“Leah, what are you doing?” Trina said, trying to struggle out of her iron grip as she shoved her out the front door.
“You are mates, Trina! You’ve found him! You’ve found the one! Sure, he is ninety-four percent psychotic, but all that unstable passion was made just for you.” Outside, Leah released her and gestured for her to go. “Be free, Trina,” she whispered weirdly. “Go find your hopes and dreams.”
Trina and Kade stood there staring at her. “Are you having another episode?” he asked Leah.
“Yes,” she whispered through the mushiest smile.
Kade sighed. “Sorry about that. She’s been on a chick-flick binge for a week. I think she’s on her period.”
Trina snorted and then laughed, but coughed to cover it up because the smile had fallen from Leah’s face.
“My menses is none of your business, Kade. And are you the one who took all my romantic movies from the TV stand?”
“Yep. Those will rot your mind.”
“You replaced them with all war movies and old westerns!”
“You’re welcome. You can tell Ethan he is welcome, too. Start with Wyatt Earp. It’ll change your life.”
“Does it have kissing in it?” Leah asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Her cheeks were turning red, and this might have been the first time Trina ever saw the girl frown. “Or I-love-yous, or hand-holding, or a break up and a make up?”
“You don’t need all that stuff.”
Leah stormed off. “I’m telling Ethan.”
“Go on, tattletale! Then he’ll know who to thank next time he doesn’t have to watch Never Been Kissed for the millionth time in a row.”
“You’re the worst Clan-mate!”
Kade’s expression was absolutely unremorseful as he watched Leah walk away.
“She’s going to kick you out of the Clan,” Trina murmured, turning to face him.
“Good. I’m better off a Lone Wolf anyway.” But his voice lacked conviction, and he was still wearing that crooked smile that said he was more teasing than serious. “Hey,” he rumbled, slipping his hands to her waist and bringing her in close.
The butterflies in her stomach were on a rampage as he leaned in. The bill of his hat was in the way so she pushed it off him and slipped her hands around his shoulders. Was he really going to kiss her right here in front of everyone? This was right in the middle of town, at midday, and the hub of gossip.
But nope…nope, he didn’t care. Because his smile pressed right onto hers, and his lips softened as he angled his head to the side. His mouth moved against hers so easily, like they’d been born to be connected just like this. When his tongue slipped past her lips, her body reacted. Nipping his bottom lip, she pressed harder against him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, hugged her so tight it was hard to inhale.
But who cared about breathing right now? Kade was kissing her. He was giving her this normal couple moment just like everyone else got, just like she’d always wanted.
And then she heard it—the growl rattling his throat. It got louder and louder until he eased back and rested his forehead against hers. He was gritting his teeth so hard his jaw was clenched.
“Hey,” she whispered, pulling back. She took the sunglasses off his face to reveal his tightly closed eyes. “Look at me.”
He eased them open, and they were blazing such a light silver there was almost no color other than his pupil.
“You look really pretty today,” he said in a voice that sounded a bit like a demon’s.
Butterflies, bats, and birds were a hurricane inside of her.
“I’ve been checking you out, too,” she admitted, dragging her hands down his chest.
“It’s a good surprise seeing you here.”
“I’m eating lunch with my dad.”
Kade straightened his spine and searched her face. “Your dad is here?”
“Yep. He’s inside.”
The growl died in his throat. Kade pulled his baseball hat from her hand, then put it on her head, the bill backward. “You’re so fuckin’ cute. I’m gonna go meet your dad.” Before she could respond, Kade pulled her by the hand toward the door.
“Okay, this is hot.”
“What is?” he asked through a frown as he held the door open for her.
“You wanting to meet my dad. And not being intimidated by it.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to meet him? He’s one of your people.”
Okay. Simple as that then. Dad was important to her so Kade was making him important to him, too. The second he walked inside, Kade strode right over to Dad and offered his hand for a shake.
And as she watched Kade swallow his unsteady growl to greet her dad, shake his hand like a man, look him in the eyes, and show him respect…she had this moment.
Dad was smiling at something Kade said, nodding his head, and Kade looked back at her with an expression that asked, “Why aren’t you here beside me?” Dad looked impressed and shocked all at once, and the two most important men in her life were looking at her with matching smiles. She wanted to cry, in a good way. She’d never dated anyone who wanted to meet her dad, even if she’d begged them. And Kade had wanted this. She hadn’t even had to ask. He just…met her needs.
And right now, in this moment, she realized she loved him, and the love she felt was irreversible. It wasn’t caused by her heat, wasn’t caused by lust, wasn’t just a crush on a boy. Her heart just decided he was it, and she knew down to the marrow in her bones she would never want another like she wanted Kade. Wanted his safety, wanted his happiness, wanted his steadiness, wanted his body, wanted his soul—all the good and bad parts of it. And most of all, she wanted him to feel irreversible love for her, too.
They waved her over, and in a daze she sat by Kade and listened to him talk easily to her dad. He was growling still, but Dad wasn’t making him pay for that instability. He wasn’t calling him out. He just kept talking like the threatening noise wasn’t there.
Kade ordered his own hamburger and snuck Leah money for the whole bill before she or Dad could pay. As they sat there chatting, Kade slid his hand over her thigh, and she wrapped her arms around his bicep happily.
I’ve waited my whole life for him.
Kade stopped what he was saying mid-sentence and jerked his attention to her. “What did you say?”
“Hmm?” She kissed his shoulder and said, “I didn’t say anything.”
His teeth showed in a flash of a smile, and then he leaned in and murmured against her ear, “I’ve been waiting for you, too.”
Chapter Eleven
The sound of the saw drowned out Kade’s snarling. That’s why he had been drawn to tools in the first place. Loud noises made him feel almost normal. He could work alone and pretend his wolf wasn’t a raving lunatic, growling at a saw just because it existed. He didn’t wear earplugs when he worked. He wanted to hear the sound of metal sawing through wood. It was his only therapy. It used to be the only part of his life he had any control over because, when he was in the shop, restoring something or building it from nothing, he felt the most at peace a monster could feel.