by Violet Duke
When the coast was clear, Addison beamed at Caine. “Worked like a charm.”
Caine looked visibly traumatized. And near catatonic.
He was so darn cute.
“Oh, relax, she doesn’t know I was telling the truth.”
Saucer-eyed like he’d just heard a ghost say boo, Alec slowly poked his head in the front door. “Did you just say what I think you just said?”
“She thinks I was making it up,” defended Addison.
He didn’t look at all comforted. “Can I make a motion for us to hold all future meetings at my place? Where there aren’t impressionable teens just walking around.”
“Seconded!” called out Gabe, still sounding a safe distance down the hall.
“Motion carried,” agreed Caine haggardly. “Effective immediately.”
Addison didn’t think she’d had a more comical night in her life.
While she was busy trying not to let the guys see her twitching lips, Caine trudged over to the kitchen looking ready for a stiff drink.
He returned carrying the pot of coffee. Which he handed it to Alec. “Do you mind, roomie? Thanks. I’ll be there in a bit.”
Alec shot him a wholly annoyed look. Which turned soft and buttery as the coffee pot was deposited in his hands. Gabe served as Alec’s security detail back to his place, making sure the precious caffeine cargo was secure the entire way.
The sound of Alec shutting, dead-bolting, and chain-locking his door had Addison shaking her head with a sigh. “You do realize that if you two kill each other on site, my investors will probably frown on that a little?” She was legitimately worried. “Seriously, why don’t you just crash here? I have a futon couch for Tanner when he comes to visit. Since he loved yours so much back in Creek Hills, I got one just like it.”
He shook his head gravely. “Way more temptation than I can handle, sweetheart.”
Aw. And…good point. “Okay, then. So what’s happening tomorrow? If you survive tonight at Alec’s that is.”
“I’ll come over here for a good morning kiss to start off the day.”
Definitely on board for that plan. “And after that?” Feeling bolstered by the way he was now staring at her lips, she ventured shyly, “Earlier at the car, you promised something about getting me back…”
A rough male sound echoed out of his chest. “Behave, woman.”
The man looked positively tortured. Which made her wonder… “Caine, just curious. Is my…‘lack of experience’ the reason you’re holding back?” She felt her face catch fire. Honestly, talking about the buzzing dildo was way easier than bringing up her still active v-card membership.
Correction. Now Caine looked tortured. “I already told you my reason for wanting to wait. But thanks for making this—and me—ten times harder.”
It took everything in her not to peek down and see for herself. “I’m sorry?” Saying it in the form of a question negated the fib, right?
“Yeah, you sound real torn up about it,” he replied dryly.
“I am though. That’s why I brought it up. Because we could do other—”
His eyes heated, then downright scorched her into silence. “Please don’t finish that sentence. I’m on a hair trigger here.”
“My point exactly. It’s different for me because I’ve never experienced it before so I don’t quite know what I’m missing. But you have. And you’ve now been celibate for seven years,” she frowned, reasonably concerned for his errr…anatomical well-being.
Still didn’t peek though.
“Honey, my current state has absolutely nothing to do with the absence of meaningless sex in my life, and absolutely everything to do with how badly I want to watch you come apart just for me again…preferably up against a wall again to start, and then a few more times in bed so I can see you sleeping and fully sated in my arms again.”
So much to swoon over in that single sentence. But first… “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you our last night together in Creek Hills.”
“Would’ve been a little insulted if you hadn’t, to be honest.”
Mental note: coarse male confidence=highly effective brain-scrambler. “N-no,” she stammered, “I-I mean I’m sorry I fell asleep before I had a chance to make you…come apart, too.”
“Hell. You heard me mention that trigger, right?” he replied gruffly, jaw flexing.
“I’m serious, Caine. I didn’t do anything remotely memorable to you that—”
“Baby, you did plenty.” He held her eyes the entire time as he reached for his back pocket. “I even have proof.”
The sight of a man pulling out a condom from his wallet shouldn’t have stunned her nearly this much. Or made her misty-eyed. “You kept that?”
“Of course I did.” He tucked it right back behind his driver’s license like it belonged there. “I still can’t believe you brought it out that night. And that you wanted to actually use it. It has a glow-in-the-dark happy face on it for crying out loud.”
“That was the only condom I had,” she defended with a pout. “It was a perfectly acceptable one. They passed it out to all the seniors in high school. Yes, it was a few years old, but still hadn’t expired. And I checked, it was from a respectable condom company. The website said the glowing was supposed to help you find it at night, which I thought might come in handy.”
He gave her a slow, incredulous headshake. “See, this is why I kept it. As evidence when they decide to make me a saint one day for leaving the world’s most adorably sexy virgin untouched when it was all I could do not to take you ten ways to Sunday.”
Her brain was only about halfway through imagining these ten ways he spoke of when he speared his fingers through her hair and rubbed a calloused thumb against her cheek. “Actually, while we’re on the topic of you falling asleep on me, is there room in that bed of yours for two?”
Seriously, his zero-to-sixty-and-back subject changes were going to give her whiplash one day. “But I thought you didn’t want to—”
“To sleep, sweetheart. Just sleep.”
