Undeniable (Always Book 3)

by Lexxie Couper

  His jaw bunched. His nostrils flared. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my father more angry. “One second you’re sleeping with Perry,” he said, voice devoid of all emotion, “and the next you’re shacked up in a motel with this . . . this . . .”

  “Veterinarian.” Caden’s relaxed voice filled the air. He released my hand and smoothed his arm up my back and around my shoulders. “Well, almost. I’ve got my doctorate of Veterinarian Medicine to finish at Melbourne uni. But given you’ve known me for a while now, given you had Brendon investigated when he came back into Amanda’s life, I’m sure you already know that, despite how hard you’ve tried to pretend I don’t exist.”

  I gasped, and then gaped at Dad.

  “Investigated?” Mom asked, her face as shocked as I felt. “You had Brendon investigated, Charles?”

  He ignored her. He studied Caden, his eyes unwavering.

  “You probably already know what my midterm exam results are,” Caden went on. I’d never heard him speak so calmly. It was like he was having a chat with the guy packing his groceries. “And I’m okay with that because I know they’re pretty bloody good.” He threw me a quick glance. “They are. Top of all my classes. Proud of me?”

  Before I could respond, he turned back to Dad. But he didn’t let go of my hand. Instead, he drew me closer to him. That simple move made me love him all the more. Despite this fucked-up situation he was still here. Still standing beside me. Still standing with me.

  “As for the Australian thing?” He scratched at his beard, a lopsided grin on his face. “Well, there’s nothing I can do about that except say Fair suck of the sav, mate. Oh and this – which is probably the worst thing I can say at this point in time, but I don’t give a rat’s arse – you’re a bloody wanker, Dr. Sinclair. My cousin is too nice a bloke to say it, but I’m not. Too nice, that is.”

  “Caden,” I whispered, my stomach clenching.

  Dad watched him, silent.

  Caden let out a dry snort. “I get that you’re protective of your daughters, sir. I truly do. I understand the whole being protective thing. Ask Chase, she’ll tell you. But you’ve got to take a chill pill. Trust me, I know. Otherwise you’re going to mess everything up and you might never get a second chance to make things right again. And from everything I’ve seen, both Amanda and Chase are doing okay.”

  I swallowed. Not just at Caden’s words, but at Dad’s expression – contemplative. Guarded, to be sure. But contemplative all the same.

  “Maybe,” Caden said, letting go of my hand to smooth his over my hip, “if you just step back a little and see them for who they are . . .” He looked at me. Smiled at me. “See how amazing and courageous and intelligent and beautiful and perfect they are . . . she is . . .” He returned his attention to Dad. “You’ll see all your stress and worry and freaking out is for nothing.”

  Dad stood motionless. So did Mom, chewing on her bottom lip.

  I am so her daughter some times.

  “Dad,” I said finally, walking over to them both. “I love you, I really do. And I know it’s your job to be dogmatic sometimes, just as it’s mine to sometimes be a pain in the ass. It’s the whole father-daughter dichotomy. But you’re destroying this family. Can’t you see that?”

  His eyes narrowed, and his chest swelled with an intake of breath I didn’t need to hear to know was shaky. “I just want the best for my daughters,” he said.

  Mom touched his arm, worry eating up her face. “Caden is correct, Charles. Your daughters are incredible women. They have grown into amazing young adults, thanks in part to you. Now it’s time to let them find their feet completely.”

  I gave Mom a grateful smile. I wasn’t going to cry and spoil the moment. The moment didn’t need tears. The moment needed strength, understanding. Forgiveness.

  Acceptance.

  Dad studied me, his expression enigmatic. The Australian is not sharing your bed with you while he’s here, he signed at me. Neither is the dog.

  “The Australian wouldn’t disrespect you with the assumption he was going to,” Caden answered from behind me.

  I barely heard the words, but they made me smile all the same. They also made Dad’s eyebrows rise as he turned his gaze on Caden.

  “I’ll be staying with my cousin,” Caden continued, now at my side, “until I go back to Australia. Why don’t you all come around for dinner one night?”

