Playing it Kale (The McCain Saga Book 4) (15 page)

“If you think you can trust everyone to
keep their mouths shut and they all sign the same form this bad boy did, that’s
fine, I guess,” Hadley says as she pops a grape into her mouth.
 
She eyes Julian up and down, no shame.

“Shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Julian
looks at Kale, oblivious to Hadley’s eye-stripping of him.

“I think we’re on!” Kale says, clapping
his hands excitedly.

Yay?

CHAPTER
TWELVE

We finalize the single on my end.
 
At least, we think it’s done for now.
 
Elysium will add in all the instrumentation, tweak
it to perfection, and then we’ll see if there are any parts we need to go back
over.
 
But for now, I’m done.
 
Matt sends all the files back to LA.

The day it wraps up is Friday, and I am
a nervous freaking wreck.

Cause today I meet all of Kale’s family.

I shower.
 
Let my hair dry on its own into inconsistent
waves.
 
Put on leggings, a long white
T-shirt, and my favorite denim vest.
 
I
stare at myself in the mirror in the bathroom as the party start time of six
grows closer and closer.

What if they don’t like me?
 
What if they judge me and Kale, like everyone
else has been?
 
About how fast and sudden
this has been.
 
About
the fact that we’re both only twenty-two?
 
We’re young and in love—
how cute.
 
How nice.

But that’s not how I feel.
 
Every day, I feel more and more like being
with Kale was exactly where I was supposed to end up.
 
He’s my polar opposite in pretty much every
way, but he fills all the holes I had and all my weirdness and made them into
something I’m learning to be okay with.

The door to the bathroom opens and there
stands the very man.

He gives me this look, and I just know
he knows.

“I can practically feel your
overthinking thoughts screaming through the door,” he says as he walks over to
me.
 
He stands behind me, placing his
hands on my shoulders and rubbing them.
 
He looks at me in the mirror and I stare back, biting my lower lip.
 
“What advice did I give you that first night
we met?”

“Make everyone okay with who I really
am,” I say, as my eyes drop from his.
 
My
hands shake, so I cross my arms and pin them to my body.
 

“Exactly,” he says.
 
I look back up and he’s got a supportive
smile on his face.
 
“Just be yourself,
and be okay with that, and they’ll love you.
 
My family is not going to eat you
alive,
they’re just not like that.
 
So shake it
off.
 
Have fun tonight.”

I turn around so we’re face to
face.
 
My chest brushes his, and I loop
my arms behind his neck.

“I’m scared they’re going to judge us,
just like everyone else, that this happened so fast,” I confess, meeting his
eyes hesitantly.

Kale doesn’t say anything at first, just
studies me, and I see the wheels turning in his head.
 
“Look, to be honest, they might.
 
And well, it has only been fifteen days.
 
But what does that matter?
 
I know how I feel, Whit.
 
I know I crave being around you like I have
the need to breathe.
 
I know I feel like
I’m alive again when you’re around.
 
I
love you, and to me, none of that other stuff matters.”

The breath catches in my chest, and I
swear I float as I look up at him.
 
“Do
you really love me?” I say quietly.

Kale brings a hand up, caressing my
cheek.
 
“I’ve never been someone to be
unsure about how I’m feeling.
 
I’m either
happy, or I’m upset.
 
I’m confident,
or…well, I guess I’m always confident,” he says with a smile as I laugh with
him.
 
“So yes, I know, Whitney.
 
I know I love you.”

Everything in me soars at his
confession.
 
And everything in me
believes him.

Kale McCain loves me.

He’s said it.
 
It’s there.
 
And I can feel it in me.

But a realization hits me.

Ever since Kale became tangled in my
life, I’ve been terrified that I’d wake up, and realize that he was just a
fantasy, that he wasn’t real.
 
That he
was just toying with me, and I was just another one of his temporary
dates.
 
He’d find someone more
interesting, prettier,
more
confident than me and move
on.

So this entire time, I’ve been holding
back.
 
I’ve been protecting my scared
little heart, and I can’t say those words back.

“Kale,” I whisper.
 
“Don’t think there isn’t anything there for
me,
cause
it would kill me if this ended.
 
But I think I’m still just getting up to
speed that this is real and…”

“Hey,” he says as his hand tips my chin
up so I have to look at him again.
 
“It’s
okay if you don’t love me back.
 
Yet.
 
Don’t get me
wrong, it’s a bit of a blow and a stab in the back of the knee, but yeah, this
happened at warp speed.
 
It’s okay if it
takes you a bit longer to catch up.”

“Really?”
I say, feeling a tight coil release just slightly from my chest.
 
“You’re not upset?
 
You don’t want to dump my awkward rear end
right now?”

He gives a little, lopsided smile and
shakes his head.
 
“Not even close.
 
Right now I want to introduce you to my
family and make them love you as much as I do.”

A smile grows on my lips, and I close
the distance between us.
 
“You’re
incredible,” I breathe into his lips.

And just as we’re about to sink into a
life-changing kiss, screams and laughter rip through the house.

Kale chuckles against my lips.
 
“The hellions have arrived.”

I lean back, holding onto the front of
his shirt.
 
“Let’s do this.”

I’m a coward.
 

I let Kale walk out of our—holy freaking
cow—
our
bedroom first.
 
I wrap my hands around one of his beautiful
arms and walk a step behind him, totally hiding.

All the production people left to give
us some space.
 
