Dirty Thoughts (17 page)

“Yeah, I have to as well.”

When she had her hand on the door, he called her name. She looked over her shoulder.

His eyes were unreadable. “I hope everything goes well at the party.”

She gave him a nod and walked out, with an odd feeling prickling her spine.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“S
O,”
J
ENNA SAID
, her heels clicking smartly on the pavement of the country club parking lot, “we need to get in there and make sure the tables are set up correctly. I said ten to a table, not twelve, but something about the manager makes me think they are going to try to squeeze twelve to a table—”

“Jenna,” Cal’s voice came from her side, but she was on a roll.

“Twelve is just too damn many to a table. And don’t you hate it when there aren’t enough trash cans, and you don’t know where to put your hors d’oeuvres napkin? So I want to make sure there are plenty of trash receptacles.”

“Jenna.” His tone was firmer now.

“And I gave them the recipe for a signature drink, but I swear they’ll mess it up, so I want to taste it first—oooh!”

She was pushed up against a brick wall, and a hot body was pressing her into it. Cal’s hands rested on her face, and she thought about telling him he was messing up her makeup, but she was too lost in those slate eyes. “Sunshine, you’re gonna stroke out if you don’t take a breath.”

She struggled weakly, “Cal, I can’t—”

“Breathe.”

She scowled at him.

His lips quirked. “Take a deep breath. In and out. There, that’s it.”

While following his mandated breathing exercises, she glanced around to see where they were. He’d managed to shuffle them into an alcove along the side of the building not visible from the parking lot or entrance. There were rows of tall hedges blocking them in. So no one would see them.

The tight band around her chest loosened. This event was going to give her a heart attack. She wanted the employees to be happy and impressed and have a good time. Her dad had been skeptical about its being effective, and everything about her wanted to prove to him how much this could improve company morale.

But she admitted she’d been acting a little nutty. If she went in there with all cylinders engaged, she might make enemies.

Attract more bees with honey and all that.

She raised her arms and gripped Cal’s waist as his hands slipped down to grasp either side of her neck. Cal looked, well, pretty damn amazing. His straight-leg navy pants made him look taller, while accentuating his strong thighs and absolutely amazing ass. His white button-down shirt was open at the collar and set off his tan skin. The color also made his eyes blaze. His hair was a little on the longer side, and he hadn’t done much with it, so the messy hair with his crisp clothes gave him just about the sexiest look she’d ever seen. Clean-cut with an edge. She’d take Cal in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt—or nothing at all—any day, but she didn’t mind this look on him either.

Her hand drifted down and squeezed his ass. He grunted softly and leaned in, teasing her lips with slight brushes of his before she squeezed his ass again. They hadn’t had sex again, not since that weekend they’d spent together before Asher arrived. She ached for Cal like crazy, but what they had now was fragile, so fragile they didn’t even talk about it. And with the way they were in bed, she knew it would make everything come crashing down on their heads.

They’d have to face it soon, though. Their families were talking and asking questions. And most of all, Jenna was falling for Cal the man way harder than she’d ever fallen for Cal the teenager. So she had to know if he was falling too, because if not, she was in for a rough landing.

Cal broke out of the kiss. “You look beautiful.” His lips traveled down the column of her throat. She should push on his chest and tell him to step back, that they had to get to the party, but damn, it had been so long, and his lips felt so good. And his words . . . his words were even better. His strong fingers gripped her hip, his mouth brushing the shell of her ear. “Everyone’ll take a little piece of sunshine tonight, but I know you save the best for me.”

She smiled, loving the heat of his body seeping into hers. The tension left her muscles, and she swore she could have melted into him right there.

“So you need to relax,” he said. His mouth sucked lightly on her collarbone. “No one will notice the little things. You’ve been working your ass off on this, and it will show, okay?”

She nodded.

He stepped back and slowly righted her clothes, putting her back together. Then he raised an eyebrow. “You feeling better now?”

She felt like liquid. “Yes, thank you.”

He pointed at her with an expression of mock severity. “We’ll finish this later.”

She hoped so.

