Going All In (33 page)

He took a deep breath and continued. “I’m not real good with words, but… I want to make this work. I still have my doubts about being who you need me to be.” His gaze roamed around the interior of the car. “I’ll never be able to give you this.” He laughed. “Hell, I guess if you want one, you can buy it yourself.” He sobered and chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I’m not sure how I feel about that either, but…”

He gathered her up in his arms and pulled her onto his lap as he sat back on the seat. “I’m absolutely certain how I feel about you. If it’s all right with you, we’ll figure the rest out together.”

W
ade pulled into the parking lot of The Chesapeake, put his truck into park, and stared at the clubhouse in front of him. He found it hard to believe how much his life had changed, again, in just a few short weeks. This time, rather than the abrupt change leading to a broken heart and leaving him lost to a world of misery, the change had filled his heart with more love than he thought possible and made him happier than he’d ever dreamed.

He and Callie hadn’t talked about the diving incident since the day it happened. However, the reality of their fragile existence stuck with them both and permeated every part of their lives. They weren’t morose, and neither planned on future traumatic events, but they’d gotten a crash course in the importance of living life to the fullest, and that’s exactly what they were doing. Together.

He spent most nights at Callie’s, since she was still adapting to his rustic home and beach life—which meant having sand on the floor, no matter how often they swept, and dealing with rogue grains in the bed. Several times he’d gotten her out on the patio to enjoy a fire in the pit, but he had yet to introduce her to the joys of sex on the beach. He could tell from the way she bit her lip and cast dreamy eyes to the water’s edge whenever he broached the subject that she was slowly warming to the idea, and it was just a matter of time until she gave in.

The Anticue renovations were going well, and he and Callie had the first guest reservations on the books. Sunny still hadn’t gotten a new car, but she’d agreed to start looking as soon as the lethargy and all-day sickness passed.

Wade was still trying to convince Mercy to take the ring, but she was taking longer to come around than he’d hoped. He’d even used Callie’s example of electricity to explain this was a chance for the ring to bring good into somebody’s life, but she was too proud to accept “charity.” There wasn’t anything he could do but continue to remind her the ring was hers whenever she was ready to accept the gift.

Tyler and Alex had fully recovered and things were back to business as usual, with one exception. Tyler was still miserable without Laney, but he finally saw his life held value, even without her, and he vowed to cut back on the crazy stunts. He would always push the envelope, but now at least he measured the risks.

Wade grabbed the wrapped present from the seat beside him, climbed down from his truck, and made his way to the front door of the clubhouse. He hadn’t been back since the day he moved on to work in Anticue, and he was curious to see all the changes Callie had made.

There was a car in the lot with North Carolina tags, so rather than call out and interrupt her meeting, he followed the sound of voices coming from the back conference room. He stepped up to the open doorway and peeked inside, hoping to catch her attention to let her know he was there, and had the air knocked from his lungs like a giant fist sucker-punched him and his brain was as scrambled as his morning eggs.

Miranda’s older sister, Lizbeth, sat across the table from Callie, and they were laughing and conversing like they’d known each other forever. Catching sight of him from the corner of her eye, Callie’s laugh morphed into the wide, love-filled smile she reserved strictly for him, and as always, his stomach fluttered and his heart swelled in his chest.

“Hey,” she said, extending her hand toward him, inviting him to join them. “What a great surprise. Come on in.”

Lizbeth, who’d allowed her mouth to drop open in a most unladylike fashion, quickly snapped it closed and nervously licked her lips. Picking up on the weird vibe passing between him and Lizbeth, Callie said, “Do you two know each other?”

He ran his hand over his head, unable to believe how small the world was sometimes. “Believe it or not, yeah, we do.” To Lizbeth, he said, “Good to see you, Lizbeth.”

Despite their extreme differences in backgrounds and tastes and, well, pretty much everything, he’d always gotten along well with Lizbeth, and he didn’t hold any of her sister’s actions against her. She must’ve been concerned about his reaction, because she seemed to be holding her breath, waiting for an explosion. When he showed her none of the animosity he carried toward her sister, she smiled and rose from her chair. “It’s good to see you too. How have you been?”

If she’d asked him that question six months ago, he’d have smiled and lied and said
great.
Now, however, as Callie rose from her chair and came to him, his smile was genuine and there wasn’t a need to lie about anything. He always stood a little taller and prouder with her next to him, and the words, “I’ve never been better,” were the absolute truth.

He wrapped his arm around Callie and pulled her against him, then kissed her temple. Now that the shock of seeing Lizbeth had worn off, he offered Callie more of an explanation. “Lizbeth is Miranda’s sister.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open in a silent, “Oh.” She studied him for a minute, probably trying to decide for herself how he really felt about being confronted by his past. Hoping to reassure her, he tipped his head and caught her gaze, then gave her a small, private smile and a wink.

Returning his attention to Lizbeth, he said, “How about you? You doing all right?”

He hadn’t seen or spoken to her since his split with Miranda, which happened to be the same day she’d split with Kevin, and he’d often wondered how she was getting along.

“Oh.” She pasted on a socialite’s smile and drew back her shoulders, putting on a good front. Exactly as he would’ve done before Callie. “I’m great.” She held out her hand and motioned back and forth between him and Callie. “Obviously, you two are an item.”

Callie beamed and gazed at him as if he were the sun and the moon while wrapping her arms tight around his waist. “Yep,” he said with a laugh as he set the wrapped box on the table, then took a seat and pulled Callie down onto his lap. “We’re the most unlikely pair in the world, but our differences make us better and stronger. We’re both learning to enjoy diverse things, mostly those things that are important to the other. Although, I have to admit, Callie’s learned to like the beach more than I’ve learned to enjoy a tux.” He shuddered as he thought of the fundraising event he’d promised to attend with her and her mother the following weekend.

