Show Me How to Love (Caldwell Family Book 1) (19 page)

“There’s a lot to be said for a woman with something to hold on to.”

What had to be a silly grin popped up on her face. She turned to keep walking otherwise she’d spend the rest of the morning grinning at him.

“So how was work?”

She glanced over and caught his grimace.

“Work…was work.” He said in a dismissive way. “How did it go with your dad yesterday?”

She guessed she didn’t need to know about what happened at his job. It irked her a little bit that he didn’t want to confide. But they were at the start of their relationship and she wouldn’t push.

“It was fine. He had to help my uncle work on his truck. We spent the day over there. I occupied myself by handing the two of them wrenches until I got bored and went inside to make a cake.”

He gently swung their entwined hands between them. “You occupy your time by baking cakes?”

“No, for some reason we started talking about cakes which made each of us hungry. So I volunteered. It was either that or roll up my sleeves and help install a new starter.”

He stopped again. “You are full of surprises.”

She waited for the frown, or for him to hold up her hand and look for grease under her nails. Something the boy she’d had a crush on in high school had done when she’d worked up the nerve to ask him to prom. To this day, she didn’t know what made her so foolish. Probably some teenage movie about the underdog winning the cool kid’s love.

Andre grinned at her, but old fears were hard to disappear. She held up her chin. “I’m not the grease monkey I used to be. I don’t get under cars anymore, and I’m far enough away that my dad can’t drag me out of the house to go hunting at four a.m.”

“I don’t think I’d mind seeing you in overalls, with grease on your face. You’d probably look sexy.”

She grinned and rolled her eyes. “You must be the only guy to think that.”

“If I’m the only guy to realize how great you are then I consider that a compliment.”

Brenden had liked her, but he’d never seemed delighted to learn about all of the things she could do. Never seemed to view her as a fascinating gift to unwrap. Andre seemed excited about every new thing he learned about her. Would he stop once when he realized there wasn’t anything fancy to discover?

“Where did you learn to be so charming?”

He grinned, tugged on her arm so they could keep walking. “Definitely not from my father.”

They strolled further down the trail and talked about everything and nothing at the same time. One of those fun first date talks that created giddy feelings about the future. A relaxed, easy, two-sided conversation. She’d spent so much of her time with Ryan, and to a certain extent Brenden, listening to them. What was going on in their heads, what bothered them, and their dreams. Andre kept his undivided attention on her. Even when beautiful women jogged by and tried to catch his eye.

They turned to walk back up the Riverwalk and stopped at the brick amphitheater to eat the lunch she’d packed.

“Mikayla,” a voice called out from the top of the amphitheater.

She turned and faced a dark skinned woman the same age as her holding hands with a tall, handsome guy.

Mikayla grinned. “Oh my, God, Caroline!”

The women embraced. When Mikayla pulled back, Caroline gave her the same once over that Renee usually did. Caroline was one of Renee’s childhood friends who now lived in New York. She’d come down to visit several times while Renee orchestrated Mikayla’s makeover. Though not as close to her as Renee, Mikayla considered Caroline, a friend.

“I thought that was you,” Caroline said.

“It’s me. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for a conference that starts tomorrow. I already called Renee and planned to give you a call. We’re getting together this afternoon at Rowdy’s over in The Village of Sandhills. They have karaoke. Come on by. We’re meeting at five.”

Mikayla glanced at Andre, who sat back and watched the two of them. “I’ll see if I can make it.”

Caroline turned to Andre. “Mmm, I guess I can see why you might not make it. Hello, handsome.” Caroline extended a slender manicured hand.

Andre gripped her hand and gave Caroline one of his charming smiles. “Andre, nice to meet you.”

“Oh, the pleasure is all mine.”

Mikayla shot a wary glance at Caroline’s male friend. He shrugged and smiled. “I knew Caroline was a flirt when I met her.” He held out a hand. “I’m Jeremy.”

“Now that we’ve done all the introductions,” Caroline said. “I insist that you come this afternoon. I must know more about you and this man.”

Andre laughed. Mikayla’s face burned. “There’s nothing to tell, Caroline.”

“Then you need to come so that I can tell you what to do with him.” Carline crossed her arms and studied Andre.

