Take Me Home Tonight (29 page)

Waking
with a start, Calix checked the time. Two in the morning. He should probably get going. But the moment he shifted away, Mimi snuggled up tighter to him.

He smiled. Her hand swept down his chest, coming to rest over his belly button. Her breasts pressed into his rib cage, and her leg lifted over his thighs.

She couldn't get closer if she tried. And he liked it. Liked sleeping with her, her body wrapped around him.

But his pulse kicked up when he realized he was doing it again. Getting carried away. Only this time not in his band but with a woman. He wasn't some reckless kid anymore.

He should probably get going, but he didn't want to wake her. She had her final taping that afternoon and needed her rest. Moonlight shone on her soft auburn curls, making them glow like embers in a smoldering fire. He sifted his fingers through them at her temple.

She stirred. “You leaving?”

“In a minute.”

She sat up with a furrowed brow. “Will you ever spend the night with me?”

He pulled his arm out of the covers, adjusted his bracelets. “Of course.”

“Whatever.” She gave a gentle shake of her head. “It's
all right.” She settled back down, rolling onto her side away from him.

He didn't like that. Grabbing her with both hands, he dragged her closer to him. “Want you draped all over me.”

“Hey.” She laughed but settled in next to him, curving her body with his. “How'm I supposed to look out for my heart when you're always doing things like this?”

Heart pounding, chest tightening, he pressed his palm to her stomach and drew her even closer. He couldn't lose himself, but he also couldn't be careless with her feelings. Hard to strike the right balance—especially when his impulse was to sink all the way into her. “I love your heart, Mimi.”

Did he love her?
Love?
That word had once fit easily into his vocabulary. But now its shape had become so distorted, it didn't fit anywhere.

But he loved so many things about her, and she needed to know them. “I love your smile. It's like . . .” How could he describe the way it thrilled him every time? It was like pulling an aerial. “When your surfboard leaves the lip of the wave and you take off and flip? That's how your smile makes me feel.”

“You and my mouth.”

But he wasn't in a teasing mood. “And your hair. I love it spread out over my pillow. I love your ass, especially how it looks in my hands when I'm fucking you from behind. I love your expression when you're cooking, all focused and peaceful. I love the way you and Lee huddle together and talk about shit. I can't even hear what you're saying, but watching you two together like that makes me happy.” And it was the first time he realized that Mimi fit in. She fit in with his family and with his life.

Oh, shit.

“What?” Both hands swept across his cheeks. “Tell me.”

“You're in.” He took her hand and pressed it to his heart. “You're in here.”

Her hand slipped out of his, smoothed up his chest, and wrapped around his neck.

When she sighed, he leaned in and kissed that lush mouth. Jesus, she made him feel so crazy with need. Every time he
touched her, he poured himself all over her. “Mimi.” Pressing her back, he stretched out over her. Her legs wrapped around his hips, and her hands slid under his shirt to ride up his back.

Fuck, she split him wide open. Made him out of control.

He wanted her—all of her—and it terrified him to understand he could have all of her—she gave herself to him freely. He just had to find it in him to give himself back—or he wouldn't get to keep her.

Pulling away, he jacked up on his knees and tore his shirt off. Her warm hands went right to his pecs, caressing down his stomach until they wrapped around his cock, guiding it to the tight, hot core of her.

He licked into that sexy mouth, gliding his cock through her slick folds. Her back arched, giving him more of that pale, creamy skin, those bouncing breasts, and the glowing auburn curls. She was fucking gorgeous, and when she reached for him, he was a goner. Her hands gripped his ass at the same time her hips rose, trapping his cock between them. And then she thrust, sending shockwaves of sensation through him.

Something in him broke just then, that last barrier guarding his heart. She was his. In the most fundamental way, he just got it. It was a tiny shift, like some small thing had been blocking the light that shone on this piece of his heart. The heart that Mimi owned.