  Dad looked at him. Looked at me. Looked back at him. I could see his brain processing it all. I know my father well. We may not exactly get along, but the one thing I’ve always admired about him is his intelligence and his ability to navigate through a problem. Well, except when the problem was me. Or Amanda.

  “So you really love my daughter?”

  My pulse jumped at the question. It wasn’t what I’d been expecting at all.

  “I do.” Caden took my hand. At my knee, Doofus let out a happy bark.

  “Enough not to expect her to leave the US when you do?”

  My stomach twisted. But as much as I didn’t want to admit it, Dad was right. Geography was not on our side.

  “Enough to expect her to make the right decision for her future herself,” Caden answered. “And to accept it when she does, whether I like it or not.”

  Dad’s eyes narrowed again. He regarded Caden with silent contemplation, and then turned his attention to me.

  “I know you and your sister don’t believe me,” he said, signing the words at the same time. I’m glad he did. It was hard to see his lips through the tears suddenly prickling my eyes. Or to hear him clearly through the choked timbre of his voice. “But I’ve only ever wanted what’s best for you both.”

  I nodded. Damn, my throat was thick. Tight. I know, Dad, I signed back.

  “I’ve just got to get my head around what best is,” he said. “And that you’re both old enough, responsible enough to know what it is, even when I don’t.”

  “I love you, Daddy,” I said. Okay, said is probably not the right verb. Croaked might be better. Rasped more accurate.

  “I love you too, kitten,” he said.

  Wow, when was the last time he’d called me kitten? When I was nine? After I’d gotten in trouble at school for arguing with a substitute teacher who’d accused me of whispering in class? Dad had stormed into the principal’s office, guns blazing, and told them he’d make sure every single one of them lost their job if they treated his kitten that way again.

  I remember being so embarrassed.

  We looked at each other. The chasm between us wasn’t even close to being bridged, and the chasm he’d created between him and Amanda might never be, but at that point, I found myself believing one thing: he’d behaved the way he had out of love. It was hard to be pissed at him for that.

  Do you mind, he signed, if I hug you?

  I opened my mouth to say I didn’t mind at all, and stopped when Brendon’s SUV pulled into the driveway behind Mom and Dad.

  Mom turned. Dad did the same. Caden took hold of my hand again. I shot him a quick glance, for a moment completely tongue-tied. What he’d said to Dad, what he’d done . . .

  Frowning, I shook my head. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, I signed.

  He grinned. And then quickly snatched a kiss. Be you, he signed back.

  “What’s going on?” Amanda asked, alighting from the car and frowning at us all, as Brendon opened the back passenger door.

  Before any of us could answer, a little blur of color shot from the car.

  “Cade!” Tanner cried, delight dancing in his voice as he ran straight for Caden.

  “Hey, little dude.” Caden scooped him up, swinging him around with gusto. “’Bout bloody time I saw you.”

  “Language, cousin,” Brendon scolded with a grin, walking over to join us. I didn’t miss the quick glance he gave my father. Nor did I miss the tension in his body.

  “Yeah, Cade,” Tanner echoed, laughing. “Bloody language.”

  I covered my mouth with my hand, desperate to hide my
smile.

  Caden didn’t bother. He grinned some more, first at Brendon – who shook his head with his own smile – and then at Tanner, now resting on his hip. “Oops. I’m bad.”

  “You are bad,” Amanda agreed, placing a kiss on Mom’s cheek. “Hey, Mom. Dad. Any reason we’re all out on the sidewalk?”

  “Doggy!” Tanner squirmed out of Caden’s arms, before any of us could answer. He reached for Doofus, currently standing at Chase’s ankles, tail wagging. “Doggy!”

  Amanda and Brendon both moved toward their son with the kind of speed I recognized all too well: that of a parent in protective mode. “Tanner,” Brendon shouted.

  Before either could reach him however, Tanner wrapped his arms around Doofus’s body, his face beaming with joy, his cheek mashed to Doofus’s side. “Doggy,” he repeated, eyes closed.

