Chapter Eleven
ALL BELLA HAD ever needed at the Cape was a few sundresses, flip-flops, towels, and bathing suits. Food and drinks were bought on the fly, and days began when her body decided it was time to wake up and ended when she and her friends were too tired to stay awake any longer. She’d spent so many summers turning off the part of her brain that required watches and calendars that it was a huge adjustment for her to get used to paying attention to the day of the week, or the exact time. In her mind, the Cape meant seven or eight weeks of immersing herself in her friends, stockpiling memories to carry her through until spring, when they would return for a long weekend of catching up.
She knew today was Friday because of her appointments, but also, and weighing on her mind more heavily at the moment, it was Caden’s last night shift, and he was excited to switch to day shifts so he could spend more time with her and Evan in the evenings. She sent him a quick text. Yay! It’s your last night shift! Walking into the clinic. Wish me luck! Xox.
The cell phone was a welcome addition to her summer accessories. She and Caden had traded flirty texts over the last two days when he was working nights and she had been tied up in meetings with businesses and school administrators to discuss the new angle of the program. He’d called her each evening, and their conversations flowed naturally, like they’d been dating for years. He was interested in her project, and she loved hearing about Caden’s and Evan’s days. Evan had been more attitudinal lately, and she’d reassured Caden that was to be expected at his age and with all the changes he’d been through recently, but she knew from teaching teens that parents took the worst of teens’ attitudes and she felt for him.
With her new pitch in mind, she assessed her crinkled cotton minidress in her car window, then entered the clinic with her head held high.
I can do this.
I will do this.
Wellfleet was a tourist town that tripled in population over the summer. Winters in the small town were desolate in comparison, and because of that, doctors tended to practice in larger cities, like Hyannis, which was forty-five minutes away. It was only nine o’clock in the morning, and every chair in the waiting room was filled with coughing, sneezing, and puffy-eyed patients as well as two people with wrapped appendages. The clinic was a godsend for the tourists, handling everything from strep throat to broken bones.
Bella waited in line behind three women, the first of whom was speaking to a stern-faced, middle-aged receptionist who held a clipboard in one hand while writing on a notepad, while also speaking to another employee, a skinny woman with tattoos snaking around her neck and shoulders. The skinny woman’s pitch-black hair was sculpted into spiky points that darted out from her head at various angles, complemented by eyebrow and nose piercings.
The door opened, and a man carrying a screaming baby entered the lobby, followed by a heavy woman with a toddler attached to her hip.
The tattooed woman shot a glance at the door, then called over her shoulder, “Bones. Front and center.”
A tall, rangy guy wearing jeans and a P-TOWN ROCKS T-shirt, who couldn’t have been more than twenty, looked up from behind a metal desk.
“Got it.” Bones hustled to the counter and took the clipboard from the stern-faced woman. His thin lips curled into a smile that softened his bony features and further confirmed his youthful appearance.
“Please fill out your name, insurance information, and—”
“I don’t have insurance,” the patient whispered.
Bones leaned closer, softening his gaze. “No worries. You can still receive medical care. We have a benefits specialist who will work with you. Just fill this out, and we’ll call you when it’s your turn.”
“God bless you,” the woman said.
When she turned toward the waiting area, Bella noticed a red rash covering the right side of her face. Bella had been lucky enough not to need medical attention while at the Cape, but she was pleased to hear that the clinic didn’t turn patients away.
Bones handled the next two people in line with the same effortless patience. A woman in scrubs peered into the office behind him.
“Perry, Mary needs you,” the woman in scrubs said.
The tattooed woman said something to the stern-faced woman that made her smile. She touched her shoulder as she passed on her way to tend to whoever Mary was.
“Ma’am?” Bones thrust a clipboard toward her.
“Oh, sorry.” Way to space out, Bella. “I’m not here as a patient. I’m Bella Abbascia, here to see Ms. Blankenship.”
“Sorry about that. If you can find standing room in the waiting area, I’ll track her down.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” Bella was impressed by the swift efficiency of the operation. While she waited, a woman in scrubs had come out three times to call patients into the back, and each time the woman’s eyes were compassionate. Though they were obviously overwhelmed with patients waiting to be seen, she didn’t appear to rush them through the door.