“What?”
He flattened both hands against the wall beside her head, effectively caging her in. “Just think of me as a full-service bodyguard. I come complete with a cuddling package to combat insomnia and nightmares.”
No exaggeration, the idea of curling up against him again to sleep sounded just as decadent as sex. “You don’t have to do that,” she said softly.
“Yes, I do. Again, it’s partly for me. Because if I have to spend one more night without you in my arms, I’m going to lose it.” He seared her lips with a quick, but potent kiss. “So I’ll see you at midnight on the dot. Do me a favor and wear something flannel that covers you from neck to toe. I’m going to go see if Gabe can create some sort of locking device for my belt out of spare things from Alec’s apartment,” he added, sounding half-serious.
He was already across the hall before she managed to un-scatter her thoughts enough to realize she’d never actually told him she went to sleep at midnight every night.
“Wait, how’d you know wh—” She cut herself off at the last second. The man was heading into a room with a brilliant hacker, an ingenious lo-jacker, and an expert snooper.
Probably best not to ask.
Chapter Fifteen
“You guys ready?” Caine glanced from Addison’s worried expression to Tanner and Kylie’s mirrored look of apprehension from the backseat of his SUV. None of them made a motion to open their doors. Instead, they each simply surveyed the big glass law building he’d just pulled up to as it were the headquarters for the grim reaper and his pitchfork wielding senior partner.
“If you’re not, we can always call to reschedule.”
He didn’t push any harder than that.
They already knew his thoughts about this meeting as a whole. Just like they knew he hated the idea of them going in without him.
For the past week, he’d made it clear he wanted to be there for moral support during the will-reading of Tann
er and Kylie’s inheritance. And each time, Addison and Kylie had gently insisted that they wanted to go through it alone.
Caine hadn’t understood it at first, and was honestly a little hurt by it. Thankfully, Tanner had driven in from California yesterday and deciphered the girls’ reasoning for him.
“They’re embarrassed,” Tanner had explained matter-of-factly. “Frankly, I am, too.”
“What on earth do any of you have to be embarrassed about?” demanded Caine, utterly dumbfounded.
“Think about it, Caine. Those magical maternal and paternal instincts that are supposed to hit parents the moment their baby is born? Or that overwhelming need parents have to protect their kids at all costs? If your parents didn’t possess or exhibit any of that, not just for you, but your two siblings as well, wouldn’t you be ashamed to have others meet them?”
That stumped Caine good and proper. Growing up, he’d always known he had the best parents he could’ve ever hoped for. Still did, in fact. He’d never once been anything but proud to be the son of Grace and Jack Spencer.
“Addison, Kylie, and I may know on a logical level that we didn’t do anything to warrant our parents not wanting us, or loving us. Regardless. Can you see how it’s hard for us not to be just a little mortified? A little humiliated? Put yourself in our shoes. Would you want anyone else in a meeting with these people, especially when there’s money involved?”
After that, Caine backed off.
So though it was absolute, bloody torture to sit behind the wheel and not offer, yet again, to go up there and slay any visible and invisible demons that may be waiting for them, that’s exactly what he did. Resigning himself to support them from afar. “I’ll be right here waiting when you guys are done. We can go grab a bite to eat; my treat. There’s this restaurant over in—”
Suddenly, Addison’s hand closed over his. “Actually, we’ve been talking, and…it would mean a lot to all of us if you would come in the room and sit with us,” she said quietly, while two nodding heads bobbed in the rear view mirror.
No exaggeration, he was pretty sure his chest just cracked open a little right then and there.
“Can I bring my gun?” he asked by way of acceptance.
A few far less tense minutes later, after the kids checked in at the reception area of law firm before making a quick pit stop at the restroom to collect themselves a bit, Caine gathered Addison in his arms and asked, “What changed your mind?”
She raised her eyes up to meet his. “Seven years ago, you offered us a home where we could be a family. You actually wanted us. To be a part of your life. I guess subconsciously, we didn’t want you to see a part of us that we ourselves have a hard time facing, didn’t want you feeling sorry for us, maybe. But after talking to you last night, Tanner reminded us that though we didn’t accept your amazing offer to be a part of your life seven years ago, it absolutely wasn’t because we hadn’t wanted you to be a part of our lives in return. We wanted it so badly then, and we want it just as much now. Good, bad, crazy, and everything in between.”
Ah, damn. Here he thought this was only going to be an emotional day for her and the kids. He tried to think of something wise and fitting to say in response. Maybe even something a little inspirational as the kids had returned to hear the tail end of her declaration.
But when he looked at them all standing there in front of him, what came out was a super classy and profound, “You can’t take that back; I’m holding you to it.”
Apparently, he chose well because he got chuckling grins from Tanner and Kylie, along with a jellyfish hug from Addison, which he didn’t untangle himself from until a polite woman at the reception desk came over.
“Kylie? Tanner? We’re ready for you now.”
They walked down to a glass conference room where Sonny and Lara were sitting with two lawyer-type folk.
Caine had seen his fair share of low-lifes over the years, and that gleam in Sonny’s eyes had scumbag written all over it.
