Charlie stayed in the car for a while longer, contemplating his options, possible actions and reactions. Dodging and evading would only make Siobhan more suspicious. She was skittish enough already. His assurances that he wasn’t going behind her back didn’t mean jack shit if he continued being unable to stay with her longer than a couple of hours. He didn’t want to ruin his chances with Siobhan just when the possibility of more took another step closer to reality. The fucked-up thing was, the reason for his early farewells wasn’t the biggest secret he had to tell her.
The door leading from the garage into the house opened, and a dark blonde head peeked out. “Hey, what are you doing sitting in the garage? You do know that if you want to end it all you have to keep the car running and actually close the garage door, don’t you?”
“Not funny, Lorelei,” he said as he exited the car. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Are the boys okay? They’re not mad I missed dinner, are they?”
“The boys are fine.” She hit the button to close the garage door, then stepped back so he could enter the kitchen. “I think they’ll survive you missing one cheeseburger macaroni night. I gave them another hour of gaming. They’re in heaven.”
She stepped back so he could enter the mudroom. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he replied automatically. Lorelei asked that question more and more often. Was he losing his edge, not doing as good a job as he used to in convincing her and the boys that he was okay? He was, truly. At least she didn’t ask him things like was he happy, did he have regrets. He could evade, but he didn’t want to lie.
Lorelei sighed. “Charlie, you forget I’m an adult now. I can drive, I can vote, and I’ll be able to drink in a couple of years. You can stop blowing smoke up my ass when I ask how you’re doing.”
“Watch your mouth, young lady,” he retorted with as much sternness as he could muster, which wasn’t much at that moment. She’d busted him, which she had an uncanny ability to do lately. Something to do with deciding to be a psychology major, which meant he was going to be in serious trouble.
“I’ll watch mine if you watch yours.” She reached out, rubbed a thumb across the corner of his mouth. “Rose-colored lipstick. You’ve been holding out on me.”
Well, hell. “You got me.” He dropped his bag on the kitchen table then scrubbed at his mouth with the back of his hand. “I guess it’s time for a family meeting. Will you go get Kyle and Finn?”
Lorelei arched a brow. “This is gonna be good. I’ll be right back.” She hurried off.
Charlie opened the fridge, wishing that he had an emergency beer hidden in the kitchen. Instead he decided to live dangerously by pouring a tall glass of milk. As he reached for the bottle of chocolate sauce, his mind immediately went to an image of Siobhan’s breasts, her rosy nipples pearling as he dribbled warm fudge sauce over them. It was the best damn dessert he’d ever had.
God damn him, he had it bad. Already the thought of no longer having the opportunity to sample Siobhan’s curves and sexual appetite made his pits sweaty. But if he wanted to keep her, he’d have to tell her the truth. He’d have to tell her that while he didn’t have another woman in his bed, he did have a family.
Just as he had to tell his family about Siobhan. He didn’t know which would be harder.
Taking a long pull of his chocolate milk, Charlie joined the others in the den, the room where all their family meetings took place. Most had been good meetings as they’d discussed their plans for the future, but some had been bad. Really bad, and those were the ones that had been ingrained on the boys. Sixteen-year-old Kyle looked so much like their serious architect father that it was difficult to look at him sometimes without remembering the loss. Thirteen-year-old Finn had the ready grin and happy disposition of their elementary school teacher mother. All of them were shades of blond like their parents, but the boys had their father’s brown eyes while he and Lorelei had shades of their mother’s blue.
Kyle stood with his hands clenched at his sides, body tensed as if ready to absorb a blow. Though Lorelei had stumbled through adolescence without their mother to help her, Kyle had taken the greatest emotional hit of losing their parents. During that first year when Charlie had had to fight everyone to keep the family together, Kyle had suffered nightmares and separation anxiety that had stolen his lighthearted personality. He’d gotten better mostly because they’d banded together, them against the world, but it didn’t take much for Kyle to stress over the possibility of the family breaking up.
