Bent Not Broken (A Cedar Creek #1) (28 page)

But he also loved his house. Though it was all man, and he knew that Ivey loved her house and wouldn’t easily want to leave. He knew she loved his house a good deal as well, but women were funny about that kind of thing. And he would definitely be the one to pay for their house. Something else he would imagine Ivey would be funny about. She had had to take care of herself pretty much her whole life and she was good at it, but he was a man through and through and took care of what was his.

He would mull it over and then talk to her about it.

But Tommy was right. It should happen soon.

“You’d leave the cabin and move in with Ivey?”

“Sure. Doesn’t really matter where we live.” Damn his boy was smart.

“And you should probably marry her. Girls are funny like that. Not sure she’s gonna do the moving in together thing without a ring on her finger. And you love her or you wouldn’t spend any time with her around me, so you should just ask her.” Yeah, his boy was smart, all right. Cal chuckled, but had to agree.

“You’re right, son. And I will. Just give her some time to get used to us first.”

“I think she’s already used to us. Grandma says Ivey loves you, too, you know?” That made his gut clench. In a good way.

“You talk to grandma about Ivey being in love with me?”

“Sure. You know grandma.” Oh, yeah. Did he ever. “Grandma also says that Ivey would make a great mom.” Fuck. His mother. She was right of course, but she shouldn’t be discussing this with his son before he had a chance to do so. Tommy not being in contact with his mother was a touchy subject. He needed a mom who gave a shit about him. Ivey would fit that role perfectly of course, she already loved Tommy, but Cal had been hesitant to broach that subject with him. His son proved him right with his next question.

“You think she would wanna be my mom?” Hearing the wariness and hope in his son’s voice made his heart ache for him. He wanted this. Being around Ivey these past few weeks had shown him how great and loving she was, and he wanted that for himself, was yearning for it. Since he was always honest with Tommy, he laid it out for him.

“I haven’t talked to her about it, but judging by how much she loves and enjoys spending time with you, I would say yes, she would want to be your mom. And I have to agree with your grandma. She’ll be a great mother. I promise you I will talk to her about it, but we gotta give her some time, bud. She’s been alone for a long time, and I don’t want to overwhelm her too fast.”

“Maybe that’s exactly why you
should
do it soon, give her a family. Show her how great it is to be around people who love her,” Tommy mumbled.

Jesus Christ, but his boy was sharp.

Cal whipped his head around to look at his son, who was staring out the side window, not completely sure of himself. Cal looked back at the road, thinking.

After a few minutes he said, “You know what, buddy, you’re right. You think she’d say yes?”

Tommy looked over at his dad and smiled. “Yeah. But you’d have to be romantic and stuff when you ask her. Maybe get Macy in on it, get some advice.” Cal chuckled again, completely agreeing.

“You think I could call her
mom
when you guys are married?” Cal whipped his head around again.

“That something you want?” He asked. Tommy nodded, his eyes wide and hopeful. Yeah, his son needed a mom. Looked like he wouldn’t give Ivey as much time as he had initially intended and speed things up a little. Suited him just fine.

He gave his son a big grin and said, “Then I’m sure she’d love that.” His son grinned back at him. “Awesome,” he whispered. Then he turned his head back to look out the windshield and kept the smile on his face the rest of the way.

Chapter Nineteen

Stella

Ivey

I checked the clock on the wall behind me for the millionth time in the past three hours. It was Sunday, and even though they had only done it once so far, I missed the Bennett boys hanging out in my store while I worked, knowing that they wanted me included in their Sunday family time. It was important to me to spend as much time with both of them as possible, and I had a feeling that they felt the same way. We were building something together. A unit. And that felt so freaking awesome that I didn’t let myself overanalyze it and instead promised myself to roll with it.

