Hooking Him (How to Catch an Alpha #3)(45)

I’m not looking forward to that conversation. “Thank you, Edie.” Over the last few months, Edie has become the mother I always wished I had growing up, and I can’t imagine dealing with my parents without having her there to offer support.

“You’re welcome. Now finish packing and go see your guy.” She walks to the door, then looks at me over her shoulder. “I would tell you to not do anything I wouldn’t do, but I would do it all, so I don’t see the point.” With that parting statement, she leaves, and I throw my head back and laugh. Once I have my hilarity under control, I finish packing and call Calvin to let him know I’m on my way.

“Bane, I missed you,” I say with a laugh once I’ve arrived. He jumps up on the fence with both paws to greet me, and I rub his head as he tries to get close enough to lick my face.

“It’s safe to say he missed you too,” Calvin says, and I smile over at him. “Hey, babe.”

“Hey.” My chest warms in a way that’s becoming familiar, and he smiles as he shakes his head before leaning over the fence to kiss me. I pull back, laughing and wiping Bane’s slobbery kiss from the side of my face.

“Bane, down!” he orders with a chuckle, and Bane falls from the fence as Calvin opens the gate and takes my bag off my shoulder.

“Did you make any headway in solving your cases today?” I ask as he takes my hand to walk the short distance to the front door, making me wonder if I will ever get used to the way I feel when I’m around him. I hope I don’t. I hope I always feel this flutter of excitement in the pit of my stomach when I’m in his presence.

“No.” I hear a hint of frustration in his tone, frustration I know isn’t directed at me. We talked a little this morning about what he’s working on—not details, just that he’s trying to solve the two murders that happened recently, and so far he’s hit nothing but dead ends.

“I’m sorry.”

“It happens.” He gives my hand a squeeze before letting it go to pull open the door, and once he’s closed and locked it, he carries my bag toward his bedroom and says over his shoulder, “I picked up the stuff to make spaghetti, or we can order in if you’re in the mood for something else.”

“Spaghetti sounds good to me.” I stop when Bane blocks me from going any farther; then I laugh as he pivots and shoves his head under my hand so I’ll pet him.

“He’ll get used to having you here.” I lift my eyes off Bane to meet Calvin’s gaze. “Until that happens, he’s going to be all over you for attention.”

“I don’t mind.” I rub behind his ears one last time, then step around him. I take my purse off my shoulder when my cell phone rings and then pull out my phone, shaking my head when I see it’s Lucy calling. I don’t press ignore like I want to. Instead, I swipe to answer and put it to my ear. “Yes.”

“I’ve been trying to get ahold of Lance,” she says bitingly. “He’s not answering. Is he with you?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She lets out a breath. “I thought—”

“You thought he’d show up here and I’d fall into bed with him,” I say, cutting her off. “I’m not you, Lucy.”

“I know you’re upset, but you never appreciated him the way I do. I love him, Anna.”

“And I hope you’re happy together, but for the love of God, both of you just leave me alone.” I hang up, switch my phone to silent, and shove it in my bag.

“I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you forgot to tell me something?” Calvin says, and I focus on him. When I see his expression, I realize I should have told him about Lance being in town.

Crap.

“Um . . . Lance was outside with Edie when I got home from work tonight.”

“You didn’t think to tell me about this earlier?”

“It wasn’t a big deal.” His eyes narrow, and I press my lips together, knowing that was the wrong thing to say.

“What did he want?”

“We didn’t really get into what he wanted. I told him to leave. He thought I was upset about him and Lucy, but I told him I wasn’t, then told him to leave again. We argued a little more, and then I found out my dad offered him half of his company if he asked me to marry him.”

“Jesus.”

“He might have mentioned plans to destroy my dad’s company.” He stares. “Oh, and I need you to add Edie to the reservation for dinner. She’s coming with us tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for me to come to dinner, Anna. The way I’m feeling right now, I might just kill your father.”

“I’m not very happy with him either right now.” That’s an understatement.

“I’m also pissed at you for not calling me when you got to your place and Lance was there.”

“It was fine.” I wave off his concern. “Edie was there. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“I can see you love Edie, but she couldn’t have helped if he’d tried to hurt you.”

“He wouldn’t do that.”

“I bet you never thought he’d sleep with your friend either.” Damn, he has a point. “People are unpredictable. He’s proven he’s willing to go to extreme lengths to get your attention. So please, if something like that happens again, call me.”