Page 25 of Taken By the Bad Boy
She smiled and took a sip of hers.It felt nice.She’d been worried how it would be to be alone with him this weekend.Emily and Pete were due Sunday.She and Caleb still had all of Saturday and most of Sunday to spend with the kids.She doubted they would be plying them with candy.They were going to be the good babysitters now.
“I guess we should talk,” Caleb said.
Mae turned to look at him and she smiled.“Not if you don’t want to.”
****
This past week hadbeen a fucking nightmare.
First, he and Mae were circling each other, and rather than answer her straight, he had to be a fucking asshole and attempt to keep shit to himself, and that pissed him off.He knew he should have just come clean with her, and told her the truth—that he wanted everything with her.But he didn’t know how to get that into words for her to understand exactly what he wanted.
Just tell her the truth, dummy.
Then, he had a client that needed him to do a touch-up, but couldn’t make it to town, and offered to pay all travel expenses, and was genuine with the fact he needed help.He and Pete talked about it, and Caleb flew out to check the recent ink that had been done, along with some touch-ups.
It had been a good experience, and he didn’t want to lose the client as a customer, as he’d helped spread the word about how good they were.So, for three days, he was gone, and he knew with every passing day, he was running the risk of losing his woman.
Now, as they sat side by side drinking their hot chocolates, Caleb didn’t think it was the right time to tell her he wanted her to be his wife.He wanted them to have dozens of kids, to wear matching Christmas outfits and spend holidays together, growing old.
He was done with women.He was done with playing that life.He didn’t want it anymore, but he also knew he had to make this real.
“Here,” he said, pulling out his cell phone.Mae had said they didn’t need to talk if he didn’t want to.
The time for talking was over.He needed to act.He was good at making things work, and with Mae, it had to be a gesture.It had to be something she knew he was serious about.
“What?”Mae asked.
“I want to show you the photos of what I was up to while I was away.I told you I had this client, and I wasn’t kidding.”He took a sip of his hot chocolate and had a visual in his mind, of him sitting around the table with a bunch of kids, all of them blowing over the cups of their hot chocolate.The squirty cream was handed to each of them to add to their drinks.Each of them probably added more than they should, but they were all laughing and giggling.The very thought of it made him smile.
He pulled up the photos of the ink, along with the ones that were taken with his client.His client had insisted on introducing him to a couple of people.The man was a businessman and took his alcohol very seriously, and he had a lot of people who looked up to him.
He told Mae about every event, and that he had to check over the man’s ink, because he didn’t quite listen to the aftercare.
“That looked like a lot of fun,” Mae said.
“Yeah, it was.”
“Did you and Pete always want to settle here?”she asked.
“At Halloween Point?”Caleb asked.
She nodded.
“Pete did.I kept thinking about what we could achieve further afield, but with my dad sick and Pete not wanting to move, they both painted what we had, and I loved it.The truth is, growing up, I hated this fucking town.”
Mae laughed.“You did?”
“Yeah, I thought it was so lame.Honestly, I was sick and tired of seeing carved-out pumpkins and stuff.The people who were not locals constantly showing up, causing trouble.I hated it.It would drive me up the wall.I bet you loved it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did.Come on, it is so fun to live here.”
“Granted, I’ve grown to love the place.Honestly, I have, and business is booming, and it hasn’t hindered our growth.We’ve got clients all across the world who are willing to visit.This past week is rare, just so you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Being paid to go to a client.It’s only because he is loyal, and more often than not, he loves to come here.He happens to love Halloween.Clients were seeing the catch.They would come down, get some ink, bring their families, make a week of it.October is one of our busiest times, and that is not with the random drop-ins,” he said.“I didn’t leave because we’d left a few things unsaid, Mae.”
“I’m sorry,” Mae said.“I couldn’t believe the order when it arrived.Usually, they send me a couple of boxes at a time, and I’m able to get them into the back without a problem.This driver had not only delivered my own boxes, but had also delivered other shops’ boxes as well.He’d messed up, and when I called the supplier, they were not going to have anyone until the next day to come and deliver.They asked if I could keep them safe and secure until they stopped by.They did apologize, and I was not going to be difficult.The driver had even told me it was his first day, and that he was getting lost.”She shrugged.“I didn’t want to call you, but I had to get the boxes into my shop.”
