Page 86 of Fierce-Michael

“Thank you,” she said. “What a nice thing to say.”

There was a knock at her door and then Ella walked in. “What am I missing? Did you start without me?”

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Cade said he was going to talk to you this morning. I said not to start without me,” Ella said.

“Kelly works for me and Michael is related to me by marriage. I should be able to start without my baby sister having to stick her nose in everything.”

“Hey,” Ella said. “Be thankful that we clue you in half the time.”

“I figured this one out all on my own. Didn’t need you,” Cade said.

“So let’s get to the good stuff.” Ella was rubbing her hands together.

“What is the good stuff?” Kelly asked.

“How you’re going to let my mother know and when. Is this still a secret?” Ella asked.

“Who did you two tell other than Alex?”

“Aiden and Brody know,” Ella said. “I had to give them a heads up where Mom’s head was at now.”

“So she is thinking of Michael?” she asked. This was news to her but promising too.

“It’s been there for several months,” Ella admitted. “I never said a word to you. I’m not someone to give a push. If you knew, then it might have influenced your decision. I knew you were watching him too. I’m sure my mother saw it at times. You’re not as subtle as you think. Not if Cade caught on.”

“Actually,” Cade said. “Alex noticed something months ago. First it was you looking at Michael and then another time him looking at you.”

“So you had a clue,” Ella said. “I knew there was no way you figured it out on your own.”

Kelly smiled at the thought that Michael had been watching her without her knowing.

And he didn’t make a move.

If she’d known he was interested, she would have done it a long time ago.

She’d only gone ahead with it because she was feeling feisty to make the bet.

But it made sense that he agreed because he might have been thinking the same way too.

“Hey,” Cade said. “I still knew pretty fast this time.” He turned to look at her. “So, what is the game plan?”

“You haven’t talked to Michael?” she asked.

“Not about this. Guys don’t talk about this shit,” Cade said. “I was only catching up with work with him.”

“We don’t have a solid plan,” she said. “But we talked about it this weekend. He met my parents and I met his and Ty.”

“Okay,” Ella said. “So then it’s serious.”

“Michael would never bring anyone into Ty’s life if he wasn’t willing to take the next step,” Cade said. “This is the first person I’ve even known that he’s dated since Ty was born.”

“He’s dated,” she said.

“Sure, if you want to call it that,” Cade said, smirking.

Ella slapped his arm. “Don’t say those things.”