Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CAITLIN
“You busy?”
I look up from my desk at my mom’s voice, wincing at the ache in my shoulders that tells me I’ve been hunched over these trust documents for far too long. A glance at the clock on my computer confirms it.
I shake my head, stretching my arms out in front of me to loosen my tight muscles. “Not anymore. I could definitely use a break.”
Smiling, my mom strolls into my office and plops down in the chair across from my desk. “I was hoping you would say that because a break just arrived in the form of a six-foot-two wide receiver who seems pretty eager to get up here to see you.”
“Drew’s here?” I ask quickly. Way too quickly judging by the smug look that crosses my mom’s face, but I don’t have time to deal with that right now because I’m too busy combating the swarm of butterflies invading my stomach.
I snatch a couple pens from the ever-present pile nearby, the familiar shape of them calming my raging nerves.
Grabbing a mini-Snickers from the bowl on my desk, she opens it and pops it into her mouth.
“He came in a couple minutes ago saying something about checking with you on the progress of his trust, but I happen to know you sent him the drafts a week ago, and I can see a man fishing for an excuse to see a girl from a mile away. Molly and Jules are distracting him with a million questions so I could come up here and find out if you wanted to see him or if I should tell him you’re busy. ”
“You would do that?” I ask before I can stop the words.
My mom studies me for a beat like she’s looking for something I’m not quite sure I want her to see.
“You’re my daughter, Cait. One of the most important people in my world.
I would do anything for you, including telling that very good looking and extremely smitten football player to get the fuck out of here if that’s what you wanted me to do. ”
I take a sip of my Sprite to clear my suddenly dry throat. “Smitten?” I manage.
My mom grins at me. “Totally smitten. His face lit up like a damn Christmas tree when he said your name. No one gets that excited to come see their lawyer. Also, there’s the little matter of the game on Sunday and him staring at you from the field like you would disappear if he looked away.
And the fact that you went home with him after. ”
I roll my eyes because my family really is a giant game of telephone. “Let me guess. Molly by way of Sophie?”
Her grin widens. “And Julie by way of Tyler, with a side of Jo, who heard it from Sarah. Then Evan called asking me why I didn’t tell her you were dating the most famous wide receiver in the NFL, so it was a whole thing.”
I roll my eyes because if the news made it all the way to Emmy’s mom Evan, who is married to Jordan’s youngest brother and also lives in Boston, it’s safe to say my entire family knows. “And Dad?” I ask.
My mom smiles at the mention of my dad. “I’ve had to restrain him from calling you at least six times in the last four days. He is, and I quote, just trying to be there for his baby girl.”
“In my time of need?” I say dryly.
She snickers. “You know your dad. He likes to pretend he’s all wholesome and above it, but he’s a whore for gossip just like the rest of us.
A man raised by Rachel Parker would have to be.
So, I take it by the way you literally blushed when you said Drew’s name I’m not making an excuse to kick him out? ”
“I didn’t blush,” I mumble, except I totally did because the second I said his name, it conjured an image of the way I literally rode his thigh the other day and came all over his lap then fell asleep in his bed in the glow of the night-light he keeps plugged into his bedroom wall.
I don’t…like the dark, he said sheepishly, and how fucking cute is that?
I woke up in the morning to his arms banded around me and him watching me like he couldn’t believe I was still there.
It was a really good night. And morning.
“What’s going on in your head, Cait?”
I shrug, the question somehow lowering my defenses enough that the words fall right of my mouth. “I like him.”
They’re not the most eloquent words I can muster, and like is a ridiculously underwhelming word to represent my feelings for Drew Ellicott, but it’s what I’ve got.
I expect follow up questions and clarifications, but I get none of that.
Instead, my mom stands and pulls me up from my desk, wrapping me in a hug.
I let out an unsteady breath, sinking into the comfort of mom in a way I haven’t in longer than I can remember.
When she pulls back, she cups my face in her hands with a smile. “I like him for you.”
