Next thing I know, I’m falling asleep in his arms . . . just like I always did.
Cale has always been my comfort and safety . . .
“HURRY UP,” I MUTTER UNDER my breath while looking up at the clock on the wall. “Ten more minutes. Ten more minutes.”
Mr. Peterson attempts to sit up, but I politely push him back down onto the table. “No more flipping over please, Mr. Peterson. We only have ten minutes left of your session.”
Relaxing once again, the elderly man places his hands behind his head and lets out a long sigh. “An hour isn’t enough time. What you need to do is teach my damn wife how to do that stuff you do with your hands. That’s what I need.”
I let out an amused laugh while firmly massaging his left calf, being sure to work out the knot as best as I can. “I’ll see what I can do, Mr. Peterson.” I smile down at him as he struggles to look up at me. “But then you may not need me if I do that.”
“Nonsense,” he growls. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I haven’t felt this young in ages. My wife . . .”
Mr. Peterson continues to babble on about his wife, but all I can focus on is the fact that Cale will be here any minute to pick me up. It’s only been eight hours, but it feels a hell of a lot longer since I’ve felt his lips on mine, and it’s driving me insane.
As much as I would like some alone time with him before the cookout, we’re heading straight over to my parents’ to please my mom. She’s been asking when he’s going to come visit her ever since I walked in the damn house a little over a week ago.
My parents haven’t seen Cale in over a year, and I know without a doubt that my mom is going to freak out as soon as he walks in the door. I wouldn’t be surprised if she attacks him with kisses.
She’s always loved Cale, and when I had to leave to help care for my grandmother it seemed as if it hurt her that I had to leave him behind almost as much as it did me. I cried myself to sleep that night, and my mother watched me with wet eyes, telling me that Cale would still be here when I returned. She was right, even though I didn’t believe it at the time.
I shake out of my thoughts in just enough time to see that our time is up. Thank God!
“Alright, Mr. Peterson. We’re out of time.”
Grunting, the old man sits up and stretches as I turn on the sink to wash my hands. “Much better,” he says in a raspy voice. “My wife might just be a lucky lady tonight, thanks to you.”
“Glad I could help,” I say, while trying not to let that image ruin my day. “So I’ll see you the same time next week?”
I get another grunt and a, “Yes,” as he stands up, letting his towel fall to the floor. I’m greeted with the sight of his baggy tightie whities, making me instantly turn my head and cover my face. That’s definitely not a friendly sight.
“Whoa,” I say, taking this as my cue to escape. “I’ll just head out and let you finish up. Tell your wife hello for me.”
I hear a mutter. “Yeah. Yeah.” I quickly dodge out into the hall and shut the door behind me.
“Oh, sweet freedom, how I love you,” I say to myself while making my way past Hailey’s door and down the short hallway.
As I get closer to the front desk I stop and instantly smile when I notice Cale is waiting inside for me. My heart goes crazy just from the sight of him, and I get this sudden urge to run and jump into his arms. Of course I’m not going to though.
I get ready to start walking, but stop and swallow back my jealousy when I notice Kylie’s hand slide across the desk and reach for Cale’s arm. From afar it looks as if she’s rubbing her fingertips over his muscle.
Cale looks down at her hand on his arm, but doesn’t say anything as she leans over the desk in an attempt to get his attention.
Seeing another woman want him in that way feels like getting punched in the gut. Even though he doesn’t seem interested, it still gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.
If it’s like this here—outside of the strip club—I don’t even want to begin to think about what goes on at the club when he’s half naked and shaking his goods for drunken, horny women. I’ve gotten a small glimpse, but I’m sure that’s nothing compared to what could happen. I’m not sure what to do with that.
Sucking it up, I walk up beside Cale and get ready to greet him. Without hesitation Cale turns to me and wraps both of his hands into the back of my hair, slamming his lips to mine and pulling me as close as he possibly can.
Talk about taking someone’s breath away. His lips assault mine, repeatedly sucking and tasting me in a way that almost feels desperate. He’s devouring me. Pulling away, he runs his tongue over his bottom lip before biting it. “Shit, I’ve been waiting all day to do that.”