“What happened?” Kyle asked, his voice tight. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” Charlie assured them. “There’s just something I wanted to let you guys know about.”
“What is it?”
“Charlie’s got a girlfriend, Charlie’s got a girlfriend,” Lorelei sang, breaking the news before he could.
“Ugh,” Finn said, adding an eye roll for good measure. “A girl? That’s it?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Figures his youngest brother would have that reaction. Since he didn’t want Finn to be interested in girls until his youngest brother turned thirty, Charlie could live with Finn’s less than enthusiastic response. “I’ve been seeing her for a little while now, and I thought it was time to tell you guys.”
“Finally,” Lorelei said with a wide smile. “We figured something was going on when you went out on a Saturday night—twice—but you never said anything. Kyle and I thought you were aiming for sainthood or something.”
His continued bachelorhood was a common joke with his sister and Kyle ever since he’d had “the talk” with them. “You guys are far too interested in that stuff. Besides, all of you are entertaining enough as it is.”
“Yeah, right.” Lorelei rolled her eyes. “Not as entertaining as a woman who’s not related to you.”
“Lorelei,” Charlie said in warning, glancing at Finn. He’d yet to have the uncomfortable birds-and-bees talk with Finn and he wanted to delay that conversation for a while longer if he could help it. Like until the next millennium.
“Don’t be stingy, give us the deets,” Lorelei demanded. “Who is she, what’s her name, what does she do?”
Charlie relaxed a fraction, smiling as thoughts of Siobhan filled his mind. “Her name is Siobhan Malloy. She co-owns Sugar and Spice Café just off the square downtown.”
“Hey, I’ve been in there on study breaks,” Lorelei piped up. “Which one is she? The blonde or the brunette?”
“The blonde.”
“Wow.” Lorelei sighed. “I love her style, and she’s really pretty.”
“I think she’s beautiful inside and out.”
“A looker and a cooker.” Lorelei gave him a fist bump. “Good going, bro.”
Kyle perked up. “She cooks?”
Kyle had taken over kitchen duties when he was twelve almost in self-defense since Charlie’s repertoire was limited to heating frozen meals and Lorelei had a tendency to burn lettuce. “She does. She makes all her soups from scratch and they make their own bread and desserts too. I’ve done some marketing work for them. They source everything locally, so it’s all fresh and delicious.”
“Is she nice?” Finn asked, deciding to join the familial interrogation.
Charlie nodded. “Very nice, very friendly. I’ve seen her calm down irate customers with just a smile.”
“Does she like kids?” Kyle went straight to the heart of the issue as usual.
“I haven’t asked her about kids, so I don’t know.” Charlie mentally kicked himself. That was something that should have come up earlier, but he and Siobhan had focused more on the sex than asking personal questions.
“Have you told her about us?”
“That’s the point of this family meeting, I wanted to let you guys know about her first. I want to tell her about you guys. If that goes over well, I thought it would be good to invite her over one night or maybe on a Saturday so you all can meet. We could have a cookout.”
“A cookout would be a great idea,” Lorelei said. “Less stressful for everybody.”
She meant less stressful for Kyle, who’d already folded his arms about himself, his thin face screwed up in concentration, no doubt planning what he could cook to impress a woman who owned her own café.
Finn looked from Kyle to Charlie, his usual open expression pensive. “Do you think she’ll like us?”
“How can she not like you?” Charlie joked, ruffling his youngest brother’s hair. “You guys are great—when you’re not yanking my chain, that is.”
“What if she doesn’t?” Kyle asked.
God, this was why he didn’t date. He didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up—not his, not his date’s, and especially not his siblings’. It was just easier to avoid any potential heartache and hard feelings by not looking for anything beyond sex. Siobhan was different though. At least, he fervently hoped so.
“If she doesn’t like you guys, I stop seeing her,” he promised. “It’s that simple.”
