“I’m glad you suggested this.” Cora said, as she unlocked the door to what was now her new home.
Dade shrugged. “I need to check the wiring so I can get your new oven up and running quickly.” He grinned as she closed the door behind them. “Breaking it in by cooking for fifty people is not exactly starting small.”
Cora walked over and flipped on the light. “Maybe not for most, but I’ll enjoy it.”
He looked around the living room. “You’re keeping some of Owen’s furniture?”
“They didn’t need it and I didn’t have nearly enough to furnish an entire house.”
He nodded. “Saves me having to break my back moving it.” He patted the dark couch. “This thing weighs more than my van I think.”
Cora opened the kitchen door. “Well I can assure you my furniture is light, I move it around all the time by myself.”
He followed her into the kitchen. “We can move some of your stuff tomorrow if you’ve got it ready.”
She turned. “Really? You’re sure?”
“Already mentioned it to the guys, I can go pick up the trailer in the morning.” He pulled the stove out from the wall. “What are your plans for this oven?” He bent down and looked at the wiring.
Leaning back against the counter, she clasped her hands in front of her. “I was thinking, maybe if I had some muscle, I’d put it in the basement, as an extra stove.”
Dade stood up and smirked. “Muscle huh?” She nodded. “I’ll get help and get it down there for you, but I’ll have to check the panel and see if the wiring can handle it downstairs.”
“Let’s go look.” She turned to walk to the basement. “I don’t mean to push, but I don’t have a lot of time for moving with the handfast being so close.”
Dade shrugged and followed her. “I still have a week left of my vacation…”
She stopped and looked at him. “You took that much time?”
“I’ve never taken any, so I thought I was due.” She nodded then continued down the stairs. “I can have you moved and up and running here in a few days, I just need help with the heavy lifting tomorrow.”
Cora flicked the lights on at the bottom of the stairs. “Are you sure? Normally I’d say no, you realize that, but I have so much work to do to get things ready.” She stopped and looked up at him on the stairs. “Would it be too difficult to get a freezer down here?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Probably.”
She smirked. “Okay, I’ll find a place for it upstairs then.”
“You bought a freezer too?”
“Yes, its second-hand, but I really needed it.” She watched him walk over to the panel box and open it. “I appreciate all the help, Dade.”
Dade glanced at her for a moment than back to the box. “Comes with a price, honey.” He said with a smirk to her surprised look. “You’ll be close enough after we get you moved in. I expect meals now and again.”
“I think we can do that.”
He closed the box. “Shouldn’t have any problems with the wiring.”
“Oh good. Whew. I’ve been holding my breath waiting for you to say can’t do it.”
Dade laughed. “I would have found a way to make it work Cora, you know that.” He walked over and stopped in front of her. She didn’t tense or step away when he got close to her, but her eyes told him she wanted to. He put his hands in his pockets and stood in front of her. “I know you don’t want to talk about other things, Cora, but I need to.”
Cora put her head down to break the eye contact. “Dade…”
“No. Before I managed to screw things up, we were at a good place with each other and I’m not willing to just forget it and go back to nothing.” She shook her head. “I’m not talking about what happened the other night, I’d like to, wish like hell I remembered more, but I’m talking about you and I and how comfortable we were with each other prior to that.”
She sighed. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Dade.”
He stepped a bit closer and took one hand out of his pocket to reach out and touch the end of a long curly lock. “There are a few things you need to know, that I wanted to tell you, before all this happened Coralee.”
Cora looked down at his hand touching her hair and couldn’t help but remember those hands doing other things. “I’ll think about it.” She stepped back and walked towards the stairs. “Can you take me home now? I want to get things ready to move tomorrow.”
Nodding, he followed her. “Yeah.” He caught up to her as she was opening the door to go outside. Leaning past her shoulder he placed his hand on the door to stop her opening it. She turned, startled. “I’m not going to go away, honey.” He said softly, stepping closer to her. “The sooner you understand that, the easier it will be.” She leaned back against the door. He smiled and leaned close enough to brush his lips over hers briefly before pulling back and taking his hand off the door.
Cora stood in the middle of the boxes trying to focus on packing the rest of her things. Her mind kept wandering back to Dade. All he had to do was touch her hair or smile in a certain way and all her resolve to not get involved with him, dissolved.
She touched her lips with two fingers. She could still feel his lips on hers. Shaking her head, she walked back into the kitchen to finish in there. Trying to go back to just friends with Dade was proving to be harder than she thought.
She smiled thinking of that night. The way he’d made her feel, and he hadn’t even known what he was doing. She closed her eyes and thought of it. Of him.
Dade was almost asleep when a picture appeared in his mind. It was him with Cora, she had a red blouse on, it was open and his dark head was over her bare skin. His eyes opened quickly, but he could still see his own tongue playing with one of those nipple rings. Her hands gripped his hair, holding his head to her. He swallowed, his body hardened instantly. The sneaky witch sent him that on purpose!
He scrambled out of the bed and went to get his cell phone. Tripping over his own shoes, he stumbled into the living room and grabbed it off the table. Flipping it open, he typed quickly.
Nasty! Sending me images like that.
He flipped the phone closed and leaned back closing his eyes. Now he really regretted not remembering more about that night. Those damn rings, he’d thought of nothing but them for over a month, and to know he’d not remembered something like that, he groaned.
His phone buzzed.
Sorry was lost in thought didn’t mean to send it to you.
He grinned. She was thinking about it. Be nice if he could remember with more clarity.
Feel free to send more, please?’ He sent back quickly.
Dade was sitting there staring at the phone waiting for a reply when another image appeared in his mind. It was of them. He was resting between her breasts heaving to breathe, her breasts rising and falling on either side of his head. He hardened again. She had sent him the end. Smiling, he realized with the way she was breathing, she had at least enjoyed it.
He flipped open the phone.
Could have used a few more details before the end.
Dade grinned when the phone buzzed again.
Good night.
Nasty witch, he thought with a grin as he sent a night back to her. He wouldn’t get to sleep anytime soon now. The whole idea that she could just send him instant replays was boggling enough, but now that he saw what they’d looked like together, well, he wouldn’t be falling asleep anytime soon.
He went upstairs and crawled back into his bed. Silently he cursed himself. How could he not remember having those damn rings in his mouth? There would be a next time, that he was determined to have, and this time he’d remember every single detail. He’d show her how things should be between them.
Gripping the pillow, he held it over his face and willed himself to think of something else. He wouldn’t impress her much if he was too tired to move the next day.
The thought she was going to be only minutes from him brought another smile to his face. He’d be able to remind her, often, that he wasn’t going to go away. He really needed to sit down and talk to her soon.
Cora stepped into the hot bath. She hadn’t realized she was focusing so completely on him, that her thoughts would travel to him. She smiled. Obviously, he wasn’t upset, but it would only encourage him.
She sunk down into the water and exhaled slowly. Dade didn’t need any encouragement. And he didn’t need help. Just being close to him flooded her with more strong feelings making it harder for her to stay away.