They were talking about
heading into downtown Seattle for some partying and drinking.
 
I hope they’ve at least picked a designated driver.
 
Seattle’s roads are wicked to those
unfamiliar with them, deadly to the intoxicated.

We walk into the living room and there’s
a small herd of kids stampeding around, getting into things, laughing,
screaming.
 
A little boy who looks like
he’s about five is chasing two little girls,
twins, that
look to be two-
ish
.
 
Another girl, maybe seven, watches them with a smile on her face.

“There’s my jet-setting brother,” Drake
says as he walks up to Kale with a smile.
 
I finally have to let go of him so he can hug his brother.
 
They’ve both got big smiles, genuinely happy
to see each other.

“Kids, this isn’t our house,” the
adorably tiny blonde woman scolds the kids.
 
“Please remember your manners.”

The little boy stalls for a moment, as
do the twins.
 
The mother smiles for a
second.
 
And then they’re back at it.

“I’m sorry,” she says, her voice
sounding tired, but she says it with a smile.
 
“I try to keep them under control, but kids are kids.”

“Drake, Kaylee,” Kale says, turning to
me and wrapping an arm around my waist.
 
“I want you to meet my girlfriend, Whitney.
 
Whitney, this is Drake and Kaylee.”

Kaylee immediately steps forward and
gives me a hug that’s awkwardly low since there’s a good nine inch height
difference between us.
 
“It’s so nice to
finally meet you,” she says as she releases me and has to look up and up at
me.
 
“I’ve been seeing the two of you
everywhere
lately,
it’s nice to see you in person.
 
I guess technically again.”

“You, too,” I say, giving a breathy
smile.
 
I twist my hands together,
telling myself not to do or say anything awkward.
 
“Your kids are adorable.”

“All her work, trust me,” Drake pipes
up.
 
To my surprise, he walks up and hugs
me, too.
 
“You must be a brave woman to
host the entire McCain clan.
 
We’re a
ruckus bunch.”

I chuckle as he lets me go and my eyes
turn to the kids.
 
The twins are jumping
on the couch, giggling like a pack of hyenas.
 
“It’s our pleasure.”

“
Our
, huh?”
Kaylee says with this brilliant
smile as she bumps Kale’s shoulder with hers.
 
“You guys already sound all married couple-like.”

I feel my face blush hard.
 
Kale, cool as ever, just wraps his arms
around me again, leans down, and presses a kiss to my lips.

“Hey, hey,” Drake says, playfully
pushing us apart.
 
“There are children in
the room.”

We all laugh, me feeling
embarrassed.
 
I cover my smile with a
hand.

The doorbell rings.

“I got it,” Tony says.
 
He is the one person who didn’t go into the
city with the rest of the crew.
 
Tony
opens the door to reveal an entire clan.

“Got your own security detail and
everything, huh?” Drake says as he leans in close and raises and eyebrow.

“I didn’t get much choice in that
matter,” I say, looking back at Tony, who surveys the scene outside as everyone
comes in.
 
“But I appreciate him and his
help.
 
Things can get kind of scary.”

“I bet,” Drake says with a supportive
smile.

And right away, I know I’m going to get
along with Drake just fine.
 
He just has
this calm way about him, like he knows exactly how to put a person at ease.

“There are the honeymooners!” Kale calls
as Lake and Riley walk through the door.
 
And almost as if on cue, the rest of the family starts clapping.
 
Riley blushes.
 
Lake does a dramatic bow.

Huh,
maybe
Lake
isn’t what I thought.
 
I didn’t expect
that from what Kale told me about him.

“Do I need to make the both of you take
a shower before we let you into the house?” Kale asks, making a face.
 
“I’m pretty sure a suffocating cloud of s-e-x
smell wafted in here when the two of you walked in.”

“Shut up,” Riley says, her face beet
red, as she shoves Kale.
 
She’s got a
little smile on her face, though.

“Shut up’s a bad word!” the older girl
and the boy shout at the same time.

“Sorry guys,” Riley calls.
 
We all break out into a laugh.

“Look, I know it’s a Friday, but those
papers have to be into the client or we will lose this deal.”
 
The very sophisticated and very annoyed
sounding voice floats into the house as Sage
Dohring
walks through the front door like a well-dressed force of nature.
 
“I know, but this isn’t an option.
 
It has to get done.”

Her voice rises in pitch and
severity.
 
So does my level of
terror.
 
“Call me when it’s done.
 
Bye.”

“Give me your phone,” Julian says.
 
He holds a hand out.
 
He’s wearing a suit and everything.
 
And holy cow does he look amazing.
 

“I can’t,” Sage says, sounding a bit
annoyed.
 
“This deal has to close today
or we’ll never recover this client.”

“Sage,” Julian says, raising an eyebrow
at her.
 
“You know Gretchen is going to
take care of things.
 
She always
does.
 
So give me your phone and stop
terrifying your brother’s girlfriend.”

To my horror, everyone’s eyes dart to
me.

My eyes are wide, my mouth hanging open
just slightly.

And what else can I do?

I give an awkward laugh, my eyes darting
around like I’m sketched out.

But thankfully everyone else laughs,
too.

“I’m sorry,” Sage says, handing her
phone over to Julian.
 
“I get into work
mode and everything turns into do or die.
 
I’m Sage.”
 
She crosses the room
in her very expensive high heels and holds out a hand.
 
I shake it, hoping my fear of her doesn’t
show.