One Funeral (No Weddings Book 2) (22 page)

“Me too.”

That he cared enough about us—about me and my well-being—meant the world to me.

“Let’s not move. Ever.” I turned my head, running my lips over his cheek to press a gentle kiss to his temple.

He made a sound resembling a purr. “Tempting. But I plan on rounding the bases soon and sliding into home. We’ll get through every long, agonizing minute until then if we keep that thought in mind.”

“That and your ‘massive’ cock.”

We both burst out laughing.

And topless against the wall in the darkness of some supply closet in the back of a church, I didn’t give a damn about the rest of world. In the private space we’d claimed for our own, in the middle of an event where I’d had to defeat flashbacks from my past, all worries were banished.

No ugly bridesmaid dresses were allowed.

And absolutely…
no weddings
.

A
fter righting our clothing and making sure the coast was clear, we snuck into the women’s bathroom. We straightened our tousled hair, fixed my smeared makeup, and righted his crooked tie before walking back to the party hand-in-hand.

Of course, we engaged in passionate kissing against various hard surfaces before we ever made it out of the bathroom, therefore requiring more straightening. We also found every dark alcove and empty room on the way back. It became a game—how much covert touching could we sneak in before we returned?

We emerged into the mixed company of the party more or less in the same condition on the outside as when we’d left. But something inside me had shifted in a visceral way. And with the intense looks Cade kept sending me, alternating between lust and adoration, I knew he felt it too.

Indefinable, yet wholly irreplaceable, the sensation felt like
being loved
. Maybe we hadn’t fallen “in love” yet, but if neither of us were there, we teetered right on the edge.

Because that’s what the warm, reckless, right emotion I felt seemed to be. I was no longer
thinking
about the outside world, but instead,
feeling
connected to another, drawn in a way where reasons no longer mattered. All my thoughts gravitated toward him, and everything I did stemmed from a desire to put a smile on his face.

Our stolen glances continued through the night whenever Cade’s attention was pulled to one guest or another, but he never left my side. Not even when his sisters needed him to fix a sound-system glitch.

Not even when Candie, who’d had way too much to drink and had abandoned her escort, monopolized Cade for almost thirty minutes. Her dress bound tight above her knees, and maybe her Jimmy Choo stilettos had finally gotten the better of her as she draped over Cade’s other shoulder. But I gave her the benefit of the doubt with how badly she slurred her words.

His patience ran thin fast, though, and he finally put a stop to her nonsense. Which was fine with me. Like the gentleman Cade was, however, and ever the politically correct businessman, he looped an arm through hers and offered me his other before leading us both over to the bar, where Candie’s date nursed a drink.

With our approach, her date perked up, and she seemed interested in him once again. “Trent, where’ve you been? Mama needs some love. S’not every day I’m goin’ to die, you know. Plan on only doin’ this once.”

I laughed as her slur worsened while her wit sharpened. “Cheating real death, Candie?”

She leaned in front of Cade, putting her hand on mine. “Don’t ever
really
die, Hannah. Sooo last year.”

I huffed out a laugh. “How many drinks have you had?”

“Not enough. Bartender, make me a kamikaze an’ keep ’em comin’. If I’m dead, I oughta look it.”

The moment Candie became preoccupied with her man, and bartender Ben had taken our guest of honor safely under his wing, Cade steered me toward an empty spot in the corner of the room. Right as he bent down, our lips about to touch, the Michaelson Three descended upon us.

“Okay. What’s going on, you two? Are you an official item, or what?” Kristen narrowed her eyes, propping her hands on her hips.

Cade laughed. “Sis, when you give me the glare-down in bright pink taffeta, you lose the power in your punch.”

Kendall pressed closer. “We’ve seen you two go off together in the middle of the parties. Don’t think we don’t know what you’re up to.”

Steeling myself, I stepped forward. “Honestly, we haven’t been—”

Acting the part because of our shared confidence, Kiki shook her head. “Oh, yes you have. I saw Cade carrying you away from Christian’s boathouse
hours
after you’d both gone missing. You were wrapped in a blanket.”

Cade slid his hands into his pockets and lowered his head a fraction, staring at his sisters from under lowered brows. “You all done with the accusations? Ready for the truth?”

Kendall and Kristen nodded but narrowed their eyes.

Kiki crossed her arms, a believable dubious expression on her face.

I was curious what version of the truth, if any, he would share. I stood right beside him, but I almost wanted to join his sisters to be able to fully face him and watch his expressions head-on. But nothing would pull me from his side. I stood proudly
with
him, no matter his explanation or how he told it.

“Hannah and I are seeing each other in a low-key, non-dating sort of way.”

Kendall snorted. “What the hell does that mean? You’re fucking?”

Cade growled, his lip curling up on one side. Kendall’s smile faded.

“No. We’re
not
fucking, not that it’s any of your business. We may fuck, but that will be between me and Hannah. No one else. Right now, we’re great friends who want to explore more. Slowly. On our terms. And stealing time at the events, getting to know one another, has been one of the ways we’ve been doing so.”

No one said a word. I’m pretty sure his sisters continued breathing, but they all seemed taken aback by either what Cade had said, or the force with which he’d said it. Then one by one, their faces softened, like they’d fallen a little bit more in love with their brother.

And I didn’t blame them.

