A pink balloon rose and bounced against her face. Surprised, Kylie pushed it aside, and it floated up another foot before bouncing again and stopping. The balloon’s ribbon was tied to a note and what looked like . . . breakfast.
“Um . . . is that a waffle?” the girl asked as Kylie tugged the note free. “Attached to a balloon?”
Kylie didn’t answer. She was too busy scanning the note.
Dearest Kylie,
I know you called off our date, but I can’t stop thinking about you. You say you’re busy, but I’ll only take five minutes of your time. Truly. Meet me outside the hotel so we can talk.
Cade
PSIf you don’t come outside in five minutes, I have a marching band out here ready to start playing, and fireworks that will spell out KYLIE GO OUT WITH CADE. Just FYI.
PPSWasn’t kidding about the five minutes.
Eyes wide, she crumpled the note in her hand.
“Why’s someone sending you a waffle, if you don’t mind me asking?” the girl at the front desk asked again.
“Because he’s insane,” Kylie replied. “Just flat-out insane.” She reached over the counter, grabbed the scissors, popped the balloon viciously, and then stormed out to see why Cade was outside. He thought he could strong-arm her? She’d let him have a piece of her mind.
But all of that outrage disappeared when she went outside and saw the limo pulled up in front of the hotel. Cade leaned against the door, a flowerpot tucked under one arm. She looked around but she didn’t see a marching band anywhere. In fact, there was no one outside except for Kylie . . . and Cade.
He grinned at the sight of her, uncrossing his legs and standing a bit straighter. “I take it you got my waffle?”
“Where’s the marching band?” she asked, hands on her hips as she strode out to confront him. “Where’s the fireworks?”
“Marching band got the sniffles,” Cade said. “And I lied about the fireworks.” He held the potted plant out to her. “For you.”
She paused and took the plant from him, baffled. “What’s this for?”
“I wanted to give you a present,” he said. “I thought about a pet, since you’d mentioned that you wanted one and couldn’t have one, but I couldn’t think of anything that would travel well and didn’t require walks. Except maybe Sea-Monkeys.”
Kylie bit back her smile.
“So I thought maybe a nice violet would do. I’m told they’re very hard to kill. And I wanted you to have company. It was either this or a Chia Pet.” His mouth quirked in a lopsided grin. “And you will not believe how many stores are out of Chia Pets at the moment.”
She gazed down at the violet and then sighed at him. “I’m trying to be mad at you.”
His smile widened, flashing a dimple at her. “I know, and I’m not sure what I did to encourage it, so I’m doing my best to be appealing.”
“You’re far too good at it,” she grumbled. “But, really Cade, you should go.”
“Go? Why?” He reached forward and brushed a lock of hair off of her shoulder. “I just got here and I’ve barely had a chance to look at you.”
“Someone will see you here,” she told him. “You need to leave.”
“Not before you tell me what I did wrong.” Cade’s eyes were so somber as he gazed at her. “Tell me what I did to mess things up and I won’t bother you any longer.”
Kylie hugged the potted plant close. Part of her wanted to storm off in a fury. To declare you know what you did and let him stew. But that would be childish. Adults had conversations, and she was an adult, darn it. “You should have told me you were dating Daphne.”
He tilted his head, studying her. “That’s a fair point. And I would have told you . . . if I was actually dating her. But I’m not. Where did you get that idea?”
“From the magazines? The tabloids? And every other word out of Daphne’s mouth about how she’s staying clean because you want her that way?”
His brows drew together, and for a moment he looked really, really confused. “But where are they getting that information? I’m not dating Daphne. I haven’t even seen her since last week. She’s texted me a few times, but I’ve spent all of my time talking to you.” He raised his brows. “You probably see her more than I do.”
“She texted you, huh?” Kylie asked, then wanted to bite back the words. They sounded jealous as hell.
“We’ve texted in the past,” Cade said. “But the only one filling up my phone with love notes this last week was you.”
Kylie snorted, feeling defensive. “Mine weren’t love notes.”