by Karen Renee
Cal looked as if he was trying not smile at me. “Don’t give me the elbows, woman. You got nothin’ to get pissy about. My bossiness isn’t ‘all of a sudden.’ You just hadn’t noticed it too much. As for how you’re gettin’ to work, you can take my Mustang.”
My eyes slid to the low-slung sports car. It would be fun to drive that muscle car, but I didn’t need to admit that to Cal. Instead, I focused on the one aspect of his response he should have kept to himself. “I’m not pissy.”
Cal moved into me and grabbed both of my hands. He pulled them around his back and settled them on his ass. “You were gettin’ close to pissy. It’s written all over your face; you wanna drive my car. So, are you done givin’ me grief, or have I got to kiss you into submission?”
I had to press my lips together to keep myself from asking, “Kiss me into submission?” Cal’s eyes were starting to crinkle in amusement. So I said, “Well, is your car a stick?”
He blinked, and said, “Kiss you into submission, it is.”
When Cal pulled away from me, I made a mental note that being kissed into submission was a good way to go.
Twenty minutes later, we made a left off of the southern portion of San Jose boulevard onto Julington Creek road. Cal drove almost a mile before he turned right onto a residential road with very large houses set on big lots. He pulled into a large driveway and hit a button on a clicker hanging from the visor. A wooden gate started rolling to the left and revealed a longer drive that wrapped around to the back of the yard. The house was very angular. Part of the house jutted out toward the driveway, and a long sidewalk ran beside that portion of the house leading up to the front door. It was a two-story home, and the exterior of the first floor was all brick, but there was grey wood siding on the upper level of the house exterior. Normally, I didn’t like when houses had brick and wood together. I much prefer a consistent exterior on a house, but somehow this house had more character with brick and wood working together on the outside. It was a stunning house, and I hadn’t even stepped foot inside it.
Cal put an arm around my neck and pulled me to the left. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “My house speaking to you yet?”
“More like, it’s crooking its finger at me to come inside,” I murmured.
Cal chuckled as he pulled the car further into the driveway. The house was on the water. It wasn’t the St. Johns, but it was clearly a tributary feeding into Julington Creek which fed into the St. Johns nearby. Real estate like this, on the eastern side of the river, was far from cheap. My mouth ran away from my analytic brain as I asked, “How did you afford this? No offense, but it’s gotta be like half a million.”
Cal stroked the back of my neck. “None taken. It was a foreclosure in poor shape when I bought it ten years ago. It wasn’t horrible like other homes where people got in over their heads with easy money, but it needed a fair amount of work. I’ve fixed it up as I could. Being on the water’s important to me.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
Cal lightly snorted. “I like to fish. I like freedom. It’s not something I had as a foster kid. And, like I said about moving fast, I have a boat on a lift at the back. While it’s a fishing boat, I can still make it move fast enough to get the roar of the wind in my ears and make me feel free.”
Well, all of that said a lot about Cal Robertson.
I turned my head to look at him seriously. “Okay. Being on the water’s important to you, but being in water is important to me. So, here’s the important question, you got dual shower heads in your master bath? ’Cause truly, Jackie insisted I use that shower, and I tried not to use both. God, how I tried, but rotten egg in a girl’s hair is an extreme circumstance. So, I turned on the other showerhead. It was phe-fucking-nomenal. Do you have two shower heads?”
Cal’s hand on my neck slid up into my hair and gripped my hair firmly enough to get my attention, in a good way. I looked into his hazel eyes, and he looked like he was debating what to say to me in response. His lips tipped up slightly, and then he said, “No, but I got lots of other ways to give you a phe-fucking-nomenal time in the oversized shower I do have. How about I give you the tour?”
The tour took a while. First because Cal didn’t pull his car into his garage. He guided me around to the front of the house, so we went in the front door. The front door was cornflower blue with white trim surrounding it. What slowed me down though, were the two stained glass panels on either side of the front door. The glass was two feet wide and three feet long and had Celtic patterns running through them in shades of pale green, yellow and sky blue. It was an unexpected and unusual touch. He unlocked the door and I had a hard time moving through it. “These stained glass panels are beautiful, Cal. Holy crap.”