“It’s so good to finally meet you both,” said lawyer number one, a distinguished looking suit in his fifties or so. “I’m Jim one of the senior partners here, and this is my associate Simone. We’re so glad to finally meet you both. Lawrence was looking for you two for quite some time.”
After the kids and Addison handed over multiple forms of ID for the paralegal to take copies of, the next few minutes were filled with pretty standard legalese, which mainly consisted of Kylie and Tanner nodding and looking at a bunch of paperwork.
“Before we get to the reading of the will, now that we’ve verified your identities, we wanted to first give you each several letters your father wanted us to give you if we were able to find you.” Jim held out a thick sealed manila envelope with Kylie’s name, and one with Tanner’s. “These letters are separate from today’s will-reading, and they’re yours to take and read whenever you’re ready.” A sad smile hit him then. “Years ago, when Lawrence was first diagnosed with cancer, he started writing these letters to give to you. I was actually Lawrence’s grandfather’s probate lawyer who handled that family inheritance.”
Sonny’s teeth practically glinted like a hungry wolf’s.
Simone held her hand up and added, “That’s when I came on board. Lawrence retained me as his estate attorney not long after your great-grandfather’s matters were settled. In addition to that inheritance he received seven years ago, which he invested wisely over the years,” she slid over another official-looking document, “your father also had a life insurance policy.” More folders of paperwork were opened up for the kids. “He didn’t have it for very long, but there’s a healthy amount for you both. Just to let you know, he did get married again after your mother, and in the year since your father’s passing, we’ve since settled her portions of the policy.”
While she readied a few financial papers that Sonny’s eyes remained glued to, Jim tapped gently on the sealed manila envelopes in front of the kids. “Lawrence had a very tough battle with cancer. And toward the end, he didn’t want us to film his will; he said he didn’t want you two to remember him that way. So instead, he provided you both with quite a few photos. Some from his time with you, and some from after he left your mother.”
Caine couldn’t help but smile when the kids focused their sole attention on those big envelopes, the monetary inheritance paperwork completely untouched, forgotten.
“Did he have other children we should try to find?” asked Kylie, just as Tanner inquired, “Was his widow’s settlement enough to make sure she’s well taken care of?”
Good lord, those were two good kids.
Both lawyers blinked in surprise at the two earnest young faces before them.
“No other kids, and yes, his widow actually got the larger bulk of the settlements since he’d been unsuccessful in locating you two earlier.”
That drew a frown from Sonny. “Can we contest that now since we found the kids?”
“No,” called out Tanner and Kylie in unison.
“Why don’t we just proceed to the will,” suggested Lara, an indecipherable expression on her face.
Caine sort of tuned out the lawyers then. The terms of the inheritance mattered nothing to him. Instead, he surveyed each of the people in the room.
Out of the group, Lara was the most difficult to read. He’d done his homework on her. She’d started trying to get clean a few years ago now, with only a couple falls off the wagon, as far as he could see.
Sonny, on the other hand, was fairly transparent. The guy was a piece of work. Though he wasn’t conning folks anymore, he hadn’t exactly been earning an honest living, either. He’d stuck by Lara through her addiction though—no evidence of any affairs that Alec had been able to fine. That was pretty much the only thing semi-decent about the man.
“What?!” shouted Sonny then, slamming his hand on the table in outrage.
Shit, what’d I miss?
“You’re naming Addison the executor for Kylie’s inheritance?”
&n
bsp; That got him caught up real quick. And it took everything in him not to reach over and break the asshole’s finger, currently wagging in Addison’s face like she was trash.
“Lawrence was very clear in his stipulations,” replied Simone calmly.
“But Lara is Kylie’s mother. And Kylie is still a minor.”
“A minor who’s been living with and being raised by Addison for the last nine years at least.” Simone had a mean poker face, but the derision in her eyes cut like glass.
“That doesn’t matter,” countered Sonny. “Kylie is still Lara’s kid. She’s only been living with Addison because Lara has been letting her.”
Addison paled.
Caine bristled. The bastard was getting close to crossing a dangerous line.
“But Lara and I can easily change that arrangement.”
That was definitely a threat—one that Caine was going to make him sorry for issuing in about ten seconds…
Jim was all business when he flipped to the next page in the stapled stack of papers he was reading from. “According to this, Addison doesn’t have to be Kylie’s guardian to be the executor of her funds. Further, Lawrence actually stipulated specifically that your wife Lara not be allowed access. So we will be following his requests exactly.”
“You can’t be serious.” Sonny looked ready to pop a blood vessel in his eye. “She’s their half-sister who lives at a homeless shelter for chrissakes! Have you seen her credit score? Her below-poverty-line salary? How can you possibly trust her with this inheritance and not the kids’ own biological mother?!”
“It’s not a shelter, it’s a housing complex,” snarled Tanner. “And my sister runs the whole damn thing. She takes the minimal salary so the foundation has more money for the residents. Don’t you dare make her out to be a deadbeat with no job like you.”
“Why you smart-mouthed—”
Caine snapped. Before anyone had time to blink, he had a hand wrapped around Sonny’s scrawny throat. “You finish that sentence and you’ll be breathing out of a tube till Christmas.”