Chapter 10
ten
EMERIE
“We have a dinner to attend this evening,” Calder announces, leaning against the door frame of our room.
Our room.
The one we share at his house.
It’s been two weeks since he brought me back home after I ran from him. Two wonderful weeks where I’ve spent my days volunteering at the hospital and decorating the house.
Okay, that’s not completely true. The day after we got back, I finished decorating the house.
We had three trees. One of them in the living room, where we could see it from the front windows.
The second one was in the family room, where Calder also had the TV, and it looked more lived in.
The last tree was set up in our bedroom, where I got to see the twinkling lights before going to sleep.
It’s even more magnificent when the shimmering glow is around Calder as he’s moving over me while his cock is inside me.
It has to be my favorite place to have a tree.
The trees weren’t the only thing I’d done either.
I had a beautiful Christmas village that I’d had at my place and started.
I set it up in the living room, which has been beautifully added to.
The best part is I didn’t do it. I came home from the children’s hospital one day and found more pieces were added to it.
I asked Calder about it, and he shrugged it off, saying that I should grow it.
I loved the idea and thought it would be amazing, but I didn’t want to be the one to do it. I wanted it to be Calder who added to it for me. It was the most precious thing he could have ever done for me.
Well, that and him showing up at the children’s hospital where he brought gifts to the kids in a big red sack. I hadn’t expected it of him. Not when I know he despises the holiday.
The only reason he’s doing it is because of me, which makes me fall that much more for him. More than I already had after he showed up at the hotel I stopped at in the snowstorm.
Glancing at Calder through the mirror, I continue to brush out and smooth out the frizz in my hair. “What dinner and where?” It’s not the first dinner we’ve gone to, but he typically tells me at least a few days ahead, not hours before. “And where is it?”
“We’re having dinner at the Devore estate. Your father will be there. He’s demanding we have the dinner, to as he put it, solidify the family unit.” Calder scoffs and rolls his eyes.
“Wait,” I whirl around to face him, “you’re telling me we’re having dinner at the Devore estate and it’s with my father?”
“Unfortunately,” Calder confirms.
I could see the annoyance in his gaze. He didn’t like Reggie Campbell. I couldn’t blame him. “What time is this dinner?”
“Six sharp.” Straightening from the door frame, Calder moves closer to me. When he’s close, he wraps an arm around my waist. “This dinner isn’t going to be pleasant. We both know that. Grant knows it. But it’s happening because we want to know exactly what Reggie’s playing at.”
“He wants money and power,” I tell him, knowing exactly what the man is after. “You know I’m not stupid.”
“You’re far from stupid, Bellissima.” I love the way Calder holds me in his arms.
I’m finding that anytime we’re near each other in any way, he reaches for me.
I know what he does when we’re not together . . . what he does for the Devore family. What I also know is that he’d never harm me. Not intentionally.
“I’m not going to let him do anything to you, Emerie.”
I melt further into his touch and nod. “I know.”
“This dinner tonight, as I said moments ago, it’s not going to be pleasant,” Calder mutters and dips his head down to brush his lips across my glossed lips.
“I want you to stay close to me at all times during this thing. If at any point you’re not, you’re to stick close to one of the Devore brothers or my men. ”
I met the men he’s speaking of. Raiden, Ciro, and Leone.
They were all seriously hot and definitely all about following orders when given.
Raiden had been tasked with protecting me this past week.
Ciro had the week before. I didn’t think I needed a bodyguard, but Calder asked me to humor him.
It wasn’t to keep me locked away. He’s kept his word on what he said about that, however, I had them with me to see to it that no one got near to cause me any harm.
“I can do that,” I murmur with a nod. “I don’t even want to go to this thing if he’s going to be there.” Honestly, I’m glad to not be under his thumb anymore.
“Good.” Calder kisses me once more and lets me go. “I’ve got to head out and handle some things, but I’ll be back in time to pick you up. Stick close to Raiden.”
“I’m going to the children’s hospital then finishing up some shopping. I was also planning on having lunch with a couple of my friends at Marcos.”
“You do seem to enjoy eating at Marcos.” Calder smirks.
“They have excellent food there.” Plus, my friends and I like going there because one of them is always hoping to get a glimpse of one of the Devore brothers, because they’re known for eating at the establishment.
I’ve even gotten a surprise visit from Calder while eating, as he joined Grant there last week.
“That they do,” he agrees. “Now, be good, and I’ll see you later.” With one last kiss, Calder leaves me to finish getting ready for the day.
Sighing, I do just that, not looking forward to the fact that I now have to attend a dinner that my own father will also be present at.
* * *
“You decided that would be an appropriate outfit to wear to a dinner?” My dad sneers without actually sneering. It was all in his tone when he saw me on Calder’s arm coming through the door of Grant Devore’s home.
Calder gives my waist a slight squeeze where he’s got his hand resting. He found my outfit amusing, considering I was wearing another Christmas sweater, but this one was a sweater dress that I paired with black leggings and brown calf-high boots.
It was cut in my opinion, and Calder seemed to like it with the way his lips had twitched. Not to mention that he laid me down on the bed to pull my leggings down and show me with his mouth and cock that he liked the way I looked.