Cal was standing inside the doorway disarming his alarm system and he said, “You, Jackie, and any new female mail-carrier I have, say the same damn thing.”
I stepped into the berber-carpeted foyer. The walls were painted beige with a hint of reddish-brown in the beige so it seemed warm. The carpet was a yellow and brown and beige pattern. A dark oak banister was to the left with a staircase leading up from there. Directly in front of me was a large, sunken living room. The living room ceilings soared to the second story making the room very airy. The centerpiece of the room was the floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace which was framed with windows overlooking the backyard. There was a leather couch placed at an angle because the flat screen television was set up to the left of the massive fireplace. What I could see through the windows to the backyard included a large pool, a dock, and a boat lift with the fishing boat he'd mentioned. I was floored, and rooted to the spot where I had just stepped into the house. This was the second reason the tour took a while. Every room I entered, my legs turned to lead and I didn’t want to move at all.
Cal was moving about and noticed I wasn’t close by. He turned to me and said, “C’mon. I’ll show you the rest.”
I could see the large kitchen off to the left of the living room, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. None of this was making sense to me. This was not the home of a guy who needed and craved freedom. This was the home of a guy who should be married. This was a house that demanded filling, not just with furniture, which was lacking, but also with children, with a family.
Cal had moved another step into the kitchen and turned to me. “Mallory, what’s the problem?”
I took a deep breath. “This is a lot of house for just you.”
He half-smiled and pushed out a breath through his nose. “Volt used to be my roommate. He met Jackie maybe two and a half years ago. Made her his old lady after about six months, and they bought their house a month and a half later. So, it’s been just me for coming up on two years now. It doesn’t bother me to have so much space. Sometimes I think it’d be nice to have a roommate, but I’m gettin’ too old for that shit. Now come here, and kiss me. That seems to be a surefire way to get those worries out of your eyes.”
I gave him a dirty look, but stepped down into the living room and made my way to him in the kitchen. I slid my hands up his stomach to his shoulders and planted my lips on his, but quickly pulled away.
He dipped his chin a little. “I don’t think so woman.” Then he planted a much better kiss on me, that included tongue action. When he was done my mind felt like it had left me momentarily. He gazed down at me and smiled. “Yep. Definitely takes the worry out of those pretty eyes.”
I started to pout but caught sight of the appliances in the kitchen. My eyes bugged out of my head and I asked on half a squeal, “Is that a wine fridge? And do I see a beer tap handle outside this window on your patio? Seriously? Holy crap!”
Cal nodded. “It is. My house speaking to you now, Mal?”
“Uh, yeah! But I’m not sure the house has chosen me yet.”
Cal shrugged. “That’s okay, because me choosing you is far more important.”
We went out to the patio, and it was like half of a sports
bar had been planted outside. There was a medium-sized flat screen television mounted in the upper corner of the patio, so that anyone seated on one of the three bar stools could watch. Outside the patio was a large pool which was surrounded by beautiful pebble pavers. Beyond the pool was a wooden walkway that led down to a dock and the boathouse.
Cal came up behind me as I was admiring the pool. He wrapped his arms around me and asked, “Feel like going for a swim? It’s heated.”
I tipped my head up and back in order to look at him. “I doubt Jackie packed a swimsuit for me.”
Cal gave a half shrug. “We’ll just wait till dark. Then we can go skinny-dipping.”
I blew out a short, amused puff of breath, and said, “You cannot be believed. Even if your pool is heated, there's no way I’ll make it from the pool to the house again in forty or fifty degree weather. I’m a total wuss when it comes to being cold.”
Cal squeezed me and rocked his hips slightly at my tush. “I’ll make sure you’re plenty warm before you get out of the water, baby.”
“Incorrigible.”
