To Love a Player (20 page)

"Your dad will have a fit," Eli said, giving me a warning look. I shrugged casually as I said, "He gave Lacey permission to let me work for her and do this at the same time. I want to go home to my girlfriend and I'll talk with my sister about appetizers while I'm there."

I saw his eyes close and I said, "Look after this meeting, we just have paperwork to look over and I can do that at home. Tomorrow morning, you have a meeting that I don't really need to attend and I really need to go home to see my girl."

Eli shook his head as he sighed, a small smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. He looked up, a far off look in his eyes before he focused on me, saying, "I remember those days at the beginning of a relationship. They go by fast and soon, you'll be like two strangers living in the same house, wondering where it all went."

"I don't plan on that happening, ever," I said quietly and knew that he was talking about his marriage. Eli sighed before giving a small shrug. He looked at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes as he said, "It happens."

I gave him a matter-of-fact look as I said, "I'm telling you, I'm not ever letting that happen. If I have to show Mollie every second how committed I am to her, I'll do it. When you find someone like that, you shouldn't let her go or flirt with the hot thing that throws herself at you because you're filling a void that should never be empty in the first place."

Eli's eyes widened slightly, but he tried to cover it by looking like he had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't want to ask him like this, but I needed to know the answer that had been rolling back and forth in my brain. "What happened in Paris?"

"What are you talking about?" Eli asked, anger rising in his voice. I raised my eyebrows at him and asked slowly, making sure to emphasize each word, "What happened in Paris?"

Eli sighed, frustrated as he said, "I couldn't help it. Sophie met me for dinner at my hotel, we had a few drinks and then went back to my suite, one thing led to another and we had sex."

I cringed, sitting back in my seat. I wasn't sure who I was more disgusted with, Eli or Sophie. It was a fighting battle between the two. I swallowed noisily, looking at him. His head was hanging down in shame and I asked, "How many times have you seen her since?"

Eli looked sadly at me and said, "She's met me in the boathouse at least four times since. It's just sex."

I felt sick. I felt sorry for my sister, sorry for my nieces and nephew. I sat there stunned and slowly stood up, going to the door. I had to leave and I had to do it now. I looked at Eli and said, "You're going to tell Lacey and if you don't, then I will."

I almost didn't hear his voice, it was so quiet, "She already suspects something. You mentioned the boathouse being used and she found the stuff that Sophie had left. She moved out of our bedroom and into one of the guest rooms."

He looked solidly at me as he continued, "That's why Sophie was in Australia on that photo shoot."

I remembered my conversation with Sophie this morning and stated, "Sophie is on her way back. She called me this morning at four and said that she was at the airport, but she didn't say which airport."

"That's why you want to get back to Mollie," Eli said nodding. I took in a deep sigh and said, "One of the reasons, yeah. Plus I just want to be with my girlfriend because I miss her."

Eli gave me a soft smile as he asked, "You're really in love with her, aren't you?" I nodded enthusiastically and he said, "Then go and get out of here. I can cover this meeting and if you see your sister, tell her that I love her."

I wanted to give him some kind of reassurance, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to, so I just nodded. The mess between him and Lacey was their battle to fight. I didn't want to be involved more than I already was. I left the room and called the airport to get the company plane ready.

I couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when all hell broke loose, but I was wishing that I had a remote to rewind the day, scratch that, I'd rewind it to last night and not let Scott in. I wasn't sure if it was karma kicking me in the butt for that or what, but I sure wanted to kick back.

Jace woke up from his nap throwing up. Soon after I got him cleaned up, Mara came dressed in her swimsuit ready for the pool. The look on her face and the instant wailing was almost heartbreaking. I hated breaking the sacred vow of pinky swear with her and she responded with destroying her room. When I went to scold her, she started screaming at me, so all I could do was make sure that she couldn't hurt herself with anything and shut her door.

I was now cleaning Jace up for the fourth time after a blowout in his pants. If it wasn't coming out of his mouth, it was coming out his butt and both ends seemed to be on a rotation. I could hear muffled screams of "I HATE YOU!" coming out of Mara's room, but at least it was once every ten minutes instead of every five minutes. I felt the tears threatening to spill over the dam that were my eyelids as I slowly counted to twenty in my mind.

I put a diaper on Jace and placed him into his crib without clothes. It seemed safer that way. I washed my hands in the small sink next to his changing table and then handed him his pacifier saying, "You get some rest, I'll be right back, okay?"

Jace nodded sleepily and I left his room to confront hurricane Mara. I opened the door to find her pulling out every one of the tissues in the box and I reminded myself to take a deep breath. She looked over at me with an impish smile and taunted, "When my mom sees this, you're gonna be fired."

