Page 45 of Screwed
“Really. We had good nannies who I think really cared about us and taught us values. Well, there was that one girl who stole Mama’s narcotic painkillers after Mama had one of her, er, procedures.” She made a face, and Cash could guess what kind of “procedures” Audrey Sutherland had had. “Overall, we were lucky, but it’s just not the same. When you’re a kid, you want nothing more than your parents to pay attention to you and encourage you and…love you.”
Her lips dipped at the corners, and he wanted to kiss them and make them turn up.
“Shit,” he muttered. “They love you, Callie.”
Her smile was wistful. “Well. Maybe. Like I said, if we did what they wanted and lived our lives the way they expected, they loved us. But I tried so hard to be what they wanted, and it was never good enough for them. Finally when Beau and I were dating, I got a little approval. Then he asked me to marry him, and Mama was over the moon. I think that was the only time I ever did something that made them happy.”
A rock materialized in Cash’s gut. Sure. Beau was the one who’d made her parents happy.
But that was all bullshit. Marrying someone they approved of was the only thing Callie’d done that made them proud?Bullshit. Callie was a sweet, talented, and loving woman, and her parents should have seen that from the time she was born. And they should have been on her side when it came to the split with Beau. A burn rose inside him, remembering that Joshua Sutherland was still friends with Beau.
He slammed a hand down on the wooden table, making the glasses jump.
Callie started. “What?”
He bit back the growl that rose in his throat. “Nothing.”
She eyed him nervously. Fuck that. He’d never hurt her.
He ground his teeth, feeling helpless. The Sutherlands had been polite and accepting of him, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t the kind of guy they’d be ecstatic about being involved with their daughter. Especially since they were still unhappy about the divorce. Which was just one more reason he should stay the fuck away from Callie.
But that was easier said than done, because when it came to her, he was weak. Also foolish. Somehow he lost all his common sense when he was around her, as evidenced by their little kitchen-sex adventure last weekend. Goddammit.
“Well,” he said roughly, eyes on his beer, “I’m proud of you. Sounds like you’ve got things figured out. I think you can do it, darlin’.”
“Thank you.” Her voice was soft and warm. He risked a look at her face and found her eyes downcast, too. Fuck. They were both afraid to even look at each other. “That means a lot, Cash.”
He cleared his throat. “How about a game of pool? We haven’t played for a while, but I’m pretty sure I can still kick your butt.”
“Ha! Are you kidding me?” She slapped her hands on the table. “You’re going down, dude. Loser buys a round.”
He laughed and rose from his seat. He’d be buying all the drinks anyway. “Bring it.”
The only reason she won was because he kept thinking about the hurt in her voice when she’d talked about her parents. He’d never known all that, and it totally threw his concentration off as they played.
Here he’d thought she’d grown up the pampered, spoiled princess, and in a way she had, but he’d always assumed her parents had worshipped the ground she walked her designer heels over, because, hey, who wouldn’t?
He did.
He shook those thoughts away. Being with Callie was sweet torture, burning him up from the inside out, lusting after her, loving her, wanting her so bad and knowing he could never have her. He wasn’t sure why he kept tormenting himself by spending time with her, but being apart was even worse. The last week he’d obsessed about finally being inside her, and he was so ashamed and remorseful for how it had happened. She deserved much better than that.
She deserved everything.
“Take that!” She gave him a triumphant grin, stabbing her pool cue into the scarred wooden floor.
He shook his head, smiling ruefully. “Yeah, yeah, you won. Come on. Next round’s on me.”
They returned to the table and ordered another round, then Cash excused himself to use the restroom. When he returned, he frowned at seeing two men sitting with Callie, one of them in his seat, the other practically on top of her.
He paused beside his chair, folded his arms across his chest, and lifted his chin. “You’re in my seat, man.”
The guy glanced at him and shrugged. “Don’t get your shorts in a twist. Just having a word with this lovely lady.”
Callie pursed her lips and gave Cash a lift of her shoulders.
“I’m not drunk,” the guy said to Callie. “I’m just intoxicated by you.”
Cash’s blood ran hot.
