CHAPTER TWENTY
Caleb
How strange. I had once spent ten thousand dollars on a new necklace that the woman I’d been dating lost less than a week later, and she couldn’t have cared less. My dad had dropped eighty thousand on a car that I’d totaled within a month. Yet here Cherry was, pleased as punch just because I’d ordered dinner and had it delivered then insisted on helping with the cleanup.
She smiled softly, in that sweet, quiet way that I didn’t get to see too often as I dissected her angelic little sister’s drawing like it was a piece hanging in the Louvre.
She’d scared the hell out of me earlier today when she hadn’t showed at training. Then again when it became apparent she was afraid I was going to fire her. The fact that Cherry was all right mattered to me more than anything else. More than my business. More than my investment, more than money itself. The whole world would seem like a darker, crueler place if she had somehow been injured, and I couldn’t be more grateful that wasn’t the case.
One side of my brain, the logical part, told me that I knew exactly why I felt that way. But the other side, the one full of pride and status and the need to maintain my impenetrable demeanor, told me firmly that I had no idea what it was, and that I should exit the family scene gracefully. And yet an additional side, the one I refused to investigate, held simple fear. Fear of losing someone important to me again.
They said it was better to have loved and lost, but I called bullshit on that. In my case, loss created a deep well of doubt. There was no closure, leaving the mind to worry, and even worse… hope, which was a good and a bad thing.
Shaking off the negative thinking, I looked at the five faces all staring at me as I pointed out the details in Honey’s drawing, and I’d never felt so out of my depth in my entire life. But as alien as being immersed in Cherry’s daily life was, there was also this… warmth to them that I couldn’t explain.
When I had first entered the home, I’d sensed it immediately but thought it was something just for them. A sort of connection in their family that I would be able to observe but not participate in.
But then, as the two boys bantered, I couldn’t resist chiming in. Little did I know, I was opening a door that just seemed to be swinging wider and wider with every second, until I too was bathed in that same warmth I sensed when I first stepped into the house.
I handed over the drawing and wiped my sweaty palms on my pants. I didn’t think I had ever been so intimidated by a group of underage people, a mother, and one gorgeous woman in my entire life. Board meetings, hostile takeovers, hard pitches, none of them compared to sitting down at a dinner table with a family I knew had fought a battle to even own the table.
Sitting directly across from the matriarch of the household, I had to have been seated where Cherry’s dad once sat. I’d been more than ready to vacate that chair once the meal was done, and now I couldn’t help but still feel the weight of the responsibility that came with that seat on my shoulders.
Was I overreacting? Was I being invited into the family? Or was I just overthinking the situation? It had been the only damn chair available, after all.
I’d offered to provide the meal mainly to ease the pressure of an unexpected guest. I could tell her mother was appreciative, and not used to someone helping out, much like Cherry. When one of the boys opened the fridge, I’d been thankful I’d had the meal delivered. While the cupboard wasn’t bare, it was obvious either no one had been to the store lately or there was a need. Well, I’d take care of that as soon as I left here. I knew I needed to stop being surprised at what it was like to be on the have-not side of the coin, but it was just so different from what I was used to. I had to stop taking so much for granted.
They all had their own personalities, for sure. Sage was smart and enjoyed being in charge, that was clear enough. Colby was a bit of a troublemaker. Not in a delinquent sort of way, but rather a too-smart-for-his-own-good kind of troupe. And Honey? Affable and obviously enamored with her eldest siblings. Clementine was the quietest of the bunch, but she wasn’t shy by any stretch of the word. I’d often felt her eyes on me, but every time I glanced to her, she had painstakingly already averted her stare.
I thought I already knew Cherry but seeing her smiling broadly at her siblings despite their sassiness and exuberance just filled me with that much more admiration for her.
The kitchen cleared out suddenly and the two of us were alone for the first time since Friday, when we had a small meal in my penthouse. I locked eyes with Cherry. She really was something else. In fact, I found that I didn’t want to leave. But the family needed to get back to their routine. And I needed to plan how to make sure they had all they needed.
