I grip my smoothie and sigh. I start from the beginning, and tell her everything. When I’m done she just grins. “This is perfect! Kade is perfect for you, and you are perfect for him.” She giggles and claps her hand. She acts like she’s five sometimes. I shake my head.
“It’s not that, I just don’t want to get hurt again,” I tell her, staring down at my food.
“Nikki, I’ve seen the way Kade looks at you. That man has it bad! And he's not Ben,” Layla says, tapping her hand on mine comfortingly.
“I know, but it’s hard, trusting him and all,” I mumble in reply.
“Kade would never hurt you or do what Ben did. And trust me, if he did, it wouldn’t be just Ryder punching him out. James loves you like a sister, as does Chase. Plus it would hurt me if he hurt you. All three men would whip his ass.”
I groan. “He has a nice ass.”
She chuckles. “I know.” With that we both burst out laughing.
After we eat, we decide to call up the boys and see if they wanted to come shopping with us. James and Kade both agree. I am so surprised. We thought they would say no. Oh well, they can carry all our bags.
******
We meet the boys at the baby store entrance. Kade is already acting like a child, riding around on a stroller. Seriously? I shake my head. James is egging him on. I see the store manager come out and tell them to put the items back or they will need to leave. Layla and I burst out laughing when Kade mumbles, “Party pooper.”
Layla wants to breastfeed, so we go down the aisle to look at some pumps. Of course, Kade and James have to fool around again.
“What would happen if I put this on Kade?” James asks.
We choose to ignore him.
“Layla, after you finish with the pump, can I have it?” Kade asks.
What the hell? “No, you cannot. Let me guess, you were gonna put it on your dick? Don’t you think it’s big enough?” I cut in.
Layla bursts out laughing. “Yeah, I don’t think it can get any bigger.”
Kade just grins. James is distracted, picking up other contraptions and asking what they're for.
We finish up in the baby store, and take our items back to the car. We were gonna go into the lingerie store, but after how Kade and James acted in the baby store, we can only imagine what they would get up to. That would have been bad. I can just picture them pretending to try on bras.
After spending the afternoon with Kade, I am slowly considering taking a chance on him. I just hope I’m making the right decision.
Chapter Seventeen
Kade and I are getting on surprisingly well. We spend a lot of our time mucking around, laughing and going out to dinner, everyday things a couple would do, without actually being a couple. After talking with Layla, and seeing Kade really be himself, I think we're ready to take things a step further, I just hope I didn’t make him wait too long. I know I’m not the easiest person to love.
I walk out into the kitchen and spot Kade and James sitting at the breakfast bar together. When I walk up they both glance over.
“Hey, James, mind if I steal Kade for a minute?” I ask, my voice coming out a little croaky.
James raises an eyebrow at me, before nodding with a smile and departing.
“What’s up, beautiful?” Kade asks, turning around, and giving me all of his attention. I love it when he calls me beautiful.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date tonight?” I blurt out, the words coming out rushed.
Gender equality and all that, women can so ask men out.
Kade looks surprised, and slightly amused. “Sure. Where would you like to go?”
“I was thinking we could go for dinner and a movie?” I ask. Way to be cliché, Nikki.
“I’d love to,” he says, smiling widely now. “What time do you wanna go?”
“Seven? The movies always start at about eight thirty, so we could eat and then go.”
Before he can answer, I move towards him, grabbing his face in my hands and bringing my lips to his. I kiss him greedily, my tongue battling with his. He groans deep in his throat, and I pull back with a small smile. “I’m ready to try, if you still want to,” I tell him in a gentle voice.
Kade immediately stands up gripping me by my ass, and lifting me in the air. “Fucking finally!” he booms out, laughing, planting sloppy kisses on my neck.
“Hey, what’s going on?” James asks as he comes sauntering in.
“Nikki and I are going steady,” he says in a serious tone, his lips twitching. I burst out laughing. Going steady- like they used to say in the eighties or something.
James smirks. “About f**king time!” He shakes his head at us, exasperated.
Kade kisses me a little more, then reluctantly lets me go so we can get ready. I take forever; I can’t decide what to wear. After a while I get frustrated and decide on a black chiffon dress that is short in the front and long in the back. It’s one of my favorites and a different take on the classic LBD. I walk out of my room, ready for our date. I see Kade standing in the living room talking to James. When he sees me, his face lights up like a kid at Christmas. I go up to him and slide my arm around his waist. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, beautiful. I’m ready. I’ve been ready.”
We walk into the restaurant hand in hand for our official date. I’m a little nervous, but Kade seems completely at ease. We finish our food while chatting, laughing, and having a really good time. We order dessert, Kade orders enough to feed an army, and I order a chocolate sundae. While we're waiting for it to arrive, Kade’s phone rings. He glances at the screen, sighs, but still answers.