Cal turned me in his arms and led me back into the house and up the stairs. He guided me down a hall that overlooked the living room below. There were two bedrooms to the right and a bathroom in between both bedrooms. At the end of the hall was a master bedroom that was vast. It sat over the three-car garage below. There was a huge four-poster king bed to the left as we entered the room. There were two doors on the opposite wall that I thought led to a simple balcony, but found it was another carpeted room with windows rather than a screen enclosure. This room was outfitted with a large oak table that appeared to be a desk, and overlooked the water.
I turned to Cal. “You use this area as an office?”
Cal nodded. “If I gotta do tedious shit like check my email, pay bills, or whatever, I’d rather do it with the water in my line of sight. Keeps me focused on things that matter to me.”
I grinned. “You sound so in tune with yourself.”
Cal made dismissive sound, but said, “It’s taken a long while to get there, but I guess you could say that.”
I wandered back into the bedroom and saw the door to the bathroom was open. I shot Cal a look, and he moved his arm in a sweeping gesture for me to go on in. He followed me in and I saw him in the mirror with a grin on his face. There was a dual vanity area. A doorway led into a larger room‒ or what seemed like a larger room. The primary wall in the room was floor-to-ceiling mirrors, which made the space seem larger. The separate area had a toilet and a Jacuzzi tub that required one to climb two stairs to get in it. Opposite the large tub was a shower door that was nearly twice the width of a normal shower door. I opened the door to the shower stall and felt the heat of Cal’s body directly behind me. I glanced into the mirrored wall and saw the devious look in his eyes as he dipped his head close to my ear.
He murmured, “If we go the distance, I’ll see if a plumber buddy of mine can put in another showerhead for us. But, I think I can keep you satisfied without all the fancy bells and whistles like at Jackie’s place.”
I almost grunted, “So you think I’m low-maintenance, eh?”
Cal chuckled. “I did not say that, woman.”
I looked down at the floor. The entire bathroom was carpeted. I couldn’t remember ever being in a fully-carpeted bathroom. I couldn’t decide if it was bizarre or brilliant. I mean this was Florida, and high humidity was a constant. Having a fully-carpeted bathroom seemed like you were inviting a colony of mold to sprout.
“Why is your bathroom fully carpeted? Are you crazy?” I asked, turning to face him.
His lips pressed together momentarily, and then he said, “I’ve thought of ripping it all out, but laying tile is damn hard work and back-breaking at that. Plus, as Volt pointed out when I was really giving it thought four years ago, the first thing I’m gonna put down outside the shower stall and bath tub is a fuckin’ carpet, so why bother. I gotta say, the man has a point. If I ever want to sell, I might pull out the carpet, but otherwise, I could give a shit.”
Well, if that wasn’t a biker answer, I didn’t know what was.
“So, I guess I’ll take my bags to one of the guest bedrooms,” I said.
Cal arched a quizzical eyebrow at me. “We really gonna do this again, Mallory? We didn’t just say good morning to one another two hours ago; we had a good morning together over two hours ago. I’ll bring your bags up to this room. In fact, I’ll do that right now. Then, since we didn’t do it at the clubhouse, I’m gonna give you a phenomenal fucking in my shower, so you don’t think Jackie’s shower is all that phe-fucking-nomenal after all. Capisce?”
There wasn’t much to say to that, so I just whispered, “Capisce.”
* * * * *
I was helping Cal make lunch in the kitchen when my purse, on the breakfast nook table, started ringing. I pulled my phone out, to see it was Gwen calling. Cal had his back to me as he chopped up chicken for our quesadillas.
“Hi, Gwen. How are you?”
“I’d be better if I knew where you were.”
“Excuse me? If you knew where I was?”
Gwen sighed. “Well, I’m at your house, Mallory. I wanted to talk to you in person about my problem.”
Cal stopped chopping and was watching me with his arms folded across his expansive chest.
I said to Gwen, “Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not home right now.”
“Yes. I can tell that you’re not home, Mallory. Where are you? We need to speak. Now.”
I fought to keep a grip on my patience. “Where I am is none of your concern, Gwendolyn. I’m not giving you more money.”
