Show Me How to Love (Caldwell Family Book 1) (13 page)

“We should watch the movie.” He said between rough breaths.

“Yes…we should.”

“But what we should do, and what I want to do, are two different things.”

She licked her lips, took a steadying breath. “I can relate.”

Heat flared in his eyes. Her fingers tightened on his shirt. He closed his eyes, took a breath then met her eye again. The passion was still there, but not as intense. “But we’re friends. And friends don’t make love when the other friend just had his hand down a sink.”

Her shaky laugh was half-hearted at best. “I guess you’re right.”

The perfect white teeth of his grin sent her heart into overdrive again. “I’ll freshen up. Then we’ll watch the movies. Catch up on what happened over the week.”

She nodded. “I’d like that.”

Untangling his fingers from her hair, Andre dropped his other hand from her waist. Reluctantly she released her grip on his shirt. The cool air in the room replaced the warmth of him. Slowly, as if she were backing away from a coiled snake, she stepped away. Her eyes sunk to the prominent lump in his pants, definitely like backing off a snake. An anaconda.

She turned to the cabinet and pulled out two burgundy ceramic plates—her idea of fine china. “Are you ready for pizza?” Desire thickened her voice.

“Do you mind if I bring up my bag and change into something less confining.”

She imagined him changing clothes, naked, in her room. One plate slipped out of her hand onto the counter and spun in fast circles. She slapped a hand down to stop the spinning and cleared her throat. “Not at all.”

He eyed the plate then her before the corner of his lips twitched. “I’ll be right back.”

After twenty minutes he’d gone to the car, washed up in her guest bathroom and was back in the kitchen dressed casually in dark jeans and a white t-shirt which clung to his back and shoulders better than paint on a wall.

She opened the pizza boxes and frowned. “There’s no meat on the pizza?”

He walked over and stood close to her. The smell of his body wash cloaked her and sent her senses careening out of control. “I like cheese. It’s hard to go wrong when you don’t know what your companion likes.”

“Cheese is fine. I just never met a man who didn’t want pepperoni or sausage on his pizza.” She pulled out two large slices and placed them on the plates. “I’ve got beer if you want one.”

He twisted his head and gave her a surprised look. “Beer, no wine?”

Crap! Sophisticated women would offer a guy wine. “Is that a problem?”

He grinned, and her heart did a quick thump. “I never met a woman who liked beer. I’ve been hanging around the wrong type of women.”

A butterfly flutter vibrated through her belly. “I agree.” She opened the fridge and pulled out two bottles. “Although Renee would say I’m hanging around the wrong man.”

Arms crossed, Andre leaned on the island. “I think my friend Jonathan would like you. He’s a good judge of character, but the fact that you like beer, pizza, and horror movies would put you on his approval list.”

She popped the top on the bottles and handed one to him.

He raised an eyebrow when he looked at the label. “Abita, strawberry lager?”

“Lager is beer,” she said.

“Strawberry lager is not beer.”

“Well, it’s all I’ve got so drink up.”

“I may have to take back what I said about Jonathan liking you.” He took a sip then licked his lips. A sensual reminder that he’d just licked her bottom lip. Mikayla automatically licked hers. He tipped the bottle toward her. “It’s alright.”

What were they discussing? Oh right, his friend’s approval. “You mentioned Jonathan in the mountains. Does his opinion matter that much?” She picked up her plate and motioned with her head for him to follow her out of the kitchen.

“Outside of my brother, Jonathan is the only person I know who tells me the truth. Especially when I don’t want to hear it. He warned me about Angelica. I should have listened.”

“You two met in college.” She took a bite of pizza then licked some extra sauce from her lower lip.

“Yeah, freshman year. I took one look at him and thought he was a pretty boy. He took one look at me and saw me for the stuck up know it all I was. Instant dislike.”

She took a swallow of the sweet lager. “So how did you two become friends?”

“We fought over a petri dish.”

“Excuse me?”

“We were in biology lab and reached for the same petri dish to plate some bacteria. Before you knew it, we were wrestling around on the floor. We broke thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. Nearly got expelled from school.”

“What happened?”

