Page 11 of SCRUMptious

Chapter4

D O N AL

Lauren peeredat me over a steaming mug of cappuccino. “You mentioned something about having lived in L.A. before?”

Despite the kisses we’d shared, she hadn’t come around to the idea of going out with me, so until she did, I dragged her ass to coffee as often as she’d let me. She might not consider these dates, but as far as I was concerned, they were near enough. We hung out, we talked, we flirted—if that wasn’t dating, I didn’t know whatwas.

“Yeah, for a few years when I was akid.”

“Oh yeah?” she asked, taking a sip of her coffee. When she set the mug down, there was a dollop of foam stuck to the tip of hernose.

“You’ve got something …” I said, leaning across and wiped the milk away with my thumb. I popped my finger in my mouth and took my time licking it clean. Yeah, it was a lewd gesture, but I wanted her remembering what it had felt like to have my tongue on other parts of her. “Not quite the same thing, but it’ll have todo.”

She swiped her hand over her nose, both to finish cleaning her face and to hide her smile. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m horny is what I am,” I told her unapologetically. Not only would she not agree to a proper date with me, but she’d also been diligent about us not being alone together. The few times I’d managed it, she’d been skittish, and so I’d held off on kissing her again. I wanted Lauren like mad, but I didn’t want to press my luck and send her running.

She rolled her eyes. “Tell me about L.A. It’s the one thing we have in common.”

“That’s not true,” I argued. “We both love it when I go down onyou.”

She glared at me and said, “You must really want me to leave.”

“Fine,” I laughed, holding up my hands in surrender. “I’ll behave.”

“Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it,” she answered with a twitch of herlips.

For as much as Lauren tried to complain about the way I flirted with her, I knew she secretly enjoyed it—those suppressed smiles gave her away. If I thought for even one second that my filthy come-ons and innuendos made her uncomfortable, I’d stop. Still, my age was a significant barrier between her and me, which meant I needed to be able to sit with her and have a mature, adult conversation every once in awhiletoo.

“My dad played professional soccer, and when I was a kid he signed on to play with the L.A. Magic. We lived in Malibu until I was13.”

Lauren sat forward and flattened her palms against the table, her eyes wide. “Are you telling me your dad is Callum Casey?”

I groaned and threw my head back with a grimace. “Not youtoo.”

Lauren laughed. “No, not me. My friend Willow.” She eyed me speculatively. “Your dad’s kind of a legend.”

I fidgeted uncomfortably in my seat. “Yeah, Iknow.”

“And I’m getting the impression you don’t like it,” she observed thoughtfully, taking another sip of her coffee.

“My dad and me …” I ran an agitated hand through my hair and looked around the cafe. It was well after the midday rush, and there was only one other customer in the place. She wore a serious set of headphones over her ears, so I knew she wasn’t paying attention to our conversation. “Let’s just say our relationship is complicated.”

“Howso?”

I sighed. “As long as they were married, he cheated on my mom. Right up until she filed for divorce a few years ago and moved to Spain with her best friend.”

“Ah, right. The nanny,” she answered knowingly.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, my voice shaking with disbelief.

Lauren set her mug down and leaned back in her chair. “I read about it on a magazine cover at the grocery store.”

As far as I was aware, the housekeeper had been the only woman he’d fucked under our roof. Shit, I had a half-brother as a result. But our nanny too? When my next-door neighbor Sage, a girl three years older than me, had explained with an air of superiority that Sam was probably gone because she’d been too pretty and my mom had been jealous, I’d believed her. For being only 13, Sage had known things about the fucked up ways our inner circle had worked. It was only much later that I’d understood my mom had had every right to be jealous.

“God, he fucked the nanny too,” I groaned.

She crossed her arms and tilted her head, studying me intently. “Ah shit, I’m sorry. You didn’tknow.”

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