“You must be Elena,” he said gruffly, holding out his hand.
Elena looked up at me, then down at her brother and Rufus, before finally looking Cade cautiously in the eye and placing her small hand in his large one.
He turned it, bending low as he brought their hands to his lips and kissed the back of her hand lightly.
Elena giggled, as any woman being wooed by a dangerous man would, and said, “Your beard tickles,” then she dropped to hug Rufus herself.
“Hey,” I said once both kids were occupied with the dog, and was surprised when Cade moved to me and kissed me softly before grinning down at me.
“Hey.”
My eyes shot nervously to my kids, who were watching us with wide eyes, then Elin looked Cade over and said, “You wear a lot of jewelry for a man.”
“Elin,” I chastised, but Cade just laughed and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.
“Yeah, little brother, I do.” Then he crouched down and lifted his necklace. Both of my kids leaned in, fascinated by him. Elin even rested his hand on Cade’s raised knee. “See this, it’s a shark tooth. My father gave it to me last time I was home. This ring,” he said, lifting one pinkie, “is from my mother. She said the stone will always keep me safe, and help me live a balanced life. This one,” he raised his other pinkie, “is from my sister. She gave it to me for Christmas three years ago. And this.” He spread his hand and pointed to the large skull ring. “That one I bought because I thought it kicked ass.”
Elin laughed at the swear word, then looked nervously up at me. I just rolled my eyes and shook my head, letting him know he probably shouldn’t tell Cade he owed money to the swear jar. At least not at their first meeting.
Elena was still watching him with avid interest.
“Where’s home?” she asked, catching on to the fact that if he was going home, his family obviously didn’t live here.
“Hawaii,” Cade answered as he rose back up.
“Cool,” Elin said again, and I had a feeling I’d be hearing that word a lot out of my son that day.
“Mom,” Elena said, her little brain working quickly as usual. “Since Cade’s your boyfriend, does that mean we’ll get to go to Hawaii?”
“No, sweetheart,” I replied, at the same time Cade said, “Absolutely.”
I looked up at him, surprised and asked, “Really?”
“Yeah, darlin’,” Cade replied, reaching a hand out to cup my jaw sweetly. “My family likes me to visit, especially during the holidays, and I know they’ll want to meet you and the twins.”
Excitement filled me at the thought of traveling to Hawaii, a place I’d always wanted to go but had never been; at the same time the thought of meeting Cade’s family freaked me the hell out.
Seeing the panic in my eyes he said, “They’ll love you, Lila, believe me. My mom has been waiting for me to bring a woman home since I was old enough to vote. Bringing home you and two awesome kids? She’ll be in heaven.”
I looked down and saw my kids faces soften at the compliment, then they began to hop around and chant, “We’re going to Hawaii, we’re going to Hawaii,” as they danced around the yard with Rufus in tow.
Oh yeah, I thought, life is pretty damn sweet.