Birdie: And?
Gertie: And?
Grace: We are at my house. Have to pay baby sitter time and a half. See y’all at work at 9 AM. Let’s not wake Kres up until she gets up on her own. Her head will be killing her.
Birdie: Agreed. Night.
Gertie: Grace, take babysitting money out of work expenses account tomorrow. Was work related. No need in missing income. Agreed to let Kres sleep in tomorrow. Night. ILY guys.
∞∞∞
With her head resting against the passenger seat and eyes closed, Kresley took the opportunity to analyze her day. She would have called herself a big, fat liar if she had said her day would be what it’s turned out to be. And it was ending with a very large, very sexy, very sweet man escorting her home. And not just because he felt like he had to or social manners dictated it, but because he wanted to. She turned her head slightly and cracked her eyes open so she could look at him without him knowing. Cade Grantham was so good looking that it hurt to look at him for too long. Dark hair, heavy beard stubble over his mouth, chin and cheeks. Firm jaw and even dimples when he smiled big. Long, dark lashes and full brows accented his light blue eyes so well. And don’t forget his lips. Full, lush, and so kissable that it made her heart speed up just looking at him. She loved that he was tall, taller than her by many inches. It made her feel protected, petite, having him stand over her. His big hands holding hers made her all squirmy, like she was a teenager holding hands with a boy for the first time.
This was NOT Kresley. Not her at all. If anything, she was cynical when it came to the opposite sex. She had learned the hard way that love wasn’t for her and probably wouldn’t happen until much later in life, if at all. And the best thing about this day is that it seemed that Cade liked her. Genuinely liked her and wanted to let everyone know that he was with her. He must like her kisses since he keeps coming back for them. And the way she had seen him looking up and down her body this evening, she knew without a doubt that he appreciated her female form. His hands had grabbed on to her full hips when he was helping her into his car and the squeeze he gave her without words kind of said it all. Which freaked her out, but in a good way.
“What are you thinking about over there so hard, Kres?”, Cade asked as he looked over at her in the dark for a moment, then placed his eyes back on the road.
“Thinking about my day and how absolutely crazy it has been. I got up this morning thinking it would be another normal day, but it’s been a roller coaster ride of emotions. I took my weekly donuts to the MSPD, met a hot guy, had my panties drop upon meeting said hot guy, busted my ass in a puddle, lost my temper and pushed said hot guy who was laughing at me in the puddle, left humiliated and went back to work. Worked hard without stopping all day, felt sad and alone at times, tried to rein in my sisters and Grace from their craziness, worked late, forgot about dinner, lost a huge $24,000 receipt for flowers, went outside with Grace on the phone to find the receipt, found a dead body outside my door, discovered it was an ex-boyfriend, then either fell or was pushed into the brick wall and hit my head, fainted, then came awake to Prince Charming looking at me with beautiful blue eyes and had the best kiss of my life”. Kresley took deep breaths after that rambling, run on sentence of self-discovery. She looked over at Cade to see what he thought about her musings. He had a grin on his face.
“Panties dropped?”, Cade asked with a sly smile. “Did I make your panties drop Red? Please continue with that explanation.”
Face turning beet red, Kresley stayed quiet, fidgeting with her fingers and wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her whole. “Not literally. The pair I put on this morning were on their last usage and as I was standing there talking to you and Ms. Mae, the last elastic piece in the waist band popped. Scared me half to death. Then my underwear started to slide down my big butt until they gathered at my thighs, right before I landed in that water puddle.”
Cade began laughing. Hard. He laughed so hard that he soon lost his breath. He looked over at Kresley and stopped laughing so loud, changing it to soft snickers. He reached over and caressed Kresley’s hot, blushing cheek and told her he wasn’t laughing at her. He was laughing at the way she described everything. “It may make me sound like a pig or something, but it totally makes me want to frame those panties somewhere. I’ve never made a woman’s panties drop before.” Cade could hear Kresley’s snort at that and heard her murmur “Doubt that.” He just shook his head, dropped his hand from her cheek, and drove the rest of the way to Whimsy Events.
Cade and Kresley parked in the alley and found that it had been cleared, except for the yellow crime scene tape left behind. Cade noticed that the towing service had come to get the ’69 Mustang as well. “Okay Kres, let’s get you inside and let me take a look around downstairs and upstairs in your apartment. Then we can talk a little bit about what happened here tonight. Then I’ll leave so you can go to sleep.” Cade got out of his work sedan and came around to her side of the car. He
