CADE
I tried not to think about the whole fucking mess while I was in the shower. In a perfect world I’d tell my idiot brother that he had his shot with Summer and he screwed it up and now I was going to be the man to take care of her. The man to give her everything she’d ever wanted. The man to put babies in her.
One look at my damn leg though and I quickly remembered this world was anything but perfect. Though Summer was pretty close.
And they’d been together for more than a year and he’d never slept with her. What a moron.
I dried off and quickly dressed then stepped out to find Summer still sitting in the same spot. She had her phone in her hand and was scrolling through all of the messages she’d missed.
Her phone buzzed, then mine did as well from the desk across the room where it was currently charging.
“They’re here,” she said.
“They?”
“My mother is with him.”
I nodded because fuck if I knew what to say. I knew what I wanted to say, but that wouldn’t help matters.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Not particularly, but I suppose that’s irrelevant.” She turns towards the door, then stops and faces me. “Thank you for coming to my rescue yesterday.” She opens her mouth as if she has more to say, but she just shakes her head and opens the door.
I watch her round hips swing in my sweats and all I can think about is the fact that I could look at that for the rest of my life. Her. She’s the one.
But she doesn’t belong to me. She belongs to my brother.
Fuck!
As soon as we hit the lobby, a perfectly poised older woman clucks her tongue and grabs Summer by the arm and pulls her off to the side. I continue until I’m in front of my brother.
“Cade,” he says with a nod.
“Aaron.” I rub the back of my neck.
“No, mother, I’m not going to marry him. We don’t love each other.” My ears are so attuned to Summer’s voice that I can’t help but listen to her talk to her mother.
Her mother eyes me from the sofa where they’re sitting a few feet away. She inspects me thoroughly, then nods. “Yes, I can see the appeal. But a war-torn hero, I can work with that. Aaron told me about his injury. Wounded warrior. It would be perfect for a campaign.”
I’m speechless as I listen to a woman I’ve never met plan a life for me. One I would never agree to.
“No, Mother! I’m not going to let you use Cade to try to create political sympathy. He deserves better.”
I force my attention away from the women then because it will kill me to hear Summer tell her mother that she doesn’t want me.
I look at my brother. He’s still the same Aaron. Slight of frame and perfectly polished.
“So listen, you should know that I slept with your bride.”
His brows raise.
“We didn’t know who each other were. But she caught you with her friend before the ceremony and then we got caught in the rain and one thing led to another.”
“Are you going to apologize?” Aaron asks.
“I wasn’t planning on it. As far as Summer was concerned—and I can’t speak for how she feels right now—y’all were done. She walked in on you with the maid of honor, man. At the church.” I shake my head. “That is fucked up, Aaron.”
I see Summer sitting on that cheap hotel couch and she looks like a shadow of the woman I’ve spent the last two days with. She nods solemnly at her mother, keeps her head down. Something twists inside me. This isn’t what she wants. She may not want me, but she doesn’t want him either. And, damn it, Summer deserves to have the life she wants, even if it’s not with me.
I look back at my brother and I’m seized with anger on her behalf.
“That woman over there is amazing. She’s passionate and smart, and you’ve just thrown her away. Treated her as dispensable. You need to get your shit together and beg for her forgiveness because that is not a woman you walk away from.”
My younger brother, so very different from myself. He’s shorter, leaner, with fair coloring. But he grins at me, then tosses his head back and laughs.
“What in the actual fuck is your problem?”
“I’m just thinking the next family gathering is going to be super awkward this year.”
“Why is that? Because I slept with your almost wife?”
He shakes his head and pats me on the shoulder. “No, because you clearly belong together.”
“What?” Surely I imagined him saying those words.
“You just portrayed more emotion for her than I’ve felt the entire time we’ve been together. You’re right. Summer is an amazing woman and she and I make a whole lot of sense on paper. But there’s no love between us. I’ve been in love with Tracy—that’s the maid of honor—for a while now. Yesterday was the first time we acted on it. If you want Summer, you should pursue her.” He looks over his shoulder at Summer and her mom and they’re both looking at us. Well, looking at me, precisely.
I shake my head. “You’ve got it all wrong. She’s not going to end up with a guy like me. With a pedigree like hers, she could have anyone she wants. Someone smarter, with more money and two legs.”
“Don’t be a dumbass. She’s clearly crazy about you.”
My heart thumps in my chest as if agreeing with Aaron’s words. Because I want it to be true. I’ve never wanted anything more. “You think?”
"Yeah, I do. And I can see how you’re looking at her. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t believe it. The two of you make a very compelling argument in favor of love at first sight.”
I can’t deny that. Maybe it was lust at first sight. But I can’t deny that my heart is heavily invested. I rub the back of my neck. “She said her mother is who sorta brought y’all together?”
“Yeah. I brought Candace in as a consultant for an exploratory committee to see if I wanted to run for state Senator.”
“And do you?” I ask.
“I think I might. But I’ll take care of Candace.” He rubs my arm again. “It’s good to see you, man. We should probably do this more often.”
I nod. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“You’ll take care of Summer?”
I know in that moment that I’ll do whatever it takes to convince Summer to be my forever. “I’m gonna marry that woman as soon as she’ll have me.”
“When you know, you know, I guess. Good luck.” He turns and walks off. Says something to Summer, then kisses her on the cheek. He grabs her mom’s arm and pulls her away and they leave the hotel.
Summer walks back over to me.
“Did you mean what you said to him?”
“Which part?”
“About me being a woman you couldn’t walk away from? About how he’d need to beg for forgiveness because I’m amazing and passionate?”
“Yeah, Sugar, I meant every word.” I pull her to me.
She pulls back just a little. “I know you rescue people professionally, but you don’t have to save me. I can save myself.”
I grin. “Yeah, Sugar, I know that. If you can rebuild a carburetor, you’re more than capable of saving yourself. Think you know what I told Aaron?”
“What’s that?”
“That I was going to take you home. And I was going to make you my wife as soon as I could convince you to marry me.”
Her wide green eyes look at me and they’re swimming in tears. “What?”
“I know it’s too fast, but I don’t care. I have no doubts, no hesitancies. I know that you’re meant to be mine and I’m meant to be yours. We belong together, Summer. I know you said this was just the crazy rain storm, but I’ve lived in Texas most of my life and you know what I’ve learned about Texas rain?”
“What?”
“Yeah, it can make you do crazy things. It can cause flash floods and cause all kinds of destruction. But it can also end a drought and make it possible for things to grow and bloom.”
For a long second, she just stares at me. And, fuck, if panic doesn’t clutch at my heart, because that kind of flowery shit is not like me, even if it’s exactly what I feel in this moment.
Because with Summer, I can’t hold back. I can’t pretend I’m not all in already. And if she thinks that’s too corny, there’s nothing I can do about it, because it’s already out there. All I can do now is wait and see if my Summer storm is a flash flood that wrecks me.
Pressing her lips together, she blinks back tears. Then she raises up on her toes and cups my face in her palms, bringing my forehead down to rest on hers. “Want to know a secret?”
“What’s that, Sugar?”
“I don’t think it will be too difficult for you to convince me to marry you.”
“I love you, Summer,” I say.
She swallows visibly. “I love you too, Cade.”
I kiss her and it doesn’t take long for my cock to harden. I pull back from her. “We’re going to need to take this back to our room. I need to be inside you.”