Just Business

by Julie Cannon

  “Dillon, that’s not fair.”

  “Come on, Laura. When are you going to open your eyes and see that he’s done nothing but compare me to you our entire lives? And I’ve always come up short. But not this time. After today I have everything I need to make him see that I—”

  She stopped herself. Laura knew their father was disappointed that she had not gone into law, and Laura had also been the only one to encourage her to pursue her dream of studying in France. Dillon had long suspected that Laura knew she was subconsciously trying to win their father’s approval. “Let’s don’t discuss Dad right now. I have the second most beautiful woman in the room in my arms, and I want to enjoy myself.”

  Laura frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  Dillon scolded herself for saying too much. “Nothing, it’s not important. Where’s Tim, by the way?” she asked, hoping the mention of Laura’s husband would distract her. It didn’t.

  “Don’t try to change the subject on me, Dillon. Something’s going on. You haven’t done something stupid, have you?”

  Dillon refused to bite. No, it wasn’t stupid at all. Actually it was quite brilliant. “Come on, Laura, don’t rag me on my wedding day.”

  She lost a step and almost tripped over Laura’s feet. Her wedding day. Christ, she had actually gotten married. The finality of her actions flooded her like a tidal wave. She glanced over at Callie, who was laughing at something Bill and Phyllis had said. She was glowing as every bride should on the happiest day of her life.

  Oh, my God, what have I done?

  *

  Dillon deposited Laura with Tim and headed to her table, signaling the waiter along the way. She needed a drink. Preferably a big one. Something that would make her wake up and realize this was all just a bad dream. Instead, she got a cold dose of reality.

  “Callie is a beautiful woman.”

  The harsh voice over her left shoulder brought back unpleasant memories. Dillon couldn’t remember the last time her father paid her a compliment. No matter what she tried, she could never measure up to his expectations. Seventeen years ago, when she told him she was a lesbian, a distasteful look crossed his face, but at least he had the good manners not to outwardly say anything. Instead, he said nothing at all. Not once since had he uttered anything remotely personal to her.

  James Matthews elegantly sat down in the chair beside her. His glass was half full, and she suspected it was the only drink he’d had that night. Her father never lost control. His face was tanner than the last time she saw him. He must be spending more time on the golf course, she thought blandly. Since he retired four years ago, he played eighteen holes of golf at least three times a week, sometimes more. He still had the sleek, ramrod straight body he had in his twenties, and other than a trace of gray around the temples, his hair didn’t betray the fact that he was sixty-seven. Dillon wasn’t certain she wanted him at the wedding, but Callie had insisted. Not wanting to go down the rat hole of her relationship with her father, she acquiesced.

  “Yes, she is,” Dillon replied, surprised that she actually agreed with him about something. They hadn’t had a conversation that didn’t end with a huge argument in years. He always had to win. She was definitely her father’s daughter.

  “A very beautiful woman.”

  The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something in his tone, the way he said Callie’s name, wasn’t right. Her father was a philanderer, which she knew from an incident during her teens. She had gone to his office one day to surprise him with her early admittance to Stanford, and she saw them getting into a cab—her father and the other woman. Dillon hailed a cab also and followed them to the Four Seasons Hotel. They didn’t see her. Hell, they were so into each other they wouldn’t have seen an elephant in the lobby. The redhead was every bit as tall and glamorous as her mother was not. He thought he was fooling everyone. She often wondered if her mother ever had a clue. Her skin ran cold thinking he had his sights on Callie.

  “I’m lucky to have her.” Dillon couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  He nodded, his eyes never leaving Callie. “Yes, any man would be proud to have her on his arm.”

  That was the crux of everything about her father. He was so into appearance and status that it was almost comical. He had been an attorney all his life, progressing to partner of one of the most prestigious law firms in town. With that position came power, money, and ego. He still had all three.

  Even though they had never discussed the topic, Dillon knew her father well enough to understand that he was appalled that a woman as beautiful as Callie would waste herself on another woman. In his opinion all she needed was a good man to show her what she really needed, and most likely he thought he was that man.

  “I’m breaking ground on Gateway next month,” Dillon stated, to change the subject and get his attention off her wife. It worked.

  “Really? How long have you been working that deal? One? Two years now?” Dillon could hear him really say, It’s about time. Anyone else would have Phase I completed by now.

  “Actually, it’s been ten months. Bill Franklin’s was the last piece of property I needed.”

  “What was his holdup? He have you by the balls knowing you needed his land?”

  Her father was always this crude when he talked to her. He never spoke like this with Laura. “No, not at all. As a matter of fact, we finally settled on a price that I thought was way below the value of the property.” She had been shocked this morning when Bill crossed out her offering price and lowered it by several million dollars.

  “Must be something wrong with it that you don’t know about.” Her father was implying that she hadn’t done her homework, which was anything but the case.

  “There’s nothing wrong with the property. Bill just wasn’t ready to sell, and no amount of persuasion or money was going to get him to change his mind.” Dillon defended Bill with the truth.

  “Well, anyone else would have been halfway finished by now.” James stood and set his drink on the table. “I think I’ll dance with the bride.”

