closed box from Kade’s strong hands. He held the box so effortlessly that I’d forgotten how heavy it was, and almost dropped it before not-so-nonchalantly catching it. “That’s, uh, boring stuff really. Private family trade secrets sort-of-thing.” I chuckled nervously. “Y’know, like the eleven herbs and spices in KFC’s original recipe? That kind of thing.”

“Yeah, of course. I understand. I’d never want to invade your privacy like that.”

“I appreciate that.” I put the box safely away on the floor, underneath the table holding one of the large tanks. “I guess you have matured after all. The old you would’ve never-”

“Lick it Lube. All natural guilty pleasures never felt so good.” Kade read one of the labels he’d apparently pulled from the box earlier.

“Damn it, Kade!” My eyes went wide as my cheeks and neck became flush with embarrassment. I whirled around and snatched the label from him.

Matured, my ass!

“Your family has some kinky original recipes.” Kade’s self-satisfied smile was wide enough to split his face in two.

“Please, don’t tell anyone.” I groaned. “You know how close-minded the people are here… if they knew what I was really up to, they’d run me out of town.”

“They can’t be that bad. Who cares? It’s just lube.”

“Sex lube,” I replied, emphatically. “You obviously never met the Copas. They might show up with torches and pitchforks.” I shivered at the thought of them specifically finding out. “Literally.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.” He stepped in and grazed my face gently with the back of his fingers. “But, you are going to owe me one.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, openly taking him in now with a smile cracking my lips. I was still riding high off my good mood. “What do you have in mind?”

“How’s your customer service department?” Kade tore off his fitted shirt. He had one of my Lick It Lube label stickers on his lower abs.

I laughed at the sight of something I designed plastered to the abs of the hottest man I’d ever seen. The funny reveal didn’t stop my own stomach from tightening at the sight of his massive, defined pecs and shoulders.

Kade’s tan skin seemed to glow under my old overhead fluorescent lights. The sprawling swaths of rough naked skin were broken by a hard life worth of scars. There were so many, each told a different story.

“You know, I always figured you’d have some tattoos,” I said, my eyes feasting on his wall of muscles.

“With all the scars I have from training and missions I never needed any,” Kade glanced down and flexed, making the various scars ripple and bulge. He tossed his shirt on one of my metal tables.

Kade had changed so much. He'd always been the boy of my dreams growing up, but what I saw now was so much more than that. Here was a man unlike any I'd ever seen before, and that thrilled the hell out of me. The thought of his touch made my skin tingle.

I found myself reaching for the sculpted notch below his ribs. My eyesight was obviously failing me, but maybe if I touched him everything would make sense. Men couldn't really look like this, especially here where every guy had a beer belly.

I didn't stand a chance, it wasn't even fair!

“If I pinch myself are you going to disappear? How are you even real?” I traced each valley between his rippling abs all the way down to the V of his hips. I was twenty-six and my dating life was pathetic. Amber was quick to steal the attention from every guy I was even remotely interested in. After a while, I stopped trying and just put all my effort into growing the business-or rather, keeping the business alive.

Kade was the only one to ever make my blood boil, in the best and worst possible ways. I may have loved him, and then hated him, but as much as I hated to admit it, I'd always wanted him.

I couldn't tear my eyes off his amazing body. His hip bones stole my breath until I saw the bulge of his cock snake down his leg. My pulse rang in my ears like a downpour on a tin roof.

Having him come home to me. I couldn’t even remember how many times I masturbated, wondering what this moment would've been like. That's why I didn't stop him when he hooked his rough fingers into the bottom hem of my shirt. With an easy tug, he ripped my shirt up over my head.

Was this really happening? Ten years later, and I was actually going to have sex with Kade again. It’d been a decade since I felt his touch. A decade was a lifetime. We were both so different now. Would it feel like slipping on my favorite sweater or like wearing something fresh and all new right off the rack.

This was crazy!

My whole body cried out for his touch as if to answer my question. Yes. This was happening. I was terrified and anxious, but so excited I could barely contain myself.

“Nah. I’m here.” Kade chuckled, shaking his head slightly. His dark eyes seemed to shine in amazed disbelief. “I never thought I’d actually be glad to be back home.” In a flash of motion, Kade was on his knees and my jeans were hanging around my ankles. “Fuck. You look incredible.”

A shiver of lusty excitement ran through my body as I looked down at him. Kade stared up at me as if he were worshiping a goddess. All my fantasies paled in comparisons.

“It’s a little chilly in here,” I said, trying to keep the tremor from my voice.

“Not for long,” Kade growled defiantly, running his hands up my thighs. His deep, mischievous voice and searching fingertips instantly made me wet, and we’d barely started.

“Oh! I squeaked when Kade shot up, grabbed my waist, and hoisted me high up into the air. I giggled at the sudden explosive energy and at my own fear of heights. Knowing that he was the one who had me made me feel safe enough to actually enjoy myself though.

“Feels good to lose control sometimes, doesn’t it?” Kade whispered directly into my stomach. His several days of beard stubble prickled my naked, sensitive skin. I felt his intentions vibrate through my core. He set me down on the freezing metal table.

“Cold!” I protested, climbing back up him like an agitated cat.

