At Peace (27 page)

I showed him the door, apologized for Keira
being a pain in the ass and he grinned, cupped my jaw and
whispered, “Wednesday.”

I nodded, my knees a little shaky, and he
left.

I told the kids not to stay up too late and
went to my room.

When I’d closed my door, thrown my purse on
the bed and sat down to take off my sandals, my cell in my purse
rang. I pulled it out and the display said “Joe’s Cell”.

I closed my eyes, sucked in breath and felt
like a slut. This was mainly because I was acting like one.

I slid my phone open, put it to my ear and
said, “Hello.”

“Wear those shoes over here.”

“Joe –”

“The dress too.”

My stomach dipped.

“No,” Joe ordered, “lose the dress, just the
shoes.”

“Joe –”

“Later, buddy.”

I didn’t know what to think about Joe
watching me go out on a date with Mike. I also worried that maybe
he saw us making out. I
did
know what to think about me making out with one guy and
barely sitting down before the next one called and told me what
footwear to wear to his booty call.

Nevertheless, I wore the shoes.

And, being a slut, I was glad I did with the
way Joe fucked me while I was wearing them.

* * * * *

The next morning before I had to go home and
before Joe was leaving town, something new happened.

He woke me earlier than I had to get up to be
home well before the girls would know I was gone and he woke me
with his hands and his mouth. He used them like he’d never used
them before, not hard, not demanding, not greedy but gentle,
tender, generous, taking his time and he let me do the same.

And after we both climaxed, when all four of
my limbs were wrapped around him and he was kissing me softly while
gliding in and out of me, I realized that Joe Callahan just made
love to me. For the first time, he didn’t fuck me, he made love to
me.

Honestly, I couldn’t say which was better,
they were both fantastic, but it was a beautiful and welcome,
albeit confusing change.

I didn’t think he had it in him and it made
matters far, far worse knowing he did.

“I’ve gotta get home,” I whispered against
his mouth.

“I know,” he whispered back.

I ran a hand through his hair and down his
scarred cheek, my fingers halting there but my thumb gliding along
his lower lip.

“You’re scary beautiful,” I told him, unable
to stop myself and his eyes went intense but he shook his head.

Then he said, “You’re just beautiful,
buddy.”

Oh God.

My hand tensed against his face and I
breathed, “Joe.”

“Go home, Vi.”

“Joe –”

He kissed me quiet then muttered, “Get to
your girls.”

I had no choice so I said, “Okay.”

He pulled out of me, rolled off and I rolled
out of bed.

I yanked on my underwear, pulled on his tee
from the night before (I was stealing that too, he wouldn’t miss
it, he had a million of them), grabbed my dress, my shoes, went
back to the bed, leaned in and kissed him.

“Come home safe,” I whispered.

“Later,” he replied.

Then I forced myself to walk calmly out of
his room.

* * * * *

Mike had called every day since our date. He
didn’t say much, he was either busy at work and couldn’t talk long
or he had his kids with him.

But what he said was nice.

Wednesday late afternoon, he called to say he
had to cancel because he had to work. He didn’t seem happy about
it.

I didn’t know what to feel.

Relieved, a little. Disappointed, definitely.
Confused, absolutely.

* * * * *

Joe didn’t call at all.

* * * * *

But the person who hung up did.

They called every day then hung up.

It was when they called and Keira answered
then they hung up that I got worried because Keira told me that
wasn’t the first time and because Kate told me she’d had several
hang ups too.

So I called Colt and told him about the hang
ups and he said he’d look into it.

Daniel Hart had never called and hung up. He
didn’t seem the type. And, for that reason, this scared me. There
was no logic in being scared. It could be some kid from Kate and
Keira’s school. Maybe Keira had an admirer who didn’t have the
courage to say hello. Or maybe it was some idiot kid who thought it
was funny.

But I got a bad feeling about it.

* * * * *

So I didn’t need to be freaked out by what
Daniel Hart would do next and hang up calls from psychos or maybe
stupid kids.

And I didn’t need to be dating a nice,
handsome guy who made me laugh and laughed with me and who was good
kisser, like Mike, while being Joe’s booty call.

