Jace grinned. I was pretty sure it was the first time I’d ever seen him smile. He had a nice smile. It transformed his whole face. “Would you introduce me?”
“Sure,” I shrugged. I didn’t see the harm in that.
I looked around and when I saw her step inside I waved her over. She smiled and pushed her way through the crowd around the bar.
“Hey,” she stopped at the table. “This place is packed. I didn’t think I was going to get a seat at the bar. You’re a life saver.”
I slid closer to Cade and Thea slid closer to me so we could make room for the new addition.
“Nova, this is Jace. You didn’t get to meet him the other day. He’s another friend of Cade’s.”
“Jace,” she seemed to be mulling over the name. “You wouldn’t happen to be Jacen Andrews would you?”
“Yeah.” Jace’s eyes widened in surprise and he sat up straighter.
“Oh my God,” Nova gushed, “I’ve seen some of your drawings. You’re amazing.” She suddenly blushed. “Sorry, I sound like a gushing fangirl, but I’ve always wanted to draw like that.”
Jace cracked a half smile and smoothed his hair out of his eyes. The look he gave her could only be described as a smolder. Oh yeah, Jace was putting the moves on Nova. This was funny to watch. I kind of wanted to lean back and munch on popcorn while it all played out.
“Really?” He leaned forward, like he was trying to bridge the gap the table provided. “Maybe I could give you lessons sometime?”
“That would be awesome,” Nova chimed.
“Excellent,” Jace grinned, and slipped from the booth. “If you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to play.”
“Play?” Nova asked, looking around at the four of us as Jace disappeared.
“You’ll see,” Cade chuckled, reaching over to play with a strand of my hair. Leaning into me, he rubbed his nose against my cheek. “You have the softest hair.”
“And you seem to like playing with it,” I commented.
He grinned, tucking the piece behind my ear. He made sure to sweep his thumb over my cheek. “I like to see your face. That’s why I play with your hair. You tend to hide behind it.” Brushing his lips against my ear, his voice lowered so no one could hear. “You don’t need to hide, Rachael. Not ever. And definitely not from me.”
When he said stuff like that it did make me want to hide, because I didn’t want him to see just how much those words meant to me.
His hand fell away and he returned to his previous position, as if none of that had happened.
I took several deep, steadying breaths.
One person should not turn your whole body into a flutter
ing mass of butterflies, but Cade did that. It was a good feeling too. One I could get used to. I could get used to him—having him in my life as more than a friend.
Cade glanced down at me and grinned, his dimples popping out. “What?” He asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Sorry,” I shook my head, “I didn’t know I was.”
His smile softened and his eyes twinkled. “It’s okay, I like that you were looking.”
“Why?” I asked, not caring that Thea was beside me, listening to every word we spoke.
“Because it gives me hope that you have feelings for me too.”
“I do have feelings for you,” I admitted, the words falling from my mouth before I could stop them. A part of me wished that I could bend down and pick them up and pretend I’d never said it—but word vomit was mess that couldn’t be wiped away.
Despite my embarrassment, my words were true. I did have feelings for Cade. Strong feelings. I wasn’t sure when they first surfaced, but they were there, and growing stronger every day. The fact that I’d spent the afternoon missing him proved that. And now that he knew what I’d done, there really was nothing holding me back except my own hang-ups—that I might cause someone else I cared about to die, like I was some kind of grim reaper or something.
“These feelings you have, are they good feelings?”