On Loverose Lane (Return to Dublin Street #1)

27. Callan

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CALLAN

S triding out of the showers, my mind was still on the match and the fact that Baird had informed me Braden Carmichael had agreed to a meeting. He wouldn’t be able to sit down with us for a few weeks between scheduled meetings and a three-week vacation he had planned with his wife, but the meeting was in the books.

He hadn’t lied to Beth. Or he had and he was only meeting with us now to keep the peace with his daughter. I supposed I’d be able to gauge the truth once I met the bloke.

My teammates were giving one another shit about the game as I wandered through the locker room, but it was all good-natured. We had, in fact, wiped the floor with Roselin in the European tournament. Leg 2 of 2 was ours. Complete annihilation. With success hot in my blood, the meeting in the books, and a fake date with Beth this evening, I was in a fantastic mood.

Although we’d texted, I hadn’t seen Beth since last Sunday. That was only four nights ago, but it felt longer. I tried not to look forward to seeing her tonight, but I couldn’t help myself.

“What is that smirk all about?” John asked as he shrugged on his jeans.

“We just won a game.”

“That wasn’t a game win smirk.”

Baird’s head was suddenly right next to mine as he offered to John, “Keen’s got a date with Beth tonight. He’s well excited.”

“Fuck off,” I said without rancor, though I shoved him out of my space.

My friend laughed as he righted his balance.

John cast an assessing eye over me. “When’s the party she needs you to attend?”

“This Saturday. We’re meeting up tonight to go over our game plan. There will be photographers there, so no doubt we’ll be pictured together.”

“It is only fake between you, then?” Baird inquired a bit too loudly. Thankfully, our teammates were making such a ruckus celebrating, I doubted anyone heard.

I eyed him. “Let’s not talk about it here.”

Baird got pulled into the celebrations, so the subject was dropped.

However, it didn’t take much to deflate my mood only a few minutes later.

Walking out of the stadium with the lads toward our car park, Danny the security guard stopped me in my tracks with, “Think your dad wants to see you, Mr. Keen.”

I glanced sharply at him. “What?”

Danny didn’t pick up on my tone. He grinned. “From what I hear, he was in the stands, proud as anything. Kept telling everyone who would listen he was your dad.”

My pulse raced. “Where is he?”

The security guard nodded to where a small crowd of fans were watching the team leave the grounds. And front and center at the security fencing stood Gavin Urquhart.

A crushing sensation weighed on my chest as I abruptly nodded at Danny and strode toward my car.

“Callan, you all right?” Baird asked, glancing worriedly in my dad’s direction.

“Fine. I’ll catch you later.” I jumped into my Defender before my mates could say another word. Sitting there for a second, eyes on my wing mirror where I could still see Gavin, I breathed in and out slowly, attempting to ease the compression on my chest.

Now and then, Gavin did this. Went around acting the proud father, telling everyone I was his son, making out like he was the one who helped me get to where I am. In reality, he did fuck all. He treated me like I was a burden, like I was a nuisance dropped in his lap when I was twelve. All while I was grieving my mum and stepdad.

Gavin Urquhart was a sleekit piece of shit.

And him hanging around meant only one thing: he wanted something from me.

I turned on the engine, glanced in my mirrors, and swung out of the space to join the traffic of players trying to leave the grounds. As I moved toward the security gate, I could sense my dad watching me. The right side of my face burned with awareness. My hands clenched the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white, and I didn’t breathe a full breath until Gavin Urquhart disappeared from my rearview.

Beth had a full schedule, so instead of leaving from the apartment building together, she asked me to meet her for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Stockbridge. Since it was less than a ten-minute walk from my flat, I strolled there. I took the time to shrug off the encounter with my dad. I didn’t want to walk into the restaurant a brooding bastard. Beth didn’t deserve that. And I also didn’t want to deal with any questions she might have as to the cause.

Although New Town wasn’t quite as busy as the rest of the city in August, the streets were crowded as I made my way there. The Fringe Festival always brought a buzz to Edinburgh that was hard to explain. The atmosphere was electric, like being at an outdoor festival or a professional league football game. While I hadn’t had a chance to explore any of the events in the last few years, I quite liked the Fringe.

I did not like that it made vehicle and foot traffic so congested. It was probably why Beth chose Stockbridge. Princes Street, Old Town, and the university were usually the most crowded areas of the city during the Fringe.

The hostess greeted me as I walked into the small restaurant. With its exposed brick walls, low ceilings, and old Georgian windows, the place was moody but warm. Beth waved to me from a table by a window. As she stood to greet me, I tensed.

She wore a tight cropped black tank top that showed off her cleavage and a few inches of bare skin on her torso before her high-waisted wide-leg trousers covered the rest. A suit jacket that matched the trousers was thrown over the back of her chair.

