CALE STEPPED OUT of Pops’s office with a grave look on his face, causing me to frown. When he saw me, though, his face lit up as he smiled.
“Let’s get out of here, babe,” he growled as he looked me up and down. He walked over to me, putting both hands on either side of my face and bent over, planting a kiss on my lips.
My heart ignited in a rapid succession of beats, and I grabbed his head and pulled him in for a longer kiss. He tasted like mint and Cale—the perfect flavor.
When we broke apart, he looked into my eyes with a smoldering look of his own and whispered, “You look fucking hot and I would love nothing more than to rip those jeans off you and ram the shit out of you across your desk.”
My cheeks burned, but not with embarrassment. I nearly convinced myself that it was an excellent idea if it weren’t for Pops sitting in the office in the other room.
After we got in his truck and were heading down the road, he spoke up. “Lia, I am warning you that dinner at my dad’s may not be rainbows and butterflies.”
I nodded and grabbed his hand, understanding that the relationship was a strained one to say the least. When he’d texted me of our plans tonight, I’d been nervous for him but also excited that he wanted to share this part of his life with me.
We chatted easily about light things like my ‘obsession’ with shoes, as he called it, and crazy Anj. It was a fun drive to his dad’s house. I was all smiles until I realized we were heading into Austin. My pulse quickened at the thought of returning to the place I hadn’t been to since I’d run away three years ago. There was a reason I ordered my shoes online. Jonestown had crap for selection and Austin was out of the question. Shit. My palms started to sweat.
Noticing a shift in the air, Cale glanced over at me. “Lia, what’s wrong?” His voice was filled with concern. Now was certainly not the time to tell him about that terrible night.
“Uh, nothing.” My voice shook as I spun a small tale.
He tensed at my lie but ignored it anyway.
Come on. He lives near the freaking college I attended too? I thought as I realized that we were driving past some really familiar streets. My breaths were coming out short and frantically. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think of anything but that night because I felt like I was going to have a panic attack.
“There’s the college where I played football for a whole semester.” He was pointing but I refused to look in that direction.
“Are we almost there?” I practically whispered, not trusting my voice. The tears were on the horizon and I was doing everything in my power to keep them at bay.
“Yeah. A few more miles,” he answered as we drove past the school.
The farther away we got, the better I was feeling. Memories of that fateful night threatened to come flooding in but I forced them away. I finally allowed myself to look around when we pulled into a driveway. His father’s home was enormous and beautiful. I had no idea his father was so wealthy.
“Listen, Lia, I know you just totally freaked. I also know that you don’t want to tell me. I wish you would but I get it. When you’re ready, I’ll be here to hold you. We’ll take a different route home.” He sighed and got out of the truck.
Tears stung my eyes. I badly wanted to tell him because it was driving a wedge between us. Blinking the moisture away, I climbed out as well.
He came around to meet me and pulled me into a tight hug, kissing the top of my head. “I’ve got you, babe,” he sang in a deep voice, causing me to giggle and think about the Sonny and Cher song. He released me and grinned.
“Come on, let’s go.” We joined hands and made our way to the door.
Before we could knock, the door swung open and an older gentleman stepped outside. Cale and his father had a striking resemblance. I wondered if Cale looked anything like his mother at all.
“Hello, son.”
“Hi, Dad. This is Lia,” he introduced to me to his dad.
I reached over and firmly shook his hand.
“Steve,” Cale’s dad smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
I grinned back at him as he led us inside.
“Char, they’re here,” he called into the kitchen.
Moments later, a tall, leggy blonde not much older than I was came bouncing out of the kitchen. “I’m so glad to meet you guys,” she chirped. Instead of shaking our hands like Steve had, she hugged each of us. “I just pulled the lasagna out of the oven, and the bread will be out in five. Make yourselves at home please. Steve, make them a drink why don’t you.” She scurried back into the kitchen to finish up.
Steve went over to the bar in the den area we were standing in and poured us each a glass of red wine. “Cale, thanks for coming. It means a lot to me and Charlotte.” Steve’s smile was genuine which made my heart thump happily for Cale.
Cale drained his glass, obviously uncomfortable with the new-and-improved dad standing before him.
Steve picked up his son’s now empty wine glass and poured another. “So, Lia? What is it that you do for a living?”
“I work at a bank over in Jonestown. I assist the owner. It’s a small bank, so we don’t have many employees that work there. I tend to do whatever needs to be done. Our residential construction market is the largest of our portfolio, so I spend a lot of time working with the builders in the area.”
“I see,” he chuckled, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how you two met.”
My cheeks burned at the thought of our first encounter when I maced him.
“She had a thing for my eyes,” Cale teased, winking at me.
“So, where did you attend college?” Steve asked.
I could feel the color drain from my face. I wasn’t really in the mood to discuss this. “I, uh…” I trailed off but was safe when Charlotte called us into the dining room. Bullet effectively dodged.