Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
ISABELLA
There hadn’t been a single call, text, or letter since the series of texts I’d received while at Aston and Blakely’s.
I wanted to believe it was behind me. William would stop contacting me and I’d be far away from everything that haunted me.
That it had just been a mugger that hadn’t stolen anything from me because they hadn’t had time.
William was still in Wyoming, on parole, and from what his parole officer could tell, hadn’t been contacting me.
While I didn’t want to believe that, maybe it was just all over now.
And even if I let that complicated and not quite real thought slide through me, I didn’t know what to believe, but I had other things to focus on.
Namely, the fact I was now waking up in Weston’s arms.
In his home.
It had been two weeks since the family dinner that Weston had barged into even though technically, we had each invited him. And things felt completely different.
I didn’t spend the night at his house often, in fact this was only the second time.
He did spend the night at my house though—though technically it was Aston’s home.
That wasn’t something I wanted to think too hard about at the moment, however.
We walked around town together, I worked in his office sometimes, and he even worked on my car in the driveway.
But in the end, I still hadn’t returned to Denver. And I wasn’t sure when I would.
Emily and Phoebe were taking care of my home and the sad plants I had left there, but it wasn’t as if I had left a large group of friends or pets behind.
We weren’t that far from the city itself, and I saw Blakely and my family—sans my mother—every week.
But I hadn’t returned home.
Aston and Blakely didn’t seem to mind that I was still here. If anything, my big brother was acting very much like a big brother, enjoying the fact that he could at least offer me something.
And while the unknown of William and the attack still wore on me, that wasn’t the real reason I was here.
No, it was currently the man with his hand on my breast as I lay down, my eyes still closed.
As if Weston had been in my mind, he moaned a bit, pressing his rock-hard erection toward my backside. He was wearing his boxer briefs, and I had on his T-shirt and my own panties, but his hand was underneath that shirt.
He nuzzled his face into my neck, and I held back a giggle, slightly ticklish.
“Weston. The alarm’s going to go off any second.”
“I bet that we could be pretty quick.”
I rolled my eyes even as one hand slid in between my thighs.
“Not that quick,” I moaned as my alarm did indeed go off.
Weston groaned, patted my pussy slightly, as if saying goodbye for now, and slid his fingers out from underneath my panties. And because he was Weston, he licked his fingers before rolling onto his back.
I turned to look down at him and winced at the way his erection tented the blankets.
“Don’t look at him. He’s going to be angry. I knew I should have set an earlier alarm.”
I shook my head and turned off my alarm. “You have to get everyone ready for school, and I have a few meetings. Which I’m very grateful that I can do online.”
Something crossed his face, and I had to wonder if it was the same thing on mine.
How long would this last? This temporary moment before things went back to the way they were.
When we weren’t in each other’s orbits and I had to go back to the place I rented, and the work I had been hired for.
Yes, I could do so much of it from here, in fact I could do pretty much all of it, but I didn’t live here, and it wasn’t as if people were offering me a choice.
I rented my place down in Denver, and I had to figure out exactly what that lease would look like next year.
And yet at this moment I was putting the cart before the horse, so I licked my lips and slid my legs over the other side of the bed.
“I’m going to get ready and head out. Do you think I can tiptoe out before the girls wake up?”
He rolled his eyes. “They know you stay here. And I’m pretty sure they’re already up.”
A door slammed before I could say anything, and I winced. “It’s not that I’m trying to hide this, because we can’t. But I also don’t want to be a poor example.”
“You are not a poor example. If anything, you’re a woman with a job, a career, and a family you take care of. Sounds like a decent role model to me.” He smacked a kiss to my lips as he walked by, then grabbed his things. He headed to the guest bathroom, so I could get ready in his.
He did it without even saying anything. As if taking care of others was just what he did. Yet that was what I did usually. The person who made sure everybody was taken care of. And I felt like I was falling down on my job.
We still had so much to do for Sophia’s wedding that was coming up within the month.
Because the two hadn’t wanted to wait, and their perfect venue that usually had a one-to-two-year wait had a cancellation.
So now, we were rolling everything into the small wedding at once.