Her blue eyes looked even more dramatic than usual because she’d penciled a wee black flick at the tips.

Why did she have to be so fucking gorgeous?

Her perfume wafted over me as she pressed up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against my cheek. “Hi, Captain.”

My fingertips brushed her bare waist for a second as I replied with a gruff, “Hi.”

Body like a live wire, I quickly took the seat across from her.

“You look good.”

I raised an eyebrow at how she devoured me with her gaze. “We’re going to have a problem if you keep looking at me like that.”

Beth raised an eyebrow and snapped up the menu. I watched her as she perused it, thinking for not the first time what a damn shame it was she wasn’t interested in casual. So much tension crackled between us, I had a sneaking suspicion the sex would be mind-blowing.

“How was your day?” she asked, keeping her focus fixed on the menu.

“We won against Roselin.”

Her smile was wide as she finally looked at me. “You said you would.”

I smirked. “We fucked them up.”

Beth laughed. “So bloodthirsty, Callan Keen.”

“They drew first blood.” I shrugged. “We ended it.”

“I’m pleased for you.”

“Thanks. Just need to keep up the streak. Got a game against Northpark United in the Pro League on Sunday.” Which meant I’d be coming straight from training to attend this launch party for Beth, and there would be absolutely no drinking for me.

“I really do appreciate you coming with me on Saturday night before a game.”

“No problem.”

The server arrived to take our orders, so I gave the menu a quick glance and chose the healthier option of tom yum soup. Beth chose Thai green curry, and I almost changed my mind and got the same. But I had to keep on top of my diet. The beautiful game required stamina, and stamina required sacrifice.

After the server collected the menus, Beth leaned her elbows on the table, the position lowering her chest and giving me an eyeful of her fantastic cleavage. Her tits were definitely bigger than I remembered. A lush handful.

I dragged my gaze off her body. “Seems like a nice place.”

“Aye, the food is great here. So … Saturday. I think if the press recognizes you and asks about us, we should say we’re friends enjoying each other’s company. Let them do with that what they will.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“If Sheera asks, we’ll say we’re trying to keep the press out of our business. That means we can act intimate without acting intimate.”

Confused, I replied, “What does that even mean?”

“Like … you know, dance, chat, hold hands, but we won’t kiss or anything. You know. Keep things simple.”

I tried not to contemplate the deflated sensation that chased her words. Instead, we chatted a bit more about what I should wear and the time and details. When our meals arrived, I changed the subject.

“Got a meeting set up with your dad. It’s weeks away, but we got one.”

Beth swallowed a bite of food. “I’m glad. I told you he wasn’t lying.”

I still wasn’t convinced, but I didn’t want to argue about it.

“Tell me about your plans. You and Baird. This real estate company?”

So I told her about our portfolio but how Blantyre Castle would be the making of the company, that it was a risk, but one we’re certain was worth it. Spa hotels dotted the country, but this castle had spectacular coastal views. It practically marketed itself. And with an easy commute into Edinburgh, it would be a big draw to international visitors.

Beth’s phone binged five times during this. On the sixth chime, I saw her shift nervously in her seat and I gestured to the device. “You can get that.”

There was a moment of hesitation from her as she picked up her phone. But then she pressed the button on the side of it. “No, I’ll put it on silent. They can all wait.”

I nodded. “If you’re sure.”

She shrugged. “I’m sure. You were saying?”

“Oh, that the castle could even work really well as a wedding venue, but that’s something we’d need to look into more.”

“I think your plans sound wonderful.”

“Thanks. What about you? It seems to me you’ll do just about anything for your company.” I gestured between us, referencing our fake-dating agreement. “Is it worth it?”

She tilted her head, giving me an inviting smile. “It’s not exactly a hardship to sit across a table from you, Captain.”

A shiver of arousal tightened in my groin. I had to admit there was something about her calling me captain that made my dick twitch. “You keep smiling at me like that, and I’m going to walk out of here hard as a rock.”

Beth didn’t gasp in outrage or even seem shocked by my words. She smirked that sexy-ass smirk of hers and considered me. “Are you hard right now?”

I narrowed my eyes. “You keep talking like that, and I will be.”

As if suddenly remembering we were in public, Beth glanced around, saw we hadn’t been overheard, and grinned down at her food. I watched her take a forkful of her curry, and it was like she moved in slo-mo. I couldn’t tear my eyes off her mouth as she took the bite, her lips plumping as she chewed.

Heat flushed through me, and I took a spoonful of my soup to distract myself.

“I don’t do casual,” Beth suddenly announced.

I swallowed quickly, wiping my lips with my napkin. “I’m aware.”