  He casually strolled over to where Callie was dancing with her boss, Ross, and hesitated only slightly when he asked her to dance. But Callie looked stiff, not flowing and relaxed like she was with all the other guests she danced with.

  Dillon signaled the waiter for another drink. Her father was a snake. She knew it, yet she continued to try to get him to approve of her life and her value as his daughter. Whereas other fathers loved their daughters unconditionally, hers was disappointed, probably even embarrassed because she was a lesbian. She was successful in every sense of the word, and she didn’t need a shrink to know something was seriously wrong with the fact that she was still looking for her father’s approval.

  Dillon went in search of her mother, whom she found at the bar. The slight slurring of her words convinced Dillon she wasn’t ordering her first or even second cocktail. “Mother, I’ve been looking for you.” She hadn’t, but it was a good opening.

  “Dillon, there you are. Laura and I have been looking all over the place for you. Tim wants to talk to you about something. I don’t remember what.” She took the mixed drink from the bartender, and Dillon signaled him that this was the last drink he would be serving her.

  Dillon held her arm as they walked toward Laura and Tim. “I’ve been talking to Dad.”

  “Where is your father, anyway? I’ve barely seen him all night.” Marjorie Matthews glanced unsteadily around the room. “There he is, dancing with your Callie. Dillon, I’m still ashamed of you for not telling us you were even seeing someone, let alone serious enough to marry the girl. If I didn’t know better I’d say you had to marry her.”

  Dillon knew her mother had no idea about Bill Franklin and his four acres, but she was sensitive to the comment nonetheless. “Mother.”

  “Don’t ‘Mother’ me. I admit I don’t know what you two do or how you do it, but if you were a man, I would swear that Callie was pregnant and you had to marry
her.”

  “Mother, shotgun weddings went out of style forty years ago.” Or did they?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Callie tried hard not to dislike her father-in-law, but he was making it very difficult. From the first time she’d met James, something about him gave her the creeps. She tried not to read too much into his comments or the way he looked at her, but tonight she finally had to admit that he was making a play for her. His hand wandered a little too low for propriety, and when he pulled her closer, the beginnings of his erection made her want to vomit.

  “Dillon is finally going to begin her next project.” Callie had tried talking about anything and everything, but James gave only one-syllable answers, and those not far from her ear. This topic, however, seemed to pique his interest.

  “Yes, she told me. It’s about time she got that job going. I don’t know what’s been taking her so long. She should have had it started months ago.”

  Callie was relieved that his thoughts had been diverted, at least for the time being. “She was still negotiating with Bill.”

  “Well, I don’t know what she was offering him, but it must have been insulting for it to have taken this long to complete. You can’t undercut a deal without it coming back to bite you in the ass.”

  “I’m certain Dillon did what she needed to. All that matters is that Bill signed the papers this morning and she couldn’t be happier.” Callie prayed the song would be over soon.

  “What about you? Are you happy?”

  She pulled away and looked at James, surprised by his question. “Why wouldn’t I be?” She hated answering a question with a question, but she refused to give him anything.

  “You’re a very beautiful woman, Callie. You could have any man in the room, probably any man you set your sights on.” His eyes read her body to emphasize his point.

  Now she definitely didn’t like him. Dillon had told her of his indifference toward her life and lifestyle, but she didn’t expect this treatment. “But I want your daughter.” Her response was catty but she didn’t care. He had just insulted her and Dillon.

  A sour look crossed his face and then was gone. “My point exactly.”

  Callie had enough of beating around the bush. “James, what are you really saying?”

  His expression was calculating. “I’m sure Dillon has told you that I don’t approve of her orientation—”

  “She never said any such thing. As a matter of fact, she rarely talks about you and Marjorie.” Score one for me.

  Callie had been able to get Dillon to finally talk about her parents only two weeks ago. She had met Laura several times, but never James and Marjorie. Dillon had described her parents as “difficult.” At first Callie thought she was simply estranged from them, but after spending a few hours with them yesterday, and this today, she agreed with Dillon.

  Without saying so, Marjorie espoused the belief that you could never be too rich or too thin. Her demeanor was as brittle as her bones appeared to be, and Callie wouldn’t be surprised to see her face crack if she even ventured to smile. She was so tight and cold that the temperature dropped by several degrees when she walked into the room.

  James was arrogant. Obviously he was used to the people around him, Marjorie included, jumping at his every command. He had been barely civil at dinner last night, and today he was even worse, practically ignoring Dillon. Callie had watched him with his other daughter, Laura, whom he obviously doted on. His face lit up whenever she spoke or he looked at her. Even at twenty-eight she was clearly still Daddy’s little girl.

  Callie was shocked when it became apparent that Dillon’s father barely tolerated her. Had it always been this way? If not, what could have caused the rift between them? James probably was the type of man who believed that having a lesbian daughter indicated something negative about his manhood.

