“Mom. You’re feeling all right, aren’t you? I mean, for real. I want you around for a good long time. Remember, you promised me we’d have your centenarian celebration together.”
“Son, I fully intend to meddle my way well into the teenage years of my great grandchildren. And you know me; every day I find new and more creative ways to mess with all of you from beyond the grave. My poor lawyer is going to start charging me a headache fee for how many times I change my will.”
He laughed heartily. Robert totally got the game she played with her last will and testament. He was her son after all and appreciated the nuances of irony and karma when neatly tied up with a lawyerly bow.
“My idiot sister can have it all, Mom. You know I don’t give a crap what you do with your pot ‘o gold, just as long as Darcy gets that damn jewelry box. You don’t even have to include any bling. It’s the fucking box she wants.”
She smiled broadly and chuckled. “Now see. This is exactly why I love that girl you married so much. She’s the real deal. It’s not the jewelry she sees as having value. It’s the physical box. Because she knows my Anthony made it himself. Well, he designed it then commissioned a talented artisan to create his vision. Darcy recognizes the history. She’ll pass the box to one of her daughters and so on and so on. That way, your father’s love will get paid forward in perpetuity. A fitting memorial to a wonderful, wonderful man.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, son. Now go relax. I’ve got this. All Charlize and Caleb need is a little push. Not even a shove. There’s a happily ever after just waiting for those two and mama intends to see the baby of the Baron-Wilde family happy and content in the arms of the man who loves her.”
NAME OF CURRENT EMPLOYER. HMMM. Should she put Nana’s name down? She was kind of working for her. Shrugging, Charlie squinted at the computer screen, checked the printout next to her where she kept her finger anchored, and started one finger typing.
B-r-y-a-n-n-a-C-h-a-r-l-e-s.
That’s good enough. If she added the Baron-Wilde, it’d look like she didn’t really work and good God, nothing was further from the truth. Pawing through the endless boxes and bins and trunks and lock boxes, some crammed to overflowing, from her grandmother’s storage space was friggin’ exhausting plus being a kick in the ass.
That’s why she was hiding in the public library instead of filling out all this wretched red-taped paperwork at home. She loved Nana’s stately home. It sure was comfortable and it didn’t hurt one little bit that her grandmother employed a full time housekeeper who managed all the heavy day-to-day lifting. But sometimes she felt trapped—trapped by her own doing, and just had to get out.
Beside her on a chair was a large handled bag from a classy boutique where she’d gone to do as Brynn suggested. Get a dress for showcasing her assets. Twirling a curl hanging over her shoulder, she examined the neatly trimmed ends. A new dress required a fresh haircut. Oh, and a blow out. She wiggled her fingers and inwardly giggled. Then there was the elegant nail polish from a spa manicure followed by a killer pedicure.
Charlie shifted oh so slightly on the wooden seat. Let’s not forget the waxing. She did that too. Not a Brazilian. She shuddered at the thought. She was young enough as it was. No good would come of looking like a pre-pubescent teen with enormous tits. No, she just got your basic touch up.
An awful lot of preparation for a simple dinner.
Squeezing her eyes shut and inhaling slowly, she calmed the dragonflies flitting around in her belly. Other people had butterflies. Charlie preferred her version.
Nearby, a chair scraped quietly on the floor. She inhaled slowly again, held the breath and blew it out. Simple dinner, my Aunt Aggie’s ass. Her whole future hung on the outcome of what should be an effortless family meal.
“Hi.”
Charlie nearly ejected out of her seat. She lurched forward, her eyes flying open. Her hands jerked wildly. Papers scatted. A pen shot across the wood library table and dropped to the floor. Her life passed in front of eyes that were so wide with shock, they hurt.
Caleb.
She could feel her mouth moving but no sound came out. Blinking slowly, a frisson of incendiary pleasure inside her started out small until bursting into a bonfire so huge it was worthy of Burning Man.
He came for her.
And he looked like shit.
Moving her hands, she gripped the seat of her chair and stared.
“Um, hi.”
