A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella (12 page)

“I’m not mad. You were doing this to help me.”

“We can back out.” He cupped her cheek and looked deeply into her eyes. “Just say the word and I’ll call my family and let them know.”

“No, don’t,” slipped out of her mouth before she could think. She could have said yes. It would have been for the best. Feelings would be stung, but in the end it would be less messy.

“Okay.” He nodded. He took his hand from her face and reached into his pocket where he pulled out a perfect diamond ring.

She lost her breath for a moment, her stomach doing somersaults. A ring that looked like a rose. One round diamond placed in a setting sprinkled with smaller diamonds in the shape of petals. There were even delicate little leaves on the band resembling a stem.

“My sister was asking me about the ring. I thought you might like this one.”

She did. She felt ridiculously close to tears. She more than liked it. She loved it. It was better than anything she could have imagined. “Clay…”

She didn’t know what to say to him. It was fake. It must be fake. This whole arrangement was fake, but as he slipped the ring on her finger, it felt kind of real. “Will you be my fiancé for the summer?”

“Oh… I’m not sure I have any other choice.”

“Just what every man wants to hear.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her. It wasn’t a casual kiss, but a deep one, a slow one. A kiss that she felt from the end of her hair to the tips of her toes. And if her arms weren’t wrapped around him and her body pressed against his, her knees would have given out.

He broke the kiss and looked down into her eyes. She recognized that look. It was the look he gave her when he was turned on. It was the look he gave her when she was naked before him. A girl could get used to a man looking at her like that.

“Don’t kiss me at work like that. And don’t look at me like that either. I can see every dirty thought in your head.”

“Don’t wear tight black jeans.” He gifted her with a wicked grin. “Seeing you in them does things to me.”

“I’ll wear a potato sack next time I see you.”

“That won’t work. All I need to see is you,” he lowered his voice, “and a thousand dirty images flood my mind.”

“Clay…” Her cheeks burned with pleasure.

“When can you sneak away today?”

“I’m not sure,” she said as he set his lips on hers and kissed her again, this time shorter and hotter. Her brain turned to mush.

“Lunch time.” He trailed kisses across her cheek. “Meet me at the Sanna offices at lunch.”

“Okay,” she breathed as he buried his face in her neck and kissed her there.

“Good. I’ll see you then.” He backed away from her, walking out of the store. “You have a good day, ma’am,” he said to Loretta.

“Oh, honey.” She fanned herself. “I sure will.” She waited until he was out of the store before she came rushing towards Daisy. “That was the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to me and it didn’t even happen to me. The way he kissed you. Oh my God! And let me see this ring.”

Daisy had forgotten all about Loretta there. But that was the problem with dealing with a man like Clayton Calhoun. He made her forget herself. He made her forget the world.

“This ring,” Loretta gasped. “It’s you.” She looked up at Daisy. “Fake engagement or not. I don’t think you should let this man go.”

*

Clayton had all but forgotten about the plans he had with his father until he called that afternoon to ask him if he’d rather go to the new burger place in town or eat at the old seafood joint.

It had been easy to forget with everything that had gone down in the past two days. Even now he could barely concentrate on what his father was saying to him. His mind was on Daisy, on the two times he had seen her today. She had met him for lunch and they had traveled to that little secluded swimming hole and had slow lazy sex by the water. He remembered the sun on his back, and her smiling up at him and the way she felt clenched around him. That alone made him want to keep going back to her for more.

But it was what had happened earlier that morning that really stuck in his mind. He had given her a ring. He had seen it before he had even known her. Took note of it when he went to the jewelers to get his great grandfather’s pocket watch fixed. The ring had shouted Daisy, only he hadn’t known her then.

But he knew her now, and the look on her face when he slipped the ring on her finger… He couldn’t describe it, but he knew how he felt. Funny. In his chest. Nervous when he gave it to her, which was weird because none of this was real. He wasn’t marrying her, but with the way she looked at him and the way his chest swelled when she agreed made it feel real.

It made it feel scary real.

He didn’t want to get tangled up in her. A widow with a kid. She had attachments. She had baggage. She was the last thing he needed right now and yet he had wrapped himself up in all of that. He did it. He couldn’t blame her if he wanted to, because he simply couldn’t stay away.

“So then I took my flying elephant on a trip to Sweden and got all types of pissed when I realized that he took me there instead of Switzerland, because that’s where they make all the good chocolate.”

“What?” Clayton snapped back to attention.

His father leaned back in his seat and folded his hands over his stomach. “I was eight minutes into that story. I was wondering how long it would take for you to pay attention.”

“Sorry.”

“Nah. Don’t be. You’re not usually a sparkling conversationalist and I know you’d rather have your toe nails pulled out than spend unnecessary time with me, but you’re distracted.”

“I’ve never said that I didn’t want to spend time with you.”

“You don’t have to say it, Clayton. I know. Your disdain for me rolls off you like a subtle stench, but unlike your sister who just lets me have it and refused to talk to me, you agree to do things with me that you don’t want to do just so you can torture me.”

“I don’t. Trust me. I don’t think about you enough to. I don’t care that much.”

“Ouch.” He touched his chest. “That stinger came barbed. I know you only do this out of respect. It makes me feel even shittier.”

“Maybe you should feel shitty. Maybe you deserve to live the rest of your life feeling that way.”

“Maybe I do. I can understand why you would hate me, but what I don’t understand is why you are so angry with your mother.”

“I’m not angry with her.”

“You are. We talk about it. She feels close to Maggie, but not to you. You’re here in Durant, but you’re not here with us. You might as well be back in the service, because we feel just as close to you as when you were in Afghanistan.”