I was a mother. I needed to set an example.
And I needed to get my shit together.

Therefore, Joe being gone and not around to
get under my skin, I decided Joe had to go.

It was brilliant and I loved it, even
fighting with him, I loved it, as crazy as that made me. He scared
me but he also made me feel alive and I’d never met anyone like him
and even with Tim, I’d never felt that alive.

Tim was about contentment and happiness. We
had our ups and downs, we fought, but mostly life was even and
good. I believed in him, our life, our family and he believed in
all that too and he never gave me any reason to doubt that he did.
The girls and me, we were his world and he let us know it.

It was steady, strong and beautiful. It
wasn’t the wicked ride on a roller coaster that was Joe.

But those roller coasters were always the
best ride in the park.

Even so, I knew it wasn’t right for me and it
wasn’t right for my daughters.

So he had to go.

* * * * *

I lay in bed with my hand curled around my
phone and decided I needed to make the call to end things with
Joe.

I lifted the phone, slid it open and scrolled
down to “Joe’s Cell”, took a deep breath that hitched in the
middle, closed my eyes tight, opened them and hit go.

I put the phone to my ear.

It rang twice then Joe said, “Yo.”

“Hey.”

“Buddy.”

I closed my eyes tight again.

I really liked it when he called me “buddy”,
maybe even better than when he called me “baby”.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“
Um…” I could say no more. I wanted to… no,
I didn’t want to, I
needed
to… but I
couldn’t.

There was a hesitation then, softly,
“Baby.”

Nope, I was wrong. I liked “baby” more.

“Somethin’ happen?” he asked, voice still
soft.

“What?”

“He get to you?”

“Who?”

“Hart.”

Damn, he was worried about me.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “We’re getting
hang ups.”

“Shit,” he muttered. “You tell Colt?”

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t tell me.”

“Oh.”

“I’ll call him,” Joe said then he asked,
“What’d Colt say?”

“He said he’d look into it.”

“That all?”

“He didn’t go into specifics of what lookin’
into it would mean.”

“I’ll get specifics,” Joe stated firmly.

Yes, he was worried about me.

Okay, yeah, I liked him. Shit.

“The girls gettin’ the calls?” Joe asked.

“Yeah.”
“Shit,” he clipped, sounding pissed now. “They freaked?”

“I think they’re a bit worried, this is new,
it’s never happened before.”

“Not Hart’s style.”

“That’s what makes it weird and scary.”

There was a pause then he said quietly,
“You’ll be all right, buddy.”

“No alternative.”

He laughed shortly before saying,
“Right.”

I didn’t reply.

Surprisingly, Joe did. “That why you
called?”

No, it wasn’t.

“Yeah,” I lied because I chickened out. I’d
do it later, in a note I’d put in his mailbox before Kate, Keira
and I went on vacation (not that I had money for us to go on
vacation but maybe I could sell a kidney or something). “You’re
probably busy, I should let you go.”

“Vi, I’m drivin’ in LA. I don’t have a cell
glued to my ear, they might arrest me.”

I didn’t think. If I did I would have
quashed it. So, not thinking, the giggle slid right out of
me.

Joe Callahan, rugged, tough guy, alpha male
cracked a joke.

And it was a funny one.

When I stopped giggling, I told him, “I
wouldn’t want you to get arrested.”

“Me either, been there, it sucks.”

This surprised me.

“You’ve been arrested?”

“Hard knock life, buddy, you saw my ex-wife
crawlin’ drunk and whacked out of her mind on the floor.”

I blinked at the ceiling.

First he cracks a joke then he’s sharing.
Before that, before he left to be away from me for two weeks, he
made love to me, slow and sweet.

What did I do with this?

“I grew up, she didn’t,” he went on
sharing.

“So you were arrested when you were a
kid?”

“
Juv
ie was my second home.”

“Wow.”

“Wasn’t home sweet home, buddy. Like I said,
it sucked.”

“I’m sorry,” I said softly.

“I’m not, taught me a lesson, that’s life,
you learn or you die.”

God, now he was being a sage and he was good
at that too.