“But—”
“That’s not open for debate,” Charlie cut in. “We’re a package deal until all of you guys are out of the house and on your own, preferably with college degrees in hand. Even then, we’re family. Family matters most. If she doesn’t like you guys, she’s not someone I’m interested in seeing long term. End of story.”
His stomach churned at the thought. Siobhan had told him that she’d married her high school sweetheart but that they’d gotten divorced. Why? There was a reason why Siobhan remained single and childless at thirty-five, a reason he hadn’t bothered to uncover as he pursued her. What if she didn’t like kids? Was that part of the story she had to tell him?
Finn stared down at his ever-present tablet while Kyle hugged himself tighter. Even Lorelei looked subdued. “Come on, guys. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, all right? There’s nothing to worry about. She’s good people and I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to meet you. Now, how about we get a game in before bedtime? You guys have garden duty tomorrow, which means we all need to be up before the heat rises.”
The boys groaned as they usually did, but it was halfhearted at best. Charlie lost handily, but his mind wasn’t on the game. No, he had a much larger game he had to play, one with much higher stakes that he couldn’t afford to lose.
* * *
“He actually got insulted when I questioned his habit of fucking and ducking.” Siobhan slapped a lump of dough into a loaf shape with more force than necessary.
“Why would you question it?” Nadia asked from her side of the kitchen. “I thought that was what you wanted?”
“It is. It was. The sex, hell yeah. The evasiveness? Not so much.” She beat the dough into shape again. “He claims to have a good reason for it and that reason has nothing to do with being involved with someone else. What it does mean, I have no idea. Maybe he needs to dispose of the bodies in his cellar or something.”
“I’m pretty sure that isn’t true,” Nadia said soothingly as she inserted loaves into baking pans for proofing. “Besides, how many houses in Crimson Bay have cellars anyway?”
“Very funny.” Siobhan slammed the dough scraper down, dividing the dough in half. She’d come in earlier than normal because even though Charlie had worn her body out, her mind kept racing into the wee hours. “I couldn’t sleep because my mind kept coming up with these outlandish scenarios, and the later it got, the wilder my imagination became.”
Nadia took the scraper away. “Maybe you should stay away from edged implements for a bit, and help me stage the dough for the proofer.”
“Fine.” Siobhan noted the different varieties for sandwiches and soup bowls. Business had picked up post–Independence Day, thanks to the soft launch of their delivery service. Who wouldn’t want to stay inside on a hot summer day and have someone else bring a meal to them? “Anything to take my mind off the thought that he’s got a wife and kids at home or he’s in one of those complicated deals where they’re separated but still sharing the house.”
“Or maybe he’s Batman.”
Siobhan racked a sheet of baking pans. “He’s not Batman, this isn’t Gotham, and you aren’t helping.”
“Just trying to lighten the mood.” Nadia opened their proofer so that Siobhan could roll the rack of breads inside. “I’m pretty sure you have nothing to worry about.”
“If it’s nothing, he would have told me already, wouldn’t he?” She choked her ever-present hand towel in a death grip. “Anyway, he made a very convincing argument that he’s not seeing anyone else.”
“I guess he did,” Nadia said, pushing Siobhan’s collar back to reveal a nice-sized hickey. “Rocked your world, huh? Is that gonna be faded by the time you have to dance again?”
Siobhan fought a blush. Charlie had a way of making her flustered even when he wasn’t around. “I’m pretty sure they’ll be gone by the time I have to perform. If not, that’s what stage makeup is for.”
“They? As in, more than one?”
“A couple.” Siobhan shrugged. “We both got a little territorial yesterday. His back looked like he’d been flogged, poor guy. Anyway, he made his case clear. There’s no way Charlie’s got anything left in the tank by the time we part ways, especially when he went all alpha male claiming his woman. It was so emotional it was scary.”
Nadia’s expression grew thoughtful as they began cleaning their prep area. “Why is that scary?”