It was quiet, with the sounds of the kids settling drifting in as Cherry wiped at the counter.
A raise in her stipend perhaps? That could work. But I would have to time it carefully, I didn’t want her to think that I was pitying her. Because I wasn’t. Still, it would take a significant raise in her pay to put this family where they deserved to be. Cherry deserved that much and more. So much more.
In fact, I had never met a woman who deserved so much but received so little. If she had the resources I did, she would be unstoppable. It made me feel like I had wasted so much time, so many opportunities. The world could be at my fingertips, but I chose to sequester myself in my business and entertain myself with the occasional pet project.
“Why are you frowning?”
I was pulled out of my thoughts by Cherry’s quiet words and made a decision. “I was just thinking of how I’m going to invest in your family.” I smirked as a line appeared between her eyebrows.
“Invest in my family? What do you mean by that?”
“Like it or not, Cherry, I’m going to do some things to help, help a lot. It’s unfair that your father was taken from you, and that you and they have to struggle. So I’m going to fix it, and it’s going to piss you off, but you’ll get over it.”
Cherry opened her mouth, her eyes wide, but nothing came out for a moment. She stomped her foot. “You will not.”
I snorted. “And people think I’m the one with control issues.”
“I would say it’s safe to assume we both have them. We just deal with our issues in different ways. My issues aren’t your issues, Caleb, and you can’t fix them all.”
“No, but I’ll fix what I can.”
A bubble of joy rose into my chest, and I leaned back against the counter, thinking about everything that had happened since I first met her. I’d thought I was the one sweeping in to change her life forever, but clearly, she was the one who was altering mine so drastically.
Funny how that happened.
It had become harder and harder to deny the truth that was so readily apparent. I had feelings for Cherry that went past the desire for her to succeed, past… lust. Although I had never used the L word before, I was alarmingly close to it.
And that was dangerous, for me. For Lillie. Add a romantic interest to my life and precious time would be used up that could be used looking for my sister.
But would it be different with Cherry? She seemed like she had her own life and might understand my time constraints. My head was spinning. I’d never felt romantic toward anyone before — except Lauren in high school. We’d gone the long-distance relationship route when we both went off to college, but that had ended because I’d been too consumed with getting Lillie off the streets to allow for any goodness in my life. It had seemed pointless. But with Cherry, nothing was pointless.
Suddenly, I just wanted to seize the moment.
“Come get ice cream with me.”
Cherry laughed. “What?”
“I’m serious. Let’s go get ice cream. We’ll surprise them and bring some back.”
“Caleb, it’s cold outside.”
“Doesn’t matter. I know a great little place.”
After she told her family she was leaving for a bit, I ushered Cherry out the door, wanting to back up our relationship a bit, sweeten it, because of the way we’d fallen on each other. Not erase the sex, just take it back a notch.
It was deep twilight when I started the car and looked over into Cherry’s eyes, my heart thudding and doing somersaults in my chest. She felt the change in the air because her breath caught.
Leisurely, I leaned in, watching each subtle change in her. Her pupils growing larger, her lips parting slightly, the way her blinking slowed. But when my lips made contact with hers, I couldn’t go slow any longer. The kiss turned frantic, tongues swirling and diving, before I could conjure my usual steel and retreat to a sigh inducing level.
When I pulled back, she yanked me to her again for another.
I certainly wasn’t objecting.
When we’d kissed each other into oblivion and the neighbors were probably about to call the police, I put the car in drive as I looked up at the simple house with the warm light coming through the windows. She didn’t know it yet, but the next step was a date. A real one.
I’d entice her with a little childish ice cream fun first, and she wouldn’t know what hit her when we brought back the unique ice cream found at The Comfy Cow. Cherry wouldn’t stand a chance against all those siblings.
I understood now why family meant so much to Cherry. It was just, up until this point, I’d forgotten a family could be anything else than a name that opened doors.