“Keira get her dog?” Joe asked.

“Next week,” I told him. “They aren’t totally
weaned yet but we gave them the money and she picked the one she
wanted. She’s over the moon, she can’t wait. She so can’t wait, we
also have a dog food bowl, a dog water bowl, a dog bed in Keira’s
room and four, enormous bags of puppy chow in the garage.”

“Sounds set.”

“That dog is so set, it isn’t funny. The
thing is tiny. It’ll take him a year to get through that puppy
chow. I just hope he doesn’t eat any of my shoes. Feb’s puppy eats
all her shoes.”

I heard his soft laughter, something else I’d
never heard from him and something else I liked, before he said,
“Hang on a second, gotta give the keys to the valet.”

“Valet?”

“Yeah, at the hotel.”

“Oh.”

The thought of Joe at a hotel with a valet
surprised me. He seemed more like a motel on a deserted highway
type of guy, somewhere to crash where your car was outside your
front door, ready for a quick getaway.

I waited, listening to what were sounds of
Joe giving his keys to a valet then Joe said, “Back.”

I liked him being back, I also liked that he
wanted to keep me on the line so when I said, “Hi,” I said it
softly.

“Jesus,” he muttered.

“What?”

“We’ll get to what when I get to my room,” he
told me mysteriously then continued. “Speakin’ of your garage, you
need to start parkin’ your Mustang in there.”

“What?”

“Your ‘Stang, buddy, sweet ride. You should
take care of it. You need to park it out of the elements.”

“I can’t.”

“Your garage is full, you should clear
it.”

“No, I mean, the door won’t open, it’s jammed
shut. Something wrong with the garage door opener.”

He said nothing for a second then he said,
“I’ll look at it when I get home.”

I felt my breath leave me and I stared at the
ceiling.

He bought my daughter a dog.

He made love to me.

I’d heard him laugh and crack a joke.

He was going to look at my garage door and he
listened and advised when I talked about the girls.

And he wanted me on the line.

And, again, he bought my daughter a dog. And
he did it because she lost her Dad.

“Violet?”

“What?” I whispered.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied but I wasn’t. I wanted to
believe in him, I really did and he was giving me a lot to believe
in.

“Where are you?”

“Home.”

“Yeah, baby, but where are you?”

“In my bedroom.”

“Where?”

“Where in my bedroom?”

“Yeah.”

“On my bed.”

“The door closed?”

“Um…” I looked at the door I’d closed to mute
the explosions from the movie the kids were watching then I
replied, somewhat confused, “Yeah.”

“You wearin’ jeans or one of your sweet
skirts?”

Oh Lord, I wasn’t confused anymore.

“Joe –”

“Baby, answer me.”

“A skirt,” I whispered.

“Pull it up.”

“Joe –”

“Vi, pull it up.”

“Are you in your room?”

“Yeah.”

“Joe, I’ve never –”

His voice was sexy low when he said, “I’ll
talk you through it, baby, now I want you to pull your skirt up for
me.”

I bit my lip and tucked the phone in the
crook of my shoulder then I shimmied my skirt up.

“Okay,” I whispered.

“It up?”

“Yes.”

“At your hips?”

“Yeah, Joe.”

“All right, buddy, slide your hand in your
panties.”

Oh God, I was going to come and I hadn’t even
touched myself.

“Violet?” he called.

I slid my hand in my panties.

“Joe,” I whispered when my finger hit my clit
and the feel of it slid through me.

“Christ,” he muttered, his voice gruff.

“Are you –?”

“No, wanna listen to you.”

“You want me to do it alone?”

“I’m here, baby.”

I rolled my finger, my neck arched and a mew
came out of my throat.

“That’s it,” he murmured. “Think of my mouth
there.”

I kept rolling my finger, thinking of his
mouth there and moaned, “Joe.”

“Jesus, buddy, you already sound close.”

I was. This was hot. I’d never done
anything like this.

And anyway, thinking of his mouth there,
hearing his voice on the phone, it worked.

“I like your voice,” I whispered then my hips
bucked and I moaned again before I breathed, “I wish you were
here.”