"I don't think so," I said calmly as I took the empty box away from her. She stuck her tongue out at me and took off out the door. I clenched my fists to keep from screaming and followed her, watching her bait me from the top of the steps. As soon as she saw me, she stuck her tongue out again and dashed down the stairs. Quietly, I followed her downstairs and saw her run into her mother's studio, causing my heart to pound in my chest.

"Come on Mara, let's go play a game," I said, carefully tiptoeing to the room and heard her scream, "NO!"

"I promise, it'll be fun!" I said, trying to make my voice sound excited instead of tired. My heart almost broke when I heard her yell angrily, "You break promises, so I don't want to play with you anymore!"

I was just about to open the door to the studio when she dashed out of the room, almost smacking me in the face with the door. I sighed with relief as I took a quick peek and saw that everything was in its place. I figured that she knew what would happen if she messed that room up while throwing her tantrum.

Taking another deep breath, I started to follow her down the hall, but the sound of the main door behind me made me stop. Afraid that it was Lacey, I quickly turned around and saw Callen smiling at me widely. I felt the dam break as my tears rolled down my face and I practically ran to him, almost knocking him over as I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest, breathing him in. He seemed too good to be true standing there.

"Whoa, hon," he said wrapping me in his arms and laughing, "I'm glad to see you too, but why are you crying? I've only been gone a day, not that I'm not flattered by it or anything."

"Don't let it go to your head," I mumbled against his chest, while trying to laugh. I looked up at him and he leaned in for a long kiss, making me melt in against him. In that kiss, he somehow seemed to take all the bad from the afternoon and lift it off my shoulders. I felt free from the strange curse that landed on me, almost like one of those princesses in the fairy tales.

"What's wrong?" he asked stroking my face. I let out a humorless laugh and asked, "Where do I start?"

He raised an eyebrow and I sighed, "Jace is sick and it seems to be in rotation of coming out of his mouth or his butt. Mara is furious with me because I promised to take her swimming and because I've been dealing with Jace, I told her that I couldn't. So she's torn apart her room, has been telling me for the last hour that she hates me, and is now on the run somewhere in the house."

"Wow," he said and pulled me in for another hug. I wanted to stay right there forever, just him with his arms around me. My eyes flew open and I pushed back slightly as I said, "Wait a second, why are you here? You're supposed to be in New York."

"I had a free afternoon and I missed my beautiful girlfriend, so I hopped on the plane and here I am," Callen said and I gazed up at him wondering how in the world I got so lucky. He gave me another long kiss, which was interrupted by Jace crying. I groaned because I was afraid of what I might find when I went into his room. Callen kissed my forehead before lowering himself down to eye level and instructed, "This is what we're going to do, we are going to divide and conquer. You go take care of Jace, I'll find Hurricane Mara and have a discussion about the state of her behavior and her room." He pulled me close again and asked, "Okay?"

I nodded after he kissed me on the forehead again before he went off to find Mara. I was only slightly jealous when I heard him call her name and she came running to him instantly. Jace was sitting in his bed with his lower lip stuck out as he pouted. After looking him over, I saw that he hadn't thrown up and his diaper was clean, which made me pray that we were in the clear. He held his arms out to me and said, "Hungwy."

"I bet you are, little guy," I agreed, picking him up, "Let's go find some crackers to settle your stomach."

23

Callen

Poor Mollie, she was so exhausted. It definitely wasn't the welcome home I imagined when I surprised her at Lacey's, but it felt so good to have her arms around me. I just wished that we were alone rather than with my sick two-year-old nephew and my bratty five-year-old niece. I listened to her as she explained her afternoon and my heart went out to her. All of a sudden, I got the image of what it would be like years from now with the two of us and that thought alone warmed my heart. It also made me realize that I wanted to always come home to her.

"Wow," I response, pulling her in for another hug, enjoying the feel of her body against mine. All of a sudden, it seemed to hit her that I was standing there, because she pushed away from me slightly, her eyes wide as she said, "Wait a second, why are you here? You're supposed to be in New York."

"I had a free afternoon and I missed my beautiful girlfriend, so I hopped on the plane and here I am," I replied.  My breath caught in my throat by the look on her face—like I was a superhero or something. I was touched, so I leaned in for another long kiss, which was interrupted by Jace crying. She let out a small groan, so I kissed her forehead before lowering down to her eye level and instructed, "This is what we're going to do, we are going to divide and conquer. You go take care of Jace, I'll find Hurricane Mara and have a discussion about the state of her behavior and her room," I pulled her close again and asked, "Okay?"