The tattooed woman came through the door. “Bella Abbascia?”
“Hi, I’m Bella.”
“I’m Perry Blankenship. Sorry to keep you waiting. Come on back.”
Bella followed her down a wide hallway lined with patient rooms. She’d first guessed Perry to be in her midtwenties, but as she took a closer look, she noticed fine lines around her eyes and mouth and eyes full of wisdom that came only from experience and probably put her closer to her mid to late thirties.
“We’ll be in here.” She led Bella into an office barely big enough for the metal desk, file cabinet, and chairs inside. “Fridays are pretty crazy around here.”
Bella sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, and instead of sitting behind the desk, Perry sat in the chair beside Bella. She let out a breath before turning a warm smile to Bella.
“Welcome to our busy little clinic,” Perry said.
“It’s run very efficiently. Thank you for taking the time to see me. I’ll make this quick so you can get back to work. I’ve been hired by the school board to put together a work-study program for high school seniors.”
Perry smacked her thigh, and her eyes widened with excitement. “Great idea.”
“Yes, that’s what we thought, too. The goal of the program is to provide hands-on training for kids who are looking to better themselves, to encourage self-confidence and independence and help them learn skills they can use toward a productive future.”
Perry waved her hand to silence Bella. “Responsibility, self-worth, it’s all wrapped up in helping others. Like I said, great idea. What do you need from me?”
Bella swallowed the urge to say, Really? “I’d like you to consider making the clinic part of the program and committing to hiring two seniors through the work-study program. They’re limited to no more than fifteen hours each week and paid minimum wage.”
“We drug test.”
“Fine. We don’t want kids using drugs any more than you do.” Hope swelled in Bella’s chest.
“They’d have no access to medications, obviously, and until we can gauge their abilities and trustworthiness, they would be confined to working in the admin area.” Perry leaned forward with excitement in her voice. “But if we find a stellar student who shows promise, I’m not opposed to keeping them on after graduation to learn the ropes of becoming a certified medical assistant or a lab tech.”
“Thank you. That’s all we can hope for.” Bella’s feet lifted up onto their toes in a silent happy moment. “We’re finalizing the documents, and I’ll be happy to—”
Perry’s office door opened and Bones poked his head in. “Perry, Doc Winston is on line four. He said it’s urgent.”
“Oh good. Tell him I need one minute. Oh, Bones, this is Bella Abbascia. She’s coordinating a work-study program for the high school.”
He thrust a hand toward Bella. “Barry Goodman, but everyone calls me Bones. Nice to meet you.”
“Bella, would you mind wrapping up the details with Bones? I need to take this call.”
“Not at all.” Bella rose to her feet.
“I wish there was a work-study program when I was in high school. Having something to do with my time might have saved me from a pregnancy at eighteen. Not that I begrudge my daughter. She’s amazing.” Perry’s voice filled with pride. “Thankfully, she graduated last year without a baby in her belly. Let’s hope this catches on.”
When Bella left the clinic half an hour later, for the second time that week, she felt like she was walking on air. This one definitely came in second to making love with Caden, but it was a really good feeling. She climbed into her car and headed toward Orleans for her next appointment.
CADEN PULLED INTO the parking lot of Nauset Beach to take another report on a vehicle break-in. Evan was at Nauset with his friends today, and Caden had texted him when he left the station to let him know he’d be there shortly and would like to touch base. He knew Evan would only get the text if he was by the snack area or parking lot, but at some point he’d see it. He’d texted Bella hours ago, and he assumed either her meetings were going well or she’d forgotten to take her phone into the cottage, because she still hadn’t responded. When his cell vibrated, he hoped it might be her. He was surprised to receive a return text from Evan so quickly, since cell phones didn’t work on the beaches. He read the text.
Still here. Leaving soon to go to Bobby’s.
Caden texted him back. I’m here. Meet by snack bar in twenty mins?
He stepped from the patrol car and scanned his surroundings. A woman wearing shorts and a blue bathing suit stretched tight over her muffin top waved at him as he crossed the parking lot.
“Officer, they took my wallet and cell phone,” the woman said frantically. Her wet, dark hair stuck to her flailing arms. “I can’t believe it. All my contacts, my calendar, my life is on that phone.”
