Final Offer (Dreamland Billionaires, #3)(54)

Anything for you, he grumbled after picking me up early from my very first date with Pete Darling, a jerk who didn’t quite live up to his last name.

Anything for you, he brokenly whispered after I made him promise to never come back to Lake Wisteria, knowing I wouldn’t be strong enough to resist him again, drugs and alcohol be damned.

Reality is a bitch, making my eyes prick from unshed tears.

That was then. This is now.

I shove my emotions to the side and rally for my daughter, who needs me to be focused on the present.

Cami waits inside so she doesn’t get sweaty while I set up her booster seat. Due to how cramped Cal’s back seat is, the lower half of my body remains outside the car while I struggle to get the seat belt through the holes.

“Is everything okay?” The heat of his breath against my neck makes my skin pebble.

“Perfect.” I curse as the seat belt buckle smacks me in the knuckles.

“Here. Let me help you.” Cal’s chest presses against my back as he reaches over my body to help me with the seat belt. Our bodies click together like two magnets, the pull toward each other too great to ignore.

I suck in a breath as goose bumps spread across my skin. He brushes the pad of his thumb across them, drawing another sharp inhale from me.

“Stop doing that.” I release the seat belt, leaving him to fix it.

He doesn’t give me room to escape, instead choosing to work around me. It doesn’t take him long to figure out the process.

“All done.”

I jump at the sound of his voice, and my ass bumps into his crotch.

My eyes widen at the same time as his sharp inhale.

Oh, shit.





22





CAL





Lana tries to push me away, but with how our bodies are lined up, her ass presses against my dick. She freezes underneath me with a barely audible gasp.

My dick, already semi-hard from what happened in the house, reacts to her touch. Blood pumps directly to the source of my latest issue.

“Are you…” She struggles to finish her sentence.

“You wore the same dress from our first date,” I reply, like that answers everything. The dress somehow looks even better now than it did back then, and I’m jealous of any fucker who gets to look at her today.

“I didn’t—” She glances at me from over her shoulder, her eyebrows scrunching together. “Wait. You remember what I wore that night?” I know what she is probably assuming given how addicted I was to pills.

“I remember everything.” My gaze drops to her mouth. The memory of hers pressed against mine makes my lips tingle.

Her tongue darts out to trace her bottom lip, and I’m hit with the temptation to replace her tongue with mine.

Our kiss the other night has lived rent-free in my head since it happened. Regardless of how hard I try to distract myself, it always returns to the forefront of my mind.

What would have happened if I had stayed?

What if we had talked out what happened rather than run away?

What if I had kissed her again, regrets be damned?

Instead, I drank until I was physically unable to walk back to the house and kiss her again.

“Mommy! Are you ready?”

I jolt. Lana pushes against me again, forcing me out of the car and away from the temptation of her lips.

Probably for the best.

“Let’s get you buckled in.” Lana’s voice comes out huskier than usual as she motions for Cami to come over. While Lana gets Cami buckled in, I put the Tupperware of cocadas in the trunk.

The awkward tension between Lana and me intensifies as we both get in the car. I don’t let anyone drive my car, yet here I am allowing Lana to do the very thing my brothers are prohibited from doing.

Only because she doesn’t trust you behind the wheel.

I tap my fingers against my thighs in a poor attempt to distract myself from the unbearable pressure building inside my chest.

I would never put her and Cami’s life at risk like that, so for her to think otherwise…

It fucking hurts.

My dark thoughts are instantly driven out of my head as Lana peels out of the driveway. The tires squeal, and a car honks as Lana dictates that she had the right of way, although I know for certain she most definitely did not.

I use the safety handlebar for the first time in my life as she navigates through town. There aren’t many stop signs or traffic lights, but she manages to hit every single one in the same way—hard enough to make me suffer from whiplash.

My heart pounds against my chest. “You drive like a madman.”

She cackles. “It’s not my fault the light changed from yellow to red so fast.”

“You were going forty when it turned yellow!”

She shrugs.

I wipe the damp skin over my brow. “How do you still have a license?”

“Probably the same way you avoided staying out of jail after choking Wyatt.”

My mouth drops open. “You’re a menace.”

“I haven’t gotten in an accident.”

“Probably because everyone in town knows to avoid the road whenever you’re on it.”

She snaps her fingers. “That explains so much. No wonder I never get caught in any rush hour traffic.”