Page 54 of Suddenly Yours

He smiled then, soft and real, the kind of smile that made my heart feel dangerously full. “Good. Because I’m not interested in walking away from this.”

Neither was I. Thankfully. Just hearing him say it, though, made the stress from my father’s earlier visit disappear.

“How close are you to being done here?” He glanced around. I did the same. I needed to clean up, but I had already determined I could finish the rest of the frosting work in the morning.

“Ten minutes tops,” I answered.

He nodded. “We’ll cut that in half if I help.”

I smiled. “In a hurry?”

His smile was fast and then he surprised me by pulling me into his lap and kissing me until I forgot what I had just asked him.

“Desperately,” he answered against my lips.

Chapter Fifteen

Cade

Being with Missy was as easy as breathing. Soon after her father’s visit, I somehow convinced her to come home with me every night instead of dropping her off at her door. Well, I didn’t convince her so much as it just sort of happened. Maybe because I showed up at the bakery every night after hours and sat with her while she worked. I even helped, or tried to help, her fill special orders.

The bakery closed at five each day and she worked to fill orders until six or seven. I usually wrapped up my workdays around five-thirty, so the timing worked. Too well.

Most nights I showed up with food. Other nights, if she wasn’t buried under frosting and deadlines, we’d lock up and walk down the street for dinner somewhere. Easy. Comfortable. Like this was something we’d always done.

Before I knew it, a whole week had gone by with her sleeping at my place. It was a dream come true.

That illusion shattered the next morning.

I pulled into Harbor Ridge just after sunrise with my coffee still hot in my hand. I was mentally running through the day’s schedule in my head. The model home was supposed to be ready for its final inspection by the end of the week. I had scheduled a home design company to come in and fill the place with furniture to showcase the beauty of it the following week.

I almost drove right by it, but when I noticed the door hanging wide open, I slammed on my brakes.

My gut tightened as I got out of the truck. There were no other trucks or cars around, and I knew that my workers wouldn’t be showing up for at least another half hour.

Inside, the place was chaos. Electrical cables stuck out through the drywall, their copper ends exposed like burst veins. Water pooled across the new flooring, spreading from a pipe that had punctured the drywall.

This wasn’t an accident.

I trusted my workers and knew none of them would do this. Hell, no worker I’d ever hired would risk their livelihood pulling a stunt like this.

This was intentional. Careful. Angry.

Levi.

I was shaking with anger. I shut off the power and water, and after a few moments I finally settled down and started thinking.

There was no proof. I hadn’t installed cameras. Hell, I didn’t even have security on site who could prove anything.

Once I was calm, I called my crews and rerouted their entire morning plans. Shortly after they arrived, I had them start on damage control. As soon as things were moving, I drove straight into town and bought every security and trail camera the hardware store had in stock. It wasn’t ideal, but it was fast. And right now, fast mattered more than perfect.

By midmorning, I was back on site, climbing a ladder and securing the first camera to a tree that overlooked the access road. I was tightening the last bolt when my phone rang.

My dad.

I almost ignored the call. Almost.

“Yeah,” I said, bracing myself as I answered.