T
HE
T
ORY
C
OUNTRY
Club was eye-roll-worthy, in Cal’s opinion. Over-the-top and flowery, and man, all he wanted to do was put his feet up on the coffee table in the lobby, grab a beer, and watch a baseball game.

Or he’d rather be home, playing video games with Asher. He knew the kid would have been fine by himself all night, but Gabe had said he could spend the night at his house with Julian. Cal figured that was a better idea, so Asher didn’t have to rattle around in his house all by himself. Cal would still rather be home with him.

Cal kept those thoughts to himself, though. He shook hands when Jenna introduced him to her colleagues, and he smiled. He even made small talk about the weather, which was painful. But Jenna beamed at him, her smile lighting up the entire place.

He managed to escape to a corner of the room with a vodka tonic clutched in his hand. Jenna worked the crowd, her dress swishing around her legs. He crunched the ice in his glass with his molars, shifting uncomfortably when the thought of his hand up that skirt made his pants tight.

“You might wanna simmer down on the eye-fucking,” a voice said next to him.

He looked down at Delilah, who sipped from a martini glass and peered at him over the rim. Her hair was down, black and straight and so long it touched her elbows.

“Didn’t know the kid’s department sold dresses that tight.” He gestured toward her purple dress.

She scowled. “It’s called petite, jackass.”

Cal grunted and let his eyes drift to Jenna, who had her back to them, round ass in view. “I like a good handful.”

“Don’t be a pig.”

He snorted.

She plucked at his shirt. “I did pretty well, didn’t I? Jenna like your clothes?”

He grinned wolfishly. “Yeah, she liked ’em so much, she—”

“Oh, shut up.”

He laughed. “So what are you doing there?”

She waved a hand into the crowd. “I came as a plus-one.”

“With you?”

“Some guy named Marshall.”

“Marshall?”

“I just want my name in the raffle. Some great stuff is up.”

“So you seduced a guy so you could get invited?”

She winked at him.

“You’re a bad influence on Jenna.”

She pushed his shoulder gently. “You have nothing to fear. That woman is gone for you.”

He didn’t answer that, because he sure hoped so. He was gone for her. If he thought about it, he might have been gone for her again the second he saw her standing outside his garage next to that Dodge Charger. He didn’t know how Jenna felt. Of course, he caught her watching him, a small smile on her face. She was attentive and caring, but that wasn’t the same thing as falling in love with him. He’d avoided talking to her about it the last two weeks, but it was time now, time for them to finally put into words what they’d been communicating with kisses.

He didn’t have time to think about it now, though, because Jenna was walking toward them. She hugged her friend, and they chatted for a minute about clothes and stuff Cal didn’t care about. Then Jenna announced it was time to sit for dinner, and Cal
did
care about that.

It was worth it too. Slices of rare roast beef and garlic mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli. Must have cost the company a pretty penny. Jenna’s eyes flitted around the room during dinner until he placed a hand on her thigh. “Eat.”

She looked a little guilty, but she dug in and cleaned her plate. They sat at a table with her brother and his date, her parents, and some other higher-ups in the company. Cal kept his head down and his mouth full, so he wasn’t asked to contribute to any conversations. He let the voices carry over his head.

Dinner was fine until Dylan finished off what had to be his third drink and looked at Jenna with a gleam in his eye.

Cal’s backbone stiffened.

“So you think this event will actually have a lasting impact?” Dylan asked, propping himself up with an elbow on the table.

Jenna’s face was composed, and Cal knew if they were in private, she’d probably light into her brother. But not in public. “I do think it will. Something had to be done.”

It was a reference to the damage her brother had inflicted on the company. No one at the table missed that. Dylan’s eyes narrowed. “Thank God the brilliant Jenna was able to come back into town to fix everything. Never mind that I’ve been working my ass off at this company for ten years, helping to build it to what it was—”

“No one is saying you don’t work hard, Dylan,” Jenna’s father said sternly.

But Dylan was on a roll. “So now you’re back to play the hero and to finish this white-trash fairy tale you got going on.” He waved in Cal’s direction.

Jenna sucked in a sharp breath, and Cal curled his hands into fists under the table. He told himself Dylan was drunk. He told himself to ignore the words, that he didn’t care what Dylan thought of him. Because he didn’t. But this was Jenna’s night, and he didn’t want Dylan embarrassing her.

