Chapter 24
Last night had been one of the best nights of his life as a grown man. He’d spent hours with the beautiful, maddening, amazing, fascinating woman that he wanted.
He had dutifully dropped his woman off at her ranch, spoken to all of her sisters who were still awake and ready to give him the third degree—Jules wanted to know on a scale of one to ten how romantic Auggie thought her date had been, for one thing—he had netted a solid eight-point-five, Auggie had assured her.
While smirking at him. Making him want to kiss the hell out of her again.
He had gotten the opportunity to kiss her, though.
He’d pulled over on the shoulder after turning into her driveway.
They’d sat for an hour, doing things that would make a man like Cal blush—with their clothes on, anyway.
That woman burned him. No denying that. And now, she knew exactly what he wanted from her.
Mostly. He’d told her the truth. Cal was done with anything that wasn’t serious—he was too old to mess around.
He wanted the woman he wanted. He’d told her he was going to get her, too.
They’d probably still be making out in her driveway, if Em hadn’t texted her with a question about Avril’s antibiotic dosage. But then…motherhood had waited.
He’d stuck around long enough to eat brownies that January and Jules had made with their aunt, and tell them that they were the best brownies he had ever had.
He had kissed Auggie good-night—chastely, of course—then had to kiss half the little girls on the foreheads before they’d let him leave.
Even Maeya had needed cuddled before he left.
He’d even kissed Em right on the forehead and told her to keep doing what she was doing to pester his brother.
Cadell needed the challenge. She’d just smirked up at him, a little monster in overalls once again.
He'd actually felt like he’d belonged.
But now…he had an empire to build. He’d been neglecting business lately.
But didn’t a man deserve personal? He thought about that as he drove back from his meeting in Pinedale the next day.
He was maybe twenty minutes from Masterson—near the hospital area—driving home. He had a plan to work on, and he was strategizing as he drove.
Cal didn’t see the light-colored box van until it was almost too late.
He would never forget the sound.
Or how he hurt before he went under.