Jade had to suppress a giggle as she headed toward her back door. A giggle. How juvenile and girlie was that? She never giggled, let alone over a man.
But Cash was different, and if anyone warranted a schoolgirl-crush giggle, it was that man.
Just as she hoisted the tote up onto her shoulder, the doorbell rang. Jade froze. There was no way her mother could’ve gotten here so fast from Atlanta. So who was at her front door?
If Brad thought he could just drop by whenever, she was going to have to set him straight once and for all.
Jade sat her bag, purse, and keys back on the island, then headed down the hall toward the front door. With the porch lights on a timer, the front of the house was already lit up. She couldn’t tell who was out there as she got closer.
Sneaking toward the sidelight, Jade shifted so she could catch a peek of the visitor.
“Hurry up before someone sees me,” Cash yelled through the door.
Jade quickly reached for the dead bolt and jerked the door open. “What are you doing here?” she scolded as she reached out and grabbed his shirt to pull him inside.
He held a large brown bag in one hand and had a white plastic bag hanging from his other arm. “Relax,” he told her. “Nobody saw me.”
For the first time since she’d known him, Cash had on a black baseball hat with his gym logo right in the front. The bill had been pulled low to shield his eyes. Something about the unruly hair sticking below the hat and the dark beard made him seem even more mysterious and sexy. There was something rugged and careless about this look.
Suddenly, Jade wasn’t so hungry anymore.
Chapter Fourteen
Cash had taken a chance coming here without telling her, but he’d been out getting food when she said she was running home, so . . . here he was.
And that look in her eyes had him feeling pretty confident in his decision.
“I do like the way you’re looking at me, Red, but can I set this stuff down before you ravage me?”
Jade rolled her eyes and motioned toward the hallway. “You know where the kitchen is, and I wasn’t going to ravage you.”
“No?” he asked, easing past her. “Those traveling eyes and the way you licked your lips must not have gotten that message.”
He headed to the kitchen and put everything on the dining table. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted from Taps, so I grabbed a little bit of everything.”
Jade stepped up beside him and crooked a finger over the edge of the brown bag. “If that’s their beer cheese and warm pretzels, I’m going to be the happiest girl.”
“I hear it pairs well with tiny baby shower cakes.”
She stopped looking in the sack and turned those sultry green eyes on him. “Where did you park?”
Again with the worrying about who would see. He was used to this game. He didn’t like it, but this was part of the deal.
“I parked against the garage in the alley behind the house,” he told her. “I couldn’t get your gate open with my hands full or I would’ve just come to the back door.”
Jade turned and tapped the bill of his hat. “I like this. You look . . .”
Cash quirked a brow, waiting on her to finish.
“I don’t want to give you any more compliments,” she said on a laugh. “You already think enough of yourself for both of us.”
Cash shrugged. “I wasn’t going for any type of look when I threw this on. I had it in the truck, and when I left Taps, I put it on so I could, hopefully, walk to your door and not draw too much attention.”
“Yet it has your gym logo on it,” she reminded him.
Cash snaked his arms aro
und her waist, settled his hands on her backside, and pulled her in to him. “If someone was close enough to see the logo, they’d be close enough to see my face.”