Pretty in Ink (Voretti Family Book 3) (12 page)

She was going to that barbecue. Whether Caleb liked it or not.

L
IV
GRABBED
A
six-pack of her favorite Belgian-style Tripel and drove toward Caleb’s house, repeating positive affirmations in her head. She could do this. She was a strong, capable woman, who was taking charge of her life.

All too soon, she arrived at the single-story Spanish style house Caleb had inherited when his parents passed away six years ago. She forced herself out of the car. She had to talk to Caleb. If their deal regarding the fake relationship was off, she needed to know now. And if it wasn’t, their secret relationship story would be that much stronger when her brothers remembered that she and Caleb had been hanging out.

So she was crashing a party. She’d crashed lots of parties. And she’d been to Caleb’s house dozens of times.

But as she started up the tiled walkway, which had replaced the cracked cement she remembered, she realized how long it had been. The house used to have a vaguely neglected look, like a rental where neither the landlord nor the tenant thought they should be responsible for maintenance. But this place could have been featured on the cover of one of those home and garden magazines.
 

Liv followed the sound of masculine laughter around the side of the house, where an open gate led into the backyard. Instead of the mess of tangled bushes and vines she expected, the ground was clear. There was a mini-orchard where the rusting carcass of a Jeep used to sit, the trees small but already bearing fruit. The once-patchy lawn looked like it belonged on a golf course. The patio off the back of the house had been resurfaced to get rid of the cracks. And, at the edge of the canyon, stakes marked the boundaries of what would soon be a fence—the last piece of the perfect yard.

She tiptoed closer, strangely reluctant to call out a greeting.
 

Joslyn was nowhere in evidence. That was good. Rafe held a support post steady as Matt poured concrete into the hole. Alex carried a bunch of pickets over. And Caleb, dressed only in a pair of low-slung jeans, was using some kind of special shovel to dig the hole for the next post.

He was sweaty, his hair had lost its gelled perfection several hand-swipes ago, and his biceps bulged as he drove the shovel into the dirt. She had a sudden image of him, sweat gleaming on his chest as he drove into
her
, and warmth pulsed low in her belly.

She must have made a noise, because all the guys turned toward her at once.

“Liv?” Caleb stared at her, eyes narrowed, like she was a hallucination he hoped would disappear soon.

“Hi.” A little detail that had escaped her notice, perhaps because she’d been distracted by shirtless Caleb, became suddenly, embarrassingly clear. It wasn’t only Joslyn who was missing. There were no women here. She’d barged in on some kind of guy’s thing.

Oh well. Nothing to do now but brazen it out.

She gave Caleb a big smile, even though she was mad at him, and held up the six-pack. “I brought beer.”

“You invited her to Fix-it Day?” Rafe asked.

“No,” Caleb said.

“I…you know. Happened to be in the area. So I thought I’d drop by.” She waved the six-pack in the air, hoping to distract her brothers. “With beer.”

But, apparently, even alcohol wasn’t enough to take away the horror of a female crashing Fix-it Day, because everyone was still staring at her.
 

“Shouldn’t you be working on your collection?” Caleb slid on a pair of mirrored shades.
 

She felt his single-minded focus, but with those sunglasses hiding his eyes, she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Actually, I’m almost done.” She tried to telegraph her we-need-to-talk message with her gaze, but Caleb turned his attention back to his shovel.
 

So much for telepathy. “And I have something I need to talk to you about.”

“Kinda busy right now.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “You know, Fix-it Day has very strict rules.”

“I know. I know. Always chug the
entire
beer. Peeing on the ground is okay, but only if you’re outside. And if you eat the last slice of pizza, you have to buy another whole pie.” She glanced at Caleb, but his expression hadn’t gotten any easier to read.

“You forgot the most important rule.” Caleb drove his shovel into the dirt. “There’s no hanging out. If you stay, you have to help us build the fence.”

“Fine. Bring it on.”

“This is actual manual labor,” Alex said. “Your manicure isn’t going to survive.”

She waved the hand that wasn’t holding the beer, giving him a good look at her chipped, electric blue nails. “Then it’s a good thing this is the $3-a-bottle stuff.”

Alex squinted at her nails, but he didn’t say anything.

