8

"You taste amazing baby," Kade said, trailing kisses along my collar bone. His finger ran along the edges of my panties. "Did you miss me?"

"Yes," I whispered, running my fingers through his hair. He chuckled and slipped one finger inside my underwear, moving until he found his way inside me.

"So wet," he growled, moving his mouth to the top of my breast.

"Kade," I moaned. His thumb found my clit and I clamped my inner muscles on his finger.

"Shit baby, now I have to make you cum," he said, a second finger joining the first.

"Yes, please," I begged, running my fingers in his hair. He stopped and looked me in the eye.

"Sara, tell me you love me."

I woke up in a tangle of blankets, drenched in sweat. Dream Kade's last words pounded in my brain. Apparently I had been unsuccessful in blocking him out before I fell asleep. Fighting my way free, I grabbed my phone and saw that I overslept. Next to my phone was a note from my mom.

'You're off the hook this week. Please stir the chili in the slow cooker. -Mom'

I sighed in relief, glad I didn't have to drag my blasphemous ass to church this morning. My body still humming, I dragged myself to the bathroom and then downstairs to the kitchen. The smell of Mom's chili was already filling the whole downstairs. She'd made enough to feed her small army of a family. Looking in the fridge, I saw a big tossed salad as I grabbed out a yogurt. I did a quick search through the pantry to see if we had any cornbread mix. You can't have chili without cornbread. Since I didn't see any, I ran upstairs and changed and then headed to the closest grocery store. Tourist season wasn't in full swing yet and all the locals were either at the Catholic, Baptist, or Presbyterian church, so it was pretty empty. I grabbed a couple boxes of cornbread mix and when I turned around, promptly ran into a wall.

"Whoa, sorry," the wall apologized. I looked up and saw that it wasn't a wall but a very good looking guy built like a wall. He had short black hair and beautiful brown eyes. His face was movie set ready.

"No my bad. I wasn't looking," I managed to say. He wasn't super tall, probably 5'9" or 5'10" but his T-shirt was tight across his chest and the basketball shorts he wore showed off muscular calves.

"Wait, aren't you Sara Diaz?" he asked. I tilted my head, trying to figure out if I knew him. It was a small town so the chances were pretty good but I couldn't place a guy this good looking. "I was in Hannah's class. I used to tutor her in geometry." Bingo.

"Brady, right?" I remembered him being more teenagery and less…hot.

"Yeah, Brady Hollis. Your sister said you were coming back to town. She was super stoked." Yes, it was coming back to me. He used to hang out with Dean all the time. The three of them always seemed to be around my house.

"Awe, well now I'm here, so I'm sure she'll change her mind," I joked. Man, why was I so awkward? To Brady's credit, he laughed.

"I'm sure that will only make her happier. She's missed you a lot," he assured me and I smiled.

"You still hang out with her and Dean? I remember you around my house a lot." Brady blushed and my smile faltered. Oh no, did he have a secret thing for sister? Wouldn't be the first guy friend of Dean's who ended up with a crush on her, wouldn't be the last.

"Yeah, about that. I had a huge crush on you in high school," he confessed sheepishly. My jaw dropped. No way this hottie had a crush on me. Although, that was high school. He matured nicely, along with his taste in women I'm sure.

"Really?" I managed to squeak out. I cleared my throat. "I mean, that's really sweet."

"Sweet enough to maybe convince you to let me take you out for drinks?"

"Seriously?" I squeaked again. Get it together Sara!

"Yeah, I figure better late than never. Hannah mentioned you were single," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Thinking about my conversation with the girls last night, I decided why not.

"Sure, that sounds nice." Brady's face lit up. "Do you want my number?" I asked.

"Absolutely. Will you text me?" After we exchanged numbers, I got a text from my mom saying they were on the way home.

"I need to get going but hit me up when you want to get together," I said, starting to make my way to the check out line.

"Will do. See you then," he said, grinning. My stomach flip flopped and I hurried away with a quick wave. Back in my car, I took a second before I started my car to process what happened. Did I just give my name to a random guy? No, not really. He was Hannah's friend. Not random at all. Gah, when did he get so hot? And why was he still single? Guys that good looking were always either on lock down or didn't want to be in a relationship. I made a mental note to discreetly pump my sister for information.

I pulled into my drive way at the same time as my family. The whole gang was here. Ciara was unbuckling Rider from his car seat while Jake grabbed a bag from the trunk of their car. My mom was fussing at my dad about some perceived imperfection in the shrubs in front of the house while Chris was already going into the house, Hannah and Dean behind him.

"Oh now you wake up," Jake teased, hiking the bag up on his shoulder. Rider ran past him and a surge of excitement hit me. I couldn't wait to play with my nephew.

"Look, I just bought your kid a shit ton of toys, all of which take batteries. How much of a hard time do you really want to give me?" I asked raising my eyebrow. Jake looked pained. "That's what I thought. Also, I bought the stuff to make cornbread."

"Mmmm cornbread," Ciara said, rubbing her round belly. She was just starting to show, definitely in the "is she just fat?" stage. "That's definitely what baby wants."