She nodded and I gave her a quick kiss. I spied Mara peeking around the corner of the kitchen and started heading in that direction. I called out, "Mara!" and was met by two arms tackling my knees. She was giggling and said, "Uncle Cal!"

"I hear that you've been a very naughty girl, Miss Mara," I said as I squatted down to her level and gave her a frank look. Her eyes cast downward as she nodded slowly. I put a finger under her chin and asked, "Why are you being naughty?"

"'Cause Mollie promised to go swimming and now we can't cause stupid Jace is sick," she huffed, anger still sharp in her voice. I gave her another frank look as I said, "It's not nice to call your brother stupid and you know that."

Mara nodded and I continued in a stern voice, "And Mollie didn't mean to break her promise, but Jace is really sick so she has to make sure that he is taken care of. You aren't helping her do that by behaving like you did. You are going to march yourself upstairs and clean your room. When you are done with that, you will apologize to Mollie for saying those mean things to her. Understand?"

She nodded, her lip trembling, and I could tell that she was sorry. I stood up and followed her up the stairs to her room. I smiled at Mollie, who passed us on the way. Jace gave me a small wave as he clung to her, looking really pale. I leaned against the doorframe to Mara's room, watching her pick up all of her stuff. Lacey would have flipped out if she had seen this, and Mara would have been in a huge heap of trouble. After some progress was made, I offered to help her to make the clean up go faster so it would be done before Lacey walked in the door.

"Okay, now what do you have to do?" I asked as we closed the door to her clean room. Mara looked up at me and replied, "Say sorry to Mollie."

"Right," I nodded as we started walking down the stairs. Jace was sitting in his chair; slowly eating crackers while Mollie paced the floor on the phone. I sat Mara down and grabbed an apple out of the basket to cut it up for her. Something about this picture felt so right in my bones and I pictured Mollie as the mother of my children. I could see the image in front of me with different kids, our own of course. Shaking my head of the image as I smiled softly, I wrapped my arms around her waist as I listened to her say, "He seems fine now, Lace. He's picking at his crackers and drinking some water so hopefully he'll be able to keep that down."

She relaxed against me and I could hear my sister frantically talking on the other end. Mollie shook her head, as she replied, "No, he doesn't seem to have a fever He felt hot when he woke up, but since his round of throwing up and blowouts, it seems to have gone down. It was barely 99 when I took it a few minutes ago."

"Okay, see you soon!" Mollie said before hanging up the phone and placing it on the counter. She put her head back against my chest and I kissed the back of her head, closing my eyes as I breathed in her lavender scent. I murmured against the creamy skin of her ear, "I love you so much."

"Good," she smiled turning her head to look at me, "because I love you. Thank you for coming to my rescue today."

I kissed the tip of her nose and said, "You're welcome."

I released her and glanced over at Mara. She slowly walked over to Mollie, who squatted down to her level. She threw her arms around Mollie's neck and said, "I'm sorry Mollie, for being naughty and for saying mean things."

"I accept your apology and I'm sorry for breaking my promise. I didn't want to and you know that we would have gone swimming if Jace hadn't gotten sick, right?" she asked and Mara nodded her head as she looked at Jace, who was watching the scene with some interest. Mara went over to Jace and kissed the side of his head and asked, "Are you feeling better, Jace?"

Jace nodded, giving her a wide grin and thrusted a cracker in her face. She giggled, pushing it back to him and my eyes connected with Mollie's as we both grinned. Mara tugged on my hand and I looked down at her asking, "Yes, Mara?"

"Can we watch a movie, Uncle Callen?" she asked and I scooped her up in my arms as I said, "Of course, but only if Jace and Mollie can watch, too."

"Yes!" Mara said and Mollie smiled as she cleaned Jace up, saying, "You two go pick one out. I'm going to put clothes on Jace and then we'll be back down."

I kissed her cheek before leaving with Mara to find a movie and watched her climb the stairs carrying Jace.

Entering Jace's room, I couldn't shake the image of my future self in that kitchen with Callen. This afternoon has been so surreal and I found myself really enjoying the feeling of what my life would be like with him. He came home like a husband does to his stressed wife and stepped in like a champ. It was weird, but a good weird.

As soon as I put Jace in some pajamas, we went down to the den and settled in with Mara and Callen on the couch. It wasn't too long before both Jace and Mara were asleep again. I smiled sweetly at Callen, who was resting his head back against the couch with his eyes closed. Mara was curled up against his chest, snoring softly. Her tantrum through the house must have tired her out, although I doubt that she really napped earlier.