“Ma’am, slow down. I’m Officer Grant, and I’ll be happy to take the report.”
“Thank you. I just can’t believe my stuff is gone. I mean, really? I’m at the beach, for Pete’s sake. Who steals from people at the beach?”
Caden peered into the car. “Was the car locked at the time?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I didn’t want to lose my keys on the beach.”
Of course you didn’t. Caden had long ago stopped being surprised by the naïveté of people. “Tourist towns are prime targets for thefts. I’d suggest that you keep your vehicle locked from now on.”
He jotted down the license plate number and the make of the vehicle.
“I’ve been coming to the Cape forever, and there has never been any crime.”
Caden scanned the parking lot as she blew off steam, ranting about how little respect people had for others. He spotted Evan and a group of kids unlocking their bikes from the bike rack by the snack bar. He took the report as quickly as he could and wondered how many more would roll in before the end of the evening. Then he went to talk to Evan.
Evan and a handful of friends sat on their bikes, front tires angled toward one another in a circle. Two of the boys carried towels around their necks, and three wore backpacks strapped to their backs. They were all laughing as he approached.
“Evan.” The laughter silenced, and Caden sized up the group. They looked to be between fourteen and sixteen—hard to tell at that age. Mike and another boy shifted their eyes away again.
“Hey,” Evan said.
Hey? Not, Hey, Dad? That rubbed Caden the wrong way, but he cut Evan slack again and chalked it up to the whole cool image thing boys went through at his age.
“What’s your plan?” Caden asked with a tone that was more serious than he’d have used if Evan were by himself.
Evan shrugged. “We’re going to hang out at Bobby’s.”
Bobby looked over at the sound of his name and nodded. “Hey, Mr. Grant.”
“How’s it going, Bobby?”
“It’s cool,” he answered with another nod.
Caden sensed the boys watching him. Thinking of what Kristie had said, he slid the other boys a serious stare followed by a smile.
“I’m Evan’s father,” he said to two boys he hadn’t met.
“I’m Brett,” the blond boy said.
“David,” the darker-haired boy said.
He picked up on their bouncing legs and glanced at Evan again. Caden was used to kids being nervous around him when he was in uniform, but it had been a very long time since he’d had to evaluate kids he didn’t know as friends for his son, and he found himself scrutinizing every twitch.
“Hey, Ev, come talk to me for a minute.” He lifted his chin and indicated for Evan to walk with him.
Evan climbed off his bike with a tortured sigh.
Caden waited until they were far enough away from the others to talk to him. He set a narrow-eyed stare on his son to let him know he was serious, but spoke with his normal fatherly tenderness.
“How’s it going?”
Evan shrugged. “Fine.”
“Did you have fun at the beach?”
“Yeah.” Evan watched a girl walk by.
“Ev, I’m in a weird position here. I don’t know these guys, but I’m getting a funny vibe. Should I be worried?”
Evan’s eyes tracked another bikini-clad girl. “No.”
Caden touched his shoulder to draw his eyes to his. “Look me in the eye.”
Evan met his gaze; the muscle in his jaw clenched.
“If you tell me these guys are good kids, I’ll trust your word, but if they’re trouble, you know our deal.”
Evan rolled his eyes.
“I want to hear it.” He’d drilled a very simple—and in his eyes, freeing—rule into Evan’s head since he was a little boy. Through the years, Evan had always lived up to his side of the deal, and Caden had lived up to his side, too.
“Come on, Dad.” Evan shifted from one foot to the other.
“Don’t come on, Dad me. You’re going through a big transition with a new town, new school, new friends.”
“Exactly. That’s why I don’t need this shi—stuff.”
Caden’s gut clenched. He shot a look over his shoulder and didn’t like the way the other boys were watching them like hawks. He hated to do it, but he drew upon the deep, fatherly voice he rarely needed to rely on with Evan.
“That’s exactly why you need this stuff. You tell me the deal and that you still respect it, or you can get on that bike and head home. And before you say anything, know that your word is about the only thing that matters. I’m on your side, Ev.”
“Yeah, right.” Evan kicked at the ground.
He crossed his arms and set an icy stare on his all-too-adolescent son. “Yeah, right? I’ve never been anything but on your side.” Caden knew things had been brewing between them for a while, but this was not the time or the place he wanted them to come to a head.
