Road to Absolution (7 page)

A
FTER I PUT Maverick to bed, I sat for
quite a while on the sofa just staring off into space. I was still blindsided
by the events of the day and wasn’t entirely sure if I hadn’t dreamed it all. I
heard my phone peal from my purse and frowned. It was almost eleven, I couldn’t
imagine who would be calling me at this hour.

I didn’t reach
it in time, but it started ringing again, so I answered it without looking at
the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Fuck, Cass,
I’ve been worried sick. Are you home?”

“Oh, Carter.
Sorry. I totally forgot to text you.”

“Yeah, I know.”
He sighed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” I
smiled. “I
have
managed to get myself home all by myself for the last
seven years or so.”

“Well, open your
door. I want to see for myself.”

“Shut up.”

“Babe, open the
door, yeah?”

“You’re not
really here, are you?”

“I’m really
here, staring at apartment number seven-eighty-two.”

“I’m
seven-eighty-four.”

“You are not,”
he countered.

“No, you’re
right, I’m not.” I sighed and checked the peep hole, before pulling open the
door. “Hi,” I said, and hung up.

Carter grinned,
leaning down to kiss me as he pushed me back into my apartment and closed the
door. “Hey,” he said, between kisses, cupping my cheeks as he held me captive.
“God damn, you can kiss.”

I smiled against
his lips and broke our connection. “So can you. But what are you doing here?”

“I was worried
about you. I’ve called you sixty-two times.”

“What? You did
not.”

“Okay, no.
Three,” he admitted, and turned to lock the door. “But when you didn’t call me
after the last one, I headed up.”

“Carter, you
can’t stay. I’m sorry I worried you, but you can’t just show up when you want
to pound your chest and get all alpha male on me.” I was really glad I got the
words out, and I think they sounded legit. Of course, I didn’t mean any of
them. I was beyond flattered that he’d checked on me and I didn’t want him to
leave… ever.

“Yeah, I can,”
he said, and cocked his head. “Babe, you’re gonna have to get used to this. I
will do my best not to get possessive, but making sure you and Maverick are
okay isn’t negotiable.”

I slid my arms
around his waist and settled my cheek against his chest. “Okay.”

He chuckled and
gave me a gentle squeeze. “I thought that was gonna go a different way.”

“I have missed
you so much. Even if this doesn’t work out, I prayed for just one more day of
us time, so I’ll take whatever I can get.”

“Baby, it’s gonna
work out. I’m not going anywhere.”

I nodded against
his chest, drawing in his scent. There was something about the combination of
the cologne he’d worn forever mixed with leather. “Are you still wearing
Stetson?”

“Hmm-mm. You
still love it?”

“Hmm-mm,” I
mimicked. “It smells even better on you now.”

He’d worn the
fragrance for as long as I could remember, it had been a gift from an old
girlfriend, but we’d both agreed it suited him perfectly.

He kissed the
top of my head. “That’s good to know.”

“I have a
confession,” I breathed.

“Not sure I can
handle another one of those in my life, honey,” he joked.

I slapped his
arm and leaned back. “Jerk.”

He grinned.
“What’s your confession?”

“Huh-uh,” I
retorted, walking into the kitchen. “You lost your chance, buddy.”

Carter chuckled
as he followed me. “I have ways of making you talk. Have you forgotten?”

“Um, hello,
we’re not in the pond now, and I’m fully clothed. That was the last time I wore
a string bikini in your presence.”

“But you sang
like a canary in order to get the bra back.” He frowned. “I was kind of bummed
you did. I only took it because I wanted a gander at the girls.”

I gasped.
“Ohmigod, you did not.”

“I absolutely
did.” He grinned, leaning down to kiss me again.

I pushed his
face away. “I don’t even remember what the secret was.”

“Me neither,” he
admitted. “But I didn’t care, to be honest.”

“This is weird.
You get that right?”

“Weird, no.
Different, yes.” He gave me space and leaned against the counter. “Most people
would kill to start a romance with half the foundation we’ve built, Cass.”

“That
is
true,” I mused.

“Mom?” Maverick
called. “Mommy!”

I pushed away
from Carter and rushed to Maverick’s room. “Hey, baby, you okay?”

“I’m wet,” he
whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Aw, honey,
you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Remember? Sometimes this happens, it’s no
big deal.”

He threw his
arms around my neck and squeezed. “I love you, Mommy.”

“Mmm, I love you
too. Okay, kiddo, let’s get you cleaned up and we’ll change your bed. Uncle
Carter is here, so don’t worry if you hear voices.”

“’K,” he said,
and grabbed clean clothes before heading to the bathroom.

“Where are the
sheets, babe?” Carter asked from the doorway.

“In the hall.
Closet’s on the right.” I stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the corner.
He’d need a new mattress cover, so I leaned in the hall to tell Carter,
stopping myself as I watched him hunkered down eye-to-eye with Maverick.

“Mommy never
gets mad,” Maverick said.

“Do you think
she
should
get mad?”

He shrugged.

Carter laid a
hand on his shoulder. “You know, bud, there’s nothing to be ashamed about. It
happens.”

“Does it happen
to you?” Maverick asked.

I bit back a
smile as I watched the exchange.

