Whiskey and Serendipity (Hemlock Creek Book 1)

by Josie Kerr

  “My God, that’s awful.”

  “It is. Toby never went back to school, at least not full-time. He stayed in Nashville and played with Chet and sent as much money home to us as he could.” Cal pulled Kat close to him and eased them both back to lie on the couch. “So, you see, that’s kind of why we’re so enmeshed, you know? That’s why we put up with his shitty behavior. I know it’s not healthy—man, I’ve seen enough Dr. Phil, right? And you’re right, of course. It’s not an excuse, but it’s definitely an explanation.” Cal had stopped playing with her hair. In fact, he wasn’t moving at all; he’d wrapped one arm around her and held her close to him. “I still can’t believe you’re actually here. I’m so glad I didn’t have to wait another two months to see you.” He chuckled. “I was actually contemplating jumping on a plane today and surprising you because I didn’t think I could wait any longer.”

  Kat sat up. “Oh my gosh, can you imagine? What if we’d crisscrossed and just missed each other? But that would have been just my luck.” She smiled at him and stroked his cheeks. She leaned in and kissed him, the rasp of the stubble on his jaw sending shivers down her spine. “I’m glad that didn’t happen.”

  “I’m glad it didn’t, either.” Cal stroked the curve of her neck with the back of his fingers. “I’m just sorry that I have these meetings tomorrow. It’s probably going to take most of the day.”

  Kat shrugged a shoulder. “You have a life, Cal. I just appeared out of nowhere. You can’t rearrange your life around me when you don’t know I’m coming.”

  “What if I want to, you know, rearrange my life?” Cal pressed a single kiss into the palm of her hand. “That sounds a hell of a lot better than what I’ve got going on right now.”

  Kat pulled back, putting space between them. “So, tell me what you’ve got going on right now.” She took a deep breath and plunged in. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do this, all of it, including the mundane and not-so-fun stuff. Hindsight being twenty-twenty, that was one of the issues with my marriage to Topher. We didn’t really ever fight, but we also didn’t have to work through much. I mean, we both had solid families, and while he had way more family money, my family didn’t ever really struggle, not like others. My parents had a happy marriage, and Topher’s family just ignores everything. I guess neither one of us had a very good model for matrimonial communication.” Now that she’d said her piece, Kat moved closer to him, hoping her physical nearness would encourage some emotional nearness. “So. Tell me. Please?”

  “Tomorrow, the house we grew up in is being demolished. We all agreed that we weren’t going to go see it.”

  “You’re having second thoughts?”

  Cal shook his head, but the way he gathered her up into his arms told Kat that he might not be as sure as he claimed.

  “I noticed that none of you said anything about the demolition.”

  “Nope. And we probably won’t for a few years, because that’s how the Harpers roll: repression, suppression, and denial, at least until someone has to have a triple bypass at thirty-five.” Cal chuckled. “We’ve just now really been able to talk about how truly fucked up our childhoods were. Amanda got some of the blowback from that. I’ll cop to being shitty, and I’ll go even further and admit that that’s what happens when you date someone who’s young enough to be your daughter. There’s no way she was prepared to handle the fallout.”

  “Did you love her? Like, love her?” The moment the words came out of her mouth, she regretted them.

  “Yeah, I did. Um, probably not the way I should have, but yeah. I did love her, but I didn’t like her a lot, especially after the engagement.” Cal let his head flop onto the back of the couch.

  “Do you feel better now? Talking about it?”

  Cal tugged on her hips, urging her to climb into his lap. She swung her leg over him and settled down, chest to breast, face-to-face, and Cal’s hands immediately went to her waist and his lips to her neck. “Yes, I actually do,” he murmured against her neck. “But now I think I’m done talking, at least for tonight.”

  Kat darted her tongue into his ear before whispering, “I think that’s absolutely fine.”

  The sun wasn’t really even up, but Kat was, and she had been for at least an hour. She lay stock-still in the dark, cool room, thinking about the discussion from the night before and listening to Cal’s breathing. He was sleeping hard, one tattooed forearm flung over his head as he softly snored. Kat shifted, and his other arm, the one that lay across her torso, pulled her a bit closer to him. He caressed her bare hip and made a little satisfied grunt as he squeezed her thigh.