Evan flashed his own icy stare. “If you were on my side, we would have stayed in Boston.”
Caden held his stare. He hated this push-pull, and he’d fooled himself into thinking that maybe they’d avoided it altogether. That maybe if he was a good enough dad, they’d make it through Evan’s teenage years unscathed. George had warned him enough times that he was living in a dream world with that notion, and he’d brushed off George’s comments because George wasn’t Caden, and Caden believed that his dedication to Evan would make their relationship different from any other parent-teenager relationship.
Boy, had he been wrong.
“Fine,” Evan relented. “The deal is, if I tell you the truth, no matter what it is, you won’t punish me, but if I lie or hide the truth, I’ll get nailed. Satisfied?”
He hated having to tighten the reins, but the challenge in Evan’s eyes told him it was time.
“New rule. Home by ten.”
“But—”
“Evan, this isn’t a negotiation. Home by ten o’clock. Off the streets and inside someone’s home by nine. I want to know where you are at nine, and I want to receive a phone call at ten telling me you’re at home, not a text. Got it?”
Evan turned away with his teeth clenched tight. “Yeah, you really trust me.”
He took a step away, and Caden grabbed him by the arm. “I do trust you, but I don’t know them, and this new you, the one who challenges his father? The judgment is still out on him.” He took him by the shoulders and leaned down so they were eye to eye. He knew the intimate hold would be a little embarrassing for Evan, but he did it as much to drive home the fact that he loved him no matter what happened between them as he did to let the other boys know that Evan had a father who cared about him. His gut ached at the way Evan’s entire body went stiff, and the fire in his son’s eyes drove that pain deeper.
“This uncomfortable part of our relationship is new to us both, and I know there are parts of it that you can’t control, and there will be parts that I can’t control either.” He’d sworn he’d never make Evan feel bad about pushing the envelope, and he was finding it a difficult tightrope to walk. “Ev, you don’t need to like me, but you do need to know that I love you.” He felt the tension in Evan’s shoulders ease just a hair and continued with the hope that Evan was really listening. “And there’s no way that I’m going to ignore what my gut’s telling me about these kids. My job is to protect you, so no matter how hard it is for either of us, we’d both better get used to it.”
Evan shrugged out of his grasp. “They’re my friends, Dad.”
“I know. I get it. Let’s just make sure they’re the right friends.”
He watched Evan walk away and felt as though he was losing him a little more with each step. He questioned again if he’d done the right thing by moving. He’d made it for almost thirteen years on the force without getting killed. Should he have pushed his luck by staying and hoped for the best? It was a question he’d asked himself a million times, and he knew he’d ask it of himself a million more times before Evan came out on the other side of his transition into manhood.
Inside the patrol car, he checked his cell, but still there was nothing from Bella. He called her, and the call went to voice mail. He needed a Bella fix. Forty-eight hours was too long to go without seeing her.
He played the conversation with Evan over and over in his mind on the way to Seaside. He was certain he’d done the right thing by flexing a little parental muscle, but it still made the muscles in the back of his neck pinch tight. A thread of guilt tightened inside him. In Boston, time off had meant Caden would have more time to spend with Evan, watching him show off at the skate park or hanging out at the house while he and his friends bopped in and out during the day as they went from one of their houses to the next, doing whatever kids did. Lately, Evan preferred to spend time with his friends instead of his father, and Caden allowed Evan extra time with them because he craved time alone with Bella. That guilt had been nagging at him over the last forty-eight hours while he’d been working nights and wishing he could be with her.
He drove up the sloped gravel road into Seaside and parked beside Bella’s car in her driveway. He waved to Amy as she came out of the laundry room.
“Aw, no tool belt today?” Amy held a laundry basket against her hip and pulled the laundry room door closed with her free hand.
“I think my chief might have a heart attack if I wore that to work.”
She crossed the gravel road. “You obviously have a male boss.”
“Very male.” Caden looked at her basket. “Do you need help?”
“You’re such a gentleman. No, thanks. I’ve got it. Bella’s still at the beach with Jenna. Want me to tell her you came by?” Amy tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Sure. I’ll try to come by later while I’m on patrol, but it may not be for a few hours, if I’m able to at all.” He noticed that Amy had her bathing suit on beneath her dress. “Why aren’t you at the beach?”
