Page 64 of Family Affair

“You’re saying goodbye to me… Is it because of Dan? Because I met him first?”

His face became guarded. “That’s one of the reasons,” he admitted carefully. “If you want the truth, I feel rotten for… Hell, I should never have…” He stopped and his lips thinned.

“Say it,” she challenged out of sheer frustration.

“As you wish. I feel rotten for almost fucking you unconscious when Dan trusted me to take you home. It’s called cheating, and I never indulged in this particular vice. In fact, youwereunconscious. I took advantage of you.”

“No, you didn’t. I wish you did.”

Heat flared between them. Her face flamed at her own boldness. Cade’s eyes darkened and he shifted in his chair and flexed his shoulders.

“Cade,” she leaned across the table to whisper, “do you really think that after you leave, I’ll just shrug off our acquaintance and go on to have a loving relationship with Dan?”

His face still inscrutable, he traced the design on the tablecloth with his knife. “This is something you have to work out between you and Dan.”

He threw the knife down and signaled for a check.

A little piece tore off somewhere inside her and fell down softly, the sensation disturbing but not painful. And more pieces…

This was how a heart broke.

The check arrived, Cade paid it, and then they were standing outside. They kept talking, and Coco was surprised she was able to carry a conversation about… something.

Finally, both of them fell silent.

He wouldn’t look at her.

“So, this is our goodbye, then.” Coco was clutching her purse so tightly her fingers started cramping.

The light from the lamp mounted somewhere above the restaurant door outlined Cade’s trim body in stark detail: his strong neck, the pleasingly wide span of his shoulders.

He raised his head and his eyes glittered, wild and burning.

“No.Thisis our goodbye.”

He took her into his arms and kissed her. Coco didn’t respond at first but drew a deep breath through her nose, as deep as she could, inhaling his essence and holding it inside. She smelled the faint aroma of his laundry, the wine he drank with his dinner, and his skin. She held her breath until her lungs almost burst, until she felt lightheaded and had to grip his belt even tighter to remain upright.

And then she kissed him back.

His hands tugged at her hair, loosening the pins that held her low bun together. He wasn’t gentle, and his tugging hurt in its impatience, and her body responded in all kinds of places. When he held her like this, she was home. She was free.

Her hair fell down and Cade tore his mouth away from hers to burrow his face in it, kissing her neck, biting lightly below her ear. He angled his body bringing them closer, so she could feel him. And she did. He was hard, and he was lit for her, and she moaned out loud. He kissed her mouth again, deeper, harder…

A car honked in the distance.

Coco woke up from her sensual haze and felt Cade come to as well. They didn’t jump away from each other, but the urgency slowly subsided, their desire ebbing and a hollow, empty feeling creeping in. He kissed the corner of her mouth, nibbled on her lips, slower, and slower, until he stopped, his mouth still pressed to hers.

Gently, he pulled away and disentangled his hands from her hair. She still held on to the lifeline of his belt. He reached behind and pulled her hands away from his waist.

So definite.

“Goodbye, love.” He pointed at her car, parked a row away. “Go.”

She went.