He wanted to show her how he felt, since he didn't have the words. Wanted to savor her. Sitting back on his heels, he lifted her leg and kissed her ankle. He licked a path up her smooth calf, kissing the back of her knee, and then flicking his tongue over the sensitive skin.

She sighed, eyes glazed with lust, breasts trembling with each shaky intake of breath.

His mouth traveled up her thigh until he found the string of red hearts, and he kissed each one. More kisses across her stomach, and then he caressed her breasts, drew them together, and sucked a nipple deep into his mouth, flicking his tongue over it.

She arched under him, her back bowing off the bed,
fingers driving into his hair, scraping his scalp. “More. Give me more.”

“I'll give you fucking everything.” He knelt before her, hands sliding under her ass to lift her, and he kissed between her legs, deep, wet tongue kisses, just like he gave her mouth. And then he licked the wet, hot length of her, and she arched off the mattress.

“God, Calix.
God
.”

Giving in to the urgent thrust of her hips, the pull of her hands, and the heightened pitch of her cries, he fluttered his tongue over her nub. Her passion fueled his hunger.

And then her body bucked, her hips pinned to his mouth, and she cried out his name. When she settled, her body stretched first one way, then the other, and she gave him a satisfied grin.

“Come here.” She reached for him.

He rose over her, mindless with the need to be inside her. Sliding his hands under her back, he gripped her shoulders and pushed inside her slick, hot channel.

“Yes.
God
.” Her legs tightened around him, the soles of her feet digging into his ass.

He wanted that mouth, but he was thrusting too hard, too fast, to latch on to it, so he buried his face in her neck, his body a live wire. And then a shower of electric impulses traveled down his spine, gathering at the base. She lifted her hips, grinding against him, gasping and pulling on his hair, and that was it. He threw his head back as sensation coiled, focused, and then exploded. “Jesus Christ.” He pumped his release into her with quick, brutal thrusts.

Collapsing on top of her, he rested his ear against her heart. And then he exhaled roughly. “Yeah, sweet pants. I'll spend the night with you.”

*   *   *

With
four bodies jamming in the studio, the heat got oppressive.

Sweat dripped down Calix's face, and he hunched a shoulder to wipe it out of his eyes. Dak hadn't let them play
together all that often, but Calix's dad thought they sounded better that way, more authentic. And there was no mistaking the energy when they did. No question about it, his dad had returned them to their sound.

Movement in the control room caught his attention, and he looked up. Gus jumped out of a chair and ran out of the room.

Calix faltered, causing his dad to look up from the control board. Everyone stopped. “What—” His dad whipped around toward the open door, threw off his headphones, and flew out of the room.

Calix bolted.

“What's going on?” Cooper said.

Bursting out of the studio, Calix heard shouts, and then a piercing scream filled the air.

A punch of adrenaline propelled him down the driveway to find two cars in the middle of the street, one perpendicular to the other. His dad stabbed buttons on his phone as he crouched over a body.

When he recognized the battered black boots, Calix roared forward. “Gus!”
What the hell?

As his dad gave Slater and Emmie's address to the 911 operator, Calix crouched next to his brother. He didn't see blood anywhere, but Gus was unconscious. His wrist—oh, Jesus, it shouldn't be twisted at that angle. He pressed two fingers to Gus's carotid artery. “Strong pulse.”

His dad gave a terse jerk of his head.

It was only then that he noticed the activity around him. A stranger helped a drunken Laney out of her car, led her to the grass, and sat her down. The nymph wailed, clutching the back of her neck.

Calix glanced at the other driver . . . the one Laney had hit . . . found the band huddled around the driver's door.

Until Slater barked for everyone to get back. The crowd cleared, revealing Slater crouching beside Emmie, barely visible behind a deployed airbag.

The baby.

Jesus Christ.

The baby.

