Truth and Dare

Andy hung his head. “Why do you have to make me look bad in front of your lady friend? And why—” he faced Patience “—is someone as beautiful as you hanging out with this runt?”

She laughed and held out her hand. “I’m Patience.”

Andy held out his left hand for an awkward shake. “Nice to meet you.”

“Patience is investigating my dad’s case.”

Andy’s face grew solemn. “I heard about that. I’m sorry. I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through and—” Cade knew Andy must have realized he’d said too much in front of Patience.

“Sorry,” he said. “My mouth doesn’t work any better than my hands. But I’m glad you finally have the truth. If I can help find the bastard who killed him, you know I’m all in.”

Cade couldn’t have asked for a better friend, and he felt a world of guilt for letting so much time pass since their last meeting. “I appreciate the offer. I really do. So where is that wife of yours?”

“You just missed her. I was worried she was getting tired and she looked a little pale.”

Cade frowned. “Is she sick?”

Andy’s face widened into the biggest smile Cade had ever seen. “Nah, she’s pregnant. Five months.”

Cade put a hand on Andy’s shoulder. “That’s one lucky kid.”

His friend nodded. “Going to be one ornery little ankle-biter with Cel and I as parents. We’re going to spoil the kid rotten.”

“You look like the happiest man in the world,” Patience said. “Congratulations.”

“We’d all but given up on having our own and were looking into adopting, so it was quite a surprise.” Andy shook his head. “Celia’s about to bust at the seams she’s so happy.” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell her I said anything about busting out. She’s very self-conscious about her weight, but I think she looks more beautiful than ever.” Andy flexed his injured hand.

“What were you trying to do?” Cade picked up the hammer from the ground where his friend had tossed it.

“I thought I’d better get some supports up for the booth, before the storm got here, didn’t want the booth flying around like Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz. Figured I could handle three or four two-by-fours.”

Cade turned to Patience. “I’m going to take a few minutes and help him out.”

She smiled. “I’ll help him pack up the rest of the tools.”

“Now that’s right nice of both of you,” Andy said.

“No problem. I’ve been eating Cade’s grandmother’s food and I feel like I’ve gone up two jean sizes in an hour.”

Andy laughed.

Cade picked up the boards and a sack of nails. As he added the supports and fixed the counter in front, he listened to his friend and Patience chat.

He couldn’t believe his friend was going to be a father, though he hadn’t lied. Andy and Celia would be incredible parents. They were loyal, loving, funny and smart. And some of the best people he knew.

Cade often invited them to come up to his house on Lake Austin for laid-back weekends. But the past year… He hadn’t made time for anyone, not even his family. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been on a date.

That had to be why he was so into Patience. It had been a while since he’d been with a woman—a long while.

Patience stacked the rest of the boards while Andy searched for loose nails. They talked back and forth as if they had been friends for years. Cade felt the same way about her and secretly it pleased him.

Why?

Oh, I think you know exactly why.

Patience was beautiful and smart, and…

Yep. He was in trouble.

BACK IN HER ROOM, Patience brushed out her hair and changed into an oversize T-shirt. She sat down on the edge of the bed and opened her laptop. She was so far behind on email it was ridiculous. She replied to the ones that were necessary and then perused her early information on the Randall case.

A noise from the next room made her jump. Then she realized it was Cade fixing the toilet. A wrench or some tool must have thudded on the wooden floor. There was something about a man who was good with tools. More than once she had caught herself catching a peek at his hard muscles as he worked on the booth for his friend.

Here was this multimillionaire, known as a shark in the business world, who thought nothing of picking up a hammer to help a friend.

Her opinion of him had changed so much since they first met. He was a caring, loving grandson and friend. She could tell by the way he communicated with Andy that there was a deep connection there. And honestly, a man didn’t have friends like Andy if he wasn’t good-hearted.

Patience checked herself. She shouldn’t care anything about the man’s personal life. She was here to solve a case, and that’s where her focus needed to be. It was hard to separate the man from the work, especially when he was right next door. She didn’t date much, but even she was aware of how hard it was to find a man like Cade Randall.

He’d been so passionate about his ranch, and she’d noticed he smiled more when he discussed what he wanted to do with the place he called the Triple Dare. The idea of restoring the ranch had been something Cade had thought about for a long time.

She wondered if this was some way of honoring his father or making up for the years he’d been so bitter about his dad’s disappearance.

Patience knew about being bitter and losing someone you loved. There wasn’t a day she didn’t think about the soul-sucking moment when her life had forever changed.

5

CADE’S FIRST THOUGHT WHEN he sat straight up in bed was that someone was crying. Rain beat down on the roof, and he wondered if maybe that was what he’d heard. There was another sob. Taking a moment to get his bearings he determined the noise had come from Patience’s room.

Patience called out to someone. He couldn’t hear the name, but the sob behind it was clear. The gut-wrenching sadness of the sound tore at him. Something was terribly wrong.