Kylie looks us both over before rolling her eyes and sitting down in her chair, clearly aware that Cale is not interested now. “Looks like I did someone a favor last week,” she says stiffly. “Better you than Hailey, I suppose.”
Her words somehow piss me off. He’s been my Cale for far longer than this girl even knew he existed. Leaning over the desk, I get ready to say something, but Cale pulls me to him, cutting me off.
“Nah, actually you did me a favor.” He slaps the desk, before leaning in and sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. “And it’s always been her. Simple as that.” With a lift of his eyebrow, he grabs my hand to get me walking. “Ready?”
Trying to fight my grin, I nod my head and wrap my arm around his waist as he starts walking toward the door. “So damn ready.”
Just as we’re about to walk out the door Hailey appears next to the desk, glaring at Kylie and complaining about something. I hear Cale’s name, but choose to ignore it. I don’t need anything dragging me down at the moment; especially two girls that I can barely even stand to be around.
After hopping into Cale’s truck I reach for my seatbelt and get ready to pull it down, but look up surprised when Cale reaches over me and reclines my seat back as far as it will go.
“What are you doing?” I laugh as he crawls over the seat until he’s hovering over me, gripping the seat with his hand to keep balance. I can’t help but to notice the way his muscles flex as he stares down at me.
“Something I’ve always wanted to do in the past.” He positions himself between my legs and presses his lips to mine . . . hard; so hard that it almost hurts. “I’ve always wanted to take you in my truck,” he says against my lips.
“Cale . . .” I run my hands up his strong back as he sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, teasing me and turning me on completely. “There’s people everywhere,” I say with a small moan.
He grips my thigh and smiles against my mouth. “Then let them watch.” His lips slam against mine, causing me to moan out as my eyes close. “Fuck, I can’t hold back with you, Rile. I’ve kept my hands off of you for long enough; too damn long. Touching you everywhere is the only thing I can think about anymore.”
I start reaching for the back of his shirt, getting completely lost in the moment, but jump when I look beside us to see Slade leaning against the truck, casually just chilling and enjoying the show. “Holy shit,” I laugh. “Seriously?”
“What?” Cale stops kissing my neck and looks up. “Fucking idiot,” he growls as soon as he sees Slade. With his jaw steeled, he rolls down the window, glaring at Slade the whole time, as if he wants to kill him. “What dude? What are you doing here?”
Slade lifts an eyebrow and uncrosses his arms. “Just enjoying the show, man. Don’t stop on my account. I’m curious to see just what I need to teach you. You gotta catch up with the big boys now.”
Cale’s grip on the seat tightens. “You’re an idiot,” he growls. “What do you really want?”
Slade shrugs his shoulders and grips the window. “Aspen told me you were stopping to pick up Riley on the way over. I was driving by and noticed your damn truck. The windows looked a little frosted and shit, so I came to hurry your ass up.”
Grinning, Cale gives Slade the middle finger while rolling
up the window. He leans in and kisses me quickly, breathing heavily against my lips. “Dammit! Let’s go before this dude busts a nut outside of my truck. Anything can work him up.”
I laugh and roll the window back down as Cale crawls over to his seat and adjusts the crotch of his jeans. “Hey, Slade,” I say with a small laugh.
Slade gives me a slick head nod and smiles. “Looking good, Riley.” Leaning in the truck, Slade kisses the side of my head while smiling over at Cale. “Both of you hurry your asses up.”
Cale starts the engine, gripping the wheel while glaring at Slade. “Don’t push it, fucker. We’re on the way.”
Slade winks and turns on his heels, walking over to his nice new car.
“Remind me to kill Slade later,” Cale says while pulling out of the lot.
I can’t help but to laugh at the boys for acting so silly. I definitely won’t mind this kind of entertainment to get us through dinner. “Sure thing,” I say with a smile.
