Cade didn’t know what to make of this lunch meeting. He’d convinced himself it was a thank-you lunch...that is until he saw Alex looking completely different than she had before.
Every other time she’d been in jeans, a T-shirt too big for her, her hair pulled back, and her face scrubbed clean.
Today she still had jeans and a T-shirt on, but one that fit her and fit her well. He was right—she had one sweet little body underneath. It was a crime she was hiding those curves.
But it wasn’t just that. Her honey hair with a touch of red looking as soft as dandelion fuzz in the wind was down and falling around her shoulders in loose waves. She even had a little bit of makeup on. Little being lip gloss and mascara, but it was something and it was enough to turn him on when he was getting so good at trying to tune her looks out.
It wasn’t just her looks though. It was her personality. She was strong. She was independent. And she was funny.
Just like his mother.
Shit. Did he just think that? The last thing he wanted to do was think of any woman and his mother in the same sentence.
“Hey, Alex,” he said, walking over to where she was standing by the front entrance.
“Hi,” she said back, her eyes looking him over like they always did. Curiosity mixed with appeal. He tried not to groan. His family always said he was clueless and he was wishing that were the case with Alex, but he always seemed to read what was on her mind or in her eyes.
“Let’s go in. I’m hungry. I’ll have to return the favor and bring you to lunch at Fierce sometime.”
“I’ve been there before,” she said. “A few years ago my mother and I stopped in on one of your girl’s weekends.”
“What did you think of it?” he asked.
“I like that you do things like that. That you cater to different clientele now and again. You should have glasses that people can buy with the specialty drinks. Something they can take home with them. Maybe for shots. Nothing says party like women doing shots.”
He laughed. “That’s a good idea. I’ll have to bring it up to Brody since the bar is his area of expertise.”
“So what is yours then? Don’t you do just about everything for everyone?”
They found a table in the corner and he pulled the chair out for her. “Most don’t think that, but it’s true. I need to know enough about everyone’s area in order to make all sides happy.”
“Lucky you, to get to balance that.”
He’d never thought of that before. That he had more on his plate than the rest of them at times. That they got to focus on their one area and he had to cover it all.
“Someone has to be the lucky one of the bunch and I’m guessing it’s me.”
She tilted her head and gave him a smile. One that made him catch his breath as if he were running away from Brody as a kid after leaving a toy snake in his bed.
“What’s it like growing up as part of the gang?”
“The Fierce Five,” he said, laughing. “We get asked that a lot. It’s fine. I guess. They’re all stuck up though. I’m the fun one.”
“So I’ve heard,” she said smiling, but his smile dropped. “I’m sorry. Was it something I said?”
“Nothing. Just that I can only imagine what you’ve heard.”
“Your mother said you were the fun one of the group. Or maybe she said you had more moments than the rest of them and I took that as being the fun one. I’m not sure exactly what she meant by that, but just that it was said with a smile.”
“Oh,” he said, wishing that he hadn’t jumped the gun. “Well, I’m her favorite.”
She laughed again, and the sound of it was something he hadn’t heard from a woman in a long time. Honest and carefree. Not forced. “I’m my mother’s favorite too.”
“We’ve got that in common then.” He liked the way things were going right now. Not so much about work, but more of a personal nature.
“I’m an only child,” she said, winking.
He grinned at her. The waitress came over and took their orders and it gave him a minute to think of his next move. Or what to say. Anything to get his mind off the fact that he wished this was a date and not a thank-you lunch.
“So I was thinking,” he said. “I’m going to listen to a band in a few weeks. One that we want to sign at Fierce. I’ve been talking with their agent and getting some details. If we work it out, I’ll need fliers and such printed. Maybe you wouldn’t mind going with me and getting a feel for the band too. Getting their agent to release some pictures? She mentioned they’re looking for someone to do some printing for them too...”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes lighting up. Was it the prospect of spending time with him or the potential for a new job? He was afraid to ask because he wasn’t sure he really wanted to know.
“Yeah. Let me know if you’re interested.”
“I’m definitely interested.”
***
Alex hoped that didn’t sound desperate. He was talking about work, right? Another new job? Not spending time with him outside of work. Damn those hormonal urges.
Her mother was the one that pushed this whole thing on her and now she was getting excited at the prospect of spending more time with Cade. When did that happen?
When he started to treat her like a person—like an equal—that’s when.
Not like someone that had a pretty face and didn’t know what she was doing. Not like someone that hadn’t worked a day in her life and didn’t want to. Not like a hot woman that would warm his sheets.
But rather someone she’d like to think he respected.
It didn’t hurt that he was such a treat on the eyes either. Yikes, thoughts like that needed to be kept locked away in her brain. That would be sexist, right? What she hated so much when people thought it of her.
Nah. He wasn’t a treat on the eyes, but rather the main course, as she’d been told she was. The difference was, she knew there was more to Cade than his appearance. There was more to him than anything she’d heard at Duke too.
“What type of music is it?” She was going to try to focus on the business part of his invitation right now.
“It’s a blues band. We mix it up. Some country, some rock and roll, but this is the second time I’m going for blues at the pub. It brings a different crowd in and we like that.”
“I like mixing things up too. I think if you rely on one thing for your business it locks it in to fail.”
“Is that what happened when your parents ran it?”
She frowned. She didn’t think he meant that as an insult, so she wasn’t going to take it as such. “My father only knew one way to do things. When you don’t change with the times, you get left behind. He was a bit stubborn. Over the years I’d talk to him about things he should change, but they cost money that he didn’t want to spend. Then he got sick and passed away quickly. It all fell on my mother and she’d never done much more than office work.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, sincerity in his eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw an emotion expressed like that in someone’s eyes before that wasn’t a family member or co-worker. “I can’t imagine how hard that had to be. Especially being an only child.”
“It hasn’t been easy, but then such is most of life.” No reason to bore him with her past. It was nothing like he’d ever experienced and it was old news to her now.
Lunch was served and it gave her time to eat now and gather her thoughts. There was definitely more to Cade Fierce than met the eye. She wished she could get a grasp on it. So far not much was making sense from what she’d heard at Duke, just reminding her to ignore words if they didn’t come straight from the source.
When lunch was done, she pulled out her credit card the same time he did, and when she lifted her eyebrow, he put his away. She didn’t even need to utter a word. “Sorry, force of habit. I do a lot of working lunches,” he said.
That was better than thinking because he was a man he had to buy lunch. “That’s what this is. My thank you for the business you’ve given me.”
They got up and left, both walking out. There was an awkward silence now between them. Did they just part ways with a “Thanks” again? Hugging didn’t seem right. It was work, not a date.
A kiss was out of the question, even one on the cheek, and she was shocked that thought even crossed her mind. Well, not shocked, just more annoyed she couldn’t seem to stop thinking of him on more than one level right now. Maybe it had to do with those nice full lips of his she was staring at when she shouldn’t have been.
She was at a loss for what to do when he grabbed her hand and just held it loosely, then awkwardly patted it like he realized maybe he shouldn’t have touched her, but was unsure what to do.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said. “And we’ll get you another job out of this band. You just wait. I’m good at what I do.”
“I guess we’ve got another thing in common too,” she said.
His eyes just took on a darker shade and she wasn’t sure what that meant, but she did know that the touch of his hand on hers sent heat all over her body making her fight really hard not to blush. She hadn’t blushed since she got on stage for her first pageant at age fifteen and lost points for that rosy glow, causing her to place second.