  Every instinct I had screamed at me to disengage my nephew – so recently recovered from leukemia – from the dog I’d so recently fallen in love with. I almost did. And then stopped when I saw Caden lower to a crouch beside Tanner and Doofus, his smile relaxed. He reached out, placing his palm on Doofus’s side. Doofus looked at him, a happy pant making it appear as if he was smiling. The protective plastic cone around his neck, and his front leg cast pressed to Tanner’s shoulder, didn’t seem to diminish Tanner’s joy at all.

  “He’s a cool dog, isn’t he, little dude?” Caden said, smiling at Tanner.

  I flicked my sister a quick look. She stood beside her son, watching him and Doofus and Caden like a hawk. Brendon did the same, although he was more at ease than Amanda. This was Brendon after all.

  “He’s a bloody cool dog,” Tanner agreed.

  “You know,” Caden said, giving Doofus’s ear a gentle scratch, “I’m very much of the opinion that all boys need a dog to love, just as much as all dogs need a boy to love. What do you think?”

  Tanner nodded against Doofus’s side. “I want a dog to love,” he declared with all the emphatic force of a three year old. “Mommy and Daddy say one day.”

  Caden closed his eyes, brow furrowing for a heartbeat. And then he opened his eyes and smiled at Tanner again.

  “If your Mum and Dad said it was okay,” he said, moving his hand to Tanner’s head, “would you look after Doofus for me? When . . .” He gave me a very quick look. “When I go back to Australia?”

  Tanner pulled away from Doofus. If I hadn’t already thought Doofus was the best dog in the world, I did now. He stood still and calm, his tail wagging, as if aware the little person hugging him was fragile.

  Eyes wide, Tanner studied Caden with solemn intensity before swinging his stare up to his parents. “Can I?”

  I swallowed. I remembered what Amanda had told me on the phone earlier today when I’d asked her whether Tanner was medically well enough to have a pet. I remembered her answer very clearly: “I don’t know. I’ll have to check with Parker.”

  “I don’t—” Dad began, making me jump. He made Mom jump as well.

  Brendon, however, didn’t jump. Nor did Amanda.

  “Of course you can, buddy,” Brendon said, giving Tanner a wide smile. “Mummy spoke with Doctor Waters today and he said a dog is a good thing, an awesome thing for you to have. So whenever Chase and Caden need someone to look after Doofus, that someone can be you. How’s that sound?”

  Tanner grinned up at me, and then hugged Doofus again. Gently. Was he aware Doofus was fragile as well? It’s likely. When you’ve battled leukemia at the age of two, you become far more aware of what it means to be sick. And what it means to be well. “Are you going to Australia too, Aunny Chase? With Cade?”

  My heart thumped faster in my throat. My breath seemed to feel heavy. I opened my mouth. And then shut it. I had no answer to that question. None.

  Not yet.

  Goddamn it, just when you think you have all your ducks in a row, one of the bastard ducks turns out to be from the Southern freaking Hemisphere, and another one of the ducks is a dog.

  “Hey, Tanner?” Mom suddenly said, doting grandma voice in full affect. “I bought a new tub of ice cream today. Want to help me eat it?”

  Just like that Tanner shot to his feet. “Ice cream!”

  Amanda laughed. Mom did the same, holding out her hand to Tanner. “Come inside, champ.”

  “Ice cream,” Tanner cried again, the words a joyous song, as he took Mom’s hand with excited eagerness.

  Amanda looked at me. At Caden. At Dad. “See you inside,” she said, her smile understanding.

  Doofus barked his farewell.

  Brendon chuckled. “Ice cream,” he said, shaking his head. “Guess that’s another hour on the treadmill coming my way.”

  I tried to laugh. Instead, I moved my gaze between Dad and Caden. Caden watched Tanner, Mom and Amanda enter the house, his hand resting on Doofus’s head. Dad slid his gaze back and forth between Caden and Brendon.

  My chest tightened. I turned to Brendon. “Are you sure?” My voice cracked.

  He nodded. “We’re sure. What about you?”

  “Couldn’t be surer,” Caden answered. “Every boy needs a dog.”

  Before I knew what he was doing, Brendon grabbed Caden in rough hug.