"Why are you staring at me?" Callen asked softly, opening one of his eyes and looked at me. I felt my cheeks blush as I whispered, "I can't believe you're here."

He reached over, taking my hand, as he smiled warmly at me and kissed the back of my hand. Little tingles from his kiss crawled slowly up my arm, warming me inside. He interlaced our fingers; the current between our bodies was igniting the fire in my soul. I wanted this moment to last forever, this feeling to last forever.

He pulled me snug against him as the kids both slept in our laps and we finished watching the movie, each laughing softly at the funny parts. We heard Lacey rush in the door, calling out my name and stopping when she came to the den. She looked taken aback when she saw Callen sitting next to me and asked, "Why are you here?"

"Well, gee, it's so nice to be wanted," Callen said sarcastically, winking at me. Lacey rolled her eyes as she said, "I didn't mean it like that, but you're supposed to be in New York."

"Well, I had a free afternoon and I wanted to talk food with you, so I came home," Callen said softly so that he wouldn't wake Mara. Lacey gave him a suspicious look capped off with a knowing smile as she looked at me. Before she said anything, her eyes flew questions at me as she looked at Jace and I remarked, "He's fine. He hasn't done anything since the last blowout before snack. He's been sleeping for about a half hour or 45 minutes, maybe?"

I started to get up and said, "I'm going to go see if I can put him in his bed."

Mara started to stir and she opened her eyes sleepily, looking confused as she looked around and slowly up at me. She saw her mom and smiled, "Mama!"

"Hey baby girl, how was your day?" Lacey asked and I gave Mara a stern look, raising my eyebrows at her. Lacey gave me a curious look and I said, "I walked into Hurricane Mara this afternoon."

"And Mollie didn't quit?" Lacey asked, her eyebrows rose in surprise, but then gave Mara a disappointed look. "Mara Renee, that is not how we behave."

I touched her arm, stopping her as I said, "We already had the conversation. I made her clean her room by herself and apologize to Mollie. Mara knows what she did was wrong."

Mara nodded as she looked from me to her mom. Lacey sighed, giving her daughter a frank look and said, "Okay, just let's not do that again. You've been a very good girl lately, so we'll just let this one go since Uncle Callen already talked to you."

"Okay, mommy," Mara said, hugging her mom and Lacey said, "I love you, baby girl."

"Love you, too," Mara said and asked to go play. Lacey nodded and we watched her disappear up the steps. Lacey patted my shoulder, smiling, "So, you came home for Mollie, huh?"

"Yes," I muttered. "I couldn't stand it being there while she was here. I felt like something was missing." Lacey gave me a sweet smile and said, "That is so sweet."

"Yeah, I know," I said, shaking my head. I stood, gesturing around us and said, "And all of this felt completely natural, Lace. With the kids hanging around us, it really felt like this was our little family. You know, like a weird surreal glimpse into the future. Like I was her husband, coming home from a business trip to his family. Isn't that a little crazy to be feeling all of this?"

She tilted her head, her face lit up. I put my hands on my hips and she smiled, "Well, sometimes you just know when it comes to the one you are going to spend your life with."

"Speaking of that," I said, looking her in the eye, "I talked with Eli and I know about him and Sophie."

"Shh," Lacey hissed and Mollie came back down the stairs with Mara. "We'll talk about that later."

I sighed and nodded my head. I needed to talk to her, but I would wait until it was just the two of us. We didn't need an audience, especially if the kids were around. Lacey took Mara from Mollie and suggested, "Why don't you two go home? I'm good here."

"Are you sure?" Mollie asked and she nodded, "Yes, I'm sure. I'm going to work from home tomorrow, so Callen, I'll be free to go over the menu ideas for the reception."

"I'll take the kids swimming while you two talk since we didn't get to go this afternoon," Mollie said, earning a look of joy from Mara as she clapped her hands together. Lacey nodded and I took Mollie's hand, tugging her towards the back door. Lacey gave me a sad look, but covered it with a smile as she hugged Mara.

Once we were outside, I pulled Mollie to my side and wrapped an arm tight around her waist. I stopped in front of her and cupped her face in my hands, kissing her softly. I missed the feel of her lips beneath mine and the way our tongues danced together. She let out a contented sigh when we pulled apart, leaning against my chest as she wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me close. Pulling out of the hug, I took her hand and said, "When we get home, you are going to take a bubble bath while I cook you an amazing meal."

"Mmm," Mollie smiled, "sounds awesome."

After we walked in the door to the house, I kissed her and sent her on her way to soak and relax while I cooked.