“It’s scary because it makes me off balance. I feel like I’m a teenager again, all nervous and fluttery and giddy. I like the way he makes me feel, and that’s the scariest thing of all. Then there’s this talk he wants to have. Obviously it’s a game changer in his mind.” She sighed. “It also means that I have to have the talk with him too.”
“The talk . . . ? Oh, no.” Nadia’s eyes widened. “You haven’t told him about rehab yet?”
“Not about rehab or anything that led up to it,” Siobhan confessed. “I haven’t even told him about Colleen yet. I didn’t tell him I was divorced until that night at Club Tatas.”
Siobhan stopped scraping at the flour covering her prep counter. “When did you tell Kane about your stint in rehab?”
“The first night,” the brunette said with a guilty flush. “If it was going to be a deal breaker, I wanted to know up front.”
“God.” Siobhan’s stomach soured like fermenting dough. “Apparently I screwed that up too.”
“Come on, Siobhan, don’t be so hard on yourself. My situation with Kane was different. If I didn’t have the cooking show credentials and the very public, tabloid-fodder flameout, I wouldn’t have told him that soon.”
“You wouldn’t have waited two months either,” Siobhan pointed out.
“I would have waited until I started having feelings for him, until the relationship was more about the person than just the sex.” Nadia placed a comforting hand on Siobhan’s arm. “If that’s where you are, then now’s the right time.”
Siobhan had to face up to it. Despite her attempts not to, she was becoming emotionally attached to Charlie. After her divorce, the stint in rehab, and the deterioration of her relationship with her daughter and the rest of her family, Siobhan had given up any thought of having a close personal relationship again. Eventually she’d weaned herself off the need for that sort of emotional connection, the same as she’d flushed the drugs from her system. She’d bonded with Nadia, and through supporting each other in rehab, had been absorbed into Nadia’s family. It gave her an emotional connection but she still kept a shield up out of self-preservation, not wanting to let anyone close enough to influence her heart.
Until Charlie. He was gorgeous, funny, wickedly sexy. Being with him was easy and comfortable and exhilarating. It filled a space inside her she’d long ago walled off. Everything she hadn’t been looking for but secretly wished she could have.
It couldn’t go anywhere, she knew that. Not long term. While her mind knew that, accepted that, other parts of her still wanted
more. Those parts were the ones badgered by Charlie’s reluctance to stay over, to linger in the post-sex haze that nurtured the seeds of a relationship. His secret, whatever it was, hounded her and kept her from enjoying the right-now-ness of being with him.
She’d hear what he had to tell her, whenever he decided to tell her. Then she’d tell him about her past and hope that he cared enough to want to continue being with her.
“We’re meeting tomorrow night,” she told Nadia. “He’s going to tell me his big secret and if it’s something I can live with, I’m going to tell him mine.”
“If it goes south, you call me, all right?”
“Kane’s taking you away for a romantic getaway, remember? I can’t ask you to interrupt that to handle my issues.”
“Then it’s a good thing you don’t have to ask.” Nadia gave her a hug. “We’re here for each other, through thick and thin, hell and high water, and all the other old sayings. I think Charlie’s a pretty understanding guy, though. It might take him a minute or two, but I know he’d come around. Especially when you consider how gone he is on you.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Me too. If I have to go Sweeney Todd on him, you’re going to have to use the café as collateral for bail money.”
THIRTEEN
The doorbell rang at six p.m. Friday on the dot. Siobhan opened the door to find Charlie on her doorstep, dressed in a navy suit and holding a bouquet of scarlet tulips. He also wore an expression more suited to attending a funeral than going out on a date.
“Thank you,” she said, accepting the bouquet and a kiss to the cheek before stepping back to allow him over the threshold. Her nerves skittered like water droplets on a hot skillet. Charlie’s somber expression was so at odds with his normally ebullient personality that she knew whatever he wanted to tell her, she wouldn’t like.
Her stomach bubbled. Then again, what she had to tell him was probably something he wouldn’t like.
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