Kade's Worth (Butler Ranch)

far as Peyton knew, she didn’t know him well enough to have any opinion whatsoever. And why had she made sure Peyton wasn’t interested in Maddox?
When she arrived at Stave on Thursday, Peyton was jumpy and it pissed her off. She’d known Kade for four years and all of a sudden, she couldn’t think straight because he was on her mind constantly.
It was mid-afternoon when Addy arrived, looking frazzled herself.
“Is everything okay?”
Addy dropped her bag on the floor in the office. “What? Oh, right. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine.”
Addy took a deep breath and looked into Peyton’s eyes. “Men,” she sighed.
“I hear you, sister.”
“What makes it worse, is this particular man is Alex’s brother.”
“Oh. That does make it worse. Can I ask which one?” Alex had six—each hotter than the next.
Addy looked into the wine bar as if to see if there was anyone else around. “Gabe.”
Gabe was Alex’s oldest brother. He and Kade were the same age and Addy was three years younger than Peyton.
When Addy put on her apron and went to the prep room, Peyton didn’t ask any more questions. It was a fine line, as she well knew, to talk about someone when you were already conflicted about your feelings.
Peyton heard the front door open. It was early for someone to be coming in for a tasting, but she wouldn’t judge—too much—after all, they were open. When she came out to the bar, she knew something was wrong the minute she saw the look on Kade’s face.

8
“Hi.”
“Hey, Peyton.” He couldn’t stand it when people beat around the bush, so he didn’t. “I have to leave again.”
“Oh.” She turned her back, no doubt to keep him from seeing the look on her face. He knew she was disappointed, though, just like he was.
He wished he could tell her why, but that was out of the question. “Could you take a walk with me?”
She hesitated, but Addy answered for her. “Yes,” she said to him and then looked at Peyton. “Go on. I can handle things here.”
“Okay,” she murmured, taking off the apron she’d just put on. She walked down the hallway and came back wearing a jacket.
“Beach okay?” he asked once they were outside.
“Sure.”
They crossed the highway and walked along the boardwalk, stopping at a rock that sat right across the road from one of his favorite restaurants. It was where he sat most often, either watching the surfers or the sunset. In fact, it was where he’d been sitting the night before when the call came in saying the other physician’s assistant in their element had been wounded while out on a mission. The guy would make it, but he’d be out of commission for at least two months.
He wouldn’t say no, not that he could’ve, but that didn’t stop him from wishing he had the choice. There’s only one thing that would allow him to pick and choose the missions he accepted, and that would be if he resigned from the agency and started his own firm.
Kade looked at Peyton who was studying him.
“I wish…” she murmured.
He reached over and cupped her cheek with his palm. “Me too.” When she leaned into his hand, Kade shifted so he could put his arm around her.
“It seems as though the universe is conspiring against us.”
Kade understood why she might say that, although he didn’t agree. Mainly because he didn’t believe in things like that. “Maybe it’s just a matter of timing.”
She nodded and looked out at the sea. “Or maybe—”
Kade shifted and brought his lips to hers. “There’s no other maybe, Peyton.” He kissed her and when her mouth opened just slightly, he angled his head to deepen it. He pulled back and looked into her pale green eyes.
It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman, and it would be longer still, yet Kade knew that no other would do. “I wish we had more time.”
“Me too.”
“You gonna miss me, Peyton?”
“I will.”
“How much?” he asked.
“A lot,” she confessed.
“Then, go out with me when I get back.”
She nodded and Kade kissed her again. The agony of finally doing what he’d longed to do for months—even years—and then needing to walk away was soul-crushingly disappointing.
His flight to DC left this afternoon, which meant they didn’t have much more time before he’d have to walk her back to Stave and say goodbye.
“When do you have to leave?” she asked as though she could sense his anxiety.
“In a few minutes.”
Peyton rested her head on Kade’s shoulder and sighed. Unlike other women who had been in his life, she didn’t complain. She didn’t ask if there was any way he could stay longer, any way he could refuse to go. She didn’t question when he’d be back, or where he was going. Something told him she never would, and oddly, that made him sad. The one woman he wished would ask, would care enough to want to know, never would. But was that fair? Was it that she didn’t care? He knew better than that and it was only feeling sorry for himself that made him question her.
She kissed him, quick and chaste, and stood. She brushed the damp dirt from her jeans and stretched her legs. When he groaned, she held out her hand.
“Come on, old man. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can get back.”
Her words filled him with the warmth he needed after sitting on the bone-chilling boulder.
It was thoughts of the kisses they shared that kept Kade sustained through the eight weeks he was gone. By the time his stint was over, his PA counterpart had recovered enough to come back to work. Not only that, he offered to stay four months instead of the requisite two. Kade accepted happily.


9
Saint Patrick’s Day was never a big day for Stave. That it fell on Monday this year, meant the weekend would be slower than normal too. Most of the tourists—and residents too—opted to partake in the Irish pub’s offerings, including Alex