  I think Caden may have chuckled out a laugh, but I couldn’t hear it if he did. I watched Brendon squeeze Caden and then, it was me in his arms, as he hugged me in an embrace that should have been crushing, but instead was gentle. For a guy with muscles bigger than The Rock’s, Brendon sure knew how to do tender.

  I’d just started to return the unexpected hug when he let me go and smiled. “See you both inside.”

  With a quick nod to Dad, he turned.

  And stopped when my father said, “Brendon?”

  I swallowed. A distant part of me noticed Caden had taken my hand again. God, I loved the feel of his fingers threaded through mine. Loved it almost as much as I loved him.

  Shoulders tensing, Brendon turned back to Dad. “Charles?”

  For a moment, just a moment, Dad didn’t move. And then he held out his hand. “Thank you,” he said, looking Brendon in the eye. “Are . . . are you staying for lunch?”

  Brendon blinked. He dropped his gaze to Dad’s extended hand. His Adam’s apple slid up and down his throat. “We are,” he said, completing the timeless gesture with a firm shake. “Thanks for the invite.”

  A breath fell from me, shaky and close to a laugh. I didn’t know what else to do.

  Dad smiled. There was still conflict and uncertainty in his eyes, but he smiled. At Brendon. At Caden. At me. “Let’s go see what’s on offer, apart from ice cream, shall we?”

  Brendon nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

  Dad turned to Caden. “You know, I’ve heard it said that San Diego is the closest you can get to life in Australia without living in Australia.”

  And with that, he made his way to the house without another word to us, Brendon walking at his side. If you’d told me I would have witnessed such an occurrence a few days ago, I would have laughed in your face.

  Caden and I stood shoulder to shoulder, watching them enter the house. My house. My home.

  The place I’d spent the surreal, insane journey that was growing up. The place I’d fully intended to remain my home for quite a few more years, at least until I knew what I was truly doing with my life.

  Which I did now, right?

  “You know what we need?”

  I turned at Caden’s question.

  “Ice cream,” he said.

  I chewed my bottom lip and then drew in a deep breath, my heart wild. “Know any good places to get ice cream in Melbourne?”

  He grew still. So very still. “I do.”

  I smiled. “Let’s go then.”

  And then I rose up onto tiptoe and kissed him.

  Cause that’s what you do when you’re about to start a whole new life: kiss the person you’re going to live it with, to let them know it’s begun.

  Thank you for reading

  My best friend’s second daug
hter was born partially deaf in one ear. Another close of friend of mine’s third daughter was born deaf in one ear and partially deaf in another.

  Over the years, I’ve watched these two little girls grow into strong, fierce, independent young women who take on the world.

  I can’t even begin to image a life without listening to it, but I know Cate and Charlotte have never let it slow them down.

  Right now, just take a moment to stop, close your eyes and listen to the world…

  If you enjoyed Undeniable, follow me on Bookbub for pre-order, sales, and new-release alerts, sign-up for my newsletter, the Lexxicon. You’ll receive a free copy of my (erotic) paranormal short story, The Cavern, plus never miss out on exciting announcements and giveaways!

  More Romance From Lexxie Couper…

  The Always Series

  Unconditional

  Unforgettable

  Undeniable

  The Outback Skies Series

  Bound to You

  Breathless for You

  Burn for You

  Bare for You

  Better with You

  The Heart of Fame Series

  Love’s Rhythm

  Muscle for Hire

  Guarded Desires

  Steady Beat

  Lead Me On

  Blame it on the Bass

  Getting Played

  Blackthorne

  See the full book list…

  First Chapter Preview: Unconditional

  Heart of Fame Book Eight

  Life’s great – it’s the terminal degenerative disease that sucks.

  Unconditional

  (Always, Book One)

  Available Here

  Australia was not what I was expecting. Sure, I hadn’t even made it out of the airport, but still, where were the kangaroos? The koalas? Where were the hot guys walking around in Speedos? Where were the Tim Tams? Didn’t those delicious chocolate cookies fall from the sky over here? I’m sure I’d read that somewhere? Or maybe I’d dreamt it.