I try to stay cool on the way to my parents’ house, but the way Cale is rubbing my leg has me squirming in my seat and gripping the seat. The satisfied smirk on his face only shows me that he’s doing this on purpose and enjoying this much more than I am.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” I grab his hand and place it on his own lap as he pulls up in front of the house. “It’s already going to be hard enough to act normal around my parents, pretending as if nothing is going on. Please don’t make it harder.” I suck in a breath and attempt to compose myself.
He unbuckles his seatbelt and reaches over to undo mine, hovering his lips above mine. “Who said anything about acting normal?” He brushes his lips over mine, causing my heart to jump out of my chest. “You can touch me, kiss me . . . or fuck me for all I care. There’s plenty of rooms to choose from.” He whispers the last part before smiling and jumping out of the truck, leaving me wanting him even more.
“Damn you, Cale. You’re still a pain in my ass,” I say to myself while gripping the door handle and jumping out to catch up with him. “Well, it’s definitely going to be easy to talk to my parents now,” I tease. “So thanks for that image.”
Without bothering to knock Cale opens the screen door and lets himself in, holding the door open for me. My mom is standing in the kitchen mixing some kind of dessert when we walk in. It smells like chocolate. Cale loves chocolate.
“Oooh. Oooh.” My mom cleans the chocolate off of her hands hurriedly, and smiles as Cale walks over to her with open arms.
“Did you miss me?” Cale asks while squeezing my mom in a bear hug and shaking her back and forth.
She pulls away and grabs his face, looking him over. Her smile is so big that it looks like her face is going to split open. “You know I did. Look at you,” she squeals. “Oh my goodness.” She backs away and looks him up and down, taking in his large build. “You have gotten so much bigger since the last time I saw you, Cale, and more handsome too. Oh my. Come here.”
She grabs my arm and pulls me next to her, while holding onto Cale’s waist. “It’s so good seeing you two hanging out again. It makes me feel young again. Isn’t this something?”
Rolling my eyes, I kiss my mom on the cheek and laugh. “Yeah . . . yeah. Where’s Aspen and Slade?”
My mom releases her grip on both of us and points to the back door. “They’re outside with your father.”
“It smells so good in here,” Cale says before kissing my mom on the cheek. “I’ve missed your cooking. Don’t be surprised if I eat all that dessert you’re working on.”
My mom blushes while going back to stirring her dessert. “Yeah, well what can I say? That’s why I made so much. I learned my lesson eight years ago.” She turns to me and winks. “The food is on the grill and should be ready to eat soon. Just hang out for a bit and keep your father company. We all know he doesn’t get it very often.”
“Alright, Mom. Let me know if you need help.”
My mom shakes her head and motions toward the door. “Nope. Just go and enjoy yourselves. Scoot.”
Cale places his hand on my lower back and guides me toward the sliding door. “Your ass looks fucking delicious in those shorts,” he whispers, before sliding the door open and pulling me outside. “Can’t wait to taste you later.”
I break into an instant sweat from his words mixed with the heat. As soon as my dad sees us, he waves us over, holding up a beer for Cale. I just need to get away from this man before I melt into a damn puddle at his feet. He’s the perfect distraction.
Pulling away from Cale, I rush over to Aspen and sit down in the chair next to her while Cale goes to hang out with my dad and Slade.
My dad stands up as soon as Cale approaches. Handing him a beer, he grips Cale’s shoulder and greets him with a smile. I’m actually surprised to see how happy my dad looks to see him. I knew he always liked Cale. He just didn’t want to admit how much.
I turn to Aspen. “This is torture,” I say in a hurry.
Aspen takes a sip of her pop and looks over at the picnic table where the guys are hanging out. “Tell me about it. I’m bored already. Mom talked our leg off when we walked in the door and dad keeps talking about his work.”
I shake my head and look in Cale’s direction to see his tight muscles flexing as he grips his beer and laughs along with the guys. “No, I meant Cale. All I want to do is take him up to my old room and jump on him. It’s like I can’t even be in the same room without touching him. You know?”
Aspen smiles at my comment and lifts a brow as she watches the guys. “I definitely know, sister. Welcome to my world.”
