Playing it Kale (The McCain Saga Book 4) (13 page)

CHAPTER
TEN

There’s that saying, floating on cloud
nine.
 
And I’m that.
 

It’s just me and Kale, and a very
embarrassed looking flight crew.
 
We stay
lip locked for what is probably seventy-five percent of the two and a half hour
long flight.

But I could care less.
 
I’m making them all uncomfortable, but that’s
just going to be the way it is today.

Cause I have my Kale back.

My.
 
Kale.

Just before we land, Kale pulls a box
from under his seat.
 
“I got you
something.”

The box is wrapped in gold paper and a
white and pink bow is wrapped around it.
 
“Kale,” I laugh as I take it from him.
 
“You didn’t have to.”

“Open it,” he says, a crazy smile
breaking out on his face.

I pull the bow and the ribbon falls into
my lap.
 
I tear the paper open and open
the box.

Inside is a pair of brilliant yellow, four
inch tall pumps.

“They’re gorgeous Kale.”
 
Seriously, I love the color.
 
“But I can’t wear these.”

“Yes, you can,” he says, locking his
eyes on mine, giving me this serious look.
 
“Just try them on.
 
You’ll like
them.”

I sigh, feeling my chest grow tight.
 
Finally, I slip my flats off.
 
The pumps fit perfectly, but my feet scream
against being bent into such an unnatural shape.

“Damn, those look good,” Kale says.
 
He has a look of utter pride on his
face.
 
“Try them out.
 
Give us a little walk.”

I give an awkward smile and shake my
head as I stand up.

And feel like a freaking giant.
 
My head brushes the ceiling.

“Yes,” he says, totally delighted.
 
He stands and rests his hands on my hips.

“Kale, I feel awkward,” I groan.
 
“Look how much taller than you I am right
now.”

“It’s amazing,” he says, standing on his
toes and pressing a kiss to my lips.
 
“I
want to see you wear those to your next meeting.
 
They’ll make you feel powerful.”

“Really?
 
Powerful?” I say with a laugh and my brows
furrowed together.

“Look at Sage,” he says, giving me a
look.
 
“She wears heels every damn day,
and she’s the most powerful woman I know.”

I let out a sigh, placing my hands on
his shoulders.
 
I feel so tall.
 
“You really mean it, that you don’t mind me
being taller than you like this?”

“
Pfft
,” he
says, the air blowing out between his pursed lips.
 
“Are you kidding me?
 
I’d make you wear a flashing hat that says
Kale’s girl
if you’d let me.
 
I
wanna
show you
off for
all the
world to see.”

I shake my head and lean down to kiss him
again.
 
“You’re crazy.”

“If this is crazy, I don’t ever want to
be sane again.”
 
His hands come behind my
head and hold my lips to his.

Our flight gets in and a non-descript
car drives us from the airport, across the floating bridge, and out onto one of
the little peninsulas.
 
When we pull up,
there’s already a full staff waiting to feed and pamper us.

“Look,” Hadley says as she directs the
staff on where to put our things.
 
“I
know you’re both from here, your family is here, you have friends here, but try
try
try
to keep a low profile.
 
I’m sure whatever
shots that guy got will be all over the place by tonight.
 
It’s going to be obvious you left LA, but
let’s not leave any clues as to where you’ve gone.”

“Got it,” Kale says as he takes my hand
and leads me into one of the bedrooms.
 
I
don’t know how he picks which one to take, there are tons of them.
 
This house is amazing.
 
And huge.
 
And really expensive
looking.

As soon as we step inside, Kale pushes
the door closed and his arms are around me and mine around him.

He hoists me up, my legs wrapping around
his waist and he carries the two of us to the gigantic white bed inside.

But Kale must be remembering how I said
that I wanted to take it slow, because he doesn’t grind his hips into mine like
I’m trying to refrain from doing.
 
His
lips move to my neck, but they aren’t demanding.
 
They’re just missed-you-longing.

“Kill me now,” I sigh into his
hair.
 
“Cause things can’t get better
than this.”

Kale looks down at me with a smile, and
I can tell he’s thinking something like
you
don’t know the half of how much better I can make it.
 
But he keeps that to himself.
 
“I can’t believe we’re finally together.
 
It feels like an eternity since we left.”

We both roll onto our sides, and I just
stare at Kale for a minute.

This is fast.
 
And hot.
 
And super heavy and serious.
 
And I love it.
 
But it is kind of scary.
 
Because in way too many ways, I feel like I
hardly know Kale.

“Tell me about your family,” I say after
a long stretch of quiet.
 
“What are they
like?
 
More supportive than mine, I hope.”

Kale reaches forward and takes a lock of
my hair and twists it around his finger.
 
“I’m really lucky, you know?” he says as he studies my hair.
 
“Not many people get a family as great as
mine.”

“You’re right,” I say, thinking of my
own parents.
 
“Not too many people can
say that.”

“My mom and dad, they’re the best
parents I could have asked for,” he continues.
 
“That doesn’t mean they were perfect, and we had our issues.
 