  “Darlin’, it’s too damn early to get up,” he rumbled, his accent smooth, deep, and dark, like a good bourbon.

  Kat shivered. That voice practically made her clothes fall off, especially last night when they’d shared so much of themselves. Cal brushed his lips against her shoulder, the rough stubble on his jaw making her nipples tighten. His hand on her hip drifted to her belly. Kat held her breath, waiting for those masterful fingers to repeat the wonderful ministrations from earlier, but he stopped, and when she looked over, she found Cal’s blue eyes sparkling with mischief and a little grin to match. She exhaled and used her hand that wasn’t pinned under his furry chest to cover her face. He caught her wrist and pried her hand away from her face.

  “I would ask why the cat has your tongue, but that’s pretty self-evident.”

  That got a laugh out of her. “Good morning, Cal,” she whispered. With a shifting of their bodies, Kat found his long, lean body pressed against her with his hard cock poking her in the stomach. She stroked the hair on his chest and gave him a shy smile. He checked the time, and suddenly Kat thought the fact that he was completely naked except for the watch very amusing.

  “My meeting isn’t for three hours.” Cal had moved down toward the end of the bed, but she was still very aware of all of him. “I wonder what we can do to occupy ourselves until it’s time to get ready.” He rubbed his lips across her hard nipples, humming, finally sucking a taut peak into his mouth. Cal circled her nipple with his tongue, still humming, and when he began to run a finger down the cleft of her ass, Kat wondered just how inappropriate it would be for her to push him over on his back, sink down onto his cock, and ride him until both of them were incoherent.

  “I want to taste you, darlin’,” he whispered in her ear.

  How could she deny him? In a flash, Kat grabbed hold of the headboard. Cal’s hands immediately went back to her ass and hips, and he darted his tongue inside, teasing, making her moan and whimper with pleasure. She ground against him, looking down to find his eyes wide open, watching her. So she began to pluck and roll her nipples in time with her gyrations and the strokes of Cal’s tongue. He grunted and took one hand off her hips, and Kat realized he was trying to stroke himself. She wiggled her eyebrows and reached around to stroke him. His eyes rolled back in his head as she continued to manhandle him in time with his ministrations. Kat moaned, loudly, and hoped to God the walls were thicker in this place than they were in her apartment in Boston. Kat knew she was vocal, and with Cal doing that thing with his tongue, well, she wasn’t likely to be Miss Prim and Proper.

  And then he smacked her ass—not hard, just one sharp slap—before rubbing the sting away. Holy! She never knew if she’d like that, but she certainly did.

  “Kat, babe, I don’t know how this could get any better,” he panted.

  Kat knew. She slid down him and wrapped her hand around his cock. She murmured, “Just watch,” and engulfed him to his root. Cal jerked, and she thought he was going to be through with one pump. He seemed to get hold of himself, thank goodness, and he returned to his earlier ministrations. But when he plunged at least two fingers—she wasn’t sure exactly how many—into her core while he did that thing with his thumb, she knew she wasn’t going to last long. In fact, she barely had a chance to warn him when her orgasm roared out of nowhere, her core tightening to the point of spasming, leaving her gaspi
ng for breath.

  “Kat, on your back, now.”

  She rolled and spread wide. Cal loomed over her, bracing on the headboard with one hand and digging in a box that she’d not noticed that night.

  “Bare,” she ordered him.

  Cal froze. “Bare?”

  “Bare.” Kat grasped his cock and positioned herself under him, the tip barely penetrating. She moaned, just a small sound, and then Cal thrust. They were both on the edge, and neither of them needed too much to send them over, Cal going first with a roar, and Kat following two strokes later. She was reveling in Cal’s languid stroking and passionate kisses when she heard his now-familiar command: “Kat, eyes.” She opened her eyes when she felt him stroke the side of her face and found Cal grinning at her, his eyes bright. She ran her fingers over his lips and clenched one long, last time, which sent an unexpected shockwave of pleasure through her.

  “Son of a ham sandwich,” she exclaimed, and Cal fell against her and convulsed with laughter. He buried his face in the curve of her neck, his body shaking and tears of mirth flowing freely down his cheeks.