“Hey, Caden. How’s it going?” Tony waved from the deck of his cottage. His hair was tousled, which seemed a perpetual state for Tony, and it gave him the look of always having just come from the beach, which, by his board shorts and lack of a shirt, Caden imagined he had.
Just had a run-in with my son, can’t find my girlfriend, and I’m sure I’ll have three more thefts to deal with tonight. Life is grand.
“Great. Just stopped by to see if I could catch Bella.” Man, he missed her.
“I was with them at Cahoon, but the sun’s really warm today, so I came back to get some things done.” Amy shifted the laundry basket to her other hip. “She’ll be bummed she missed you, but she had a great day and I know she’ll be excited to tell you about it.”
“Yeah. I’ve been texting her, but if she’s at Cahoon, she won’t get them until she leaves.” He ran his hand through his hair and debated driving over to the beach, but the chance of catching her in the parking lot was nearly zero. “Can you just ask her to check her phone?”
“Sure.” Amy shifted her eyes to Tony and her cheeks flushed.
The dispatcher’s voice came across the radio in his patrol car. “Thanks, Amy. I’ve got to take this. She can text me, and if I get a break, I’ll swing by again.” He waved to Tony, took the call, and headed back to Nauset to handle another vehicle break-in report. He had a feeling it was going to be a very long night.
BELLA AND JENNA stayed on the beach long after the sun went down. Her hair whipped across her cheeks, reminding her of the night Caden tied her hair back with fishing line. He was always doing thoughtful things like that—taking care of her in ways that no man had done before. He was different in so many ways from the other men she’d dated, and she realized that she was different when she was around him, too, and even though she wasn’t her snarky self, she liked the softer woman she became when she was with him.
Jenna pulled her chair closer to Bella and draped a blanket over their legs. “You look like you’re deep in thought.”
“Thinking about Caden.” She inhaled the cool, salty air, and her mind drifted to Caden’s fantasy. Bella had always been adventurous, and she’d never been especially modest. Having sex in places other than the bedroom wasn’t new to her—tents, cars…been there done that. Outside, though? That had always carried a trace of danger, but the thought of doing that with Caden didn’t feel dangerous at all. Caden wouldn’t let them do anything dangerous. Maybe they could find an adventurous, private spot to satisfy his fantasy…
“Aren’t you always thinking about Caden?” Jenna wore a sarong draped around her shoulders and it blew behind her like a colorful mane.
“Am I a total loser for tossing away my convictions so quickly and agreeing to date, aka commit to, Caden?” She had tried to get herself to believe that she might be making a mistake or setting herself up to get hurt, but being with Caden didn’t feel anything but right.
Jenna reached for Bella’s hand and cupped it between her own. “Bella, Bella, Bella. Haven’t you learned anything from me? Convictions are meant to be broken.” She reached into her bathing suit top and pulled out three small rocks.
“Jenna.” Bella laughed. Ever since they were little girls, Jenna had found creative ways to carry rocks home from the beach. She would put the tiniest of rocks between her gums and her cheek and then forget they were there. Her cleavage was another favorite hiding place, and Jenna’s cleavage could hide a boulder.
“I can’t help it. I love them.” She ran her index finger over a gray-white rock. “They’re not perfectly heart shaped, and they’re not perfectly gray or white, but look at them.” She petted the rocks in her palm. “Can’t you just see them on my coffee table beside the big one that looks like an ostrich egg?” Her eyes widened, and she flashed that killer smile of hers and blinked her eyes in rapid succession, the same way she had when she was fifteen and had scored a date with the hottest surfer at the beach.
“Yes. I can totally see it there.” Bella leaned her head on Jenna’s shoulder. “I needed this time with you. I wish Amy had stayed longer. I’ve missed spending our days at the beach this summer.”
“Me too. But this is all for a good reason, and next summer we’ll be back on track with the beach all day and hanging out at night.” Jenna gasped. “Oh no.”
“What?” Bella scanned the water, thinking that Jenna saw someone in trouble.
“You can’t date Caden.”
“What?” Bella turned to face her. Jenna’s thin brows were drawn together. Her eyes were full of concern. “Why not?”