After sliding on his jeans, he knocked on the door separating their room.

She didn’t answer.

He heard another soft sob.

“Patience?” He opened the door. She was twisted in her sheets. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Jeremy… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please come home.”

Who was Jeremy? A pang of jealousy hit him.

He knelt at the bedside and saw she was sound asleep but in the middle of some kind of nightmare. “Patience.” He softly pressed his hand to her cheek.

“Hey, wake up,” he said softly. But the tears continued to flow.

Each sob constricted his heart. He couldn’t stand to see her this way. “Patience, come on, I need you to wake up.” This time he lightly jostled her shoulder and her eyes fluttered open.

“Cade?”

“You were having a bad dream.”

She turned to stare out the window. “I— Sometimes that happens.” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry I woke you. Please, go back to bed.”

Cade smoothed a hand over her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I just wanted to make sure you’re all right. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” she said. “I’m fine. Embarrassed.”

“Why? It’s not like you can control something like that. And we’re friends. You don’t have to be embarrassed with me.” He meant it, though at times he had to admit he felt a little more than friendly toward her—well, way more.

“Thank you.” She sniffled.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk?”

“No, I’m fine. Please go back to bed and forget this ever happened.”

“Hey.” He pushed a strand of hair off of her forehead. “You aren’t the only one with nightmares. I’ve had a couple since you figured out what happened to my dad. All that boyhood trauma coming back to play.” He dealt with it by pounding on a punching bag in his gym. “I don’t know what upset you, but don’t feel bad about it. GG always said we work things out in our dreams and usually it isn’t always the fun stuff.”

She glanced back at him. “I really adore that woman.”

“Me, too. So, are you better?”

“I will be.”

The haunted look in her eyes hadn’t eased.

“I love the sound of the rain on the tin roof. It’s soothing, don’t you think?”

“I’ve never been in a house with a tin roof,” she said, leaning back against the headboard.

He glanced around searching for a place to sit, this room only had one of those small white wicker benches and he knew it couldn’t handle his weight.

“Do you mind if I sit on the covers over there and watch the rain through the window. It really is relaxing for me.”

Cade didn’t wait for her to answer him. He walked to the other side of the bed and sat on top of the covers. Propping up the pillow, he mimicked her action and leaned back against the headboard.

“Cade?”

Silently, he gathered her in his arms.

She hesitated, as if she were making a life or death decision. Then she snuggled into him and he tugged a blanket up over her shoulder.

Her nearness was almost his undoing. He wanted to kiss her pain away, and the honeysuckle scent of her was enough to push him to try it.

But that wasn’t what she needed.

Clearing his throat, he began, “Tomorrow, well, later today, I’m going to work on fixing the barn door out at the ranch. The structure is good, but like everything else on the property, it needs an overhaul.”

Cade talked and stroked her hair until he could hear her breathing steadily. He didn’t want to move for fear of disturbing her. And he convinced himself to stay through the night, in case she had another bad dream.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Romeo.

PATIENCE HAD A SHARP PAIN in her neck. She shrugged her shoulders as she opened her eyes. There was a pair of strong jean-clad thighs in front of her.

Sitting up she found Cade staring at her with a warm smile on his face. “Morning.”

The night before came rushing back to her and she almost cringed when she realized what she’d done. “Hi,” the word came out a whisper. A little cough escaped her throat. “Did you get any sleep?”

“A couple of hours. That’s all I need.” There was something in his eyes that she couldn’t read. Her usual lack of understanding human emotion was nothing less than frustrating at times like these.

She sat up on her knees accidentally touching his thigh as she did so.

He jerked slightly as if her touch repulsed him.

“Sorry. For—that and for everything,” she said quickly. “You were so sweet to stay with me.” She leaned forward to grab her pillow as he lifted his head. Their lips touched.

Before she could pull back, his mouth moved against hers, challenging and taking everything she had to give. She tried analyzing what was happening, but his tongue slid across hers and it was Patience who lost her breath. The man was delicious.

What are you doing?

She had the sense to push away and sat back.

Patience’s cheeks were hot and she knew they must be a dark shade of pink. “That was nice.”

“Nice?” One eyebrow went up.

“Yes, and unexpected,” she added.

“Yes, unexpected is a good way of stating it.” His hand caressed her cheek. “I’d be liar if I said I was disappointed.”

“Yeah, I’d be liar if I said that, too.”

The man looked at her as if ready to eat her up, and she was more than happy to be his dish. For a second she thought he might reach for her, but he rolled off the bed.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“No, I’m checking for leaks. GG said the roof was leaking and we had a good soaking rain last night, thought I’d better see if there was water damage.”

Why wouldn’t he look at her? Had she done something to turn him off?

“Oh,” she said.

“I’d better check the other rooms.”

Patience had offended him. She tried to think back to what happened directly after the kiss, but she couldn’t think of anything.

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