style="font-size:15px;"> He groaned, then his arms stole around her waist. He pulled her to him, hard and fast, nearly catching her breath in her throat. She knew all it would take would be one word—no, one glance—and she and Cade could be in her bedroom, undoing all they had so carefully done to get ready for tonight.
“Oh, Melanie,” he said against her mouth, his voice heavy with want, need—the same river rushing through her veins, begging for release.
“We should…go,” she breathed in the space between their lips, not wanting to go at all, not wanting to do anything but keep on kissing him.
“Yeah.”
But neither of them moved.
“I want you,” he whispered. “I’ve always wanted you. From the first time I saw you, there’s never been anyone but you, Mellie.”
“Cade—”
He put a finger to her lips, shushing her protest. “I’ve never wanted another woman and I never will.”
“We should go,” she repeated, but everything within her rebelled against the thought. Of leaving what was happening right now unfinished. “We should go…” and then, the need for him conquered her doubts, and she took his hand. “To my bedroom,” she whispered, ignoring the warning bells rung by common sense, heeding only the need that tightened and curled inside her gut, a call that knew exactly how Cade would answer.
“Oh God, Melanie,” he said, his voice nearly cracking. He scooped her up, cradling her to his chest, his lips drifting across hers in a soft, sweet caress. Melanie wrapped her arms around his neck, craving more of this, craving him, needing him to fill that empty space inside her.
“I want you, too, Cade,” she said.
He pulled back to look at her, his eyes filled with the gentle kindness that was quintessential Cade.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “First door on the right,” she whispered as he headed down the hall, her hands going to his bow tie. She tugged it loose, then worked her way down the tiny black buttons of his shirt, anxious to feel his skin beneath her palms, the sure strength of Cade against her body.
He deposited her gently on the bed, then kicked off his shoes. They landed with a clunk, matched by the twin sound of her heels following. Electricity filled the air, charging the space between them. His mouth on hers was hungry yet still tender, his hands warm and tight on her hips. He lowered himself beside her, their bodies carving together as easily as two puzzle pieces.
She worked his shirt out of his waistband, flicking the last two buttons out of their fasteners, then tugging it down and off his arms. She paused a moment, allowing herself the agonizing pleasure of running her hands along his chest, feeling the planes and muscles she had memorized over the years. He was familiar, and yet new, after all this time apart, and she marveled at the warm hardness beneath her palm.
Their mouths met, a ravenous kiss that tasted lips, tongue, every inch of each other. Cade tugged her dress up and over her body, then paused, his gaze softening as it swept over her body. “I’ve had this dream many times over the last year.”
“Oh, yeah?” She grinned, teasing him. “And how did it end?”
He leaned down, trailing kisses along her neck, between her breasts, skirting the lacy edge of her bra. “Let me show you,” he said, his voice nearly a growl.
An instant later, Cade was fulfilling her with the knowledge of a man who had had twenty years of learning his wife’s body. He touched all the right places, stroked at just the right pace and sent every one of her nerve endings into another stratosphere.
She ran her hands down his bare back, urging him to quench a thirst that had suddenly become unbearable. He kissed her neck, her breasts, everything he could reach, while her palms explored his firm, amazing body.
It was familiar, yet as new as the first time. Their crescendo built quickly, fueled by the year apart, and before she knew it, she was crying out Cade’s name in concert with him. When the sensations finally ebbed, Cade rolled to the side and pulled Melanie into his arms. She couldn’t remember feeling warmer, or more secure.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Those same three words lingered on the tip of her tongue, but as she came back to reality, Melanie held them inside and pretended she hadn’t heard Cade. She couldn’t say them back. Because in the morning, all of this would go back to what it had been. Once before, Melanie had lain in Cade’s arms, sure that everything would change, then been shattered when it didn’t. She couldn’t bear to go through that again.
Instead she raised herself onto one arm and glanced at her bedside clock. “We’re going to be late.”
The magical spell between them dissipated.
“You’re right.” Cade released his hold on her and rolled away, clearly hurt.
And broke the spell.
He slipped on his clothes while she did the same, neither of them speaking. When she was done, Melanie fixed her hair in her dresser mirror. In the reflection, she saw Cade wrestling with his bow tie, cursing under his breath. “Let me do that,” she said, crossing to him.
His dark gaze riveted on hers, making her fingers jumble her first attempt at the tiny silk neckpiece. She dipped her gaze and concentrated on the tie, finally getting it back into proper order. “You’re all set.”
“Thanks.” Cade reached up and brushed a tendril of hair away from her face, weaving that magic around them once again. For a long moment, neither of them said anything.
Melanie tore her gaze away from his. “We have to go.”
Cade nodded, disappointment clear in his features. Together, they headed out of the room, the bed linens as tangled as her emotions.
Melanie grabbed her clutch purse from the bench by the door, then walked with Cade out to his car. He opened the passenger’s side door—something he had never failed to do in nineteen years of marriage—then waited until she was seated before shutting it and coming around the other side.
“I’ve missed that,” she said when he got in the car.
“What?”
“Someone opening the door for me.”
Cade only murmured an agreement before he started his Volvo.
Melanie slid a glance his way. The second the statement left her, she’d expected that he would say something about how she could have him opening her door every day, if only she’d take him back. But he hadn’t.
Had that moment in her bedroom been a final fling between them? His “I love you” more of a goodbye than a return to the old days? And if it was, why did that thought send a little shiver of disappointment through her?
During the two-hour ride to the hotel hosting the Westvale High reunion, Cade kept the conversation impersonal, sticking mainly to the subject of buying Ben’s building and her plans for the expansion.
He’d clearly been paying attention—to her thoughts,