"What baby wants, baby gets," I said, giving her a hug. We went into the house, where Hannah was bending over helping Rider out of his jacket.

"Ry-ry there's someone we want you to meet," Ciara called. "Do you remember who this is from our video calls?" she asked him. He eyed me suspiciously for a second before he broke out into a big grin.

"Sawah!" he exclaimed and I swore right then and there that he was getting a pony for his next birthday.

"That's right, I'm your Aunt Sara, and I have a whole bunch of toys for you. Do you want to see them?"

"Yes!!" he shouted enthusiastically.

"Awesome. Let me go give this to grandma and then we'll get your toys."

"Come on buddy let's go change our clothes," Jake said, taking his hand. I went into the kitchen where my mom was talking to Dean and Chris.

"I went and got the stuff for cornbread," I said holding up the grocery bag. "Would someone else mind making it, though, pretty please with sugar on top, so I can go play with Rider?"

"I've got it honey." My mom took the bag from me and set it on the counter. "By the way, Laura Taylor says hello. Apparently, Kade told her you were back in town." Great, now Kade was talking about me to his mother. His name triggered memories of my dream from earlier and I felt my face heating up. Chris must have sensed my discomfort because he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, that's nice," was all I managed. Mom didn't pursue the matter and I fled to my room to grab Rider's presents. An hour and a small fortune later, toys were strewn around the living room, all alive with fresh batteries. Ciara and Jake were both shooting me deadly looks every time I pulled out another toy but my mom came to the rescue and said they could just be added to the stash she kept here for him. I laughed a little too hard when Rider decided he couldn't live without the noisiest one and it just had to go home with him. When it was time to go to the table, I could hear Jake muttering about finding an off switch. Joke was on him, though; there wasn't one.

The feeling of sitting at the same table as my whole nuclear family was indescribable. While I was happy I had made the choice to dive in all by myself to the adulting pool, I was really glad to be back in the same place as my support system. Rider insisted on sitting next to me and told me all about his friends at preschool, his favorite stuffed animal, the time Jake took him fishing, everything. I soaked it all in.

"You start work tomorrow Sis?" Chris asked. He was sitting across from me and kept sneaking more cornbread onto Rider's plate when Ciara wasn't looking.

"Yep, right after I drop my car off,"

I confirmed. Remembering I had another Kade interaction I couldn't avoid made my stomach flip flop.

"Are you taking it to Taylor's?" Dad asked. I shoveled more chili into my mouth and just nodded. "Good. They do the best work." The fact that Kade was my ex completely went over his head. In his practical mind, it made sense because it was the best option. Why would it be possibly awkward? Sigh.

"They really do Sis," Jake said reassuring me. I smiled, touched by his concern. He hadn't fully understood why I broke up with Kade but he also hadn't pressed it. In his mind, if I was able to be in a relationship, I was able to end it too, didn't matter the reason. At least he somewhat acknowledged that things could still be awkward, unlike some people (looking at you Dad).

"When do you move into your place?" Ciara asked handing Jake a napkin from across the table to wipe Rider's mouth. Jake had to practically lock his son's head in a vice grip to clean the excess chili off his cheeks.

"I get the keys tomorrow, but I probably won't have time until the weekend," I answered. "Lo and Court are going to take me by it tonight to show me where it is."

"You don't know where it is?" Hannah asked frowning, sharing a look with Dean.

"Not really. They said they were newly built on Capital but I don't really remember anywhere on that street having space to put up apartments. Why?"

"They took down the old strip mall that was there," she said, ignoring my question. "Remember, it had like two stores that never stayed the same and the ice cream place?" I shook my head. Didn't ring a bell. "Geez you haven't been gone that long." I threw a wadded up napkin at her, bouncing it off her forehead.

"That's a nice little area," Mom said, frowning at Hannah.

"Yep, not far from Taylor's either," Dad threw in.

"Not far at all," Hannah muttered and I mouthed 'What?' to her. She just shook her head. Before I could threaten her, a mental reminder bell went off in my head. Ask about Brady first, then threaten her.

"Hey, remember that time Hannah almost failed geometry?" I asked as innocently as possible. She shot me a death glare. "Stop, you passed. The kid who tutored you was Brady Hollis right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I saw him in the grocery store this morning," I said with a shrug, trying to play it cool.

"He had the biggest crush on you in high school," Dean said. Did everyone know this but me?

"Really? Huh. Are you guys still friends?" I asked, trying to be careful. Hannah nodded.

"Yeah, we do the game night at Darcy's together and he and Dean have a lovely long-term bromance," she teased, nudging Dean with her knee.

"That's so sweet," I said rolling my eyes. "How does his girlfriend feel about that?" Please don't be suspicious, please don't be suspicious.

"No girlfriend," Dean answered. "He's been single for awhile."

"Yeah but that's because he's been busy working for Kade," Hannah added. ARE YOU SERIOUS? "He's kind of Kade's protege, learning to do the same specialty work Kade does. They're pretty close." OF COURSE THEY ARE.