Convincing Cara (Wishing Well, Texas Book 2) (16 page)

There was no way that my friend was going to find out about my feelings for her brother because I had to tell her that I was pretty sure he’d offered to be the gardener in my deflowering.

“So, spill!” Harmony encouraged.

“Yes! Spill, spill, spill!” Destiny chanted.

Ummm…

I really didn’t want to lie to two of the most important people in my life, but I couldn’t tell them the truth. So I settled for somewhere in the middle. At least, that’s what I was telling myself.

“I might see him again tonight. If things go well, I’ll let you know.”

“You are?” Destiny clapped her hands. “That’s great!”

“I knew when you didn’t call last night that I’d lost the bet.” Harmony smiled.

“What about you? You saw Dr. Hottie last night, right?” My questions were two-fold. I was genuinely interested
and
I wanted to shift the conversation away from me.

Harmony’s head fell back as she let out a groan. When she lifted it, she sighed. “Yes. I saw him. Things were going good. We had a romantic dinner. Some wine. We were slow-dancing to Otis Redding, barefoot, bathed in candlelight in the middle of his living room and then…
bzzzzzz
. His beeper went off and he was out the door. I spent the evening snuggled on the couch with Romeo, binge-watching
Game of Thrones
.”

“Romeo?” Destiny and I repeated.

Harmony pulled her phone out, swiped the screen, then turned it towards us. “Dr. Hottie’s black lab.”

“Awww,” Destiny and I chorused.

“I’ve been spending more time with Romeo than with Tim.”

“His name’s Tim?” Destiny and I again spoke at exactly the same time. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.

We’d been doing the talking-at-the-same-time thing since elementary school. In different combinations, of course. Sometimes, it would be Harmony and Destiny; sometimes, it was me and Harmony; and sometimes, like now, it was Destiny and me. When we’d have sleepovers at Destiny’s house, Grandma Dixie used to tease us and tell us that we all shared one brain.

As our giggling died down, Destiny shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t know his name before now.”

“Me too!” That’s exactly what I’d been thinking. Maybe Grandma Dixie had been on to something.

“Yeah, that’s weird,” Harmony agreed before shrugging. “I guess everybody’s kind of been dealing with their own stuff, huh?”

“You could definitely say that.” Destiny smiled from ear to ear as she looked at the ring on the hand she had resting on her barely there baby bump.

If someone would have told me a year ago that one of my best friends would be seeing a guy for over a month and I wouldn’t have known his name or that I would be keeping the fact that the man of my dreams had instructed me to show up at his office at six sharp, wearing my lucky panties, I would have told them that they were crazy.

But here we were.

“Speaking of a lot going on, we have paint colors to pick out.” Harmony started rummaging through the samples and asking Destiny what feeling she wanted people to have when they came into her shop.

As they discussed the preferred vibe of Sugar Rush, I tried to decide what I should do about that evening. I hadn’t slept a wink last night. All I’d done was dissect every second of Trace’s and my potentially life-altering exchange.

Of course, what he’d said, but also just how he’d looked.

Visions of a shirtless Trace had bombarded my brain. His black drawstring sweats hanging on his hips, low enough that I was almost positive he was going commando. When Trace was a kid, he’d been the absolute cutest. His big, light-brown eyes and his smile, which took up half of his face, were irresistible. As a teen, he’d grown tall, and thanks to baseball, football, and his work on the farm, he’d been lean and athletic. But what I’d seen and felt up close and personal last night was more than just being in “good shape.” Sometime over the last five years, he’d grown into a full-fledged man. His body had transformed into a large, muscular, dominant, perfect specimen.

I was equal parts turned on and terrified of that.

I’d never been naked in front of anyone other than medical personnel. It wasn’t like I was embarrassed about my body. It was fine. But, let’s call it as it was, Trace was a walking Calvin Klein underwear ad. Then there were the girls he’d dated. Most of which had a good cup size, or two, on me, and none of which had a port scar.