“My dad bailed me out,” bitterness crept into his tone. “I insisted he do the same for Jonathan.”

“Did Jonathan appreciate that?”

“No. He was mad as hell that we were the ones to save his ass, even though his father was working to do the same thing. Long story short, our ensuing argument ended with us both agreeing on what a hassle it is to have overbearing parents. From then on we were cool.”

“Parents,” she sipped her lager and thought of her dad. “I haven’t told my dad about what happened with Ryan.”

“Why not?”

“Because he never liked my relationship with the Caldwell family. I mean, he likes Renee alright, but even so he’s not happy about the changes I’ve made since meeting them.”

“What type of changes?”

“Nothing drastic, but my dad sees my interest in being successful and fashionable as losing his little buddy. Before I met Renee, I didn’t know what to do with my hair, couldn’t match clothes, and the thought of accessorizing made me hyperventilate.”

He considered her words and nodded. “I can see that.”

Her hand holding the plate collapsed onto her lap. “Is it that obvious I’m out of my league?”

“I don’t mean it like that. You’re stylish, but I think you’d be more comfortable as you are now, and the way we were in the mountains. Jeans, t-shirts, chilling on the couch watching television.”

“Well, I’m working to change that.”

“Why? It’s what I like about you.”

Her head slowly tilted to the side. She watched him for signs of teasing or any indication that he may be saying that just to be nice. Most men she came across liked a girlie girl. Women like her…correction women like she used to be, were delegated to the friend zone or called when a man didn’t know how to change his own tire. Something one of the men Renee set Mikayla up with actually had her do.

“In my experience, guys like the polish and glamour. Even you said that a woman like Angelica fitting into your world made her good enough to marry.”

“I was never comfortable around Angelica. Our relationship was always about the show, how we looked together. Last weekend, I was able to relax.” She cocked a brow and he grinned. “After I realized you weren’t what I expected. But even before that, I’d noticed you. Why would you want to change what makes you stand out?”

She picked off a section of cheese on her pizza. “I wasn’t considered cute when I was younger. My dad did the best he could, but he raised me like a son. My hair was a knotty mess, he hated pink and frills so my clothes were usually the least girly thing he could find, and we spent the weekends working on his cars or camping. To say I was a tomboy is an understatement. The guys ignored me and the girls teased me. It’s one of the reasons I hate to be humiliated. I suffered enough of that growing up.”

“What changed?”

She met his eyes and smiled. “In college, away from dad, I picked more feminine clothing. Though I lacked style, anything was better than overalls and Power Rangers t-shirts. After college, I started working for the Caldwells. Renee took one look at me and made me her personal makeover project. Now I can at least pretend to know what I’m doing fashion wise.”

“I bet your dad didn’t like that.”

She laughed. “Not at all. He thought I was changing too much to fit in with their lifestyle. Basically, selling my soul just to jump into a higher class.”

“And Ryan?”

She turned away, took a gulp of the beer. “I got too comfortable and started to believe me and Ryan together made sense.”

“You still care about him?”

She shook her head but didn’t meet his gaze. She had cared for Ryan. How could she not care for him just like she had for Renee and Phillip? But those feelings for him withered up in the span of a few seconds.

“I hate seeing him daily. But I can’t quit yet. Now that Dalmtrix isn’t moving to Hartsville. My credibility as an acquisitions person is shot to hell. I have to fix that, before moving on.”

“What?” The word cracked like a whip.

She turned back to him. His lips pressed into a thin line and his brows nearly met above his eyes. “I pushed Philip and Ryan to purchase a hundred acres in Hartsville County. Dalmtrix was putting a manufacturing facility there which meant new jobs and people needing a place to stay. Today I found out the deal may be dead.

Shifting forward, Andre dropped his plate on the coffee table. “Things may still…work out,” he took a long pull from his bottle of lager.

“It’s probably for the best. I can’t stay at Caldwell Development. Once I help salvage what’s left of that land purchase, I’m looking for another job.”

Tension left his shoulders as he blew out a breath. “I will admit, it will be nice to know you’re not working for my uncle and cousin anymore.”

“And why is that?”