Lizbeth laughed and tossed her head back, sending her long auburn hair sliding over her shoulder and down her back. She grinned at Callie. “I can imagine. Promise me you’ll take pictures when that happens again.”

“I definitely will.” Callie clasped his hand and squeezed. “Kevin hired Lizbeth to help with the grand opening in a few weeks, so she’s going to be here quite a bit between now and then.” She bit her lip and sucked in her breath while awaiting his reaction to the news.

He smiled at her, hoping to once again reassure her, then turned to his attention to Lizbeth. “That’s great. I look forward to catching up with you.”

As he looked at Lizbeth, who favored her sister in so many ways, he marveled at the mysteries of the universe. He’d been devastated by his loss of Miranda and wasn’t sure he’d ever recover. He turned to look at Callie. And now he wondered how he’d gotten so lucky to have things work out the way they did.

As he and Callie continued to stare at each other like a couple of starry-eyed lovebirds, Lizbeth cleared her throat and began gathering her things. “I have everything I need for now, so I’m going to take off.” She shoved her papers and calculator into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ll get with you later in the week to finalize the details.”

Callie broke eye contact with him and giggled as a blush crawled up her neck. “Sorry, I tend to get distracted when he’s around.”

Lizbeth laughed and tossed her hand in the air. “Sweetie, that’s completely understandable.” Her smile faltered briefly before she caught the slip and re-pinned it in place. “I’m glad you’ve found someone who makes you happy, Wade. You deserve nothing but the best.”

“Let me walk you to the door,” Callie said, pushing to her feet.

“No, no.” Lizbeth waved her off. “I can show myself out.”

“I’ll walk with you,” Wade said, then startled Callie by lifting her and setting her on the conference room table in front of him. “You stay right there.” He started out of the room, then turned and pointed to the box on the table. “Don’t touch that until I’ve come back.”

He laughed as her shoulders dropped and a pout puckered her pretty pink lips. She’d cut her gaze to the gift a couple times, and he knew the second he walked out of the room, she’d be all over it. Hopefully, she wouldn’t recognize the wrapping paper and she wouldn’t shake it hard enough to figure out the contents on her own.

Since it was dark, he walked Lizbeth all the way to her car and waited until she’d driven out of sight. Going back inside, he locked up and flipped off all the lights—the equivalent of hanging a
CLOSED
sign on the door. There was a chance Kevin would stop by to check out things on his way home from work, but locked doors and darkened windows would be a good indicator he wasn’t welcome. Even if he did own the place.

When he returned to the conference room, Callie had the box on her lap, looking guilty as sin.

“You’ve been shaking it, haven’t you?”

She shrugged and flashed him a dimple. “If you really didn’t want me touching it, you wouldn’t have left it lying right there.”

Laughter bubbled from his chest as his heart expanded even more. It was so hard to believe this woman, who brought him so much joy, was the same woman he’d spent a year avoiding. He’d had a lot of healing to do, and things wouldn’t have worked out between them then, but it still seemed a shame they’d lost a year together. However, crying over wasted time accomplished nothing, and he’d much rather focus on their bright future.

“Can I open it now?”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “I should make you wait another day for breaking the rules.”

She dipped her head and batted her eyes. “But you won’t.”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, I won’t. Go for it.”

It was the first time he’d seen her open a gift, and there wasn’t any careful untying of the bow or slipping the ribbon off and unwrapping the paper so it could be reused. This was balls to the wall ripping and tossing, and ten seconds later she had the top off, staring at the boots she’d had on layaway, her mouth and eyes wide open.

“Oh, my God.” She pulled one of the boots from the box and held it to her chest while looking at him with eyes full of wonder. “How did you know where they were?”

“Jen can be useful,” he grudgingly admitted.

Since the day of the diving accident, he and Jen had reached a truce of sorts. She still didn’t think he was good enough for her friend, but she accepted him.

And he… Well, he felt the same about her.

Callie pulled the other boot from the box and drew in a long, deep breath, sniffing the leather like it was the most exotic fragrance she’d ever encountered. “Thank you.” Tears filled her eyes as she glanced at him again. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Why not?”

He moved the chair out of his way and took hold of her ankle, then slipped the tiny ankle boot off before taking the long, thigh-high boot from her hand. He’d intended the act of redressing her in the new boots to be a hell of a lot sexier than it ended up being, but putting on a pair of boots as long as a leg wasn’t easy. After slipping on the second, he stood back and admired the sexy boots and the even sexier woman.

“They’re even hotter than I expected.” He ran his palms along the inside of her thighs and spread her legs apart. “I may not be able to give you a yacht or a mansion, Callie, but I can give you a pair of boots.” He stepped in between her legs and settled his hands on her waist. “I’ll always do everything in my power to make you happy.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her forehead to his. “Being with you makes me happy.”

“Yeah?” he asked in a playful, teasing tone as he tugged the hem of her skirt a little higher. “I like the sound of that.”

Her breath hitched and she glanced at the door. “What if Kevin stops by?”

He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her so he could slide the back of her skirt out from under her while also taking down her panties. “The door’s locked. The lights are off. He’ll understand that means
do not disturb.
”

She swallowed roughly and let her head fall back as he ran his tongue up the side of her neck to her ear. “Okay, I’m convinced.” Her words were breathy and her eyelids fluttered shut. “Wade?”