“She knows what to do with me,” Andre said.

“Ahh! That voice!” Caroline turned and grabbed Mikayla’s arm. “I bet you do know what to do with him. Girl, the pillow talk must be amazing.”

“That’s enough, Caroline,” Jeremy said with a raised brow. He reached over and pulled her to his side. “I love you, but my limit is reached. Come on, let’s leave them to their lunch.” He waved at her and Andre. “It was nice meeting you.”

Mikayla laughed. “Yeah, you too.”

Caroline allowed Jeremy to pull her back up the amphitheater. “Don’t forget, five at Rowdy’s see you there. If I don’t. I know what you’re doing!” She sang the last words, her delighted giggle trailing behind.

Mikayla shook her head and sat down beside Andre. Too embarrassed to look at him, she focused on eating her sandwich.

“Are we going?” Andre asked.

“No…of course not. I know you don’t want to go.”

Andre leaned over and placed a hand on the back of her head. She turned to face him and nearly melted from the heat in his eye. “I think it’ll be fun. Besides, your face kind of lit up when she mentioned karaoke.”

She grinned. “That obvious, huh? It’s one of the things I love.”

He leaned over and kissed the side of her mouth. “Then we’re definitely going.”

And she officially stood one step from tumbling in love with this man.

*

Rowdy’s perfectly described the bar, loud music, not an empty seat at the large wooden tables, and laughter filled voices coming from every corner. Caroline squealed in excitement when Mikayla and Andre came through the door. She had three tables pulled together in the corner next to the stage. She introduced most of those at the table as people from her conference, a few Mikayla recognized as acquaintances of Renee’s.

“Is Renee here?” she yelled to Caroline over the music.

“Not yet, but she said she’s coming.” Caroline turned and wrapped her arm in Andre’s. “You are going to sing next. I’ve been imagining that voice singing Barry White since I met you.”

Before Mikayla could protest, Caroline pulled Andre toward the song selection set up near the stage. Andre shot a helpless look over his shoulder at Mikayla.

Mikayla bit her lip to keep from laughing. This will be interesting.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and smiled at Renee.

“Hey,” Mikayla said after they embraced.

“Okay, don’t get mad, but Ryan is here, too.” She pointed toward the door.

Mikayla frowned and glanced over Renee’s shoulder. Ryan stood at the front of the restaurant near the hall leading to the restrooms. He lifted his chin motioning for her to come over.

“Why is he here? What does he want?”

“He’s friends with Caroline. When he found out you were coming, he said he needed to talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t want to talk to him.”

“It’s about the Dalmtrix deal.”

Mikayla sighed, looked over her shoulder to where Andre and Caroline flipped through the book of songs. She had a few minutes to get rid of Ryan. With one last blistering glare at Renee, she hurried across the room toward Ryan.

“What do you want?”

“Don’t be like that, Mikayla,” Ryan said, ushering her down the hall and out of view. “I thought after the trip to Hartsville—”

“That was work. This is not.” She shuffled from foot to foot and glanced at the end of the hall. “You should go.”

He stood before her, forcing her to look into his face. “Not until I say what I came here to say.”

She threw up her hands. “Quit acting as if I owe you something.”

“You gave me a knee to the balls,” He said as if that meant she really did owe him something.

“Weeks ago, and now you want to bring that up? Why, because I won’t bend over backwards to be your friend?”

He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand. “The person caught in a closet having sex with someone else doesn’t deserve to be heard.”

He pushed her hand out of the way. “You were more embarrassed than hurt. Admit it. We both know we’re better as friends than lovers. Shit, Mikayla, you stayed up helping my cousin with her wedding favors instead of coming to bed with me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is that why you did it?”

“No, I did it because I love Angelica. I’m pointing out the fact that you’d rather spend time torturing yourself than sleeping with me. I knew that going in, but thought because we were friends we could make a good couple. It wasn’t meant to be. We both know that.” He pointed and took a step forward. “Stop pretending I meant more to you than I did.”

A patron came down the hall heading to the bathroom. He eyed both her and Ryan before giving a tight nod and smile. Mikayla lowered her gaze to the floor Ryan was right. She felt more anger than scorned love.

