Page 69 of Free to Dream
I smack the back of his head as I pass by him for good measure. It’s great he’s not being a roaring jackass, but don’t hit on my woman.
Asshole.
“Not a problem at all. If you two have work issues to discuss, I’ll have it waiting in the kitchen when you’re done.” She pivots and walks away. Keene can’t take his eyes off her legs. He sees her tattoo in its full glory.
“What the hell, man?” I seethe when Cassidy’s out of earshot. “You were practically eye-fucking my woman.”
“Sorry. I just got lost in my own thoughts for a second. I promised myself I wasn’t going to be an ass after the other night. I owe her an apology,” he replies with a completely straight face.
Reasonable. “Okay. What do you need? I really do need to get Cassidy to her wedding today.”
“It’s about the Armstrong case. Apparently, they’re refusing to sign our terms for a start on Monday. We already have ten guys in the air on their way to Portland.” Keene taps the file against his opposite hand.
Crap. “Come on back to the study and let’s wake some people up on the West Coast.” I turn and head down the hall.
I see Keene give the kitchen a final penetrating stare from the corner of my eye.
23
Cassidy
Caleb and Keene make their way into the kitchen after figuring out some work issue. I heard them go into the study about thirty minutes ago. Both of their voices were raised against whomever they were speaking with. Finally, I heard Keene lay down the law. It wasn’t the words that resonated with me as much as the tone. I chuckle softly, thinking I would not want to be on the other end of that scolding. Big brother was apparently righteously infuriated. I imagine it would be the same when Ali got her panties in a wad over something. For someone so passionate, the way she can freeze out people with her body language or a word is impressive. It must be a lawyer thing.
Pulling out the cream and sugar, I place them at the end of the bar, along with the fresh cups of coffee and some croissants. I start humming a tune I’ve sang since I was a little girl. It’s funny how these things come back to you. I remember nothing but the horror of my childhood, but at some point, someone must have sung “Au Clair De La Lune” to me and it stuck. For me, it’s a song of peace and tranquility. After the last few days with Caleb, I’m certainly in such a place.
The men are still talking when they come back into the kitchen, so I don’t disturb them. Moving around the island, I pick up my Kindle to get the news. Caleb waits for Keene to finish his relatively mild rant over the “jackasses in Portland who can’t tell what day of the week it is” before coming over to kiss me on the cheek. “Thanks, baby, for laying all this out.”
Keene offers me a small smile. “Yes, thank you, Cassidy. I didn’t mean to act like a dick this morning.”
Well, knock me over with a feather. I narrow my eyes at Caleb and he shakes his head. He didn’t say anything? Wow. “You’re welcome, Keene. It wasn’t any trouble. If someone here actually knew how to cook, I could have done something more. But I figure his brother and Jared knew any groceries would rot before they got home.”
We all laugh at the complete honesty of that statement. Keene’s eyes sparkle. Honestly, he’s a handsome man when he let’s go. I’m beginning to see how Ali got involved with him.
“Is everything all fixed? I know you can’t talk much about your business,” I say quickly. Both men nod, but surprisingly, it’s Keene who speaks up.
“Does Alison run into this a lot with your contracts?” He holds up a hand before I can respond. “I understand confidentiality and know you can’t tell me details. Some days it’s just helpful to know I’m not the only one running around at the last minute with my head on fire.”
I lower my eyebrows thoughtfully and take a sip of my fresh cappuccino before responding. “Without getting into names, I do remember one wedding where the bride forgot she was getting married. Seriously. She wasn’t skipping out on the groom, she just forgot what the date was.”
Both men gape at me.
“I know it seems ridiculous. I was pounding on her door for probably an hour before she woke up. Her bachelorette party was the night before and she had a massive hangover. She thought there were two nights between the party and the ceremony, then spent another thirty minutes arguing with me that I had the wrong date. As if.” I mask my laughter by taking a sip of my drink.
“What happened?” Caleb asks, a huge grin on his face. Keene is astounded.
“Well, after she called three friends and her mother to verify the date and was screamed at by each, she tried to pass the blame onto me. When we got to the church, she was a stinking, hot mess. Literally stinking. I think Em wanted to hose her off. Instead, we managed to find the gym associated with the church open and got her in the shower. Since the stylist had walked out, we, as in Em and I, blew out and braided her hair, got her ass dressed and down the aisle, barely fifteen minutes late. After she got back from her honeymoon, she sued us.”
Both men spit out their coffee at the same time. “Are you shitting me?” and “What the fuck?” are yelled at the same time. I feel a little more redeemed.
“Yep. Fortunately, Ali pulled all the emails from our servers where we send automated reminders. When we walked into the courtroom, we had no less than five countdown reminder emails going to both the bride and the groom the day before the ceremony. It also helps she showed up drunk for the rehearsal dinner, and the photos the witnesses provided were classic.” I break out into gales of laughter.
Keene is looking at me with admiration. “Nice. Did you guys countersue?”
I shake my head no. “We were trying to build a reputation at the time. We were too new. If it had happened today, maybe Ali would have. She was happy with what we got as a settlement. It paid off the last of her student loans,” I say with a smile on my face.
“Amazing.” Keene shakes his head and turns back to Caleb. “I take it back, I want to keep my job. These people are practically normal.”
Caleb laughs and tags the back of my neck and gives me a quick kiss. “What were you singing when I first came in, baby? You’ve been humming it since yesterday morning.”