I roll my eyes even as her words have a warm glow settling in my chest. “You don’t even know him.”
My mom shakes her head. “I know him enough to see he has a lot of love and kindness in him, and that’s exactly what you deserve, Cait.
And I know he needs the kind of compassion and steadiness you possess in abundance.
I think you both need to learn how it feels to open up enough to let someone in. You can teach each other.”
When I stare at my mom, surprised and unspeaking, she grins at me.
“What? You think I don’t know my own daughter?
I know you, probably better than you know yourself.
I raised you, and I am you, honey, in the complex, oldest daughter, accidentally take on everyone’s emotional labor sort of way.
I tried my hardest to help you see you didn’t need to be everything to everyone without asking for anything for yourself, but sometimes nature is a bitch, and we are who we are.
You’re amazing, Cait, just the way you are.
But if one day you felt like you wanted a partner, I would hope for someone who can care for you the way you deserve.
Who can show you what it feels like to let go a little and let someone do for you what you’ve always done for everyone you love.
Your dad was that person for me even before we got together, and for every day since. I want that for you too.”
I consider her words, thinking of the way Drew took care of me after he found me in the hospital.
How he noticed when Tyler’s words after the game hit hard and didn’t say anything but took my hand in a wordless gesture that said, simply, I’m here.
The other night on his couch when I told him some of my biggest truths and he accepted them without question, calming all my fears and insecurities and giving me the confidence to do what I’ve never done before.
How it made me want him even more. Made me want to give myself to him in a way I haven’t with anyone else.
“I think maybe he could be that person. At least, I think I want him to be. I’ve never…wanted anyone to be.”
It’s not a lot, but it’s more than I’ve told my mom before, and when she smiles and nods, squeezing my shoulders, I know it’s enough. Somehow, I’ve always been enough for my family, and I understand, in a way I maybe haven’t considered before, what a gift that is.
“I’ll go down and send him up.”
“Too late.” The deep voice has us both turning to the doorway and fuck me, every part of my body lights right up at the way Drew grins as he leans into my office, big hands gripping the top of the doorframe.
His black pants are the perfect amount of snug, and the way the gray button-down shirt he’s wearing hugs his biceps and is rolled up over the most incredible forearms I’ve ever seen is going to feature prominently in every dream I have from now until eternity.
His golden eyes are focused intently on me as my skin heats under his perusal, and all I can hear is the beating of my own heart in my ears. This is a lot more than simple like. So much more.
“Definitely that person,” my mom murmurs quietly enough that only I can hear her, and something about the certainty in her words sends a thrill careening up my spine.
“Sorry!” Molly says a little breathlessly, coming up behind Drew and ducking around him to get into my office. “He’s wily and made a break for it while we weren’t looking.”
“It’s a good thing I’m in a good mood today.” Julie strolls in behind Molly, giving Drew a narrow-eyed glare. “Otherwise, I would toss your ass right out of here for walking up those steps. No one comes into my law firm uninvited.”
“No one is tossing anyone’s ass anywhere.” Emma joins the party and stands right in between Drew and Julie as if she can protect him from Julie’s wrath.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me Drew was here?” I stifle a groan when Emmy walks in, smiling broadly as she looks between Drew and me. “You here to see our girl?” she asks, turning to me and giving me an exaggerated thumbs up then fanning her face so dramatically there’s no way anyone misses it.
When Drew winks at me and all five women in my office practically sigh in unison, I wonder if it’s possible to melt straight through the floor out of sheer embarrassment. “I’m definitely here to see our girl. That okay with you, Catie?”
Oh, holy shit.
“Sure,” I say, my voice an octave higher than it normally is. “Yeah. Definitely. We probably have work things to discuss anyway.”
“Sure you do,” Molly mutters.
Emmy snorts out a laugh, and forget about melting through the floor. I’m pretty sure this is how I go. Dead of embarrassment right here in my office. I’m oddly relieved I repainted my toenails this morning so at least I’ll have a perfect pedicure for the occasion of my demise.