“I am hurt Ryan. I thought we were friends. You know how I feel about being embarrassed or made fun of. I told you what it was like growing up with that. You didn’t take my feelings into consideration. What you did was a betrayal…I can’t easily forgive betrayal of a friend.”

He shoved his hands into the pockets of designer jeans. Though dressed similarly to Andre in jeans and a sweater, he didn’t seem as relaxed as his cousin. Ryan always looked as if he were wound up and waiting for something to happen.

“I’ll take that. And hope one day you can forgive me.”

She closed her eyes, ran a hand across the back of her neck, sucking in a deep breath. When Mikayla opened her eyes and stared at Ryan, a glimpse of the friend, she used to have reflected in his sad dark eyes.

“What did you come here to say?”

His features hardened. “Senator Leventis is being blackmailed. Someone is trying to prevent Dalmtrix from moving to Hartsville.”

Her hands clenched into fists, and she took a step closer. “Who?”

“I don’t know, yet, but we’re going to find out.”

CHAPTER 22

“I’m really not a singer,” Andre said to Caroline. He’d never sung in front of people in his life. Never planned too. How in the world Caroline convinced him to make his stage debut boggled his mind. The things a man would do to make a woman smile. And the smile on Mikayla’s face was worth the ensuing embarrassment. He hoped.

“You don’t have to really sing. With that voice, you can just speak the words. And besides,” she leaned close and bumped her shoulder against his arm. “You keep your eyes on Mikayla, belt out Barry White, and you can bet you’ll end the night happily.”

He’d had a similar thought. Though he didn’t need Barry. The sexy looks, she’d thrown his way beneath thick curly lashes, were enough to boost his confidence. He stretched his fingers as anticipation tightened his skin.

Caroline searched through the book for a song, and he turned to find Mikayla at the table. Instead, he made eye contact with Renee. Her gaze darted away. He frowned. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. He scanned the crowd for Mikayla. She was nowhere to be seen. Andre looked back to Renee, caught her throwing glances toward the bathroom, then back at him.

“Here we go. The perfect song.” Caroline said.

Andre nodded but didn’t check to see what she chose. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

“We’ve got time. I’ll add your name to the list.”

He stalked toward the bathrooms. The short distance seemed to grow with each step across the wooden floors. Dread of finding Mikayla and Ryan together weighted his steps.

He froze at the entrance of the hall. Mikayla and Ryan stood close to each other in a corner. Ryan’s set jaw and fierce stare, as he gazed at Mikayla, bothered him more than singing before the crowd.

Jealously…and a touch of white hot anger, whipped within him. He rolled his suddenly stiff shoulders, but the angry tension clung like a leech. No way in hell would he let Ryan weasel his way back into Mikayla’s life. He didn’t give a damn about Ryan snatching Angelica. In the long run losing her improved his life, but he wouldn’t lose Mikayla.

He forced the tension from his shoulders and tried to appear relaxed as he walked down the hall. “Am I interrupting something?”

Mikayla spun his way, the remnants of anger in her brown eyes slowly slipped away as she watched him approach. His discomfort ratcheted up a notch. Had Ryan upset her? His cousin backed away from Mikayla, fists clenched at his side. Andre secretly hoped Ryan would try something. Ryan deserved to have a few teeth rearranged. Andre expected to be angry when he saw Ryan, but the discomfort of seeing Ryan standing close to Mikayla had him ready to give Ryan a bootleg tooth removal. One that involved his fist and lots of pain.

“Ryan had to tell me something,” she said.

Andre slipped his arms around her shoulders. Relief swept through his body when she leaned slightly into his side instead of pulling away.

“Has he said it?”

Her lips twisted and she frowned. “Yes.”

He glared at Ryan. “Now you can go.”

“I think I’ll go say hello to Caroline,” Ryan said easily.

Ryan moved to go around them, but Andre blocked his way. “What are you up to?”

Ryan rocked back on his heels, a smug smile on his face. “Threatened by having me here.”

“Keep talking and I’ll show you just how threatened I am.” Andre’s hand balled into a fist. “I’m not playing this game, Ryan. You did me a favor with Angelica. Leave Mikayla and I alone.”

“You and Mikayla? As if this isn’t just your way of trying to get back at me. I won’t let you hurt her.”