hard on the mouth and stuff my hand into her hair to keep her where she needs to be. I’m done with this pretending we just like one another and it’s enough to just hang out on the couch watching TV.
That’s not what I want, and by the way she’s reacting to a simple call, that’s not what she wants either.
Chapter Fifteen
Hailey
Cade’s kiss takes me by surprise, and for a few seconds, I don’t know how to react. I don’t believe that call was to a friend or one of his cousins. I have no idea if I’m right about him having a girlfriend or a wife, but the last thing I want to do is kiss him right now.
Except the way his tongue glides over mine, teasing me with a promise of how incredible it would feel on every other part of my body, makes pulling away so hard.
He holds me against him tightly, like if I wanted to leave I couldn’t. A mixture of fear and desire overwhelms me, and I don’t what to do.
When he lifts his head and smiles down at me, it’s almost like he’s taunting me. Like he was talking to his girlfriend or wife and now he thinks he can have me too.
Not so quick there, loverboy.
“Thanks for the kiss. I have to go. Bye, Cade,” I say and hope my legs weak from that kiss let me walk out the door with some grace.
“No. I’m not letting you run away again, Hailey. You want me, and I want you. Stop trying to fight that.”
“I’m not fighting anything that shouldn’t be fought. I can’t be with you. Goodbye.”
Still, he won’t let me go.
“You can and you want to be. Why are you acting like this isn’t what you want? We had fun talking last night. You brought me that cupcake because you like me. Why fight this?”
“Because you have a girlfriend! Or even worse, a wife!” I scream, hating that everything he says is how I feel and still I know I have to leave.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. “Here. Look at who the calls were from. Look at who I called.”
Pushing his hand away, I shake my head. “No! I don’t want to be that person who doesn’t trust someone like that. Just let me go.”
But he won’t give up.
“Take it. Look. You accuse me of doing something I’m not, so let me show you you’re wrong.”
God, I don’t want to do this. Not here. Not now. Not ever. I swore I’d never let myself be in another situation where I suspected someone was cheating and didn’t listen to my gut. Well, at this moment standing in this hallway, my gut says this man is too perfect and now I know why.
When I refuse to take the phone out of his hand, he taps on the screen to bring up the calls. Holding the phone in front of me, he says quietly, “Not a girlfriend or wife. Just my father.”
I look at the screen and see one word listed down the screen. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad.
“All those calls were from your father? Is anything wrong?”
Not that I have any right to be asking that, but I suddenly feel so bad for the way I’ve acted in the past ten minutes that I have to say something.
Cade’s shoulders sag, like the weight of my question is a heavy burden on him. “No. That’s just the way he is,” he says with a sigh.
Knowing the truth makes knowing what to say impossible now, so I mumble the only words I can think of to escape this humiliation I’ve brought on myself. “I’m sorry. I better go.”
“Still? I didn’t lie, Hailey. There’s no one else, and still you want to run away?” he asks in a voice that fills me with regret.
I hang my head, unable to face him now. “I’m the problem, Cade. That’s always how it is. This is all me, and I’m sorry.”
As much as I hate to admit the truth, there it is. He isn’t the one who caused all of this tonight. It’s me. It’s always me, and no matter what Dr. Thorpe or Meadow thinks, I’m obviously still not able to trust like someone like Cade deserves.
This time, he doesn’t stop me when I turn toward the door, but behind me, he says, “Don’t go. I don’t know what happened before you met me, but you can trust me. I won’t do