“Leanna has Kurt, and we see her maybe half as much as we used to. If you and Caden stay together, then next summer we’ll only see you half as much.” She shook her head. “No, this isn’t good. We can’t lose you, too.”
“You’d never lose me, and we see Leanna a lot. She and Kurt stay at Seaside all the time. I mean, it’s different with him around, but you love Kurt. We all do.”
“I totally love him, and from what I know of Caden and Evan, I really like them, too, but it’s different.” Jenna tucked her rocks back into her bathing suit top.
“Yeah. But it’s kind of better, too. I’m happy for Leanna. She’s never been happier, and you know how much Kurt adores her. He moved from New York to be with her. That’s love.” Caden had moved from Boston to the Cape for Evan. That’s love, too.
“I know, but what if you end up with Caden? Amy’s cute as a button. She’ll get swooped up next. Jamie’ll show up here one summer with a computer geek girlfriend, and Tony…Heck, he’ll have a harem. Then it’s just going to be me, lusting after Pete.” She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, no, Bella. I can’t be a forty-year-old-woman lusting after Pete.”
Bella laughed. “Wow, a little dramatic, aren’t we?” She patted Jenna’s arm. “You aren’t going to be a forty-year-old woman lusting after Pete. He’ll be long married by then.” She leaned away and Jenna swatted her arm.
“Wow, I hate you.” Jenna feigned a scowl, but her teasing eyes gave her away. “You watch. That man will be mine before I’m thirty-five.”
“I should hope so. That gives you five and a half years. If you can’t snag your man in that long, then maybe it’s time to move on.” Jenna had been nursing a crush on Pete for years, but while she was a total extrovert around everyone else, she turned into a mousy introvert around him.
“Bite your tongue.”
“Can we get back to me for a minute?” She used her foot to bury Jenna’s foot beneath the sand.
“Always.” Jenna wiggled her toes free from the mound of sand, and Bella went to work covering her foot again.
“Here’s the thing. I’m not worried about dating Caden, and I wonder if that means I’m already not paying enough attention to red flags or something. We’re already serious. Super serious. I mean, Jenna, serious like I’ve-never-been-this-serious-in-my-life type of serious. And what if my house doesn’t sell? Then what will I do? What if the job doesn’t come through here? What if it does but my house doesn’t sell? Then what will I do?”
“The answer to the first question is that I’m not seeing any red flags. I think Tony was right. The guy’s been a single dad for fourteen years. He’s a committer for sure. As far as the rest goes, you’re asking a lot of questions to a woman who isn’t holding a margarita.”
“You’re right. Sorry. That was the big question that I was stressing over.” She folded her chair and gathered her belongings. “But if you think I’m seeing clearly, and you know I trust you to not let me fall into some dark man-abyss, then let’s go home and we’ll fill you up with the good stuff.”
“First of all, put that stuff down and look at me.” Jenna stood with her hands on her hips.
Bella dropped her beach tote and looked at her.
“Here.” Jenna pointed to her eyes.
Bella stared into her eyes, and Jenna leaned in so close Bella thought they might bump noses.
“Nope. Those eyes are wide open and wiser than mine will ever be.”
“You’re such a fool.” Bella picked up her tote.
Jenna swung her tote over her shoulder, and they carried their chairs up toward the parking lot. “I say trust your gut with Caden Too-Good-To-Be-True-Grant.” Jenna stopped at the bottom of the dune.
“Why’d you stop? Let’s go. I want to stop at the package store.”
Jenna pointed to the top of the hill, where Caden stood beside his police car.
Bella ran up the dune with Jenna laughing as she hurried behind. Bella was out of breath by the time she reached the parking lot. She dropped her tote and chair and ran into his open arms.
“I’m sorry to just show up.” He kissed her quickly and shifted his eyes to the people watching them.
“Sorry,” she whispered. She cleared her throat. “I forgot you’re at work, and I’m glad you just showed up.” She raked her eyes down his body. She hadn’t seen him in uniform since the night they’d met, and boy he looked hot. But Bella wasn’t looking at the same things the other women were ogling in the gray evening light. She saw past the six-pack abs and the sculpted body that she knew lay beneath his handsome uniform. She pushed aside the clean-shaven cheeks that she loved to touch and the sense of pure hunky male that he radiated. As she drank him in, she saw the person he was on the inside. The way he loved Evan and would do anything to keep him safe. The way his eyes dampened as he talked about losing his best friend and partner and the way those same expressive eyes never wavered from hers when she spoke. When she added those qualities to his intelligence and the way he touched her, as if bringing her pleasure was what he lived for, well, who on earth could be sexier than Caden Grant?