He turned on the sofa to face her. “Mikayla, I’ve thought of you every day since leaving the mountains. My dad, brother and best friend have all said I should forget about you. But here I am.”

Her skin tingled, the blood pounded in her veins. “Why?”

“Because, I want to be here. With you.”

CHAPTER 14

“So, how many cigarettes did you smoke this week?” Mikayla asked.

Andre grinned at Mikayla sitting opposite him on the couch. She’d avoided paying attention to the horror movie by talking throughout. Too bad. He’d hoped she’d ask him to stay and keep away the nightmares. He should’ve left the second she mentioned her connection with Dalmtrix, but he enjoyed playing her hero and wasn’t ready to stop.

He stretched his arms out on the back of her off-white leather couch until his fingers brushed the back of her shoulder. “I had three,” he answered her question.

He liked her apartment. Nicely decorated with warm earth tones and abstract paintings on the wall. Her furniture was modern in style, but she included a lot of traditional features, a grandfather clock, a bright blue and white quilt and a rocking chair. The two styles blended into a welcoming feel, reminding him of her.

“Cheat.”

He chuckled, took a sip of the second, surprisingly good, strawberry lager. “If you worked with my dad, you would too.”

“I work with his brother. If they’re anything alike, then I know what you’re going through. And I didn’t smoke.”

“I might let you backslide tonight.”

Temptation flashed in her eyes. An image of them lying in her bed, sweaty and spent after sex, sharing a cigarette swept through his brain. He shut the thought down. This visit was about getting to know her better, discovering if what happened in the mountains was real or a fluke, not getting her in bed.

“I’ve done well this week,” she said pointing at him. “Let’s keep it that way. You’ve heard about me and my dad. Now tell me about your dad.”

“If you know my uncle, then you know my dad. That’s what’s so crazy about this entire family feud. They’re too alike to get along. Sometimes I think Phillip is growing tired of it all.”

She pulled her feet up onto the couch and wrapped her arms around her legs. A dark burgundy polish adorned her toenails. Simple, not flashy, just like her.

“What actually happened?”

He shifted closer. “My grandfather owned land in Columbia and passed it on to my dad and Philip. Philip wanted to sell it in pieces to developers then reinvest the money in more land. My dad didn’t intend to give up what the family had. He’d started collecting trash for businesses. Dad wanted Philip to go into business with him. Philip said our family deserved more than picking up other people’s trash. He sold his half, bought more land and started developing neighborhoods. My dad moved to Greenville, and through…any means necessary…grew Caldwell Environmental Solutions.”

She tilted her head to the side, and the soft waves of her hair floated around her face. “It sounds like your dad is smart.”

“He’s ruthless.”

“But you’re proud of him. Of the company. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Of course I’m proud. He started with one truck and now we have contracts with businesses and governments all over the Eastern United States. Before long we’ll expand west, and we’re looking into utilizing the methane gas from our landfills to power nearby businesses.”

Her head popped up. “There’s a landfill near the spot Dalmtrix is considering. Maybe you can buy that landfill and supply gas to them.” Her lips twisted in a self-depreciating smile, “Maybe then the deal will go through.”

He turned away and drained the remainder of the lager from his bottle. He couldn’t tell her the real reason he was in Columbia. As soon as he ended this deal with Senator Leventis her land acquisition would be a waste of millions of dollars. Guilt rode his back like a crazy monkey, but not enough to make him confess his family’s plans. From the moment, she’d opened the door and smiled, the stress that tightened his neck and shoulders after a week at work dissolved. He liked her, and it was much too soon to destroy what had barely started. He wouldn’t think about how much he wasn’t the good guy she thought he was, or how the soft smile on her face would turn to a look of disgust if she found out.

“Maybe.” He sat his empty glass on the coffee table. “So, tell me about your family.”

“Nothing remarkable to tell. My mom died when I was four. I don’t really remember her.”

“What happened?”

“A heart attack.” She downed the rest of her ale. “She was older than I am now, almost forty, still it was a shock to my dad…my family.”

He reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She shrugged and shifted until his hand fell away. “It’s alright. I was young, and despite his lack of female style, my dad did a great job raising me.”