My heart warmed at his honest expression and clear protectiveness too. What had been unfolding between us was new and private, and only ours. He’d shielded me from their prying eyes, my valiant knight. I was so proud of him, at the strides he’d made. At finally having the courage and desire to stand up for us as a couple, sharing with them who we were to each other.

I no longer wanted to escape into a carriage by the twelfth stroke of midnight. I wrapped my hand in his, proud in the knowledge that he was the whole fairy tale—my prince and my pumpkin.

Cade squeezed my hand and gave a single nod to them. “When there’s more to tell, and we want to share, you’ll be the first to know.”

His sisters looked toward me, stupid smiles growing wider on their faces, like they only believed half of what Cade had let on. But he didn’t give them a chance to pry or deduce any further, because he turned, tugging me away. I gave them a weak smile over my shoulder and saw them break into laughter. And Kiki gave me a wink.

He led me away into another private alcove for some lip-on-lip time, and I laughed at his dead-serious expression. I furrowed my brow, attempting to mimic him.

When his face softened, I smirked. “So ‘we may fuck?’”

He pushed me into a corner, devouring me with a lust-filled gaze. “Oh, we are
so
gonna fuck.”

T
he day after Candie’s party was a special occasion. Cade’s official graduation day was today. Since Mase took their Jeep to pick up his girlfriend, Laura, Cade had insisted on driving Josephine.

And now I sat beside him in a nice dress, bouncing my knee for the first time since our semi-disaster of a date.

He glanced over before returning his attention back to the road. “Why so nervous, Maestro? I’m the one graduating.”

I laughed. “You have nothing to be nervous about. You’ve already aced your exams. Getting your diploma in a cap and gown is only a technicality.”

“Okay. So I ask again, why so nervous?”

I straightened out the folds of my silk skirt, taking a deep breath. “I’ve only been around Kristen’s husband once, your mom once, and I’ve never met your father.”

He slid his hand over mine, entwining our fingers together. “Do
not
be nervous about my father. Or any of them. I adore you, and they adore me. That’s all that matters.”

“But how exactly is that gonna go down? We’re arriving together. And your sisters know there’s more than only friendship between us now, no matter what we call it.”

He squeezed my hand quickly, then released it to grip both of his hands on the top of the steering wheel to parallel park into a newly open metered space on 33
rd
Street. I took a deep breath, watching graduate students cross to the walkway in front of the Palestra in their black caps and gowns.

He parked and cut the engine before twisting to face me. His lips curved into a tender smile. “You’re mine, Hannah. I’m no longer hiding that fact—I’m proud of it. Last night, I only gave the whole non-dating explanation to my sisters because their sudden inquisition caught me off guard. We hadn’t officially talked about what we wanted to tell everyone. I didn’t want to blurt out anything about us until we decided to do so, together.”

With Cade’s every word, my racing pulse calmed. In fact, my heart warmed at his possessiveness while explaining it with great care for my feelings. I slid my hand back into his, holding tight. “Would you like to decide that now?”

He smiled slowly. “Can’t think of a better time. My education’s done. We’ve finished therapy. Why not commit to what we want
us
to be?”

“And what do you want us to be?”

His expression hardened, his gaze fierce, as he lifted our clasped hands to his mouth. He placed a soft kiss on our fingers. “I want us to be together as a couple, excited about the present and looking forward to our future.”

I released the lower lip I’d been unconsciously worrying with my teeth and smiled wide. “I want that too.”

He sat straighter, pulling his shoulders back. “So I can introduce you as my girlfriend, then?”

I laughed and threw my arms around his neck, leaning over the shifter to be closer to him. “I would love to go steady with you, Cade Michaelson.”

Grinning like the happiest man on Earth, he leaned forward, embracing me back, and gave me a tender kiss. I loved that he’d called me his girlfriend for the first time in the front bucket seats of Granpop’s ’67 Fastback, bridged over the gearshift like long-lost lovers who didn’t care what was between us. Because truly, nothing was.

And I silently vowed that nothing would tear us apart.

Cade leaned back and held his index finger in front of my face. “Wait right there.” He burst out the driver’s door and ran around to the other side, opening mine like the gentleman he was. “M’Lady.”

“Shhh, don’t let anyone know I’m royalty.”

He laughed, shutting my door after I’d cleared it, and crooked his arm out.

I looped mine through, resting my hand on his forearm. “So do I get your letterman jacket now?”

He glared at me. “No. No letterman jacket. And I suggest you not insist on one. Blasphemous.”

I burst out laughing at his indignant tone.

Realizing the time we’d taken had him in danger of running late for roll call, we jogged inside as best I could manage with my four-inch heels. Parting on a quick kiss, he broke off down a hallway.

I made my way down to the auditorium. When I pushed through one of the doors, I gasped at the enormity of the space. Walking down an aisle in an awestruck daze, I scanned through the crowd, wondering how I’d find any of his family in the cavernous space.

Miraculously, I heard my name being called above the roaring chatter. I turned toward the sound and spotted Cade’s sisters about halfway down. Impossible to miss, the threesome waved their arms above their heads like they were guiding a 747 onto a landing strip.

Laughing, I hurried down the aisle as Kiki put her fingers to her lips, readying to whistle out at me above the noise. The rows of seats in my path were all occupied, and I had to lean forward, sucking my belly in, to squeeze by. The girls all sat beside each other, with Kristen’s husband on the other end.