“Bella.” Jenna elbowed her.
Bella startled out of her thoughts. “Sorry. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you all day. Amy said you were here a few hours ago, and when I still couldn’t reach you, I got a little worried.”
“He worried,” Jenna whispered.
“Yeah, I know.” Bella glared at her.
“I’m going to put these things in the car. Nice to see you, Caden.”
“You too, Jenna,” he said, then drew his eyes back to Bella.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
“Me too.” His eyes darkened.
“It was so nice to spend the day with Jenna that we decided to stay late. Did you get my text?” Bella had to fight the urge to reach out and touch him again. To hold his hand or hook her finger into the waistband of his pants. That hug and peck would have to hold her over until he was off duty.
“Only the one you sent before you went to the clinic. That’s why I was worried.” He stepped closer and placed his hand on her hip.
I really love that.
Heat spread from beneath his hand across her hips, coiling down low in her belly. Bella forced the lascivious thoughts away for now.
“Sometimes I hate cell phones,” she said. “I sent you a text after my meetings. I signed up four more companies today.” She went up on her toes to kiss him, then remembered he was at work and bit her lower lip as she sank back down to her heels.
He smiled and tightened his grip on her hip. The combination told her he wanted to kiss her just as badly. “That’s awesome. We should celebrate.”
“Well, it’s only a third of what I need, but it definitely gives me hope.”
He ran his finger down her cheek, then tucked her hair behind her ear. He’d done that a dozen or more times and it still sent a shiver through her.
“I’m so happy for you, Bella. Evan made plans to spend a few hours with Jamie tomorrow. Want to spend the day together? Then go back to my place and have dinner with me and Evan?”
“I would love to.” She thought of the last time she’d been at his place. Her cheeks heated with the memory.
“Good. We’ll celebrate your success.”
She could think of a hundred ways she’d like to celebrate with him when they finally got time alone again, and none of them included food. Unless she counted whipped cream as food. She shook her head to clear her mind.
“How was your day?”
“It was fine.” He drew his brows together, and a shadow of worry washed over his face. He was definitely not fine.
“I’m sorry if I worried you.”
“Oh, babe, it’s not you. I just…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to bum you out. It’s nothing.”
She stepped closer. If they’d been alone, she’d have wrapped her arms around him and held him until the tension left him. “Bum me.”
“I just had to take a hard line with Evan. It’s nothing, really. He got a little too big for his britches. It just sucks that I had to do it.” He shrugged, but she read frustration in his eyes.
“I’m sorry. That must be difficult.”
“It’s not that it’s a hard thing to do. It’s knowing what can happen if I don’t. I see kids getting into trouble all the time, and it was bound to happen at some point, with the move and his age…”
“Teenage angst is like a rite of passage.” She reached up to touch his cheek but caught herself and lowered her arm.
He reached for her hand and smiled. “It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? I want to reach out and touch you, too.” His radio sounded from his car. “I’m sorry. I have to run, but I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m always okay.” She realized that her gut response was one that didn’t allow herself to be taken care of, and she also realized that Caden had seen that, too, and he still tried to find a way around it.
“Yeah, well. I’m a cop and your boyfriend. It’s my job to worry, and I care for you, so worrying about you comes naturally.” The radio sounded again, and he pressed a quick peck to her lips. “I have to go. I’m looking forward to spending time together tomorrow.”
“Me, too.” She didn’t even care what they did.
“Great. If I get a break, I’ll stop by later. Otherwise, I’ll call for sure and we’ll make plans.”
Jenna drove up just as Caden pulled away. “Ready, lover girl? Or do you want to stand there and swoon a little longer?”
She put her chair and tote in the trunk of Jenna’s car and climbed into the passenger seat. “I have a feeling I’ll be swooning over that man for a very long time.”
“What happened to the girl who was worried about sticking to her convictions?”
Bella leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “A very wise friend told her that convictions were meant to be broken.”