Authors: Jean Brashear
A Texas Chance (23 page)
“You can’t think—” She gestured around her. “I couldn’t have gone.”
“I understand that you have to get this place off the ground, that you can’t just hop a plane any time you want, not yet. But even if Hotel Serenity
was
established, you wouldn’t take a risk on me, would you? Because you might lose me…as you’ve lost too many others you cared for.” She started to object, but he rushed ahead. “And I’m no better. Thinking I was worthless if I wasn’t Cade MacAllister, adventure photographer. Who would I be if I couldn’t wander, if I wasn’t solitary with nothing to tie me down?”
“I don’t know what you want from me.” She couldn’t tear her eyes from him, even as her pulse hammered.
He stared at her intently. “Astonishingly enough, I finally realized I want a home,” he said softly. “And so do you.”
“But your career…”
“It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, Sophie—except in your world, the tidy, orderly one where you don’t take risks.”
“I don’t take risks? What do you think this hotel is? I’ve put everything I have, everything I am, into it.”
“Yeah. Because it’s easier than risking your heart on a person. Insurance can replace a house or a business, but not a broken heart. You’re determined to stay safe from grief and pain, and no one can promise you that.”
Her throat was dry, her palms damp.
“We’ve both gotten a little too cozy with our careers, haven’t we? Careers don’t break your heart. We don’t have to worry about drownings or car wrecks or settling down.” His eyes were tender. “I realized on that mountaintop that what had always filled me wasn’t enough anymore, that there was a gaping hole.” His hand caressed her cheek. “And its name was Sophie.”
“But, Cade…”
“Look, I don’t know how we’re going to manage this—I don’t have a set of plans for us to follow, but you know what? That doesn’t matter. Life doesn’t come with guarantees, and it never will. I’ll have to travel, and you’ll have to stay here a lot—but I’ve spent my whole life refusing to get tied down, only to realize that that refusal is as much a shackle as any chain.”
“But I don’t… I can’t…”
The warmth in his eyes was dimmed by disappointment, and he turned away, his voice cooler. “I’m going to stay in Austin for a while and work on Jaime’s book. I’ve taken some shots of people that are nothing like what I’ve done before but they excite me in a new way—and they don’t require visas and million-dollar expeditions. There might be more to me than I had dared to believe.”
“I believe in you,” she said.
He turned back, and she saw the weariness in him. “But do you believe in us? Just because we’re not the Bradys, does that mean we can’t make our own kind of family?”
“You hate cities. And you don’t want to live in a hotel.”
“Then I guess I’d better get a little more flexible, shouldn’t I?” His gaze was as open to her as she’d ever seen it. “Forget the details for right now. Are you going to let me into your heart, Sophie?”
Her determination was unraveling. “I really can’t travel with you for a while yet, maybe a year.”
“I’ll wait.” He reeled her in, a smile forming. “I’d like to show you the world, but even more, I’d like to be in your world. Is there room for a rolling stone at your inn, Queenie?”
She discovered she’d run out of objections, and that she wanted desperately to meet him halfway. To find a means to mingle their worlds. But… “I’m scared, Cade.”
“I know. So am I.” He held her close and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “But I don’t want to keep my distance anymore. How about you?”
She tilted her head back, studied dark blue eyes that were her window on a whole new world. “Me, either.” She swallowed hard, then took the plunge. “I love you, Cade.”
He closed his eyes for a second. When they opened, they held everything she could possibly wish for. “I love you, too, Queenie. Can we just start there, or do we need a damn ledger?”
Laughter bubbled up as her eyes blurred with grateful tears. “I’m already so far in debt I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“You’re crazy to think you’re the only one who’s been given an incredible gift, but—” he adopted a comical leer “—we did discuss a very attractive form of payment once. It could work well for both parties.”
Heart lighter by the second, she rose to her toes, smiling. “Well, then, here’s the first installment.” She kissed him with all the love she’d been afraid to let herself feel.
Cade picked her up and whirled her until they were both out of breath.
Then he set her down and clasped her so closely to him that she knew exactly what perfect safety felt like. They clung together, each grateful for the miracle of a second chance.
After a bit, Cade leaned back. “There’s just one thing we need to work out right up front, Queenie. I’m sorry to tell you it’s a deal breaker.”
She made herself not stiffen. He’d said he loved her, and though he was trying to look stern, his eyes were dancing, so she went on faith and batted her eyelashes at him. “Oh? Exactly what might that be?”
“Our dog really does want to be called Skeeter.”
She laughed. “And what do I get in return?”
Cade merely smiled and waggled his eyebrows. “It’s better if I show you.”
Sophie smiled right back. “Deal.”
They sealed their first negotiation with a kiss.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459221130
Copyright © 2012 by Jean Brashear
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