At Peace (The 'Burg #2)(147)

Maybe he should go to the mall with her and the girls when they went back to school shopping. He didn’t, the way she was going, he’d run out of tees.

This thought made him smile.

She came to the bed, his side, and again he was about to call her name when she reached out a hand to the nightstand. Then he watched her shadow move out of the room into the study. She turned and disappeared.

She’d been carrying something.

The photo of her and her husband.

Cal closed his eyes and opened them again when he heard her back in the room. He watched her shadow walk to the dresser and she stood at it, her hands lifted in front of her. He couldn’t see what she was doing but she was holding perfectly still.

She stood that way awhile before she moved, her hand went to the top of the dresser and he heard her drop something that made a soft clink.

Fuck.

Her wedding rings.

He’d noticed she still wore them. He’d seen them the first time he took her in fully in his living room when she was wearing those ridiculous boots and that sexy nightgown. Weeks after that, he’d thought Sam was her husband, a travelling man, the way she greeted him and he greeted her when he came to visit. He’d not thought much of her rings after their first time together but he noticed them and he didn’t like her wearing them. Never did. It might make him a dick, but he didn’t.

Now he liked that she’d be with him in bed without them on which also might make him a dick but he didn’t give a f**k.

Because now she really was all his.

She walked back to the bed and carefully slid in, obviously still thinking he was asleep, she turned her back to him and curled up her legs.

Cal rolled back to his side, his arm moved out, hooked her around the stomach and he pulled her into his body, feeling hers was tight.

“I’m awake, buddy,” he whispered into her hair.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought, while you were asleep, I’d –”

He cut her off, not about to make her say it. “I know, honey.”

She was quiet.

Cal spoke. “You came awake hard, Vi.”

She stayed quiet then said, “Nightmare.”

“Sam?”

“Yeah,” she whispered and her body started trembling.

Cal curled his arm tighter.

“Why is it harder in the dark?” Her voice was shaking like her body when she spoke.

“Demons in the dark,” Joe replied.

“Yeah.”

She was quiet again and Cal held her until the tremors subsided then she called, “Joe?”

“Yeah, buddy.”

“I miss him.”

His arm got tighter and he buried his face in her hair. “I know you do.”

“Did you like him?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“He liked you,” she whispered, Cal’s arm tensed then he forced himself to relax and she said, “Wish you could have known him better.”

“If I did, figure I woulda liked him better.”

“Yeah, you would.”

“Tell me about him, baby.”

She was silent then she asked, “Now?”

“It’ll beat back the demons.”

She again was quiet then she whispered, “You’re right.”

Then she nestled her ass in his groin, slid her arm along his and linked their fingers.

Then she talked about her brother, sometimes laughing soft, sometimes crying softer and she did this, and Cal listened to it, until she trailed off to sleep.

Cal held her tight even after she’d drifted off then his fingers slid from hers but curled around until his thumb found the na**d base of her ring finger. It glided against her skin then he set her hand against her stomach and sighed into her hair, thinking, not for the first time, he really f**king liked the smell of Vi’s hair.

Then he fell asleep.

Chapter Seventeen

I’m Yours

I stood at the mirror in my bathroom gunking up my hair.

I saw movement and turned to the right.

Joe was there and I watched him lean his shoulder against the doorjamb, his eyes at my hands in my hair.

For some reason known only to Joe, he’d gone with us to the mall back to school shopping and because of this, he was wearing a shirt Kate and Keira had bought for him. It wasn’t pink with flowers on it. It was black, tailored down his ribs, a straight hem and he wore it untucked but you could still see his heavy belt buckle which had caught at the bottom flap under the buttons. It looked good on him, making his shoulders seem broader, his midriff leaner, his h*ps narrower.

My girls had an eye.

His eyes came to mine and he said softly, “They’re here.”

I pulled in both my lips.

“They’re here!” We heard Keira shout.

“Oh shit,” I whispered, Joe grinned, pushed away from the jamb and came to me.

He positioned himself behind me and slid one arm along my belly, one across my chest. He pulled me to his body, dipped his head so his jaw was against my hair and he caught my eyes in the mirror.

“Relax,” he said into my ear.

“Right,” I said back.

He kept grinning then he dropped his head, kissed my neck, let me go and walked out of the bathroom.