Cal’s high spirits continued through a leisurely breakfast that was followed by some shower hijinks, but by the time they headed into town, his mood had definitely ebbed thinking about the upcoming meeting. Chet Harper’s last laugh at his sons was appointing Cal his executor. He was so sick of dealing with this estate, and even the attorney said it seemed that Chet unnecessarily complicated everything. So now, nine months later, Cal was on his way to, hopefully, the very last meeting, to sign paperwork.
“I didn’t picture you driving this sort of car.” Kat’s voice interrupted his ruminations. He glanced over, and she had her head cocked to the side, a cute little furrow in her brow. “I didn’t necessarily think you’d have a big truck or anything, but really? A silver Corolla?”
Cal laughed. A real, honest-to-God laugh. “This is a rental, darlin’. In fact, that’s where we’re headed: to pick up my car. But I’ll tell you what. I didn’t know how long my car was going to be in the shop, so I rented this little guy for a week. I’ll put another week on it so you’ll have a vehicle.”
“Cal, I can p—”
He stopped her with a pointed stare. “We’ll argue about this later, because here we are.”
Kat eyed the run-down office. “Cal, no offense, but this place looks wicked sketchy.”
“Suki just believes in low overhead and no frills. She’ll do you right.”
Cal held her back from getting out of the car. She turned, questioning, and he pulled her to him and gave her a desperate kiss.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Kat asked. “I . . . have no idea if it would make any difference, but I’ll go with you.”
He rested his forehead against hers, still clutching her hand. “And this is why I . . .” Cal’s voice trailed off. “No, I’m good. Just the fact that you offered . . . yeah.”
Kat pressed her lips against his. “If you’re sure.”
“Oh, hell, I’m not sure about anything these days,” Cal said quietly. He exhaled a soft chuckle and kissed her again. “Oh, fuck, I’m gonna be late. Tell Suki to bill me and add another week to the Corolla.”
She rolled her eyes but then agreed and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll meet you at Foley’s after I get a phone,” she said and explained by pulling a smashed phone out of her handbag.
Cal shook his head at her. She really was a gadget killer. “Do I want to know?”
“No, you don’t. It’s just typical me,” she answered with an embarrassed chuckle. “I saw a phone store right around the corner, and I’ll have a GPS, okay?” Cal grunted but nodded. Kat grinned at him and gave him a little wink. “Thanks for the ride, Harper.”
“Oh, darlin’, that wasn’t a ride.” Cal dodged Kat’s jab, but he noticed she had the faintest of grins on her full lips. “See ya around, Fahey,” he said as she began to climb out of the car.
Kat stuck her head back inside the car, and Cal caught a glimpse of eggplant-colored lace when she bent down. “Not if I see you first, Cal Harper,” she countered.
Damn. She had an absolutely stellar rack.
Kat stood up and, with a wave, turned and went into the shabby office. Cal watched her go, and he thought he might have detected a little more sass in her gait. And, damn, the view from the back was just as superb as from the front. He was still contemplating that ass when she stuck her head back out the door. He lifted his hand, and then Suki came out and stood between them, blocking Cal’s view of Kat. Suki jerked her thumb at him, telling him to hit the road. Cal laughed, put his car into gear, and made his way to the lawyer’s office. Hopefully, the rest of his day would be as good as his morning had been.
´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´
“Let me repeat what I think I heard: Cal Harper is letting you drive his car?” Suki Johnson’s foot tapped as she frowned while she considered Kat, her head of wild natural curls cocked to the side.
Kat decided to ignore the woman’s disapproving look, so she plopped her bag down onto the scarred counter that separated her from the proprietor of S & J Motor Rentals.
“Yes, and he wants to keep the silver Corolla for another week, but I want to pay for it.”
“You planning on driving up to the mountains or staying in the city?” she asked.
Kat blinked. “Uh, staying in the city?”
Suki made a noise in her throat and snapped some papers to a clipboard. “Driver’s license, please, and insurance if you’ve got it,” she muttered while filling out some information.