“Okay, I think maybe we leave them to it,” Emma says, and I practically sigh with relief when she ushers everyone else out in that efficient way of hers. She waves and tosses me a grin before closing the door behind her, and Drew is in front of me before I register the movement.
Sliding his hands into my hair, he bends, lips landing on mine before either of us utters a word.
Angling my head just the way he wants it, he runs his tongue along my bottom lip and dives in, devouring me right where we stand.
He kisses me like he’s been thinking of it since the last time.
Like he’s been anticipating this moment for days.
Every part of my body ignites at the feel of his lips moving over mine, kissing me until I’m breathless with want, and I know he’s right there with me.
His mouth is hot and ravenous and somehow this kiss feels like the first time all over again and also like we’ve been doing this forever, our mouths in perfect sync like they were made for each other.
He wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him, and I can feel every ridge of his muscled body pressed right up against mine.
His cock is hard between us, and when my hips rock involuntarily against him, he groans, the sound rumbling in the back of his throat and sending a curl of desire into my belly.
“Fuck, Catie,” he mutters, sucking my bottom lip into his mouth and grazing it with his teeth.
“Fucking love kissing you.” He trails his lips over my jaw, working his way down my throat with lips and tongue working in tandem until I’m ready to strip us both naked right where we stand. “Could kiss you for fucking ever.”
He returns his lips to mine, tugging on my hair just enough to angle my head back further, to take the kiss deeper. And when he tears his mouth away from mine, chest heaving and pupils blown, I have to resist the urge to beg him to put that mouth right back where it was.
“Why’d you stop?” I manage, and I can’t even regret the way I sound like I’m begging because I think I would beg for this man without any hesitation, and there’s a thought I’ve never had before.
Drew chuckles, pressing his lips to my forehead as he takes a slow, deep breath. “You needy for me, Princess?”
I scoff. “I’m needy for nothing.”
When he leans down and hovers his lips directly over mine, the sound I let out is somewhere between a moan and a whine, and it’s definitely one I’ve never made before. One I didn’t even know I could make.
So, maybe a little needy.
“Sure you aren’t,” he whispers, standing straight but keeping one hand on my hair and the other on my waist. “Anyway, sorry to just barge in here.”
“But are you really?” I ask, more than a little breathless from the kiss and how good he smells and the way his hair falls over his forehead in that perfectly messy tousle and the way he’s focused so intently on me it’s like I’m the only person in the world.
“Nah.” His boyish grin makes my insides go a little haywire. “I’m never sorry when I get to see your face. It’s a really, really good face. I missed it.”
I roll my eyes, not wanting him to see how much his words affect me. “You saw me four days ago.”
He shrugs. “That’s four days too long. I had practice earlier and then a whole bunch of media shit to deal with, and when I was done, all I could think was how I needed to see you. So, wanna do something?”
“What kind of something?”
Turning us towards my desk chair, he takes a seat and pulls me into his lap, wrapping his arms around me until I’m tucked into his body.
It’s not at all bad to lean on someone, it turns out.
Both literally and figuratively. And it’s not so hard when that someone is him.
“The kind of something where you get in my car and I take you somewhere and we do a fun thing together.”
“Like a date?” I ask warily.
Drew presses a kiss to my neck. “We never did have that first date. This can be our do-over. I promise I won’t even stand you up a little bit.”
I huff out a laugh. “Well, with an offer like that, how could I possibly refuse?”
The grin that spreads over his face is so big and so happy I almost need to look away from it. “Seriously?”
Feeling a shot of tenderness towards this beautiful man, I brush his hair back from his forehead, thinking that I like who I am right now. Who I am when I’m with him. “Very seriously.”
When he leans in and kisses me softly, murmuring, “This is going to be the best night ever,” I think that maybe it already is, because he’s here with me.