  “Kathleen Fahey, my sentiments exactly.”

  Cal’s high spirits continued through a leisurely breakfast that was followed by some shower hijinks, but by the time they headed into town, his mood had definitely ebbed thinking about the upcoming meeting. Chet Harper’s last laugh at his sons was appointing Cal his executor. He was so sick of dealing with this estate, and even the attorney said it seemed that Chet unnecessarily complicated everything. So now, nine months later, Cal was on his way to, hopefully, the very last meeting, to sign paperwork.

  “I didn’t picture you driving this sort of car.” Kat’s voice interrupted his ruminations. He glanced over, and she had her head cocked to the side, a cute little furrow in her brow. “I didn’t necessarily think you’d have a big truck or anything, but really? A silver Corolla?”

  Cal laughed. A real, honest-to-God laugh. “This is a rental, darlin’. In fact, that’s where we’re headed: to pick up my car. But I’ll tell you what. I didn’t know how long my car was going to be in the shop, so I rented this little guy for a week. I’ll put another week on it so you’ll have a vehicle.”

  “Cal, I can p—”

  He stopped her with a pointed stare. “We’ll argue about this later, because here we are.”

  Kat eyed the run-down office. “Cal, no offense, but this place looks wicked sketchy.”

  “Suki just believes in low overhead and no frills. She’ll do you right.”

  Cal held her back from getting out of the car. She turned, questioning, and he pulled her to him and gave her a desperate kiss.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” Kat asked. “I . . . have no idea if it would make any difference, but I’ll go with you.”

  He rested his forehead against hers, still clutching her hand. “And this is why I . . .” Cal’s voice trailed off. “No, I’m good. Just the fact that you offered . . . yeah.”

  Kat pressed her lips against his. “If you’re sure.”

  “Oh, hell, I’m not sure about anything these days,” Cal said quietly. He exhaled a soft chuckle and kissed her again. “Oh, fuck, I’m gonna be late. Tell Suki to bill me and add another week to the Corolla.”

  She rolled her eyes but then agreed and gave him a peck on the cheek. “I’ll meet you at Foley’s after I get a phone,” she said and explained by pulling a smashed phone out of her handbag.

  Cal shook his head at her. She really was a gadget killer. “Do I want to know?”

  “No, you don’t. It’s just typical me,” she answered with an embarrassed chuckle. “I saw a phone store right around the corner, and I’ll have a GPS, okay?” Cal grunted but nodded. Kat grinned at him and gave him a little wink. “Thanks for the ride, Harper.”

  “Oh, darlin’, that wasn’t a ride.” Cal dodged Kat’s jab, but he noticed she had the faintest of grins on her full lips. “See ya around, Fahey,” he said as she began to climb out of the car.

  Kat stuck her head back inside the car, and Cal caught a glimpse of eggplant-colored lace when she bent down. “Not if I see you first, Cal Harper,” she countered.

  Damn. She had an absolutely stellar rack.

  Kat stood up and, with a wave, turned and went into the shabby office. Cal watched her go, and he thought he might have detected a little more sass in her gait. And, damn, the view from the back was just as superb as from the front. He was still contemplating that ass when she stuck her head back out the door. He lifted his hand, and then Suki came out and stood between them, blocking Cal’s view of Kat. Suki jerked her thumb at him, telling him to hit the road. Cal laughed, put his car into gear, and made his way to the lawyer’s office. Hopefully, the rest of his day would be as good as his morning had been.

  ´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´

  “Let me repeat what I think I heard: Cal Harper is letting you drive his car?” Suki Johnson’s foot tapped as she frowned while she considered Kat, her head of wild natural curls cocked to the side.

  Kat decided to ignore the woman’s disapproving look, so she plopped her bag down onto the scarred counter that separated her from the proprietor of S & J Motor Rentals.

  “Yes, and he wants to keep the silver Corolla for another week, but I want to pay for it.”

  “You planning on driving up to the mountains or staying in the city?” she asked.

  Kat blinked. “Uh, staying in the city?”