  When Dillon’s parents walked into the restaurant last night, Dillon had visibly changed. The self-assured, successful woman disappeared, and a nervous, unfamiliar person who deferred to James—his opinions and his domination of the conversation—emerged. The entire evening this new version of Dillon had tried to get her father’s attention, his real attention, not just the superficial I-know-you’re-there variety. Her attempt wasn’t overt, and anyone else observing them probably wouldn’t have noticed. But Callie was attuned to the woman she planned to marry the next day, and it was completely obvious that Dillon was desperately seeking her father’s love and acceptance.

  Callie made love to Dillon that night with a tenderness that she had never expressed. With her body and her soul she tried to use passion and desire to erase the pain she saw in Dillon’s eyes. She worshipped her strong body, Dillon crying out in ecstasy several times throughout the night. Callie’s heart broke for Dillon but she never spoke of her sorrow.

  “Then why are we here?” James rudely asked.

  “Because I encouraged her to invite you.” Sometime during the discussion the song had changed and she missed her opportunity to escape from his grasping hands.

  “So I should thank you?”

  “No. Dillon makes her own decisions. If there’s anyone you should thank, it’s her.”

  “Why do you want to be with a woman? What does Dillon have that any good man couldn’t give you?”

  Callie knew he meant what he could give her. Men like James had come on to her before. This type just didn’t get it. They thought with their dicks and believed love was sex. This was a crucial moment for her and her future relationship with her in-laws. If she said what was on the tip of her tongue, her remark would cause a strain in their marriage for quite some time. If she kept her mouth shut and acted as though she didn’t know what he was talking about, she would be a hypocrite.

  “Is Dillon adopted?” He looked as if her question caught him off guard. She repeated it.

  “Of course not. Why do you even ask?” James asked, as if he would rather cut off his arm than raise another man’s child.

  Callie couldn’t stop herself. He was on the verge of ruining the happiest day of her life, and she was pissed. “Because she is nothing like Marjorie and absolutely nothing like you, thank God. She is more man than you will ever be and more woman than you will ever have.” Callie dropped her arms and left him standing on the dance floor, and she didn’t care who saw what she had done.

  Dillon had her back to the dance floor, so she missed the show, but Laura didn’t. “Callie doesn’t look happy.”

  Dillon turned in her chair just as Callie approached. The anger in her face was obvious, and when Dillon saw her father standing alone in the middle of the floor, she knew why. “Would you excuse us for a minute, Laura?”

  She grasped Callie’s hand and escorted her to the patio. “What’s wrong? What did he say?” Dillon wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to her questions, but she needed to defend her wife.

  Callie fought to remain in control. She was so angry and hurt that she didn’t know if she should cry or throw something, preferably at her father-in-law. She chose neither. “I owe you an apology.”

  “For what?”

  “For badgering you to invite your parents. I should have let it go the first time you told me you didn’t want them here.”

  Dillon looked furious, as if she would like to wring her father’s neck. “What did he say to you, Callie?”

  “It’s not important.” Callie shook off her mood. This was her wedding day, and it was all about her and Dillon.

  Dillon searched Callie’s face for any sign that she needed to push a little harder to find out what she and her father had talked about.

  “Let it go. Dillon, please, for me.”

  Obviously James had said something to upset Callie, and Dillon was irritated that Callie wouldn’t tell her. She knew better than most that her father could be cruel and downright ugly. The remarks he could have made to upset Callie were endless. But if Callie wanted to forget about the incident and move on, she would try to as well. She looked at Callie’s hand
on her arm and put on her best smile. She filed the conversation she planned to have with her father in the back of her mind and wondered why she was willing to confront her father about his treatment of Callie when she wouldn’t do the same for herself.

  “All right, if you insist.”

  “I do. All that matters is that I love you, I’m your wife, and you better take me home before we consummate this marriage right here on the patio.”

  Callie’s smile was brilliant. Dillon’s heart melted just a little, and the familiar tingling in the pit of her stomach jumped to life. The more times they were together, the more overwhelming her desire for Callie became. They had made love countless times in the last few weeks, each time more powerful than the last. Every time with Callie was like the first time, and Dillon craved her touch, her smell, her taste.

  Callie knew just how to please her. She knew when to go slow and when Dillon needed it hard and fast. Her tenderness was breathtaking, and last night Dillon had sensed a side of her she hadn’t seen so far. Her touch was soothing, like a cool cloth on a hot day. Slowly she had stoked the fire between them until finally, after hours, she allowed Dillon to orgasm. She played her body like a symphony, each touch and kiss taking her higher and higher until she thought she couldn’t go any further, and with one final touch Callie took her over the top. She made Dillon’s body explode, leaving her mind mush long after her orgasm subsided. And then Dillon had wanted Callie again.

  “Yes, ma’am, whatever you say.” Dillon laughed. “My God, I’m already henpecked.”

  It took another hour to politely say good-bye to their guests. Dillon wanted to slip out the back, but Callie insisted they had better manners than that. Dillon joked that it wasn’t her lack of manners that made her want to be alone with Callie sooner rather than later.

  Right before they left, Laura hugged her tight and whispered into her ear, “I’m so happy for you, Dillon. Callie is perfect for you. She’s warm and charming and witty and finally somebody who can handle you. Don’t do anything to screw this up.”