We sit here, just watching the boys for a few minutes, before Aspen speaks up, breaking the silence. “So what are you and Cale anyway? Are you doing this whole ‘friends with benefits’ thing? Or what? That could definitely get messy, so be careful.”
I let out a frustrated breath and grab for Aspen’s pop, taking a quick drink. My mouth suddenly feels extremely dry. “I don’t know, Aspen. I care about Cale a lot, you know that, but I really don’t know what he wants out of this. I’m worried if I ask him that I’ll mess up what we have. I can’t have that. We’ve been friends for too long, so I’m just sitting back and enjoying the ride.”
“Literally,” Aspen replies.
“Shut up,” I say, while punching her in the thigh. “Can you talk any louder?”
“Ouch, asshole.” Aspen smiles, taking another sip of her pop. “Nothing to be ashamed of.”
We both look up when my father calls us. “Girls. Get over here and eat.”
We both grumble to each other before getting up and joining everyone else at the table. I take a spot next to Cale as Aspen takes her place beside Slade.
Dinner passes quickly as my parents talk to Cale about what he’s been up to over the years. Leaving out the male stripper part, Cale tells them stories from his bartending experience. Now I’m just hoping they don’t look up Walk Of Shame and decide to drop in for a quick drink sometime. They are supportive like that and it might be a little awkward to explain.
After all conversation with my parents is done and everything is cleaned up, we decide to head inside for a few drinks and a game of darts. The boys talked shit to each other the whole time during dinner, betting money on who would win. Everyone was pretty surprised when my mother jumped up and threw in some money on Cale. That definitely gave him an extra confidence boost, not that he needed one.
There’s fifty bucks on the line, so the boys are getting into a serious mode, trying to intimidate each other while us girls sit back and watch.
My parents are sitting in the next room watching a movie, just enjoying the fact that we’re all still here. It’s not very often that they have both of their girls home, and they’re definitely working to keep us here as long as they can.
I have to admit that we’re all having fun, a lot more fun than I expected. It sort of feels like old times, back when Aspen and I lived at home. I like this carefree feeling right now, and I’m not ready fo
r it to end anytime soon.
“You lucky, shit,” Slade spits out while yanking the darts out of the board. “That was luck not skill, so stop that smiling bullshit.”
Cale tilts back his bottle of beer and grins even bigger, clearly enjoying this. “Oh trust me, that was all skill, bro.” He holds up his free hand, showing it off. “My hand is talented as fuck, Slade.”
“Nah . . .” Slade throws his first dart, hitting the bull’s eye. “That’s skill. Might as well give me your dick shaking tips now.”
Ignoring Slade, Cale walks over to me and wraps his hands into the back of my hair, pulling me in for a kiss. His lips are soft and sweet, tasting of the chocolate dessert that he recently ate. “I can’t wait to get you alone. As soon as I win this asshole’s money, I’m taking you to the nearest bed and letting you have your way with me.” He smiles against my lips when I grab his ass and squeeze.
“Oh, is that right?” I run my hands up his strong back and dig my nails into his shoulders. “So I can do anything that I want?”
He pulls my bottom lip into his mouth and nibbles it. “Anything,” he breathes. “You’re the only one with that power, so I would abuse it if I were you.”
Cale clenches his jaw when one of Slade’s darts comes flying at his head. “Seriously?”
Aspen wraps her arm around Slade’s neck and pulls him down to her level so that she can kiss him and whisper something to him.
“You both want to play now, huh?” I grab one of Cale’s darts and throw it at them. “I think us girls should get in on this game. Double it.”
We’re all standing here bickering, trying to decide on what to do when the doorbell rings.
A few minutes later, my mom walks in and takes one look at me in Cale’s arms, before clearing her throat and looking around awkwardly. “Riley . . . Tyler is at the door. He said he’s here to talk to you.”
I just about pass out when Tyler steps into the room, looking at me as if he’s waited forever to see me again.
His blonde hair is cut short and slightly messy, and he’s dressed in a pair of old jeans and a white shirt. I almost forgot just how cute he is, and seeing him standing here . . . for me . . . makes my heart sink.
Cale (Walk of Shame #3) Page 8