“Sorry,” he laughed, easily hefting me up. I felt his biceps tense as he took all my weight in one arm and with the other he laid out his shirt for me to sit on. “I wasn’t thinking with the right head. Better?”

“Much. Where were we?” I asked, embracing the sexiness of fooling around in a place that was so extremely off limits growing up.

“I was about to go down on you.” Each silky word that rolled off his tongue melted me a little more.

“Oh!” I stuttered through his forwardness. My pillow talk game was beyond rusty, bordering on non-existent territory. I almost felt the need to tell him that it wasn’t my fault because I never had any practice, but decided that I didn’t need to explain myself.

Just enjoy the ride, Genny. You might never get this with him ever again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll play nice.” Kade grunted in at my obvious insecurities. “At least until I have you screaming my name.”

Not likely, at least not too loudly. As sexy as that thought was I immediately thought about waking Emma in the other room. I glanced over at the baby monitor on the other table just to make sure it hadn’t fallen or anything.

A jolt ran through me when I felt his lips. I sucked in a massive breath, then forced myself to relax and let my head lull back. I fought the anxious jumble of doubts and fears that seemed to peak when he peeled back the sopping wet cotton of my panties and exposed me fully to the cool air in the room.

It’d been a long time since I fooled around with anyone and couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious.

“You are so damn beautiful, do you know that?” I didn’t know if he could sense that fear, but he pulled back just to admire me. The sincerity in his voice both simultaneously shook me and calmed all my frayed nerves.

This wasn’t some stranger, this was Kade Houston. I used to trust him more than anyone. What if I let myself trust him now, just for tonight?

I bit back an acknowledging smile, but didn’t say anything.

He scanned my face to make sure I was still alright then dove in gently. My naked pussy spasmed when his steaming hot tongue laid across it. My eyes turned to saucers.

“Well then! OK,” I laughed, tightened up, and generally came off like a massive nerd.

“If it gets too intense, just tell me to stop.” Every one of his words vibrated against my delicate folds, threatening to break me apart. “Just say the word.”

“Stop...” I repeated unconsciously. I was too focused on the waves of pleasure his tongue and lips sent through my clit to understand what I was saying. When he stopped and looked up at me with a puzzled expression, the rush of awareness caught up with me. “I mean, don't stop!”

Kade smiled at how much of an effect he had on me. He could always do that to me. Even when we were kids, Kade always got under my skin. He always knew me crazy well. He was the only person who’d ever “got” me. That was another reason it hurt so bad when he had left. If I was a puzzle, he was all my corner pieces.

That’s why it was so painful when he disappeared on me. It felt like I was losing a part of myself.

But now that he was back, all the intensity was boiled down into a white-hot passion. What he was doing to my pussy was nearly criminal. His tongue pushed back my petals, teasingly slipping in and out of my slit. I could feel his desire; he loved to make my hips buck.

“I'm going to savor every last delicious drop of you, Genny.” Kade made my clit vibrate with pleasure until it quickly became too much. “Every time you close those pretty green eyes of yours, you’re going to remember every inch, flick, and lick of my tongue.”

My pussy began to tremble, but he didn't stop. His words ripped through me.

“God.” I slapped my hand down on the metal table, fighting the inevitable climax as long as I could. My stomach lurched forward in ecstasy. My fingers dragged through his short-cropped hair. It was trimmed to military regulation-too short to grasp anything. I might as well have been floating.

He made me feel like my body was adrift in stardust.

“Kade!” his name erupted from the bottom of my lungs, as gentle waves of pleasure pushed me up to the cliff of orgasm. The sensation gripped me, tightening all my muscles and lifting my butt off the metal table. I might’ve floated away if his hands weren’t clamped roughly over my thighs.

Kade smiled, squeezing tighter and pulling me down even harder, never relenting with his wicked tongue.

Was he trying to kill me?

“I’m so close,” panting, I wiped away the sweat that rolled off my ribs. I was a wobbly, moaning mess by the time my legs started shaking. “Don’t stop.”

“If you like this, you’d better get ready for the main attraction.” He cooed, popping the top button of his jeans. The sound of the dull fabric release was heavy and dripping with promises.

And, almost as if on cue, the baby monitor went off with the sound of a very awake, very upset Emma.

“No… no.” I growled through gritted teeth, glancing irritatedly at the monitor. Now, Emma? Really? Why do you hate me? “Well, that’s unfair.”

A maternal instinct kicked in, and I immediately knew that - for now - the fun and games were over.

“All of parenting is unfair.” Kade let out a forlorn snort and rolled his head back in frustration. “I got this.”

Kade leaned back in and kissed my sensitive clit once more before pulling away completely. The abrupt and tender act sent another shiver rattling through my core.

“Bastard.” I sharply slid away from Kade, then collapsed backward in the table. The cool metal felt amazing against my fire-licked skin. The satiation of a year’s worth of longing was heartbreakingly out of reach. I’d never been that wet or turned on before. “Raincheck?”

Watching him saunter off, shirtless, licking his fingers only stoked the raging fire inside me, frustrating me even more. I took a deep breath, and promised myself that I’d sneak off into the bathroom later and get myself off.

Kade stopped and looked me over, hunger saturated his dark eyes. The sight of me laid out, naked just for him made him growl. “You bet that cute ass of yours.”