He looked nervous. A lump formed in her throat. Swallowing with difficulty, Charlie willed her bottom lip to stop trembling.
The chair across from her was pulled out and one of his hands rested on the back. She looked closely at his grip. Seemed they were both counting on the solid wood to keep them steady.
“May I uh,” he mumbled awkwardly. “Sit. Um, sit down. Here.” He pointed.
Eagerly nodding, she wet her lips, pushed the hair behind her ears and quickly glanced around to see if anyone was watching them. It was the library. Middle of the day. Not much activity.
Thinking it’d be okay to fold her hands and rest them in front of her on the table, Charlie gave up and sent them burrowing into her lap when her fingers wouldn’t cooperate.
Caleb sat, cleared his throat and looked at her. The notion of leaping across the table and climbing onto his lap made it difficult to think straight.
And then she saw his expression—he was gearing up to have his say and she just knew. Knew with all her heart and soul that before he said a word she had to speak her truth. With no hesitation other than a quick inhale, she put it all on the line.
“I love you.”
He looked stunned.
There was more she wanted to say but first she wanted those three words to have their moment. She loved him. Loved her square peg round hole prince. He wasn’t always charming and sometimes his white armor needed some polish, but she wasn’t exactly a picnic either.
Her senses took it all in. Time moved slowly. The air around them was thick with emotion. He blanched when she spoke, but immediately colored until ruddy slashes of color highlighted his cheeks. Cheeks covered in a sexy beard.
Oh. My.
And then he was up and out of his seat coming around the table at her so fast she jerked upright, her mouth open with surprise. He pulled Charlie to her feet, cradled her face in his hands, said, “I love you, too,” and then kissed her so sweetly and so tenderly she clung to his wrists and whimpered into his mouth.
“Um, sir. Ma’am. You’ll have to take that outside.”
Huh?
He let go of her lips and their heads turned in unison. An advertisement for Nerds United, right down to the sweater vest and thick dark glasses, was giving them the stink-eye and pursing his lips with disapproval.
Busted. In the Free Library of Philadelphia. They were making out in a historical place where Benjamin Franklin’s legacy watched over their antics.
“Come on,” Caleb growled, taking her hand. “Wait, wait!” she exclaimed. “My laptop. My stuff.”
He let out an exasperated huff. “Seriously? I love you. Oh wait, grab my computer?”
So grouchy and adorable, her alpha prince. She flashed him a saucy grin and winked. “You’re pretty far down on the priority list, bucko.”
Bucko? Where the hell did that come from? She wanted to laugh. And laugh. And laugh. And laugh.
He grumbled, gathered her junk into a pile, picked it all up in one scoop and settled it against his body, under his arm. “Move it sister. I’ve got a priority list to renumber.”
Charlie grinned. “Hang on, Mr. Sexy Pants. Let me just grab this bag.” She pulled at the handles of the boutique bag and wrangled it out of the seat. Damn. She didn’t get to knock his socks off with the sexy little dress. Oh well. This is what he gets for surprising a girl; jeans, a Van Halen T-shirt and a crappy, well-worn pair of Chucks.
Caleb wasted no time taking her hand and adorably dragging her from the huge building. He seemed
to be in a hurry so they walked quite briskly for a few blocks before she spied his Explorer. When he let go of her hand, she heard the clicking beep of him remotely unlocking the vehicle. From his haste you’d get the impression a meteor was about to hit them unless they got out of there in a hurry. Yanking open the passenger door, he pushed her against the side of the vehicle, growled, “Don’t move,” ripped the shopping bag out of her hand and stashed everything in the back seat.
Instead of helping her into the car, he slammed the door, grabbed hold of her and kissed her until she was little more than a puddle of goo. Right there, in broad daylight, on a street in the City of Brotherly Love—he staked his claim. And did it most effectively.
Eventually a horn honked and somebody yelled at them as they drove by, “Yo, buddy. Rooms by da hour!” After all, it was Philly. What else did she expect?
Though the kiss ended, Caleb remained plastered against her—gently touching her face and looking into her astonished gaze.
