Chapter 40
Cal was sitting on the couch nearest the window well after the girls had gone to bed, when he saw the lights coming down the drive. He tensed, until he was able to identify the truck more fully.
Then he pulled in a deep breath—of relief.
The cavalry had arrived. Now, he’d catch a few hours’ sleep and start fresh in the morning.
Cal had argued with that woman—and her grown-up devil sisters—until he felt blue in the face.
They’d wanted him to rest, and for the three of them to take turns ‘watching’ things. That wasn’t going to happen.
He had stayed to protect them, and that was what he was going to do.
He had suspected this would happen—as soon as Claudia had had a chance to track down their brother.
Cal opened the door quietly, not wanting to wake any of the devil creatures sleeping inside. “I figured you’d show up soon.”
“I was in Evanston, damn it. What in the hell happened?” His brother looked at him in the dim light from the kitchen. “Em and her sisters…are they okay? You look like hell.”
“Feel like it. Bastard Bruce Tyler has fists like sledgehammers.” And Cal was feeling it.
No denying that. “I need you to watch over them for me. While I sleep for a couple of hours. I don’t trust that asshole not to try to come back.
Guy is insane. Batshit crazy look in his eyes.
He definitely wanted something from here.
And we both know what could happen when a man is looking for something that desperately. ”
“How are the girls?”
“Auggie is terrified but won’t admit it.
Em and Junie are too but are worried for Auggie and the girls.
Jan knows—but the younger ones don’t. They are all walking on eggshells, and the girls didn’t want to sleep, either.
Auggie just put Markie back to bed about an hour ago.
I think she’s in the nursery with the baby demon now.
I doubt anyone is getting any real sleep tonight. ”
“And you just sort of assigned yourself bodyguard duty, so I heard. Claudia has questions. So, number one, what’s going on with you and Auggie Tyler, Calloway? Inquiring Claudias want to know. Rather, inquiring Claudias want to confirm, I believe.”
“That’s between me and Auggie and no one else.
I’ll clue you in on anything you need to know when the time comes.
” He was still strategizing on how to get that woman exactly where he wanted her.
And…he had some decisions to make. Auggie came with six very important lifetime commitments, whose needs had to be considered just as strongly as Cal’s desires.
“She has six kids, and two devil sisters, to take care of. I’m not going to rush her.
Or do anything to jeopardize their happiness and well-being, right now.
But damn it, I want that woman more than I have ever wanted any other. ”
“I feel your pain. You serious about her, even with the girls? Probably have to go slow. Make sure the kids are okay.”
“I know. That’s part of the plan. They are good kids—they were so scared tonight.
Ate right through me. If I had my way, I’d have scooped them all up and taken them back to the house.
Hired a dozen guards to protect them. I hated seeing how afraid in their own home they were.
Damn that bastard for what he’s done to them.
If I could make this better for them all, I would. In a heartbeat.”
Auggie didn’t mean to eavesdrop. She’d just left one of the baby monitors in the kitchen again.
And she was sitting next to the crib, rocking her baby.
She heard the anger in Cal’s words. And…
the honesty. He meant what he was saying.
He wanted her—that gave her more tingles in places she didn’t want to think about right now, than she wanted to admit.
And he cared about the girls’ well-being.
He was a different kind of man, Calloway Grady. She’d thought she had him figured out before, but apparently, she had been wrong.
She knew good men existed—she was surrounded by Tyler boys after all.
But there was something about Cal that just mixed her up somehow.
She looked down at the beautiful baby in her arms. She hadn’t ever thought she’d have children of her own, but she did now.
She hadn’t been prepared when she’d wakened in the hospital to learn that she had six more baby sisters out there. Sisters who had needed her.
What if she’d screwed up?
She’d been so terrified of everything. She still was.
Hurting, traumatized, and sure she couldn’t do it.
Take on six traumatized little girls under thirteen, while not even able to walk, starting a new job, and trying to build a life for all of them?
She hadn’t had a day go by when she didn’t feel overwhelmed by all of it.
She still didn’t. Four months, it had only been four months.
She’d only been out of that chair fully for two of those months.
She could walk, she could work, and she loved them all so much. In just a few months.
Now…all of this…their father…
How could she add a man like Cal to their lives without causing total chaos in the girls’ lives? Could they even make this work?
I want that woman more than I have ever wanted any other.
What was a sane woman supposed to think when a beautiful man said that?
Any man she got involved with—even on a temporary basis—would have to understand that the girls’ needs mattered most. She had to put their needs first. No matter what. It was just the way it had to be. They were still figuring out their routine to begin with.
But Cal…she suspected he was the kind of man who would understand.
It terrified her completely. There was no denying that.
But she wasn’t ready to let him go.
What was she going to do?