That didn’t mean that I didn’t have my occasional freak-outs. But since that final piece inside me broke free almost a week ago and set me free in return, those freak-outs weren’t really freak-outs as such, but more like mini episodes. Most of them I could talk myself down from. Only once I couldn’t and had called Macy as reinforcement, who didn’t disappoint and reassured me that everything was going the way it was supposed to. Later that night, I had told Cal about it. He had been silent and I could feel his tenseness through the phone after I mentioned how it kind of freaked me out when people would come up and talk to me about Cal’s business, how they’d give me messages for him or ask me to tell him to call them later.

“I’ll call them back when I got time to call them back. No way should they approach you to deliver a message. You’re my woman, not my secretary,” Cal growled.

“It’s not that bad. It just kinda took me by surprise, is all,” I tried to downplay it when in reality it had felt exactly like those people thought I was his secretary or his personal assistant or something. I didn’t think it was meant to come across as such, but it was still kind of annoying.

“No, baby. You’re my woman. You’ve got nothing to do with my business, and just because people in this town have known me all my life and know that we’re together, doesn’t mean they get to encroach on your life or my business. It won’t happen again. I’ll call them and make that clear.”

“Okay, honey. But my point was that it kinda freaked me out in the sense that it
freaked me out
. But instead of losing it and running off to Timbuktu in a panic, I called in reinforcements. What I’m saying is, I gave you me and I’m sticking with that, even though I might still be a little nervous about what all that means.” I thought he would be happy I was this straight forward about my feelings instead of retreating into my head, seeing as this was all very new to me. Actually, I had hoped he would be proud of me and was a little disappointed that he still sounded tense.

“I get that, baby, but what you should have done is call me, not Macy, to discuss what made you nervous in the first place, so I can have a mind to that and protect you from it. I’m your man. It’s my job to make you feel safe. Always. Anywhere. Not just with me, but with anything. I don’t know what’s going on, I can’t do that and I’m not liking that.” The way he put it made total sense, but it hadn’t occurred to me to look at it that way.

“Oh,” I said as the realization hit me that Cal took his role as my protector very seriously. I had known that of course, but I hadn’t realized that he would take it to these kinds of extremes. On the one hand, it made me feel good that he wanted me to feel secure and comfortable, but on the other hand, it also seemed very controlling and my experience with controlling boyfriends wasn’t good.

“Baby,” he called when I was silent for a while. “It’s not that I think you can’t take care of yourself or that I want to take over every aspect of your life. I know you can and you know I love that you have the kind of attitude to take care of things like that. But you’re mine, and I’ve told you before, I take care of what’s mine. That includes making sure that people don’t take advantage of you in trying to get to me. That shit is not happening and they should know better than to try. So tomorrow first thing, I’ll make those calls and make sure that message is understood.”

Okay, that sounded better. He was right of course. People shouldn’t come to me to get to him, especially not when it was about his business. I wouldn’t like it, either, if it was the other way around, if someone approached him with something about my business. That would piss me off. Not just because my business was my business and not Cal’s, but because I wouldn’t want him bothered by something that he couldn’t do anything about anyway and therefore encroaching on his personal life. So I knew where he was coming from.

“Okay, I get that.”

“Good. Now, do you get that you should be calling me and not Macy when you’re unsure or nervous about something that has to do with you and me and our relationship?” I should have known he wouldn’t let that one go. Quite frankly, I did understand. But I also didn’t. So that’s what I told him.

“Yes and no.”

“What’s the no part?” He asked.

“Well, Macy is my best friend and seeing as she has been for almost a decade now and she wants me to be happy, I think she wouldn’t steer me the wrong way when I need advice. She was the one who championed you right from the start, who told me to brace, since she gathered you being the kind of man you are you would do anything in your power to get through to me. So, knowing that, I don’t get why you feel I shouldn’t be talking to her when I have an issue.”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t talk to her at all. I’m saying you should talk to me
first
so I can sort you out before things get twisted in that head of yours. You still feel the need to talk to her after, you do that. But if there’s something going on between us, you and I are the ones who need to figure it out, not someone who’s on the outside looking in. You and me know what’s between us. Women talk. I get that. So I get that Macy probably knows more about what’s between you and me than I want her to, but you gotta give me the chance to sort you out before you gab with your brethren.” He had a point, which was kind of annoying to be honest, since he was right a lot.