From the second Trace had left me panting like a dog in heat in my brother’s kitchen, I’d been borderline schizophrenic about whether or not I was going to show up at his office. One minute, I was sure I was going to go. The next, I
knew
there was no way in a million years I could walk into that barn.

Every time I made my mind up, I would change it. As much as I wanted to feel Trace touch more than just my face and my neck, to show me how good it could be with someone who knew me, I was terrified at what would happen after—and even during.

What if we couldn’t be friends anymore? What if, once we started, he couldn’t go through with it? I’d read horror stories on cancer-support forums about women whose partners were no longer attracted to them after their treatment. And those were people who had already been in love and together.

“Hello, Cara? Are you in there?” Harmony waved her hand in front of my face.

“Oh, sorry.” I blinked as I snapped back to the present and out of my head.

“Whoa!” She leaned back in her stool. “You are
really
nervous about tonight, aren’t you?”

You have no idea.

“Aww. You must really like this guy,” Destiny enthused.

Again, you have no idea.

There was no point in trying to deny how I felt though.

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”

“You have nothing to worry about.” Harmony dove right into management mode. “Okay, where are you meeting him?”

“His office.” It felt so strange leading them to believe that I was talking about Derek. But this whole situation was a little, or a lot, strange.

“And what are you gonna wear?” Destiny asked.

My lucky panties.
“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly.

My friends immediately started debating what I should wear. Harmony was maintaining that I should show up in a trench coat, heels, and nothing else. Destiny was insisting on actual clothes, her argument being that this was my first time. And that this was real life, not porn.

That observation sent Harmony on a rant about women being objectified, and I took the short reprieve of not having the spotlight on me to think about what I was going to wear
if
I decided to go. And that was a big
if.

Whatever I decided was secondary to one very important garment I’d washed this morning.

Just in case.

Trace

“A watched pot never boils.”

~ Dolly Briggs

I
looked at
the clock.
Again
. It now read five fifty-two. A full three minutes had passed since the last time I’d checked.

Over the past couple of weeks, when Cara had been out on dates with other guys, I’d thought the time had dragged on, and on, and on. But that had been like light speed compared to today. This had officially been the longest day in my life. I’d heard people say that a day had felt like a week or a year, but I’d always thought they were just being dramatic. Now, I knew the truth: They weren’t.

I’d been so tempted to text, call, or show up at Cara’s door. But I hadn’t. Last night, I’d left the ball squarely in her court. If something was going to happen between us, she had to be the one to make this move.

Cara needed to be in control. Whether it was because she’d had so little control over her body when she’d been sick or it was just her personality, I wasn’t sure, since she’d gotten diagnosed at such a young age, while her personality was still being formed. But, if I tried to persuade, coax, or even encourage her, she would most likely shut down.

Space. That was what I needed to give her. She needed to be the one to walk through that door on her own. Once that happened, then I would know what she wanted, and who was going to be in control would most definitely be up for debate. Because, in the bedroom, I had a tendency to lean towards the more domineering side.

My phone dinged, alerting me that I had an incoming text and my entire body tensed up. Fear trickled through my chest, and I hesitated before checking my phone. Part of my brain was sure Cara was letting me know that she wasn’t going to show up. But, if that was her choice, then that was her choice.

When I saw that the message was from Lizzy, I blew out a breath of relief.

Lizzy:
Whatcha doing tonight? Wanna hang?

I debated briefly what I should text her back. If I said that I was tired, she would offer to come over to “Netflix and Chill.” If I said that I had to work, she would offer to bring me dinner. If I said that I wasn’t feeling well, she’d show up on my doorstep with chicken soup.

Those weren’t guesses; this was based on her track record. The girl did not take subtle well.

Instead of trying to come up with some elaborate excuse, I just typed back that I had plans tonight. After setting my phone back down on my desk, I leaned back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling as I ran my hands through my hair.

I’d never been a particularly patient or passive man. If I wanted something, I went after it. I was proactive. I made plans and took action.