“Like, I know we’re flirting and bantering, but I don’t do casual, so this isn’t heading toward the bedroom. I don’t want to lead you on.”

My mouth curled at the corner. “A woman is allowed to flirt without worrying a man sees it as a guarantee of sex. No one owes anyone sex just because they flirted.”

Beth studied me for a second. “You need to stop saying stuff like that.”

“Why?”

“Because it makes me want to throw out my own rule book and have my wicked way with you.”

I swallowed hard, because I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I wanted someone this much. Shifting in my seat, I cleared my throat. “Why are you obsessed with wanting to find a real relationship?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed.” Beth frowned. “I mean, I did start a podcast at uni about it, but it’s not an obsession. It’s a mission.”

I didn’t tell her I already knew that.

“I guess you could say I’m in a hurry to find Mr. Right. I don’t want my whole life to pass me by before I find who I’m supposed to spend it with. My mum met my dad when she was only twenty-two. He was thirty, divorced, successful, playing the field a bit because he’d married young … and then he met Mum. Everything changed for him then. He pursued her relentlessly until they fell in love. They’ve never looked back.”

It was clear Beth saw her parents as some kind of romantic ideal. That annoyed me because it had clearly set her on this unrealistic path in search of “true love.” And true love didn’t exist. Because of that belief, she was missing out on things that did exist. Like great fucking sex with me. “Sounds like a creep. She was only twenty-two.”

Beth glowered. “My mum was mature for her age. She lost her entire family when she was a teenager and moved to another continent all by herself.”

I inwardly winced because I remembered Beth had told me that in high school.

“And thirty isn’t old. You’ll be thirty in five years, Captain.”

“Don’t remind me.” I sighed. “Look, sorry. I didn’t mean to insult your parents. I think you’re missing out on life because you’re trying to find something that might not exist.”

“If you’d grown up around the couples I grew up around, including my parents, you wouldn’t be so cynical about love. It exists.”

I used to think so. I even used to think I felt it for Beth. Now I knew it was only intense physical attraction, and I still believed I wasn’t going to get past it until we’d slept together. Something that would not happen if she didn’t ease up on her search for Mr. Right. “You know, sometimes the best sex people have is with people they don’t love. Not caring what the other person thinks gives you freedom to be yourself in bed.”

“Maybe.” Beth shrugged. “But as much as I’d quite like to see you naked, Callan Keen, I want to find something real. And I’m twenty-four. I’m running out of time.”

“Correction—you’ve got all the time in the world. And if you ever come to your senses and realize that, I will happily strip naked and let you have ‘your wicked way’ with me.”

Beth’s gorgeous eyes twinkled with amusement. “Good to know.”

“But”—I leaned forward, lowering my voice—“it will be in exchange for letting me lick and fuck every inch of you, Beth Carmichael. I’ve been fantasizing about it a long time. It’s a pent-up need to have you come on my tongue so many times, I’d taste you there for a week.”

Her breath caught, her lips parting in an O that made me want to kiss her until we were desperate for oxygen. Suddenly, she pressed the back of her hands to her cheeks and let out a shaky laugh.

She was turned on.

She was sitting across from me in this cozy wee restaurant, aroused. She was probably wet.

Fuck .

The thought sent blood rushing to my cock, and it strained against the zipper of my jeans.

“We need to talk about something else,” I said gruffly.

“You were the one who went there .”

“Now I’m asking us to go somewhere else.”

Beth licked her lips, making my downstairs situation worse. She cleared her throat. “Explain how these three tournaments work again …”

Grateful, I dove into the explanation of how the tournaments worked, and as she’d meant it to, it worked on dousing our arousal.

But just a dousing.

As we strolled back to our flats, sexual awareness simmered between us. All it would take was one of us to throw gasoline on the spark.

Apparently, it wouldn’t be Beth. Before I could even say a proper good-night, she strode away from me at the top of the stairs, got her keys into the lock this time, and stepped inside with a much more confident “See you Saturday” over her shoulder.

When the door closed behind her, I decided I preferred her shook up and flustered, like the time she fell into her flat.

I grinned to myself, remembering it.

How could one woman be so sexy and confident but so fucking adorable all at once?

That night I took care of myself. With my hand wrapped around my cock, I fantasized about Beth, and not for the first time. I came embarrassingly quickly. After I cleaned up, I got into bed and scrubbed a hand down my face.

Part of me hoped Beth broke and decided she wanted sex.

Another part of me knew we shouldn’t.

We were neighbors, and if we started something knowing it could really go nowhere, shit might get awkward between us. Like when I inevitably moved on and brought another woman back to my place. That might be weird for Beth.

I had to think beyond my cock here.

Saturday at the launch party, I’d curb the flirting between us. This was a friend helping out another friend.

End of story.

It had to be.