“I’m sure she cares,” Audrey said, trying not to feel impatient. If he was going to talk about her twin and her health issues, she’d never wrangle that kiss out of him. “That wasn’t why I called you out here.”
“Oh?” Cade ran a hand over his jaw, and she noticed that he still hadn’t shaved. He seemed distracted, too. This was the most not together she’d ever seen Cade, and it threw her. Was he truly that concerned for Daphne? She was doing fine. She was throwing up less today and was able to keep some dry toast down. Give it another week or so and she’d be just fine. “What is it, then?”
Audrey’s tongue suddenly felt glued to the roof of her mouth. This was her moment. This was the time that she put aside all childhood longings and secret crushes and confessed just how she felt about this man. How she’d felt for as far back as she could remember. How she’d always loved him. How he meant everything to her and she wanted to take this love she had for him and turn it from one-sided into something she could share with him.
His expression was gentle as he waited patiently for her to speak, and it encouraged her.
“I . . .” She swallowed hard. “I wanted to talk to you about . . . how much it means to me that you’re here.” God, this was harder than she thought, especially since he was waiting on her with that patient look in his eyes. “You and I, we go way back.”
“We do,” he said with a grin. “I remember when the neighborhood kids used to steal you and Daphne’s trikes and I had to go and steal them back for you.”
“You always were our hero,” she said softly.
“I always will be,” he said solemnly. “Anytime you or your sister need me, you know I’ll be there.”
“I know. Just like this weekend.” Audrey reached out for his hand and clasped it. It was warm against her own, and he gave it another friendly squeeze. Like he would a little sister who needed encouragement. “I . . .”
“Yes?”
She leaned in a little, letting her hair fall forward on her cheek and fluttered her false eyelashes at him. If it gave any sort of effect like it did to Daphne, her eyes were big and bold with the fake lashes. She hoped she looked soft and vulnerable to him. Alluring, maybe. “I just wanted you to know how much I value that we can lean on you. You’re so important in my life.”
“You’re important in mine, too,” he assured her.
This was turning into a pat on the back conversation more than anything else. Just come right out with it, she told herself. Tell him you love him. Grab him by the collar and kiss him like you did Reese.
Except this was Cade, and she couldn’t be all impulsive with him. She remembered back on the docks, back when she was thirteen. The disappointed look he’d given her when she’d shoved Daphne into the water. Like she’d turned out to be someone he didn’t want and didn’t like. She never wanted to see that expression on his face again.
And looking at him now, with a touch of impatience in his eyes as he waited for her to say what was so important, she realized . . . he’d be looking at her like that again if she confessed how she felt.
Because she knew, she just knew, that it was one-sided.
And the words glued in her throat for good.
“Cade?” Daphne’s voice called out from the house. “Cade, are you back? Do you have my pill?”
Cade touched Audrey’s arm, then glanced back at the lodge. “I need to go, Audrey. We’ll finish this later?”
“Sure,” she said with a small disappointed sigh. “Later.”
He gave her another small smile, then headed back into the house, gently closing the door behind him.
Audrey stared out into the woods at the hateful sunset.
She could have taken matters into her own hands. Planted a kiss on Cade whether he’d wanted it or not, just to get Reese out of the house and win the bet. But that would have felt wrong on so many levels that she wouldn’t have been able to handle it. She was frustrated with Cade for not giving her the perfect opening, but more than that, she was frustrated with herself.
After all, she’d been the one to accept the stinking bet.
The door creaked open and she didn’t look over. She knew exactly who it was. It was Reese coming to gloat about how he’d won their little dare. This was two in a row that he’d more or less forced her to walk right into. She should be incredibly pissed.
Instead, that butterfly of excitement was back in her stomach, making her pulse race.
“Ahem.”
She glanced over at Reese. He stood on the porch, arms crossed over an old gym T-shirt borrowed from Cade, a pleased smile on his face. “You get cold feet in the last moment, Miss Prim and Proper?”
“Something like that,” she said, then shrugged. “Of course, it’s impossible to win when someone deliberately stacks the deck against you.”
“Who would do such an outrageous thing?”
“Someone who was up at dawn with Cade and knew he wasn’t in the house when the bet was made,” she said dryly.
He gestured at himself in mock surprise, then flashed her a naughty—oh so naughty—grin. “I told you I’d do whatever it takes when it comes down to winning.”
“You certainly proved that today,” she told him, forcing her voice to be utterly bland. “Way to go. You won yourself a skinny-dip with Daphne Petty’s unattractive twin sister. Congratulations.”
He gave her an odd look. “You’re making it rather hard to gloat.”
“What’s there to gloat over?”
“The fact that I won a hot night of skinny-dipping with a lush, sexy redhead?”
She snorted. “You’re just gloating because you won. No more, no less. You don’t have to lay it on so thick.”
“Suit yourself,” Reese said, then glanced out at the pond. “You want to go now?”
“In broad daylight?” She looked scandalized.
“An hour from now?”
She considered it, then shook her head. “Daph and Cade will still be awake. I don’t want them knowing about this little bet of ours.”
“Heaven forbid anyone have fun while at this cabin,” Reese said dryly.
Fun for you, she thought with a dark frown. “Midnight.”
“You chickening out on me, Petty?”