Which was one of the reasons I knew,
knew,
beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I felt for Cara was real. It wasn’t puppy love or infatuation. For as long as I’d known I’d had feelings for her, I hadn’t been able to do anything about it. Loving her had been one giant test in
patience
, and now that the finish line—or starting line, depending on how you looked at it—was in view, I had just about run out.

The knock that sounded on my door set off fireworks of excitement exploding inside my chest. She’d shown up. A full-fledged grin was pasted on my face as my gaze traveled to the doorway.

When I saw who was there, though, it fell.

“What
plans
do you have tonight?” Travis asked as he walked in and sat in the chair across from my desk.

“What?” I was so distracted by my disappointment I wasn’t following what in the hell my brother was talking about.

He couldn’t have known about me and Cara. In fact, he wasn’t even supposed to be at the ranch. That was the only reason I’d told her to meet me in my office. Well, that and I’d had a lot of fantasies of things I wanted to do to her in there.

“Weren’t you supposed to be out at Mom and Dad’s today?” I asked.

“Yeah. I was on my way to the bar when Lizzy texted Jaynie and said that you had
plans
. She wanted us all to hang out.”

“Sorry, bro. I am off wingman duty tonight.”

Travis didn’t give a shit about what I was actually doing. He just wanted to see Jaynie, and if she was busy babysitting Lizzy, he would have his work cut out for him.

“Come on, T.” Travis leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If you’re not there, Lizzy is going to spend the whole night talking about you. Asking me where you are. If you’re seeing someone else. If you like her. If you ever ask about her. It’ll be fucking brutal.”

“Look, it’s not my fault that the girls, the girls, they love me.” I winked at him.

“Okay, take it easy, Heavy D.” He held his hand up. “
One
girl
likes
you, and all I need you to do is keep her occupied so she’s not obsessing over you.”

I shook my head, glancing at the time. It was now five after six.

She’s not coming
.

I tried to hide my reaction even as the tide of disappointment pulled me under. “Can’t.”

Even if Cara really wasn’t coming, there was no way I wanted to hang with Lizzy.

I was done with placeholders and runners-up. If Cara really didn’t want anything to do with me romantically, I was taking a hiatus from the opposite sex. I was so tired of pretending to be interested in other girls. And, it wasn’t fair to them. They were all wasting their time with me. I wasn’t available. I hadn’t been since I was nine years old.

Not that I was going to give up on Cara so easily. This had been Plan A, because I’d thought it was the one she would have been most receptive to, considering that it was her idea. Well, the losing-her-virginity thing was her idea. The losing-it-to-me part had been my suggestion.

My plan had been to show her how good I could make her feel. To show her exactly how much she meant to me, on her terms. That way, she could get used to the idea of
us
. There was no question in my mind that, once I touched her, kissed her, made love to her, she would be mine. That she would realize we belonged together.

But, if that avenue was off the table, then I’d just have to do things the old-fashioned way. Plan B would consist of asking her out and telling her how I felt until I wore her down or she got a restraining order.

I was kidding about the restraining order.

Sort of.

“What could possibly be so important that you’d leave your favorite brother hanging?” Travis asked just as Cara appeared in the doorway.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were busy,” she said as she began backing up.

I stood up and started around my desk. “We’re not. Don’t go.”

She looked like a scared animal as her gaze darted between my brother and me, and if I handled this the wrong way, nothing would happen between us. The bright-pink stain on her cheeks and the fear in her ocean-blue eyes broadcasted in high definition that she was embarrassed.

Time to take the attention off her.

“Travis was just begging me to go out with him, because that’s the only way he can get a date.” I nodded towards my brother, who answered my comment with a one-fingered salute. “It’s sad really. He was just leaving.”

“No, no, that’s okay!” She held her hands up. “I just wanted to come and see…see if you got Colton’s e-mail about the um…the…delivery.”

Wow. She really was a bad liar.