She surveyed the rest of her audience. “Well? Any more objections?”

Silence, except for Caleb’s shovel cutting through the dirt.

She set down the beer, grabbed the nail gun Alex had used to attach the pickets to the support rail between the first two posts, and gave it a try herself.
 

The nail went in with a bang.
 

She danced backward, compensating for the recoil. “Just like hemming a cuff.” Except that the nail gun could drive a spike of metal through her hand.
 

“You’ve got something on your dress,” Alex said.

“Where?”

“On your, ah… Your…” He made a complicated but undecipherable motion with his hands.

“On your ass,” Matt clarified.

She craned her head as far back as it would go, and, sure enough, the white sundress printed with red poppies had a huge dirt stain across the bottom. That’s what she got for listening when her mom told her that her all-black wardrobe was depressing. “Oh well. It’s only a dress.”

Everyone was staring at her. Everyone except Caleb, who was attacking the packed-down earth with his shovel.

You can’t avoid me forever, buddy.
She wrestled another picket into place, then nailed it to the rail. “Are you guys planning on doing anything? Or did you forget the sacred rules of Fix-it Day?”

Her brothers picked up their tools and got to work, but there were none of the jokes or laughter she’d heard on her way in. Caleb dug holes for the support posts and avoided looking at her. The rest of the guys kept glancing her direction, like they thought she might tackle Caleb and have her way with him on the dirt behind the closest pomegranate tree if she wasn’t properly supervised.
 

It should have made her day—it would make the big revelation that much easier—but nothing about this felt easy. Not the nail gun, big and unwieldy in her arms. Not the strange silence all around. And especially not the way Caleb was so carefully not looking at her.

After two hours, she couldn’t take it anymore. She put down the nail gun and went inside to use the bathroom. She didn’t really have to go, but at least in here no one was sneaking suspicious glances at her.

She took her time washing the dirt off her hands and the sweat off her face, then dawdled toward the sliding door that led back to the yard.

Matt’s voice, leaking through the door she hadn’t closed all the way, stopped her in her tracks. “You talk to her,” he muttered. “You know I’m not good at that shit.”

“She’s not going to tell me anything,” Alex said. “As far as Liv’s concerned, I might as well be Mom or Dad.”

Liv’s heart beat its signature you’re-in-trouble rhythm, and she ducked back around the corner, out of sight. So Alex thought she needed a talking to. Big surprise. He was worse than Annabelle with the lectures.

“If the shoe fits…” Matt drawled.

“I don’t like the way she’s sniffing around Caleb,” Alex continued, in his signature morally superior tone. “I love the girl, but it
would
be like her to make a play for him, right when he’s finally found the right woman.”

“C’mon, man. Caleb and Joslyn barely know each other. Even if Liv is interested, it’s not like he’s engaged. As far as I’m concerned, they can do whatever they want. As long as I don’t have to hear about it.”

“They’re not engaged
yet
. But Caleb took Joslyn to
Michael Saka
for their first date. You don’t take a woman you’re not serious about to
Michael Saka
. And Caleb wanted to know how long Rafe and Jen dated before they got engaged.”

Liv had a sudden urge to crawl inside the bathroom vanity and hide from the world. How had she messed up so badly? She hadn’t had any idea Caleb was that into Joslyn. Back at Rafe and Jen’s house, he certainly hadn’t looked at the woman like he was counting the hours until he could propose.
 

Maybe you just didn’t want to see it.

“What the hell would Caleb want to get engaged for?” Matt sounded appalled. “He barely knows the woman.”

“Because he’s the kind of guy who decides what he wants and then does something about it.”

“Unlike me, huh?” Matt’s voice took on a familiar, belligerent tone. “If that’s what you’re trying to say, come out and say it.”

Alex sighed. “Will you please, for once in your life, do the right thing? Talk to her.”

Matt muttered a curse, but a second later the door slid all the way open.

Showtime.
Crap
. Liv started around the corner, trying to make it look like she was coming out of the bathroom.

“Oh. Hey, Livvy.” Matt tried for a smile, but since he looked like he was about to hurl, it wasn’t very convincing. “Do you, uh, want to…you know.”

“Have a beer? Go streaking? TP the neighbor’s house?”

