Page 91 of Let Me Be the One

Eww. She did not want to have Sutter’s children. Someday, sure, she’d love to have kids—but not yet and not with Sutter.

So many plans had been made around her. If only she’d been paying attention.

“I’ll figure out something else,” her dad promised. “But I won’t have a chance to do that if they find out about our situation. They’d kill all business with us and the end of the company would come even sooner.”

Feeling like she carried a lead weight in her chest where her heart should be, Callie nodded. “I see.”

He caught her shoulders. “It’s important to me that you not pay for my mistakes. Understand? This isn’t on you.” He tugged her in for a hug. “I’d be a failure as a dad as well as a businessman if I let that happen.”

“You’re not a failure,” she stated with firm conviction. “You’ve run a successful business for years, and you’re a wonderful dad.”

“You’re a wonderful daughter, so you make it easy. I’m so proud of you, Callie. Never forget that.” He hugged her one more time, his hold tight, a little desperate, before he straightened again. “Let’s not keep your mother waiting any longer. She’s liable to start going through your things.”

Alarmed by that possibility, Callie agreed. She needed to deal with her mother, but she also needed breakfast and time to sort out this new mess before Liam or Nell arrived.

Most of all, she needed to be free.

The odds of attaining that were starting to look pretty slim.

* * *

AFTER A FEWhours spent helping clients, Tanner was muddy, sweaty, irascible, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Callie. In his head, he could still picture her under him, her beautiful face twisted in pleasure, the way her body had cradled his, the sounds she’d made, the scent of her skin and hair…

More than anything, he’d like to spend a week in bed with her, until finally she didn’t plague his brain any longer.

But then, the idea ofnotwanting her was bothersome, too. He liked the way Callie put his senses on alert. Around her, he felt like the best version of himself.

Judging how the morning had gone so far, with the unwelcome intrusion of her parents, it didn’t seem likely that he’d get to visit with her again anytime soon. And maybe that was for the best.

He was headed back home now, and with any luck her parents would have finished their visit. She could be at his house when he pulled up, having the excuse to return Addie’s dishes.

When she wanted to see him, she’d reach out. Until then, he didn’t want to pressure her. She had more than enough going on.

Blu rode in the back seat of his truck, his snout and tongue stuck out the partially open window. The unseasonably hot spring weather had returned, with a thick blanket of humidity.

It had nothing on Tanner’s mood.

He couldn’t stop thinking how Callie had accepted the introduction of him as only a neighbor, and that should have suited him just fine. What had he expected? For her to introduce him as something…more?

He’d felt like more, at least for a few hours.

When he was forced to stop at the railroad tracks, waiting for a train to pass, he spotted a fancy car in the lot of a sandwich shop nearby. Because the car reminded him of the slick BMW Callie’s folks had left parked in her driveway, he gave it a second look.

And there was her ex, Sutter Griffin, standing by the hood.

Even more surprising was seeing the Garmet brothers talking with him.

What. The. Everlasting. Fuck.

If there’d been any room for him to maneuver, he’d have turned around and backtracked to the shop. Nothing set him off like the brothers, but seeing them with Callie’s cheating ex? Yeah, that tipped the scales.

Blu had spotted them too, and his tongue was now back in his mouth, ears forward and body tensed.

“Sorry, bud,” Tanner murmured, still watching the men through his side-view mirror. “We can’t check it out today.”

Blu tilted his head to listen, but as the men separated and Sutter got back behind the wheel, the dog went alert again.

“What do you want to bet he’s heading to Callie’s?”

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