“Not anymore,
but it did when I was your age.”

“Really?”

Carter nodded.
“Yeah, and my mom never got mad either. Because it’s no big deal.”

“Ethan says only
babies wet their pants.”

“Who’s Ethan?”

Ugh, Ethan. He
was a nasty little kid in Maverick’s daycare and he’s the first six-year-old
I’d ever wanted to cold cock into next year.

“He sits next to
me sometimes during snack. He was teasing Xavier because he didn’t make it to
the potty on time.” Maverick rubbed his eyes. “He made Xavier cry.”

“Well, that
wasn’t very nice of Ethan, huh? But you don’t need to worry about him, because
he sounds like a bully,” Carter said. “And you want to know a secret about
bullies?”

Maverick nodded,
his eyes wide in anticipation.

“Bullies are
just cowards.”

“What’s a
coward?”

“A coward is
someone who is scared, which I have no problem with, but a bully is someone who
won’t admit he’s scared and, instead of asking for help, he’s mean so he can
look strong.”

Maverick’s head
bobbed up and down. “Oh, yeah, he’s really mean sometimes.”

“He is?”
Carter’s voice dropped low and I felt his anger pour off of him.

“Hmm-mmm, he
pulls girls’ hair and sometimes hits them.”

“And do you pull
girls’ hair or hit them?”

Maverick gasped.
“No! I wouldn’t do that. Girls are pretty.”

I grinned. Score
one for Cassidy’s parental powers.

“They are
pretty,” Carter agreed.

Maverick lowered
his voice. “And sometimes, Katie lets me kiss her by the bathroom.”

There just went
my point. Damn it.

Carter chuckled.
“Well, I think it would be a good rule to just plan on never hitting a girl
even if she isn’t pretty, and maybe it would also be a good rule to wait until
you’re older to kiss a girl.”

“How come?”

“Because when
you grow up to be a man, you have a responsibility to protect a woman, but more
importantly, you need to respect a woman instead of just trying to kiss her.”

“Are you going
to protect my mom?”

“Absolutely,”
Carter said.

Maverick’s grin
grew and he threw his arms around Carter’s neck. “I’ll help.”

Carter chuckled
and hugged him. “I’d appreciate that, buddy.”

I had to back
into Mav’s room again and force back tears. Ohmigod, was there anything more
precious? The answer was no and I’d spent six years missing out on it.

“Cass?” Carter
walked into Maverick’s room with fresh sheets. “Hey? You okay?”

“Hmm-mm,” I
said, brightly, refusing to look at him.

I felt his front
hit my back and his arm slid around my waist. “Hey,” he whispered. “What’s
wrong?”

“Nothing,” I
rasped. “I need to get these sheets in the washer.”

He let me go and
I pulled myself together as I did busy work. By the time the bed was changed
and Maverick was tucked back in, I felt a little closer to myself again.

Carter followed
me into the living room and pulled me down onto the sofa next to him. “Spill.”

“What?” I played
dumb.

He wrapped an
arm around my shoulders and pulled me against his chest. “Babe, why were you
crying?”

“Because it’s
apparently my day.”

“Cassidy.” He
chuckled, kissing my temple. “Tell me the real reason.”

“I was just hit
by how much we’ve missed.” I snuggled closer. “He doesn’t spend as much time
with strong men for obvious reasons, well, other than my dad, of course, so
having you say those things held weight. It doesn’t matter how many times I
tell him I will never get mad, he worries.”

“Does he do that
a lot?”

“No, but he does
a couple times a year. Doctor says it’s normal.”

“Yeah, baby, it
is. Were you worried it wasn’t?”

I looked up at
him and grimaced. “A little bit.”

Carter smiled.
“I’m gonna tell you something and you have to promise never to repeat it.”

“I promise.”

“Aidan wet the
bed until he was ten.”

I sat up.
“Seriously?”

Carter nodded.
“He just had a small bladder so it was harder for him to make it to the head,
but then it seemed to fix itself. I shared a room with him, so Mom told me if I
ever teased him or told the other boys, she’d scalp me.”

“Ohmigod, she
totally would.”

He grinned.
“Which is why I never said a word.”

I snuggled back
against him. “You’re also a nice guy, Carter, so that could be part of the
reason.”

“That’s not for
public knowledge.”

“I’ll take it to
my grave,” I promised.

“’Preciate it,
baby.” He kissed my temple. “You really don’t date?”

“I really don’t.
The club get-together was my first… um… what would you call it? Attempt to see
if I could find someone, maybe?”

“Yeah, well, you
found someone.”

I giggled. “Yes,
I guess I did, huh?”

“You gonna let
me stay?”

I sighed,
dropping my head back to look at him. “I don’t know.”

“I’m stayin’.”

I rolled my
eyes. “What was the point of asking me if you’ve made up your mind?”

“Gotta give you
some semblance of control, babe.”

“You’re an
idiot.”

He pushed me
onto my back and stretched out on top of me. “An idiot who’s going to make you
want to scream.” His mouth went to my neck and I couldn’t help but crane it to
give him better access.

“No screaming,”
I whispered. “I don’t scream, but even if I did, I think we should wait a bit
for this.”

“You’ll scream
with me.”

“Highly
doubtful.”