However, because the Cages were showing up in force, it wasn’t exactly a small wedding.
Emily was finishing up her master’s degree, and working on an internship with another company, so she and I were constantly texting to make sure that she found the company she wanted to work for.
I knew that if she asked and applied, she could get any job she wanted with our brothers and myself, and yet, that idea just felt odd.
It had felt odd for me even taking the job.
But I couldn’t be the one to tell my baby sister exactly what to do.
I had a feeling Phoebe would be getting engaged at any moment, and that would be yet another wedding to plan. Not to mention Blakely and Aston. That was only a matter of time.
I quickly showered, getting ready for the day as I thought about all the changes that had happened. My family was growing up, and doing things on their own, all without our mother. And I wanted to feel sad about that, but instead I just felt an emptiness.
At least when it came to her.
I had no idea what I was doing, but for once in my life, maybe giving in was okay. Because Weston was the only man I had ever loved. And I didn’t want to go away yet.
I used the blow-dryer one of the girls had let me borrow to finish getting ready before I grabbed my small bag and headed downstairs.
Weston hadn’t returned, so I assumed he got ready in the bedroom while I was putting on the rest of my makeup because I had an on-screen meeting.
The scent of bacon and eggs however, surprised me.
I walked downstairs and nearly tripped over my feet as the four Caldwell siblings stood around the kitchen island, each of them getting ready for the day.
I was grateful I hadn’t come down in Weston’s shirt, but it still felt awkward.
“Oh. Hi. Good morning,” I babbled, my cheeks pinkening.
Sydney smiled. “Hi there. Weston told us how you like your coffee, so it’s all set for you. We’re just finishing up cutting up fruit, and since Lance wanted French toast, he gets to be the one that makes it.”
“And I added the almond extract,” Sam put in. “It’s my favorite touch.” She beamed as she said it, and I couldn’t help but remember when Emily had done the same thing.
“My sister Emily also adds almond extract. In fact, she loves almond creamer in her coffee, and oat milk. She slowly converted me.”
“Good thing I have oat milk then,” Weston said softly. He padded toward me in bare feet and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.
I stood there frozen, surprised he was doing this in front of his siblings.
He hadn’t before. Yes, everyone knew we were sleeping together, and we didn’t really have a label for what this was, but he hadn’t kissed me like this in front of his family at his house in the morning before school and work.
“Oh. Good morning.”
He smiled against my lips. “The bacon’s going to burn, I need to get it out of the oven. But sit. You’ve got time before your meeting.”
I stared at him as I looked at his wet hair, worn jeans, and Caldwell’s T-shirt, and shook my head. “You guys don’t normally do such a big breakfast.”
Sydney shrugged, and Lance didn’t say a word, just focused on turning the French toast. “We have finals starting tomorrow, and all of us are really stressed out. So we are having a big breakfast today since we don’t have morning period, and Lance doesn’t have to be down in the city until later.”
Lance finally looked up at me and grinned. He looked so much like Weston, but with slightly blonder hair like the twins.
Weston sighed. “Meaning I don’t have to deal with the finals prep tonight or for the rest of the week. Thank God.”
“We’re still not as bad as you are,” Sam put.
“Just wait until you’re in college, you’ll learn a whole new meaning to studying,” Lance said.
I smiled. “I had to change how I went from studying in high school to college because it wasn’t just memorizing anymore. I sort of had to teach myself how to study. It wasn’t easy. But I kind of liked it.”
The man I told myself I would be weary of loving again raised a brow. “You’re a nerd, of course you did.”
I scowled at him. “Excuse me, I vaguely remember you helping me with some of those flashcards when I was finishing up that night class.”
In addition to my degree I had a few specialty classes that I had taken, one had been while I had been dating Weston the first time.
Weston didn’t look ashamed to be caught in the least. “Color coding is fun. You should see my office.”
“I have,” I said, and blushed because the last time we had been in his office, he had bent me over and fucked me from behind. I could still feel him slowly sliding in and out of me, using my panties as a gag so I wouldn’t scream too loudly as I came.
He met my gaze, and Lance coughed.