  Suki made a noise in her throat and snapped some papers to a clipboard. “Driver’s license, please, and insurance if you’ve got it,” she muttered while filling out some information.

  Kat handed over her driver’s license and stammered that she didn’t have insurance because she didn’t have a car, which garnered a grunt from Suki. “Well, that answers one question. Though, even if you didn’t ask for it, I will give you one piece of advice: Lord knows I wouldn’t take one car up to Hillbillyville. Take the other car in case you need to make a quick escape.”

  “Wait, wh-what? Why would I be going up to the mountains?”

  Suki hit her with a withering look. “Girl, you’re not gonna meet the Harper boys?”

  “We had dinner last night at Bridget’s, Nolan’s . . .” Kat stalled out, so she pushed the finished forms back at Suki, who snapped the form around and began to eye the information.

  “Oh, I know Bridget Doherty. She fights out of the same gym that my son does.” She signed the bottom of the form and circled several boxes and a signature line, then snapped the clipboard back at Kat. “Initial and sign on the highlighted lines, please.”

  Kat could feel Suki’s eyes on her as she did as she was told, but instead of feeling nervous, she began to get angry. Who did this Suki think she was, basically interrogating Kat about meeting Cal’s family?

  “For the record, I’d already met Nolan. I met him last month when he came up to support Bridget in her title eliminator fight. Incidentally, that night was the same night Nolan met Birdie’s mother for the first time.” Kat swallowed her irritation down. “I don’t know what your problem is with me, but Cal told me to come to you, so you apparently have some redeeming qualities. Hopefully, they extend beyond giving me a decent price on a rental car.”

  Then Suki surprised Kat by breaking out into laughter. Kat stood in shock until Suki calmed down enough to grab a tissue and wipe the tears of mirth from her eyes. “Whoo, girl. You’re gonna do just fine.” She grinned again. “I’m going to give you a little hint on dealing with the Harpers. Not Nolan, because he was already tamed before he even met Bridget. I’m talking about the other two, especially that grizzly bear older brother, Tobias.” The smile faded from her face, though her eyes were still friendly, and Kat found herself leaning forward on the counter, anxious to hear her advice. “Toby will most likely be unpleasant. I’m not excusing it, but I’ll just say to give him a chance. Don’t let him push you around, because he will verbally try to do it. You need to shock him into shutting up. Just remember
that. Now Cal . . .” Suki shook her head.

  “What about him?”

  “You two been together, what, two months?”

  Kat nodded.

  “But you came down here on your own dime, right?”

  Kat scoffed. “Of course. He’s been pestering me to come down, but he thought it was going to be another month or two. I . . .” Kat stopped. For some reason, she didn’t want to tell this Suki that she’d been terminated, lest Suki be suspicious of her motives. “I surprised him.” There. Not a lie.

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes.” She shrugged a shoulder. “I figured it would be a fun surprise. I know he’s been under a lot of stress, what with dealing with his father’s estate and the fallout from leaving Pickett and Spence.”

  “Oh, so you know about all that mess, then.” Suki scoffed. “He should have never even talked to that little girl. We all told him to be careful. But Cal’s gonna do what Cal’s gonna do, and he’s just contrary enough to want to prove anyone who doubts him wrong.”

  Kat ran her fingernail down the seam of her tote bag’s strap. “Alphonse told me almost the same thing just a few days ago,” Kat murmured, thinking back to a conversation from the previous week. Man, she hadn’t even thought about Alphonse. She wondered if he even knew she’d been terminated.

  “Oh Lordy—you’re with the crew that took Alphonse to Boston? Shit. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have had any reason to doubt you. If Phonse didn’t like you, he’d be in here, bitching up a storm and trying to scheme a way to get you away from Cal, especially after he stayed mum for so long about that lying bitch.”

  Suki put the paperwork into a plastic envelope, gathered it and a set keys into her hand, and came around the counter. “Ms. Fahey, you’re all set for the Corolla. You and Cal can hash that out, but I’d think about letting him just pay for the damn car. It’ll help soothe his ego. Now, let’s go get Cal’s car so you can get on the road.” Kat started to follow Suki out to the parking lot, when Suki turned around. “On second thought, Kat, let him take you up there in his car.”