As the train neared Westbury, Mimi's phone vibrated. She loved the support, but she really needed to block everything out and go to her Zen place. Her mom, her friends, her dad, Irwin, everyone had checked in with her. Even Emmie had texted on her way out of the doctor's office.

She'd done everything she could to prepare for today's competition—well, within the boundaries of one short week—so she went in knowing she'd given it her best shot.

Eleanor, though, her final competitor, was good. While her résumé didn't include formal culinary training, she'd been cooking all her life.

Her phone vibrated again.
Okay, something's up
. She glanced at the screen. Violet.

Trying to reach you. Call me.

Immediately, she hit Violet's speed dial.

“Mimi. Hey.”

Oh, God. Her body went into high alert from Violet's tone. Her friend, always calm and in control, sounded unnerved. “What's wrong?”

“There's been an accident.”

A sickening feeling crashed through her.

“Emmie, Gus, and Laney are headed to Eastern Long Island Hospital right now.”

“Oh, my God. Are they all right?” Grabbing her messenger bag, slinging the strap around her neck, she got up, mouthing
Excuse me
to the businessman beside her. Instead of getting up, he turned his knees to the side, accomplishing nothing. She couldn't help banging her bag into him as she edged out of the seat. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“It's hard to say for sure at this point. All we know is that Laney came by the studio drunk. She must've texted Gus, because Calix saw him running out of the control room. From the police report, it looks like she backed out crazy fast and smashed into Emmie. She was just coming home from her OB-GYN appointment.”

Mimi made her way to the exit and reached for the handrail. “Is she okay?” And then she whispered. “The baby?”

“I don't know anything. I wasn't sure if I should call—it's not like there's anything you can do—but it didn't feel right not telling you.”

“Of course you have to tell me.” They were her family. She loved them. God, Emmie's
baby
. “How's Slater?”

She was quiet for a moment. “I've never seen him like this.”

“Are they okay? God, you have to tell me
something
.”

“I wish I could. The guys are hoping the airbag just knocked the wind out of her. She's being seen right now. But Slater's crazy, Meems. They wouldn't let him go in with her, and he was shouting, demanding to see his wife and baby. It killed us to see him like that.”

She couldn't even imagine. “I can't believe this.”

“Yeah, so, we're all in the ER waiting to hear. What do you want to do?”

“I'm getting off at the next stop. I'll catch a cab and meet you there. V, if you hear anything—anything at all, let me know.”

“What about the show?”

“I can't think about the show right now. I mean, Emmie . . .” The
baby
. “And Gus. Tell me you'll let me know.”

“You know I will.”

As the train neared the station, her thoughts went to Calix. He hadn't been the one to call or text.

And that scared her.

*   *   *

As
the cab turned into the hospital parking lot, Mimi leaned forward. “Can you drop me at the emergency room, please?”

The driver nodded. She sat back in her seat and sent texts to Calix and Violet.
Here.

She couldn't quell the anxiety. Imagine if something was terribly wrong with Gus. It just wouldn't be fair. How would the Bourbons handle the loss of another child?

They wouldn't have to. Mimi refused to imagine worst-case scenarios. She would think positive thoughts only. Anything else was a waste of energy.

But God, she couldn't bear it if this family had to endure another tragedy.

The driver stopped. “Here you go.”

“Great, thank you.” She pulled some bills out of her wallet and handed them to her.

Racing into the building, she nearly slammed into Laney, cuffed and with a neck brace, being led out the automatic doors by two cops. As they passed by, the woman tilted her chin, giving Mimi a challenging look.

Mimi held her gaze.
What have you done?
And then she continued on to find her friends.

Against pale green walls people sat in chairs—so many people for early afternoon on a weekday. She found the band together in a corner. Everyone but Slater.

On the other side of the room, Jo Bourbon stood like a pillar looking out the window, arms crossed over her stomach, hands cupping her elbows. Terrence and Calix's muscular, imposing bodies surrounded her and Lee like a bulwark. All of them had their backs to the room.