Gwen was responding, but I didn’t get to hear it because Cal snatched the phone out of my hand. He growled into the phone, “You got all you’re gonna get out of Mal. Leave her alone, and get your shit together. Your shit seeps into her life, there’s gonna be hell to pay.”
There was a pause and then Cal said, “Who I am is not your business, but I’m the man in Mallory’s life and your gravy train just ran out. Find someone else to leech money from.”
Cal stabbed the ‘end call’ button. He handed the phone to me, and I put it back in my purse, then turned to him and, putting a hand on my hip, said “I really don’t think it was necessary for you to butt into that conversation.”
Cal gave me a steady gaze. “I don’t care if you think it was necessary or not. I did it. It’s done, and I’d do it again given the chance.”
There it was. No remorse, no seeing it from someone else’s point of view, nothing. I felt my temper rising inside me. I blinked my eyes and pressed my lips together. After a deep breath, I said, “I can handle my own issues, Cal.”
Cal gave me a slight chin lift. “I’m sure you can, Mal. But this is not an issue you’re gonna handle. I want to help you out; I’m gonna do that any way I see fit.”
I tilted my head a little. “How are you going to give her hell to pay if her shit seeps into my life? I mean, really, was threatening her necessary?”
“Yeah, it was. I’d do that again too.”
I crossed my arms. “Really. The threat was necessary? Don’t you think she feels bad enough? I can’t imagine being her age and having so much debt looming over me.”
“Of course you can’t imagine it; you got your shit together. You don’t need her bringing you down, and she’s already done that. You never should have given her any of that settlement money. You lost more than she did, and she’s sucking you dry. She wasn’t going to let up, until she got me on the phone. Now she knows there’s someone lookin’ out for you, and I’m not gonna stand by and watch her work you over for more cash. You need to understand, I’m gonna have your back, Mallory. For as long as this works between us.”
I saw Cal’s point, but I had a stubborn streak that often got me into trouble. I should have let it go, but I couldn’t. I said, “I didn’t lose more than her.”
Cal’s head tilted slightly at me. “No? You really think that? Didn’t
you hear what Quinton said to you the night we met? It was the first time he saw you walking into some place like you owned it. That tells me, it was the first time he saw any kind of spark in you. You’re thirty-one years old. You got plenty of life ahead of you, and it’s high time you start living it. You didn’t just lose the two most important people in your life; you lost a year-and-a-half of your life trying to put shit back together. And, I’d argue you lost a year trying to hide from life. That ain’t right, and if that woman was any woman who cared about you, she’d have been right on the bandwagon with Natasha and your mother, tryin’ to coax you into joining the living again.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I didn’t like that Cal was right, but I wasn’t going to be petty and say so.
I moved back to the stove top to start the quesadillas and said, “Point taken. Thanks for having my back, Cal.”
Cal was already standing next to the stove top, so he nudged my hip with his hip and said, “You’re welcome, sweet cheeks.”
We ate our quesadillas at the bar on the patio. It was a bright March day. The temperature was in the low seventies, and the humidity was under sixty percent. The creek water was flat and smooth like a sheet of tinted glass. It was a really great view.
Cal bumped my shoulder with his and asked me, “What do you wanna do this afternoon?”
I tried to stifle a yawn and said, “A nap would be fabulous, but I don’t know if you’re much of a napper.”
Cal smiled at me. “I could be coaxed into a nap with the right incentive.”
I chuckled, “Sex on the brain much?”
Cal pecked my lips. “When you’re around? Always.”
I provided Cal with quite the incentive for his nap. I was naked in his master bathroom when he finally came upstairs. The floor-to-ceiling mirrored wall inspired me to suggest he take me from behind. I was on all fours, and I was able to watch both of us in the mirror as Cal plowed into me. It made the impersonal position far more friendly, and the resulting orgasm I had was off the charts. Apparently, Cal appreciated my inspiration, because even though he seemed to come hard with me, he was still semi-hard when he was done. He disposed of his condom, and was opening another one as I was getting back to my feet.