“Dylan,” Jenna said in a firm voice, “enough. Why don’t you switch to drinking water?”

Her brother stood and sloppily smoothed his tie. “I think I’ll get another drink. We have to get our money’s worth out of this open bar we’re paying for, right?”

Cal stared at the man’s back, wanting to go after him and get in his face. Instead, he reached over and slipped his fingers into Jenna’s. She shot him a wobbly smile.

The night went pretty fast after that. Cal stopped drinking because the last thing he wanted to do was embarrass Jenna.

They listened to the raffle and clapped when Delilah squealed about winning an all-expenses-paid ski trip.

Then Jenna dragged Cal on the dance floor to slow dance, because Cal didn’t do any other kind of dancing.

The strains of “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton came through the speakers set up by the DJ booth. Jenna’s arms were on his shoulders, her fingers twirling in the hair at the base of his neck. He curled his hands around her waist, so his fingers rested on her lower back and the top of her ass. Most other couples kept it a little more PG, but Cal was tired and wanted Jenna as close as possible.

Her hazel eyes peered up at him in the dim light. “You were amazing tonight.”

“Me? I didn’t do anything. This was all you.”

“Yeah, but—”

“You planned this event. I heard people talking about how nice it was and how much they loved it and how proud they were to work for MacMillan.”

She blushed slightly.

He squeezed her waist. “That was all you.”

“Thank you. I’m just saying that I know this isn’t your thing, but you’ve been amazingly supportive all night.”

“Wouldn’t have thought to be anything else.”

He’d spent a long time with his head down, working hard within a small circle of family. He’d found a place to rent to open up his own cycle repair shop, so once he told his father about it, he’d have his dream job. And in one summer, he now had a half-brother and a woman at his side who made his heart pound. He’d spent so long trying to separate himself from the kid he’d been that he hadn’t realized that kid might have actually known a thing or two.

Eric Clapton’s lyrics filtered into his brain, and with Jenna’s upturned face full of devotion, all he wanted to do was say what was in his heart. This would change it all, he knew, this final acknowledgement of what had been steadily growing between them since she got back to town.

He had to take the plunge, because he trusted Jenna to be there at the bottom. He trusted himself to make it there. He raised his hand and brushed her hair off her temple. “Love you, Sunshine. Not sure I ever stopped. But what I felt for you at eighteen is nothing compared to how I feel for you now.”

Jenna’s mouth dropped open, and her hazel eyes were wide. She didn’t blink. She didn’t speak. Her fingers still clung to him, and so he focused on that, on her body against him, and waited for her to process his words.

She licked her lips, and her eyelashes fluttered.

And then she smiled.

But not just any smile—no, this was
the
smile, the one that lit up her entire face, made her glow, made her
shine
. Cal didn’t want to move from this spot, not for a long while, as he basked in the warmth and absolute beauty of his Sunshine.

She opened her mouth, but whatever she was going to say was stopped by his cell phone ringing in his pocket. He normally would have ignored it, but he wanted to check to make sure it wasn’t Asher. When he pulled it out of his pocket, Gabe’s number was on his screen. It was the only thing that could tear him away from this moment.

“Jenna, it’s Gabe, so I gotta—”

She waved him off, her hand trembling. He hated to leave her there on the dance floor, at this moment, which seemed crucial, because he didn’t know if he’d breathe again until he heard what she was about to say. But what if something was wrong with Asher?

He put his phone up to his ear, but he couldn’t hear over the music. As he headed back down the hallway of the bathrooms, the call disconnected. He frowned at it and called back, getting Gabe’s voicemail. “What the hell?” he muttered, staring at his phone so intently that he wasn’t looking where he was going and nearly walked into someone. He pulled up abruptly and lifted his gaze to the hazel eyes of Dylan MacMillan.

The guy didn’t look like he wanted to move either. He was listing slightly to the right, a consequence of the rum-and-Cokes he’d been sucking down like water. But his arms were crossed over his chest.

And his eyes were cold as hell.

Cal straightened his back, already thinking of an endgame, a way to avoid a conversation and get the hell away from Dylan.