Page 136 of Stella
I pique a brow. “We’re slowly winning you over?”
“Trust me, after seeing my colleagues and men I trusted betray me, it’s opened my eyes a helluva lot more than they were before.”
I smile softly. “I’m sorry that some of them are ass wipes.”
“It’s just life. Sometimes we don’t always have control over any of that stuff. We’ve just gotta roll with the punches.”
I kiss him softly. “I love you.”
“Not as much as I love you.”
“Knock, knock,” Cash says as we both turn to the open door. “You decent?”
Cale looks up at his dad — it’s still crazy to think that Cash is his father, and all these years that passed, neither of them knew. I am bitter towards Lauren, but I don’t say anything in front of Larry and Nancy. She’s still their daughter, and the only thing I can say is at least she dropped Cale off with them when he was a baby, instead of dumping him somewhere else. That in itself is a miracle. Plus, they get along with Cash and have taken to him, holding no animosity whatsoever, not that any of this was hisfault. He didn’t know about Cale, but I guess now they have a lot of years to make up for.
Cait’s wedding is coming up, and now I have my hot cop to take with me as my plus one. They all love him, of course, and they can’t believe everything that went down. It wasn’t a secret since it made the news for several weeks; the entire police force was under intense scrutiny.
“Just getting up,” Cale says. Behind him, little Caprice runs in shouting, “Cale! Cale! Look!” She already has Tiramisu smushed all over her face because Manny can’t say no to her, and she offers her hand out to Cale for a taste.
“Wow, that looks delicious,” he laughs.
“Want some?”
“Uh, I think your brother can get his own,” Cash says, picking his daughter up before she can get her chocolate-covered hands anywhere. “You two have plenty of time to smooch when we’re gone, get your butts out here.”
I roll my eyes as he leaves, telling Caprice she needs to wash her hands and face.
“I guess that’s us warned,” I laugh.
Cale moves off the bed, pulling me into his arms. “I never thought I’d be having Cash over at my place for a family dinner.”
I sigh. “Memories are being made.”
“I’m glad I’m making them with you.”
“And I’m glad you’re healing every day. Soon you’ll be running and jumping and?—”
“Putting my dick inside you?”
I chuckle. “I didn’t mean that, but yes.”
“So you’ve thought about it? You know, I didn’t get shot between the legs, baby girl.”
“I know that,” I say. “But I know you’re in pain, and I don’t want to cause you any more than absolutely necessary.”
“That ends tonight,” he promises. Smacking my ass, we make our way into the dining room where he greets everyone, kissing his grandmother on the cheek and high-fiving his grandpa.
Even my dad has come around. At one point, he was pretty close to punching Cale in the face, now he’s all smiles, knowing that Cale did everything he could to help the club, and to save me.
“Listen,” Dad says while the others mingle. “I know I’ve been hard on you, both of you, but one day, when you have your own kids, you’ll understand why I’m so protective.”
My eyes go wide, embarrassment washing over me. “Dad, I think we have quite a bit of time before we even need to think about that. I’ll remind you I have another brother or sister on the way, so let’s not get weird.”
Dad laughs good-naturedly.
“Yeah, Dad.” Kai smacks Dad on the shoulder. “It’s pretty gross thinking about what you and Indi get up to while we’re asleep.”
“Ew,” I agree. “Let’s get off that subject.”
