“Normally that would make me reevaluate, but I’ll make an exception.” He set his drink on a low table next to his chair. “Cade doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do, Olivia.”

“Yes, but—”

“If all he’d wanted from you was a rape fantasy, he didn’t have to move you into his house. Which, I’ll remind you, he did before play was on the table.”

“I know—”

“I don’t think you do,” he said, and she closed her mouth with a snap. “I don’t think you have any idea how that man feels about you.”

“Why are you mad?” she asked before she could think better of it.

He stared at her for a moment, his expression shadowed and unreadable. Then he sighed. “Do you know how rare what you two have is?”

He sounded like Sadie again, and she almost told him that just to see him twitch, but he was talking again before she had the chance.

“It’s a kind of magic,” he was saying, “a gift that most of us just don’t get.”

“What if it’s not a gift to him?” she managed.

He shook his head, his hard eyes softening. “He’s the only one that can answer that question, isn’t he?”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“You’re a smart, capable woman, Olivia,” he said, and she blinked at him in surprise. “He’d be a fool not to love you.”

“Um. Thanks?”

“You’re welcome.”

“I should go,” she began.

He rose to his feet. “Stay there while I get a shirt and some shoes, and I’ll walk you down.”

“Oh, you don’t have to,” she said, then froze when he pinned her with a glare.

“Yes, I do. Where’s your car?”

“Um. In a lot down the street.”

He shook his head like he was dealing with a small, disobedient child, and pointed a finger at her. “Stay there. I’ll drive you to it, then follow you home.”

“Jack, I appreciate it, but…”

“If you leave this room before I get back, I will paddle you raw.”

“You already did that,” she reminded him.

That grin appeared on his face again and she went a little breathless. “You won’t like it this time,” he promised, and headed for the stairs.

She sat back in the chair and watched him go, thinking that black pajama pants season was almost as good as sweatpants season.

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Cade let himself into the house on Saturday afternoon with a sigh of relief. The jobsite in Austin was finally straightened out, though the construction manager and three crew members who’d decided to cut corners on supplies and line their pockets with the savings were now filing for unemployment. There was more work to be done, but that was a worry for next week.