I couldn’t help that I enjoyed wearing all things Christmas this time of year. I mean, hello, it is the season for it. Christmas was coming up fast, and I was looking forward to it.
More this year than I have in the past.
Today, while out, I even finished my shopping for Christmas.
My friends and I love to be able to get together on Christmas Eve for a night of fun.
We play games that involve drinking. It was my year to do it, but I still need to talk to Calder about it, and make sure he’d be okay with me having guests at the house.
First, though, we need to get through tonight’s dinner. Then I’ll talk to him. Maybe I’ll even mention it to him during dinner if I can manage it without my father hearing.
“You let my daughter out of the house dressed like that?” my father demands, his chin lifted, acting as if he could look down upon me, when in truth most of the men in the room were way taller than him. Actually, all the men were.
“Your daughter is my wife,” Calder retorts. “It is her choice what she wants to wear. Tonight, being a family dinner, she’s supposed to be allowed to dress as she pleases and be comfortable doing so.
God knows, I love this man.
My father’s face brightens, and I know he doesn’t like what my husband said in answer to his displeasure.
“Dinner is ready,” a woman announces from the doors to the dining room. If I remember correctly, Grant called her by name, and it’s Rosie.
“Thank you, Rosie,” Grant says, confirming what I thought. “As she said,” he motions us into the dining room, “time to eat.”
My father mutters something incoherent under his breath, but I pay no heed to it.
Grant takes a seat at the head of the table; his brothers scatter around it with Calder taking one to his right. Though he doesn’t sit until I’m seated in the seat next to him. My father sits directly across from me, his beady eyes watching the two of us closely.
I don’t like it. My stomach is in knots. I don’t want to be here, not sitting across from Reggie Campbell.
Calder’s hand comes to rest on my thigh as plates are brought out and set in front of us. The food smells amazing, but I have no appetite to speak of.
“So, where were you two coming from that you weren’t here before me?” my father asks, picking up his fork, eyes going between my husband and me.
“That’s none of your concern,” I tell him, blurting the answer out before I can stop my mouth from running away with me. Calder didn’t want my father to know about our house and wanted him to continue thinking that we live in this one with Grant and the others.
My dad’s eyes narrow on me as Calder’s hand tightens.
“You know better than to speak to anyone as you just did, Emerie.” Of course, he’s going to talk to me as if I were a child.
“I don’t believe my wife was speaking to you rudely. She was plainly stating that where we were was none of your concern. What we do and where we go is a private matter between the two of us, and again, as she stated, none of your concern.”
Oh my God.
Again, I love this man.
Calder Blanche is the most amazing man. Didn’t matter to me if he was known as the Santa of hitmen. He wasn’t that to me. This man was everything beautiful in my life, and I wasn’t expecting it in the least.
He means everything to me, and we still don’t know each other all that well. What I do know about him is that he lives by his actions, and the way he treats me speaks more than words ever could.
“What is it you’re looking for out of this marriage between your daughter and my brother?” Grant asks, surprising me by calling Calder his brother. They’re not related, but from what Calder told me, he might as well be, and it makes me happy that Grant would call him that.
“As I said, an alliance. No more war between the two families.” My father directs his gaze to Grant, and I can see the man calculating behind those menacing orbs.
“And I believe you mean to say my daughter and your right-hand man.” Of course, he’d try to correct Grant.
“Thinking on this, I’m not sure if that is a good way to make an alliance, he is not of Devore blood. ”
Grant sets his utensils down and zeros in on my father with the iciest look I’ve ever seen him have. Granted, I haven’t ever been around him much. But considering the way the room tenses and chills several degrees, this was not good.
“Calder Blanche is a member of the Devore family. He was adopted by my father, which in turn makes him my brother. He does not have to share my blood to be just that. All of this I shouldn’t have to explain, but that’s what I’m doing because you will not sit at my table and disrespect a member of this family.
” Grant’s voice was deep and gravely, no longer light and at ease as I’ve heard it before.
Right here is the man who I heard is cold-hearted. Well, in this case, he’s being more protective than cold-hearted.
I knew the rumors about Grant Devore. I’d overheard my father more than a few times speak of him and being willing to kill someone just for looking at him wrong. Yet when I’m around him, just as when I’m around Calder, I’m not afraid of him.
My father does as he always does when he responds to Grant’s words, he shrugs them off and nods. “Of course.”
“You’ll apologize to both Calder and his wife,” Grant orders.
Reggie Campbell has never been one to apologize, and the fact that he’s being put in his place is something he’s not used to.
Through gritted teeth, my father says, looking in our direction, “I apologize for misgivings.”
Calder lifts his hand from my thigh, and the next thing I know is he’s tugging my chair even closer. Instead of resting his hand on my thigh again, he stretches his arm over the back of my chair, fingers curling around my shoulders.
He leans toward me and whispers in my ear, low enough for only me to hear, “You want to leave, we’ll leave. Just nod.”
As much as I want to leave, I don’t want to cause problems, and I know that’s exactly what it will do. I don’t want trouble to escalate.
I tilt my head enough to look at my husband and give him a smile to answer him instead before returning my gaze to my plate and taking a small bite of the chicken marsala in front of me.
I’m not going to let my father win and intimidate me or muscle his way into anything or scare me more than I already am.