Single Dads Collection. Lynne Marshall
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She swallowed. ‘I’m saving them for when there’s not quite so many other nibblies around.’
‘You’re not bringing these out to share with anyone.’
She wasn’t?
‘They are all yours.’
Her heart thudded in anticipation … and greed.
He slid back over to the sofa, bringing the jar with him. He broke the seal. ‘Oops.’
His utter lack of remorse should’ve made her laugh, only he waved the jar under her nose and the combined scent of chocolate and sultana hit her. Her stomach clenched. Her resolve faltered.
‘They’re open now.’
The invitation in his voice could tempt a stronger woman than her. She forced herself to think of Melbourne, of Diane and Brad … and her mother. She sat up. She planted her feet on the floor. ‘Then by all means help yourself to as many as you’d like.’
The gleam didn’t leave his eyes, but a new determination entered them as he planted himself on the sofa beside her. He tipped a pile of the confectionery into his hand and held it out towards her. Taking one sultana, he lifted it to his lips and ate it slowly. ‘Mmm … delicious.’
For a moment she couldn’t move. She wanted to yell at him for tempting her resolve so outrageously.
A second sultana followed suit. That hand waved temptingly beneath her nose.
He lifted a third …
She could stand it no longer. She seized a sultana from his cupped hand and popped it straight into her mouth. The chocolate melted on her tongue. When she bit down, the flavour of the sultana exploded through her. She groaned and closed her eyes in ecstasy.
When he took her hand and poured the sultanas into them, she made no protest. She ate them, savoured them.
He watched her devour them. The gleam had left his eyes, replaced with something she couldn’t read and was too cowardly to decipher.
‘You really do love them.’ His voice was low.
‘They’re my favourite food on earth.’
‘Then why deny yourself? Especially today?’
The pile he’d tipped into her hand had gone. She’d eaten them all. And she wanted more. Lots more.
Are you going to be a complete glutton, Nicola Ann?
With a gulp, she seized the lid and tried to put it back on the jar, only Cade wouldn’t let her. He captured her hand, his grip tightening until she looked at him. ‘Why deny yourself?’
Her pulse throbbed at the contact. She tried to shrug. ‘Once I start eating them, I can’t stop.’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’
He couldn’t be serious? ‘If I keep eating them, I will get fat. Fatter,’ she amended. ‘How on earth will I lose weight if I keep indulging?’
‘So you won’t even allow yourself the occasional indulgence?’
‘It’s dangerous to indulge a weakness.’
His eyes narrowed. He poured more sultanas into his hand and held one out to her. She swallowed. She tried to say no, but his eyes urged her to throw caution to the winds, to live in the moment.
She opened her mouth, helpless to resist either Cade or the sweet, and savoured every delicious moment of the morsel.
‘It’s ludicrous to deny yourself such a simple pleasure.’
It wasn’t simple, though. She couldn’t help but feel this lack of self-control was somehow tied into being treated so badly by Diane and Brad … and all her friends thinking her a doormat. Slimming down, brightening herself up and not allowing herself to be taken for granted would prove to them all that she wasn’t a doormat. Or a failure.
He held another sultana up, she opened her mouth and he slipped it between her lips. The inherent sensuality of the gesture was as delicious as the chocolate and sultana combination. ‘Would you be happier if you were thin?’
She blinked. ‘Well, hello, yes!’ Any woman would say yes to that.
He slammed the jar of sultanas onto the coffee table. ‘Why the hell is that so? What the hell is wrong with your body? I love your body. I can’t stand that you hate it.’ He ground his teeth together and then poured more sultanas into her hand. ‘Your worth is not measured by your weight or your waistline. Eat!’
He loved her body? With tears prickling the backs of her eyes, she ate.
Finally she had to lean back with a groan and shake her head. ‘If I have any more I’ll be ill.’
Only then did Cade replace the lid on the jar. He turned back to her. ‘What do you think losing weight will prove to Diane and Brad … or your mother?’
His perception froze her.
‘That you have worth?’
If she said yes, would he yell at her again?
‘It’s not your weight that’s the problem, Nicola, it’s your attitude. Until you learn to embrace your body, to love it as you should love it because it’s beautiful, then nobody else is going to give you the respect you deserve.’
He reached out and cupped her cheek. His hand smelled of chocolate. She wanted to close her eyes and breathe him in. ‘We teach people how to treat us. You don’t need to lose weight. You need to learn to walk tall—with pride and confidence.’
She thought about that, and about the way Verity and Dee carried themselves. The way Cade carried himself. They walked with pride and confidence, as if they were sure of who they were and their place in the world.
Growing up with her mother’s constant stream of criticism had eroded her confidence and sense of self-worth, but she wasn’t a child any longer. She was an adult, able to make her own value judgements, and there were a lot of things she could do well. She was a good teacher and a good friend. She could ride a horse as if it were second nature. When she sang, people stopped to listen. She believed in the values of compassion, kindness and justice.
‘Well?’
She stared into his eyes and realised she couldn’t believe those values held true for other people and not for herself too. Values didn’t work that way.
She blinked, stunned by the revelation. ‘I think,’ she started slowly, ‘that you might be right. I mean, it’s such a simple truth but …’ She’d never seen it before.
Finally he smiled and it was like Christmas all over again. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you.’
He stilled. His gaze lowered to her lips and his eyes darkened. Heat threaded through her … and temptation.
‘You should go to bed.’
The words growled out of him, but his gaze remained on her lips, the hunger in them identical to her hunger for the chocolate sultanas. It was then she realised there was something she craved more than those—Cade. She wanted him with an elemental savagery that shook her bones.
She should move away and go to bed like he’d ordered, but Cade had set something free in her tonight when he’d tempted her with those sultanas and told her he loved her body. He’d made her face temptation head-on. He’d forced her to indulge it. Now she had no hope of resisting the greater temptation he presented. She had no desire to do so.
She slipped her hands either side of his face and, leaning forward, placed her lips on his. She tasted of chocolate, he tasted of whisky, and the combination of flavours was as heady as anything she had ever experienced.
He held himself still beneath her touch, but he didn’t pull away and, emboldened, she moved in closer to deepen the kiss and taste him more fully.