9. Cade

9

CADE

I can't stop smiling as I jog up the stairs to change. She thinks I fell for her little white lie. Not a chance. I know exactly what was behind that kiss, and it wasn't the need to repay a debt. She kissed me with everything she had because she wanted to.

I'm over the moon.

From the moment I met Maya, I felt something for her. It's more than attraction. It's want… maybe even need. Yes. Now that I've gotten to know her better, it's definitely need.

I need Maya in my life. She makes me laugh. She's easy to talk to. She's beautiful inside and out. Even though we come from completely different worlds, we have more things in common than I ever thought possible.

I wasn't lying when I told her I was a patient man.

For her, I'll have the patience of a saint.

Because Maya Prescott is a woman worth waiting for.

I kick back in the chair, taking a bite out of the warm cookie. "These are delicious."

"It's the cookie dough you bought." She tosses me an infectious smile.

"I know." I take another bite. "But you baked them, which makes them taste even better."

"I'm sure that's some sort of line." Maya removes the last tray of cookies from the oven. "But I'm going to choose to take it as a compliment."

"It is a compliment, duchess." I'd really like to tell her how amazing she looks in the deep green flannel shirt she's wearing. Or how the black leggings hug the curves of her hips just right. But I don't. If I say too much too fast, I'll scare her off. I don't want to do that, so I'm going to have to take baby steps with her.

"You ready to start decorating our trees?"

"Yes." She beams. "I'm going to make a cup of tea. Would you like one?"

"Only if you turn mine into a hot toddy." I snag another cookie.

"Mmmm… that sounds perfect. I'll make two."

"Good. You make the tea. I'll turn up the Christmas music and add some more wood to the fire."

I add some birch logs onto the smoldering embers, give the logs a jab with the poker, and get to work opening the packages of lights.

Maya sets two mugs onto coasters. "How many lights did you get?"

"A thousand." I count the packages to make sure I'm right. "Yes, I got a thousand lights."

"Holy cow." She belly laughs. "We might need sunglasses."

"Nah. I think it's going to be just right." I start to wind the lights through the branches. "Here, I'll do this side and you do that one."

"This is fun."

We finish the first tree and move on to the second. After we weave the final string of lights through the pine boughs, we start hanging the ornaments.

"Cade?"

I stop humming along with the music and poke my head around the tree. "Yes?"

"Thank you for sharing this with me. I'm having an amazing time."

"Me too, duchess." I reach over to give her hand a quick squeeze. "I'm glad you're here."

"And here I was, worried you might kill me in my sleep."

"Well, I thought you might chop my head off to add to your throne of skulls." I chuckle.

She tosses her head back and laughs. "Throne of skulls?"

The glint in her green eyes steals the breath from my lungs.

She shakes her head. "You have a very active imagination."

"I do." I wink. She's grinning at me and my mind drifts back to the kiss she gave me earlier. I want another.

"Tell me about hockey." Maya hangs a painted reindeer on the tree. "Why did you pick hockey over other sports? I bet you could have played football if you wanted to."

"Hockey chose me." I grab a box of tinsel. "For some reason, I felt more at ease on skates than I did in shoes. One thing led to another, and bam, I was living and breathing hockey. It's a great sport. I'm going to miss it."

"Wait…" She stops tying bows on the branches. "What do you mean you're going to miss it?"

Damn it. I didn't mean to let it slip. Talking with her is so easy. Well, the cat's out of the bag now. "I have to retire. Doc says it's time. The sport has taken its toll on my body."

"Oh, Cade. I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"No one knows. I'm going to tell the team when I get back." I take a sip of my tea.

"What will you do?"

"I don't know." I pick up her cup and give it to her. "Drink your tea while it's hot."

We sit down in front of the fire on the bearskin rug.

"Is this real?" She rubs her hand across the smooth fur.

"No. Synthetic."

"It's so soft."

Suddenly, I have a vision of her naked on the rug, the firelight dancing across her skin. The image is so vivid I have to look away from her to make it stop.

"Where will you live?" She purses her lips to blow on her tea.

I've never been jealous of tea before…

"Here." I blurt. "I think I'll live here. Who knows? Maybe we can make this an annual thing."

Her eyes get big.

"We're going to be neighbors." I remind her.

"Oh, yes." She nods. "We are, aren't we?"

I've made her nervous, which I don't want to do. So, I finish my tea and stand up to take a walk around the trees. "All we have to do is put the angels on top of the trees, and then we'll plug these bad boys in. Would you like to do the honors?"

"Sure."

I get the ladder from the garage and help her up the steps. I crane my neck back to watch her smile because I don't want to miss a thing. She nestles the angel into place, climbs down, and repeats the same for the other tree.

"Are we ready?"

"I think so." She rubs her hands together. "This is exciting."

"Close your eyes, and I'll close mine." I rush across the floor to plug in the trees, then rush back to her side. "Okay, on the count of three… one… two… three."

As I open my eyes, I don't know which is more beautiful: the gorgeous trees we've created or the wonder all over Maya's perfect face.

"They're stunning." She whispers. "Absolutely stunning."

"They are perfect." I drape an arm over her shoulders. "We did it, duchess. We've decorated our very first Christmas trees."

"We sure did." She turns to look up at me. "This has been a wonderful day." She stands on the tips of her toes to kiss my cheek. "Thank you for letting me be a part of it."

"I wouldn't want to share it with anyone else in the world." I smile.

Which is the absolute truth.

Little does she know that I want her to be a part of my world forever.