“You came early,” she mumbled nonsensically. He snickered and half rolled his eyes. She only recognized the sexual innuendo after speaking.
“Excuse me Baroness, but I must disagree. I came,” he sniggered, “exactly at the right moment.”
Hmph. There was more than a little truth in his statement. “Does Nana know you’re here?” She frowned and a dozen more questions crowded her mind. “How did you know where I was? Is Brynn here too?”
Caleb smirked. She loved his smirk. It wasn’t like anyone else’s and when he directed it at her, every nerve ending she had short-circuited.
“Yes. She told me. And, no.”
His kiss rendered her stupid so connecting the dots took a bit of effort. “Yes, Nana knows. She told you where I was and no, Brynn’s not here?”
He tapped her nose and grabbed her chin to hold Charlie still. “You catch on quick, ‘tessa.”
After a quick but very, very lovely kiss on the lips, the passenger door opened and she was gently guided into place. Charlie couldn’t help but put her fingers in his hair when he leaned across her to fasten the seat belt.
“Kiss me again,” she pleaded.
“Hold that thought,” he replied—his eyes twinkling with what she prayed was happiness.
After he was buckled into the driver’s seat and they were making their way threw the back streets he told her, “I have more to say, Charlize. But not in the car, okay?”
She nodded. Was okay with her. Would give her a chance to organize her thoughts. But in the meantime, she was just gonna sit real still and drink him in.
The scruffy beard was fantastic and made him seem—unpolished. It was a good look. So was the leather jacket and the plain white button down underneath. His jeans were black and molded to his manly physique in all the right places.
And the boots. Good lord. Those heavy work boots gave Charlie a bad case of the tummy twinkles. Something about his muscular thighs and those shit kicking boots never failed to get her all swoony. That and the way his cock swung when he came at her naked, except for the boots. She liked that. It felt kinky and wicked and dammit. She was getting embarrassingly wet thinking about it.
Letting her naughty daydreams have their way, Charlie gave in to the pull of his overwhelming masculinity. It wasn’t just sex with Caleb. She was made for him. He was inside her even when he wasn’t. The admission gave her a tiny thrill and made her shudder.
She was out of the Explorer and walking at his side, her hand through his crooked arm before she registered where they were. Swinging her head, she looked around and tried to make sense of what was happening.
“Where are we?” she asked quietly with a tug to get his attention.
He stopped walking, put a hand atop hers, and look down into her eyes. “This is my hotel. Nana Wilde wanted me to stay at the house along with the newlyweds. I declined.”
She laughed. “Oh, you declined did you? And how may I ask did she react?” Nana didn’t allow declined invitations. It just wasn’t done.
He grinned. Eh, wait a minute. Caleb didn’t so much grin as puff up and look mighty damn pleased. “She made the reservation.” He replied. His amused chuckle made her gape at him.
“Whaaat?”
“That’s right,” he crowed proudly. “Your crazy grandmother took my refusal in stride. Made a couple of wildly inappropriate for an eighty year old remarks about our sex life.” He lowered his voice and told her, “She also had a few suggestion for keeping things interesting.”
Charlie giggled. “Oh God. Do I even want to know?”
“Definitely not,” he assured her with amused gravity. “And I’m now ruined for life knowing what kind of interesting is the preferred kink of Bryanna Charles.”
“So, we’re walking into a five star hotel, in jeans and sneakers, with no luggage. Not a situation I ever imagined…so you better make the interesting way interesting to make up for my embarrassment. Every single person seeing us knows exactly what we’re up to.”
Caleb puffed up even more and glanced around. “Good. Let ‘em look. I’m okay with that.”
His alpha-swaggery was on full display all through check-in and their long, slow progress into a luxury suite that blew her mind. Nana went for the gold this time.
She felt like Cinderella dressed in rags at the door to the palace.
“Caleb?”
He’d picked up the phone, but dropped it immediately when she spoke.
“Will you have someone bring up my bag from the back seat of the car?” He made a strange face and she quickly added. “My purse is in there and I, uh … need it.”