“What do you want me to say to that?” He could feel himself tense. This was a topic he never liked to broach with his parents. There would be no use, because it wouldn’t change the past.

“Is that why you’re going back overseas? Iraq this time, is it? They want you to train their private forces and serve as some big wig’s personal body guard when he leaves his walled compound.”

“What?”

“You didn’t think I knew about that? You think I’m not still connected? You think I haven’t been offered jobs like that? It’s good money, son. I can see why you would take it, but you’ve got that pretty fiancé now who has already buried one husband, not to mention a kid who is going to depend on you the moment you say I do. Do you think it’s fair for them to bury another man they love?”

“You sound so sure I’m going to die over there.”

“You might not, but if you go I’m going to have to prepare myself for the day they call me to tell me they are shipping your body back in a bag.”

“You spent half my damn life away and the half you were around being a dick to my mother. What gives you the right to say anything to me?”

“You’re my son, damn it!” The nicer gentler father he had come to know had faded away and he was faced with the hardnosed disciplinarian he knew as a child. For some reason he was more comfortable with this man. “I will always have the right to say something to you. Think of your mother. Think of your sister and those babies that she’s carrying. Think of Daisy. Does she deserve a half marriage?”

“I am thinking about Daisy. You don’t know anything about us.”

“Maybe not, but I do know that my marriage failed with your mother mostly because I wasn’t there. I was never there and I was too fucked up from the things I saw. You’re too much like me, Clay. You bottle things up. You let them fester and stew. And just like me you’ll become bitter. And just like your mother walked away from me, Daisy will walk away from you and one day you’ll be sitting at a table across from your kid that hates you.”

“You don’t have to sit at this table across from me. I’ll leave. Have a good night, sir.”

He left his father sitting in the restaurant and instead of going back to his house, he found himself standing in front of Daisy’s door. Aubrey answered it and when she saw him she smiled. She really did look like Daisy. He wondered how it could be possible for a child to look like her aunt more than her mother. But Clayton chose to take that as a sign that Daisy and Aubrey belonged together and that’s why he was okay with keeping up this ruse for the summer. Aubrey deserved to have a shot at a happy childhood.

“We’re about to have dessert.” She took his hand and led him towards the kitchen. “My new grandma and grandpa bought me a cookbook for kids. Mama said I could make anything I want.”

“Did you have fun with your grandparents?”

“They’re nice. We’re just getting to know each other,” she said, sounding very much like an adult. “They would like to take me to Disney World. I said no thank you. I want to go to camp.”

“You’d rather go to camp than Disney? I would have killed to go to Disney when I was a kid. Hell, I want to go now. You think your grandparents would take me?”

“You and Mama can take me,” she said. “After you get married.”

“Oh,” he said. After they get married. He hated that she would end up disappointed. “I’ll talk to your mom about it.”

“Talk to me about what?” Daisy turned around and looked at him, her eyes immediately filling with concern. “What’s the matter?” She came over to him and kissed his cheek.

“Aubrey thinks we should take her to Disney World after we get married.”

“Oh,” she glanced at Aubrey and then back at him as if she wasn’t sure what to say. “We’ll talk about that later. There’s something else though. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I just had dinner with my father.”

“Ah.” She hugged him tightly. “Would it be terrible of me to say that I liked him a lot?”

“Yes.” He closed his eyes and hugged her back. “Traitor.”

“I’m not. I can still like him and be on your side. I have no problem leaving a bag of flaming dog mess on his front steps.”

“Good. Because we’re doing that after dessert.” He held on to her for a few minutes, while she rubbed his back. He had never had this. Someone who was just there for him. Someone who could release his tension before he blew up. His father had it all wrong. Clayton was not like him. He could never treat a woman he cared about so poorly. He could never lose himself, his values so completely.

“I’m not so sure you’re going to like dessert,” she said into his ear. It took a moment for him to process what she was saying because he got caught up in the feeling of her lips on his ear, that combined with her warm sweet breath brushing over his skin, and the feel of her curves against him made his mind go elsewhere. Back to that afternoon in his truck. Back to when he felt her breath on his skin and her body beneath his.

He had it bad for this woman. He couldn’t go a full day without seeing her, a few hours without touching her.

She’ll love you.

He kept hearing Aubrey’s little voice in his head.
She’ll love you.

It had startled him to hear her say that but being loved by Daisy didn’t seem like such a bad thing. In fact it’s something he might like very much.

“Why? What is it?” He let go of her, needing space to clear his head.

“S’mores mac and cheese.”

“Excuse me?” He blinked at her, not sure he had heard her correctly.

“It’s macaroni and cheese made with cream cheese, chocolate, marshmallows, vanilla and brown sugar.”

“Don’t forget about the graham crackers, Mama.”

“Of course not, Cookie. How could I? It’s in the oven now. It should be just about done.”

She took the concoction out of the oven and he had to admit it looked good with a pretty golden brown crust and a buttery smell that reminded Clayton that he hadn’t eaten much at dinner.

But macaroni with chocolate and marshmallows?

“What made you decide to make this, Aubrey?”

“It was the weirdest recipe in my cookbook.” She shrugged. “Mama and I like to try new things to cook. Tomorrow we’re having spaghetti tacos and potato chip cookies. Please come for dinner.”

“I will.” He nodded and looked back to the steaming dish. “Scoop me up a big bowl of that stuff.”

“A big bowl? You aren’t full from dinner?”

“Give him a big bowl, Mama. He wants to try our cooking.”