And Shay was there. Shay and that tall, lean guy she always saw around Calix. Bones?

Shay.
Which meant someone had told her.

And how else would she have found out if not from Calix?

She put a stop to that petty line of thinking.
This isn't about me.

First, she had to make sure Emmie and the baby were okay. She headed to her friends. Coop slumped low, eyes closed, and Ben sat forward, elbows on his knees, texting. Derek stood, back against the wall, arms around Violet. The moment her friend saw her, she stepped forward.

“Hey.” Violet wrapped Mimi in a hug.

“What do we know?”

“The baby's okay.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“They did an ultrasound. But they're keeping Emmie overnight just to be sure. Once they assign her a room, we'll head up there.”

“And Emmie?”

Violet smiled. “She's fine. Slater's with her right now.”

Mimi tipped her head toward the Bourbons. “Any word?”

“They haven't acknowledged us, so we don't know anything.”

Heart aching for them, she headed in their direction. She needed to be there for Calix.

She loved him. She loved him so much. And his whole family . . . God, all they'd done for her with the competition and the wedding. This insular, grieving family had dropped their linked arms to let her in.

The moment she approached, she set her hand on Calix's back. “Hey.”

He flinched like she was some stranger groping him in a dark alley.

Shay immediately stepped between them. “Hey.” Her voice was soft and sexy. “Mimi, right?”

She nodded, but she didn't want to talk to this woman. She wanted to talk to Calix.

With a hand at the small of Mimi's back, Shay started to lead her away.

Mimi spun away from her. “Calix?” She said it softly but insistently.

When he turned to her, she expected to see conflict, pain—those emotions would've made sense. But she didn't
expect Mr. Stoic. Shay gave him a look like,
What can I do? She's just impossible.

With a terse nod from Calix—
I'll take care of it
—Shay shrugged and moved back to the formidable block of Bourbons.

Mimi reached out to touch his arm, but he stiffened, so she pulled back. “How is he?”

His features tightened, and he shot a glance to his family. Clearly, he didn't want to leave them. As if, in stepping away from them, the foundation would collapse, and they'd be reduced to a puddle of bones and skin on the floor.

She understood how concerned he was about Gus. Of course he was. But he didn't have to shut her out. “I've been worried out of my mind since Violet called me. Are you all right? Have you heard anything about Gus?”

Walking her out of the family's hearing range, he said. “We don't know anything.” Spoken quickly, dismissively. He wanted her gone. Or more to the point, he wanted to get back to his family. But why couldn't she be there
with
them?

Wait—oh, God—did they blame her? She was the one who'd gotten Gus the job in the studio. He never would've met Laney had it not been for her. Should she leave? She wanted to do what was best for them, so if having her around upset them, she'd go. But she was worried about Calix. The accident had likely sent him back into default mode—making him feel singularly responsible for the welfare of his family.

No, no. She was overreacting. He'd done the same thing when Gus had called from jail. He'd fully intended on going alone, but she'd insisted on coming with him. He'd been relieved.

She gave him a warm smile that told him he wasn't alone, but when she touched his arm, he took a step back.

“I can't deal with this right now, Mimi. I need to be with my family.”

Deal with
this
? What exactly was
this
?

He could barely stand to look at her, his entire body primed to get back where he so obviously wanted to be. “I'm here with you.”

The hard line of his mouth scared her. “Not now. I'll talk to you later.”

God, he was so cold. Treating her like an unwelcome stranger. But he needed her. She knew he did. “Can you just tell me what happened?” Hours ago, this man had been inside her, his hands caressing, gripping, possessing her. Dirty words in her ear, sweat-slicked bodies writhing together.

A matter of
hours
ago.

She had to get through. “Calix.”

“I said not now.”

This wasn't at all like the night they'd picked up Gus from jail. He actually didn't want her around. She didn't comfort him—she
agitated
him. “What can I do?”