Charlie wandered around the beautiful suite while he spoke with the front desk. A knock sounded at the door and he gestured with his head for her to see what was up.
To her amusement and delight a cart piled with every imaginable canapé and finger food imaginable, along with a lovely Chardonnay, was wheeled in. Nana thought of everything.
Hanging the phone up, Caleb turned all his attention on her. “Everything’s good to go. Your bag is on the way up. I’ve made dinner arrangements, and a shop the hotel does business with will be delivering what’s described as couples loungewear. We’re not the first two people who checked in without stuff.”
They looked at each other across the room. She still couldn’t believe he was here. Couldn’t believe she readily confessed her love for him, and could barely wrap her mind around what hearing him say the same thing did to her.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked. “You should be.”
“No. Absolutely not. I learned my lesson, baby. Don’t beat yourself up about leaving. You had to.”
He walked over and cradled her face. “I’ve never had a girlfriend. You’re the first and only, love. I should have told you from the very beginning how I felt but, guys. Ya know?” His mocking shrug was cute as hell.
“Mistakes help form character,” she murmured. “I thought all charming princes came fully loaded and ready to go. I should have said something as well.”
Caleb sighed. His thumbs swept over her cheeks, back and forth. “Can you trust me Charlize? I really hope so because baby, no shit. I can’t live without you.”
Argh. She groaned aloud. “It kills me that you think I didn’t trust you.”
“You left me in Rome because I broke your trust.”
She wrapped her hands around his waist. “You didn’t break anything. I know that now. What I should have done was stand and fight. Fight for what I wanted.”
“‘tessa,” he ground out. “There’s been no one but you from that first moment. And there never will be anyone but you. I can’t change the past but I can promise you that you’ll be safe with me, baby. Making you happy, having you in my life—that’s all I care about.”
Another short rap at the door broke their embrace. “I’ll get it,” she mumbled. “It’s probably my bag.”
She was right. It was her shopping bag and a tremendous bouquet of flowers.
After the hotel staffer le
ft, he hooked an arm around her shoulders. “I tried to bring you flowers once before. If I remember, you hit me with them and tossed ‘em in my face.”
She chuckled and squirmed. Yep. He described what happened to those flowers pretty accurately.
“Are we re-winding to that moment?”
He looked at the flowers, and then looked at her. “If we do, will you let me out of the shithouse over the whole Jonas thing?”
“You were an ass,” she quipped.
“A jealous ass,” he corrected. “New sensation. Jealousy. Never been down that road before so when I saw him and you, I just lost it.”
“He thinks you’re a dick.”
Caleb grimaced. “Look, I know I was out-of-line and I’m trying really fucking hard not to smash the guy’s face in so it would help a lot if you didn’t plead his side.”
God. He was so cute and sexy when he was out of his comfort zone.
“Understood,” she gravely mocked. With a jaunty salute, she lofted the bag and said, “I need a minute. Why don’t you pour some wine. Be right back.”
And then scurried for the bathroom. Time to suit up the girls and ready a game plan.
THEY WERE TOGETHER. FINALLY. HE almost couldn’t believe it.
Cal threw off his jacket and got busy with the wine. Plucking a couple of grapes off a large cluster, he popped them into his mouth and chewed.
Coming to town early was the best move he ever made. Waiting one more day so they could be the main attraction at a dinner barely disguised as a demilitarized zone wasn’t what they needed. A thought born out by her quick and startling love confession.
She loved him. Holy fuck. All this time and all the stupidity and she loved him.
He turned and looked toward the bedroom. The bed was big, the linens bright white and already turned down—ready to go. Thinking about the hundred ways he planned to love her, Cal didn’t immediately register her presence when she came out of the bathroom.
Moving into his field of vision, he nearly fell off the sofa when he got a good look at her. She’d changed. The jeans were gone. So was the rock n roll T-shirt. The Chucks were still on her feet—such a quirky Charlize thing that it wasn’t even funny.
Wilde Magic (Wilde Women Book 3) Page 42