“Fine. You’re right,” I conceded grudgingly.

“Good, baby. Remember that next time you’re arguing with me about who is paying for the groceries,” he said in a teasingly serious voice.

Oh, no. He did not just go there. This past week, that had been the only grounds for an argument between Cal and I. We had been at the grocery store at the checkout and I was getting my card ready to pay. I was going to cook dinner at my house that night, so it felt only right that I would be paying, especially since I had added a lot of things that I would not be cooking or needing for dinner. Things like shampoo and conditioner and moisturizer. When I was about to hand my card to the cashier, Cal had taken it out of my hand and handed his card over instead.

“Hey,” I shrieked at him, trying to snatch my card out of his hand but being unsuccessful.

“You’re not paying.”

“Yes, I am. They’re mostly my groceries, so I’m the one who should be paying for them.” I was still trying to get my card back, which ended in Cal grabbing my wrist and pulling it behind his back, effectively pulling me to the front of his body. He leaned his head down so we were nose to nose.

“Not gonna happen. Keep fighting though, honey. Give the good people of Cedar Creek a show when they see what I do to shut you up.”

I glared at him, knowing all too well what that meant. More than once he had warned me about how he would shut me up if I argued with him or served up attitude, no matter if we were in public or not. He sounded as if he was looking forward to that, which I suspected he was. I still wasn’t too comfortable with all his PDA and tried to prevent it whenever I could—which mostly I couldn’t, which annoyed me and amused Cal—but maybe this time I could use that to my advantage.

I glared up at him.

Which didn’t seem to faze him in the slightest. I seriously had to see to my laser beam glare. It had been acting up a lot lately.

I held my ground and kept glaring. Cal’s eyes moved to my lips.

I leaned back. Cal’s eyes came back to mine.

I turned up the dial on the glare and added a growl. Cal threw his head back and burst out laughing, then pressed his lips to mine while he was still laughing silently and kissed me. Instead of holding on to the anger which never got me anywhere anyways, I decided to change tactics and not only gave in to his kiss and relaxed into his body, but added tongue. A lot of it. Cal’s body locked for a second, then he let go of my wrist and moved his hands to my waist waist instead, getting serious about the kiss with me. I smiled to myself, then quick as a flash I snatched my card out of his hand at my waist, broke the kiss, turned to the cashier and shoved my card towards him.

The cashier gave me big eyes but took my card and slid it through the machine while he tried to suppress a smile. I didn’t try to suppress mine and smiled at him full out.

I felt Cal’s body shake against mine and turned my head to look at him. He was shaking his head, an amused smile playing at his lips.

“Well played, baby,” he said.

“I know,” I replied smugly. He studied my smile, then leaned in and with his playful eyes on me whispered, “You’re on.”

Oh dear. Now what had I done? My eyes widened for a split second before I decided to accept his challenge. This was going to be fun.

“Alright, honey, bring it on.” Cal raised his eyebrows in surprise, which to which I smiled smugly again.

“Uh, dad? You’re holding up the line,” Tommy said with laughter in his voice from behind me before Cal could reply. I turned my head to look at Tommy, who was standing with the bagged groceries in the cart, ready to go, then turned my head back to look over Cal’s shoulder and saw people smiling and chuckling. Deciding not to be embarrassed I kept the smile on my face and said, “Sorry, guys,” before I turned around and went to Tommy, took the cart from him and started walking towards the exit. When I realized that Cal and Tommy hadn’t followed me, I looked over my shoulder to ask, “You coming or what?” Cal and Tommy were both looking at me. Tommy was grinning. Cal had his hands on his hips and was shaking his head at me, smiling big. Then they both followed me to the car.