“You can go. That's the only thing I need. For you to go.” The only thing keeping him with her at the moment was the last remnant of civility he possessed. He didn't want her.

“God, Calix, I—”

He probably moved only a few inches, but he towered over her, his intention to intimidate clear. “My brother's in the fucking emergency room.” He shot a look to his mom. “I have to get back to my family, and I'm asking you to go.”

“Will you text me? Let me know how he's doing?”

Barely suppressing his impatience, he flexed his hands. The muscle in his jaw popped. “Yeah, sure.”

Stunned, Mimi looked deeper into his eyes, waiting for him to break, to reach out for her. But he stalked off.

She watched him go, shaken and confused. What had just happened?

“Hey, sweetie.” Violet took her arm and led her away. “They're taking Emmie to a room right now, so we can go up and see her. Okay?”

She tried to blink back tears, but she couldn't stop them. They burned a track down her cheeks. What the hell had just happened?

“Come on, Meems.” With an arm wrapped around her, Violet led her back to the others.

In a daze, Mimi followed the band to Emmie's room.

*   *   *

They
gathered in the doorway, the scene in Emmie's room too private to breach.

Slater lay on the narrow hospital bed facing his wife, one hand on her tiny baby bump, the other on top of her head. “I fucking love you,” he whispered.

“I fucking love you, too,” she whispered back.

“Yo, can we come in?” Coop said.

“Gotta get eyes on you, woman,” Ben said.

Looking exhausted, Emmie smiled. Slater got up, giving them all a hard look. “She's fine. Baby's fine. Thanks for coming.”

“Jonny,” Emmie said quietly. Only she called Slater by his real name. “It's all right. They can stay.”

Everyone crowded around her, and Mimi could feel the absolute love and devotion. It was humbling, and it was beautiful.

Emmie peered around the guys and smiled warmly. She lifted her arms. “Meems.”

Mimi eased gently into Emmie's arms. “You okay?”

“It was scary, but yeah. We're okay.”

Mimi sat on the edge of the bed. “What happened?”

“Laney was coming out of the driveway like a bat out of hell, and she rammed into me.”

“Luckily she only hit the front left wheel well,” Slater said. “Missed the door by a foot.”

Emmie reached for his hand. “But the worst part was Gus. He came running down the driveway, trying to stop her. I don't know what he thought he could do. So, after she hit me, she reversed and floored it. Went straight at him.”

“Oh, my God.” No wonder his family was freaking out. “She hit him with her car?”

“It can't be that bad,” Ben said. “Not like she could build up any speed. He was right in front of her when she punched the accelerator.”

“He hit the windshield,” Coop said. “Rolled off.”

Emmie's features crumpled in fear and worry, and Slater was at her side. “Hey, angel, it's okay. He's okay.”

“Is he?” Mimi asked.

“Dude's gonna be bruised up pretty bad,” Coop said.

“But the baby's all right?” Mimi asked Emmie. “Everything's good?”

“Looks good,” Emmie began, but Slater interrupted. “He's awesome. But they're going to keep her overnight to make sure.”

Violet leaned in. “Hey, you're missing your show.”

Mimi waved a hand dismissively. “I don't care.”

“No, she's not.” Derek pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Doesn't start taping till three. You can still make it.”

“You totally can,” Violet said.

Should she? Everything in her screamed to go back to Calix. But he didn't want her. Truly, seriously, did not want her.

Emmie was all right, and if she left right now, she could make the show just in time.

She looked to Emmie, who made a shooing motion. “Go. Are you kidding? I'm fine. The baby's fine. Go.”

Slater gave her a chin nod. “Check on the Bourbons on your way out. Let us know what's going on.”

She got up. “He doesn't . . . he doesn't want to talk to me.”

The room went quiet, everyone watching her.

“What?” Emmie said. “Why?”

“I'm not sure. Maybe he blames me.” What else could it be?