“I thought, maybe, we could…” He swallowed several times in quick succession. “Do you want to sit down and…talk?” By the time he pushed the final word out of his mouth, it was barely recognizable.

Part of her wanted to call his bluff, but she couldn’t torture the one Voretti who might be on her side. “I’m not plotting to ruin Caleb’s engagement,” she said. “I was sick of sitting in front of a sewing machine, so I stopped by. That’s it.”

Matt let out a visible sigh of relief. “Thanks, Livvy.” He threw an arm around her shoulder. “We’d better get back to work before Alex comes after us.”

With Matt tugging her along, she had no choice but to return to the yard and pick up the nail gun. She might have allayed Matt’s suspicions, but he was the only one. Rafe and Alex still had her under surveillance, finding an excuse to intercept her every time she sidled in Caleb’s direction.

By the time they finished work and Caleb fired up the barbecue, she’d had enough. Her dress was coated with dirt, her muscles were screaming, and she still hadn’t done what she’d come to do.

With Rafe, Alex, and Matt finally distracted by the beer cooler, she made a break for Caleb. “We need to talk.”

He bent low, adjusting the burners. “This isn’t a good time.”

The last of her patience evaporated. If he wanted to live happily ever after with the woman of his dreams, he could at least have the courtesy to give Liv a heads up. “When would be a good time? After you pop the question to Joslyn?”

“Keep it down.”

“We had an agreement! If you’re not going to hold up your end of the bargain, I need to know.”

He finally faced her, eyes blazing hotter than the flames on the grill. “When have I
ever
gone back on my word?”

“My entire family is talking about you and Joslyn. How are they ever going to believe that we’re—”

“Shut it, Livvy.” His voice was rough with warning.

“No! We’re the ones who are supposed to be in a relationship, but you’re too busy with Ms. Perfect Preschool Teacher!”

Every single one of Caleb’s muscles locked down, like he was bracing for an explosion. That’s when she became aware of Matt, ten feet away, and bearing down on them fast.

He slammed into Caleb, taking him down to the concrete. “You
shitbag
.”
 

“Stop it!” Liv shouted.

Matt’s fist met Caleb’s flesh with a hollow thud.

“I’m serious!” She tried to find an opening between the two men, but she couldn’t tell which body parts belonged to whom.
 

Matt shoved Caleb’s face into the pavement. “You think you can fuck my sister on the side, like she’s your dirty little secret?”

She swallowed the sickness rising up her throat. She couldn’t look anymore. Couldn’t breathe. She closed her eyes and hurled herself into the middle of the fray.

Two strong arms yanked her back. “What are you doing?” Rafe demanded.

“I’m
trying
to stop the fight!” She threw an elbow behind her.

Rafe grunted, but he didn’t let go.

“Do something!” Desperation scraped her voice raw. “He’s hurting Caleb!”

“Caleb can take care of himself.”

One second, Caleb was on the ground. The next, he was on top of Matt. And still in one piece. Thank goodness.
 

Caleb wrenched one hand behind Matt’s back. “Two choices, Voretti. Listen to me, or get your ass kicked.”

Matt took a deep breath. He relaxed under Caleb’s grip.

Moving in slow, cautious degrees, Caleb stood. He offered a hand to Matt.

Matt ignored it, pushing to his feet with a curse. He folded his arms across his chest and glowered at Caleb. Alex and Rafe flanked Matt, wearing identical glares, and her heart flew back up to her throat. Caleb might be able to take Matt, but no way could he handle all three of her brothers at once.

“Well?” Matt prompted.

“It was my fault,” Liv blurted out. “Caleb wanted to tell you, but I wouldn’t let him.” The words ran together—she had to get them out before Caleb said something stupid and was forced to face the wrath of her entire family. “I was going to tell you guys. Eventually. I wanted to see where things went without all of you turning into armed psychopaths. It’s kind of hard to have a relationship when every other man in your life keeps threatening to come after your boyfriend with a shotgun.”

“So Caleb’s your boyfriend now?” Rafe sounded…skeptical.

“Of course he’s my boyfriend.” She kept her gaze fixed on her brother, hoping it would look like she was doing the I’m-telling-the-truth eye-contact thing rather than the I’m-afraid-to-look-at-my-pretend-boyfriend thing. “What did you think this was?”