Kat handed over her driver’s license and stammered that she didn’t have insurance because she didn’t have a car, which garnered a grunt from Suki. “Well, that answers one question. Though, even if you didn’t ask for it, I will give you one piece of advice: Lord knows I wouldn’t take one car up to Hillbillyville. Take the other car in case you need to make a quick escape.”
“Wait, wh-what? Why would I be going up to the mountains?”
Suki hit her with a withering look. “Girl, you’re not gonna meet the Harper boys?”
“We had dinner last night at Bridget’s, Nolan’s . . .” Kat stalled out, so she pushed the finished forms back at Suki, who snapped the form around and began to eye the information.
“Oh, I know Bridget Doherty. She fights out of the same gym that my son does.” She signed the bottom of the form and circled several boxes and a signature line, then snapped the clipboard back at Kat. “Initial and sign on the highlighted lines, please.”
Kat could feel Suki’s eyes on her as she did as she was told, but instead of feeling nervous, she began to get angry. Who did this Suki think she was, basically interrogating Kat about meeting Cal’s family?
“For the record, I’d already met Nolan. I met him last month when he came up to support Bridget in her title eliminator fight. Incidentally, that night was the same night Nolan met Birdie’s mother for the first time.” Kat swallowed her irritation down. “I don’t know what your problem is with me, but Cal told me to come to you, so you apparently have some redeeming qualities. Hopefully, they extend beyond giving me a decent price on a rental car.”
Then Suki surprised Kat by breaking out into laughter. Kat stood in shock until Suki calmed down enough to grab a tissue and wipe the tears of mirth from her eyes. “Whoo, girl. You’re gonna do just fine.” She grinned again. “I’m going to give you a little hint on dealing with the Harpers. Not Nolan, because he was already tamed before he even met Bridget. I’m talking about the other two, especially that grizzly bear older brother, Tobias.” The smile faded from her face, though her eyes were still friendly, and Kat found herself leaning forward on the counter, anxious to hear her advice. “Toby will most likely be unpleasant. I’m not excusing it, but I’ll just say to give him a chance. Don’t let him push you around, because he will verbally try to do it. You need to shock him into shutting up. Just remember that. Now Cal . . .” Suki shook her head.
“What about him?”
“You two been together, what, two months?”
Kat nodded.
“But you came down here on your own dime, right?”
Kat scoffed. “Of course. He’s been pestering me to come down, but he thought it was going to be another month or two. I . . .” Kat stopped. For some reason, she didn’t want to tell this Suki that she’d been terminated, lest Suki be suspicious of her motives. “I surprised him.” There. Not a lie.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes.” She shrugged a shoulder. “I figured it would be a fun surprise. I know he’s been under a lot of stress, what with dealing with his father’s estate and the fallout from leaving Pickett and Spence.”
“Oh, so you know about all that mess, then.” Suki scoffed. “He should have never even talked to that little girl. We all told him to be careful. But Cal’s gonna do what Cal’s gonna do, and he’s just contrary enough to want to prove anyone who doubts him wrong.”
Kat ran her fingernail down the seam of her tote bag’s strap. “Alphonse told me almost the same thing just a few days ago,” Kat murmured, thinking back to a conversation from the previous week. Man, she hadn’t even thought about Alphonse. She wondered if he even knew she’d been terminated.
“Oh Lordy—you’re with the crew that took Alphonse to Boston? Shit. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have had any reason to doubt you. If Phonse didn’t like you, he’d be in here, bitching up a storm and trying to scheme a way to get you away from Cal, especially after he stayed mum for so long about that lying bitch.”
Suki put the paperwork into a plastic envelope, gathered it and a set keys into her hand, and came around the counter. “Ms. Fahey, you’re all set for the Corolla. You and Cal can hash that out, but I’d think about letting him just pay for the damn car. It’ll help soothe his ego. Now, let’s go get Cal’s car so you can get on the road.” Kat started to follow Suki out to the parking lot, when Suki turned around. “On second thought, Kat, let him take you up there in his car.”
“Why?”
Suki grinned. “Let’s just say I gotta feeling.”