Alex was wondering what possessed her to make that proposition to Cade. She’d never considered a friends with benefits relationship a day in her life. She even lied when she said that she’d been thinking of it.
She hadn’t been. Not until it slipped out of her mouth.
She knew he wasn’t the type to settle down and she honestly wasn’t sure she had the time or energy for it herself, nor was she sure she could handle the hurt again if she put herself out there only to find out it didn’t mean the same to him.
But she wasn’t lying when she said she was extremely attracted to him. And it had been a long time since she’d been with a man. Battery operated toys really only went so far. She was craving a little bit of affection with an orgasm at this point in her life.
She figured he’d jump all over the chance for a situation like she was offering, but he seemed to hesitate. Then he negotiated with her. Like a lawyer. What the hell?
Why didn’t she realize that for what it was when it was happening? He wanted the upper hand. That had to be it. He was the man and he wanted to be the one to control it.
Or she was over thinking again because now she just set herself up for something with Cade and she wasn’t sure she could actually keep as much of an emotional distance as she was hoping for?
She drove back to her shop trying to push the whole encounter from her mind. He’d said the ball was in her court and basketball had never been her sport. Work had to come first.
When she walked through the front door, she saw Ralph out front talking with Ella Fierce. If Alex’s face started to heat up thinking of what she and Ella’s brother were doing a few minutes ago, she was going to say it was the heat outside. Not the heat of Cade’s body on hers, because damn, he was smoking.
“Ella,” Alex said. “I didn’t know you were stopping by.”
“I was out running errands and wanted to stop in quick and see if you had a minute.”
“I was just getting her name and number for you,” Ralph said. “Everyone is running around right now, but they’ll be back. I was watching the front.”
“Sorry I was gone so long. It took me a bit longer than I thought.”
“I told Ella you were running stuff to Cade’s. She said Cade wasn’t in the office today.”
Her inner thermostat just started to rise as if five fireplaces were roaring in a ten by ten room. “I ran them to his home office.”
“Was Cade even up yet?” Ella asked, smiling.
“Of course he was. It’s almost noon.”
“That doesn’t always mean anything,” Ella said. “When we were kids Cade would sleep in until my mother had to go in and all but drag him out of bed by his big toe. On school days he was the last one up and in the shower, then out the door in five minutes.”
“Really?” Alex asked. “That’s surprising considering how he never has a hair out of place.”
Ella laughed. “That started his freshman year. He was all about the hair gel and trying to be different from the rest of the boys. I almost broke his fingers when half my hair products went missing one weekend.”
Alex burst out laughing. That she could see happening. “I hope he bought you more.”
“He did. Anyway, we like to pick on Cade, but he’s a good guy. All my brothers are, but Cade, well, Cade is his own special brand of something.”
Alex wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that he isn’t taken seriously very often because he wants people to think he is all about fun. The truth is, Cade might run deeper than all my brothers, but few people ever see that.”
Now Alex was starting to feel guilty for making assumptions with Cade. “I don’t know him well enough to say one way or the other.”
“That’s true,” Ella said, holding her stare. “Well, I’m sure the more you get to know him, the more you’ll see under the fun is a heart of gold. Twenty-four karat gold. The softest and most malleable. The one that could break the easiest.”
“We’re just friends, Ella,” Alex said.
There was no way anyone could know that she wanted more with Cade. She wouldn’t even admit to Cade that it was more than the physical; why the heck would she admit it to his sister?
“Friends should know those things too.”
“Was there something I could help you with?” she asked, changing the subject. “You said you were stopping in while running errands.”
“Oh yes,” Ella said, pulling out a sheet of paper. “I had this idea. Normally I would run it by Cade, but I wanted to see if it was possible before I got him all excited about it.”
Alex took the paper and looked at what seemed to be a cut-out of the letter “F” in front of a light on the wall. “What material are you looking to do this with? I’m not a metal or glass cutter.”
“Actually, I don’t want it cut out. I know the picture looks like that, but I couldn’t find what I really wanted. I was thinking either clear or red squares of glass, then putting a bulb behind them, having a few placed throughout the bar and maybe the restaurant on the walls. I want it to be like a shadow box. Is that the word I’m looking for? Anyway, if you could etch it like you did that plate for my mother.”
“Okay, I see where you’re going with this. I could do that with the glass for sure if you could get the boxes somewhere. Or get them built. That might work better, having it custom-made.”
“Let me look into it then. I was wondering if I ordered just a test one and then found some glass, could you do a few sample ones so I could show the others and see what they think?”
“I’d love to. I think it’d look awesome. Why don’t you want Cade to know, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“No major reason. He’s not the only one that comes up with ideas, but if I tell him, he’ll run away with the idea and change it up on me. The boys always did that. I never seemed to have anything for myself,” she said, grinning.
“That’s kind of sad,” Alex said, once again glad that she was an only child.
“I’m over it. Now I just do it on my own first so I can see what my idea will look like before I even show them. I’m not saying they won’t have a good suggestion, but I want to see my plan all laid out first.”
“I like your thinking a lot. Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll get to work on something.”
“Sounds good. And Alex,” Ella said before she left. “If you see Cade, don’t tell him.”
“When would I see him?” she asked, hoping she kept a straight face.
“Oh, I don’t know. Sometimes I get these thoughts in my head. Just ignore me.”
There was no ignoring it though. She doubted anyone in the Fierce family would know she and Cade were going to be having a casual relationship, and she definitely couldn’t ignore the excitement at starting what she so brazenly asked him for.