But they were always there.
 
Dad coached football at my high school for
forever, and was a plumber on the side to help pay the bills.
 
My mom was a midwife until she got pregnant
with Drake.”

“Wow, really?” I say with a
chuckle.
 
I try to remember her and her
face.
 
She seemed like a strong
woman.
 
She rubbed that off on all of her
children.

Kale nods, a smile on his face.
 
“And you kind of met Drake.
 
He’s the oldest, he’s thirty-five now, I
think.
 
He was always the smallest in the
family, and kind of a nerd
cause
he was obsessed with
history and then became a teacher, and now he’s a vice principal, but he kind
of just has this way about him of making you feel like you’re important.
 
Everyone is comfortable around Drake.”

Kale releases my hair and props his head
up on his hand.
 
“His wife Kaylee used to
teach high school, too, before they had kids.
 
She’s kind of wonder mom.
 
And
they love each other like
it’s
still day one.
 
They had it kind of rough in the beginning,
though.”

“What happened?” I ask as my brows
furrow.

“Uh,” he says, like he’s debating if he
should tell me this or not.
 
“Well, they
pretty much knew they wanted to get married from the first day they met.
 
But then they found out Drake’s ex-girlfriend
was pregnant with his kid.
 
That ripped
them apart.”
 
Kale’s eyes are distant,
and I can imagine the horrible things he must have been right in the middle
of.
 
My heart breaks for Drake and
Kaylee.
 
“And then there was this
terrible accident.
 
It was Kaylee’s mom
and the mom of the baby.
 
All three of
them died.”

“That’s terrible,” I say as
goosebumps
flash across my skin.
 

“Yeah,” Kale says quietly.
 
“It was really rough.
 
It took them a while, but eventually they
both healed, and they still loved each other.
 
So they made a life together, just like they always knew they
would.
 
They have four kids together
now.”

It’s all so sweet and tender, and harsh
and awful, I want to find them right now and give both of them hugs.

“And then there’s Sage, my sister,” Kale
continues.
 
He looks up at me and
smiles.
 
“We’ve always been really
close.
 
I mean, we could drive each other
up the wall, but I don’t know, for some reason she’s always felt like a cross
between sister and the world’s most awesome mom.”

“You normally stay with her and Julian
when you come back here, right?” I ask.

He smiles and nods.
 
“I actually moved in with Sage as soon as I
graduated.
 
Like I said, things weren’t
always perfectly smooth with my parents, so she gave me an option to move in
with her.
 
She’s super by-the-book
straightforward education-wise, so it really meant a lot when she gave me her
support when I decided to drop out of college and start modeling full-time.”

“What about Julian?” I ask.
 
“Do you and
him
get
along very well?”

Kale actually chuckles.
 
“Julian is a legit nerd.
 
Apparently, he used to be a serious video
game addict, like obsessive.
 
But he’s
actually really, really cool.
 
And he
made Sage happy, and that’s kind of an impressive feat.”

“Sage seems kind of…terrifying,” I
admit.

He grins once again.
 
“She kind of is.
 
Sage is the kind of person who worked her ass
off to gain as much respect as she possibly could, and she got it.
 
She’s actually the CEO of her company.
 
So, just always respect her, and you’ll get
along fine.”

“I don’t know,” I say, an unsure
expression crossing my face.
 
“Girls like
her kind of scare me.
 
The
“hear me roar, I know exactly who I am” type.”

“Yeah,” Kale says, nodding his
head.
 
“That’d be Sage.
 
But seriously, you’ll learn to love her once
you get used to the tough exterior.”

“If you say so,” I say as I twist my
finger into the hem of his shirt.
 
This
blessedly exposes his beautiful navel.

“And Lake,” Kale continues as he sits up
and just pulls the shirt right off.
 
His
muscles flex, and I’m pretty sure he’s not even aware that he does it.

Bless this wonderful life of mine.

“I don’t know how to really describe
Lake,” Kale says as he lays back down, once again propping his head up on his
hand.
 
“He used to be a cocky football
player that fit every stereotype, and then at the end of high school something
happened that changed him.
 
He enlisted
in the Marines, and then I hardly saw him for almost ten years.”

He bites the inside of his cheek, and
his eyes turn inward.
 
And there’s
instantly worry and fear that just kind of rolls off of him.
 
It’s easy to tell, Kale feared for his
brother, for a really long time.
 
“His
last tour, his best friend was killed.
 
Like, literally blown to bits saving Lake’s life.
 
He carried around a truckload of guilt for
it, so he went to track the
guys
fiancée down to
apologize or something.”

“Riley?” I say in awe.

Kale nods.
 
“How’s that for a complicated start to a
relationship?
 
Lake started falling in
love with Riley, but she wasn’t over that first guy.”

“And who could blame her?” I say, pity
in my own voice.

“Right?”
Kale says, his eyes widening for a second.
 
“But Lake, he just kept being there for her and somehow worked his
magic.
 
Riley loves my brother.
 
There’s no doubt about it.
 
Just took her a while to get there.”