Smiling, she kissed him again. “Mine, too, but we don’t need the fuss of a big production.”
“Every girl dreams of the big production.”
“Not me. I only ever had one dream when it came to my wedding, and it’s already come true because I got the groom I always wanted. So yes to a small wedding at Christmas?”
“Yes to whatever you want. Anything at all.”
“I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted already. This’ll just make it official.”
“I’m all for making it official so you can’t get away from me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Charley was as tense as she could recall being in a very long time. Hearing what her poor, sweet dad had gone through with his father… It made her furious. And sad. She banged around the kitchen, getting out pots to make pasta and sauce, her go-to dinner when she hadn’t given a thought to what to make until it was time to eat.
Tyler was home all day, working from his office, and made dinner most of the time, but on days he got too busy, it fell to her to make something when she got home. It was a good thing that pasta was one of his favorite things to eat.
She continued to clatter around, taking her frustrations out on the pots and pans until he appeared in the kitchen, his brown hair standing on end, dark-framed glasses making him look sexy and smart, earbuds still in place and a perplexed look on his face.
“I could hear you over my meeting,” he said, removing the wireless buds, “and I had the volume turned up.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. We were done. Mostly.” He took a closer look at her. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything. Every single thing is wrong, and people suck.”
“You’re just finding that out now?”
“I’m just finding out that people in my own family suck.”
He was taken aback by that. “Your family is awesome. Who are you fighting with?”
“It’s part of the family you don’t know. Hell, I don’t know them because they cut my dad out of their lives when he decided to marry my mom and run her family’s business rather than theirs.”
“Whoa. And you just found this out?”
“We all did. He told us the story for the first time today.”
Leaning his hip against the counter, he gave her his full attention as usual. No one had ever seen her quite the way he did, which had annoyed the shit out of her before he showed her that being seen and loved by him was rather sublime once she stopped fighting it. “What brought this on?”
“His dying father, who’s apparently grown a conscience all of a sudden.”
“How so?”
“He asked to see him—and he’s going. We’re going. Tomorrow. All of us.”
Tyler processed that news in his usual thoughtful way. “That’s good. He shouldn’t have any regrets.”
“What regrets would he have when he was the one banished by his own family?”
“Your dad is one of the kindest, most decent people I’ve ever met. If his father asked him to come and he didn’t, he would regret that.”
“It’s preposterous to me that he’s been put in this position after four decades of complete silence from them.”
“Yes, I can tell you’re upset by the clattering.”
“It’s infuriating!”
Tyler took a step forward and put his arms around her, even though she didn’t want him to.
She wanted to continue to rant and rage and clatter the pans, which strangely made her feel better.
“Take it easy, sweetheart. Your blood pressure has to be through the roof.”
“I hate mean people, and finding out I’m related to one…”
“I know,” he said, rubbing soothing circles on her back that made her want to purr.
How did he do that? How did he take her from the red zone to purring in a matter of seconds? It was his superpower, because no one else in the history of Charley Abbott had ever been able to do what he could. She knew her brothers referred to him, behind her back, as the Charley Tamer, which would piss her off if it weren’t so true.
“Not sure how you do that.”
“Do what?” he asked.
“Make me forget why I was in a rage ten seconds ago.”
His low rumble of laughter made her smile. “All I did was hug you.”
“Apparently, that’s all it takes to tame me—and yes, I know my brothers call you the Charley Tamer.”
“I’ve never heard that.”
She looked up at him. “Don’t ruin your very high approval ratings by lying to my face. You do too know about that.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny knowledge of said nickname out of fear of losing my magic taming powers.”
“It would take a lot for you to lose your powers.”
“If I ever do, you’d let me know, right?”
“I think you’d already know. From what I’ve been told by those closest to me, I’m a bit ‘unruly’ when I’m not being tamed by you.”
“Don’t let anyone tell you you’re anything other than perfect.”
She snorted with laughter. “My siblings have been pointing out my faults since the day I was born.”
“That’s because they don’t get that your faults are part of what make you perfect.”
“Said the man who’s sleeping with me.”
“Mmmm, and I know just how perfect you really are,” he said, nuzzling her neck right as the water on the stove began to boil.
They broke apart, laughing.
Charley turned down the heat under the pot and looked up at him. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Whatever it is you do to keep me sane. It’s really a gift to me.”
He brought her back into his arms, running his hands over her back and down to cup her ass. “You’re a gift to me, every delightful inch of you, even when you’re in a rage.”
Charley closed her eyes and allowed herself to wallow in the comfort only he could provide.
“How long am I going to have to live without you?” he asked.
“Two days and one night.”
“That’s a really long time. I’d better make sure I inject you with a good dose of my special Charley-Taming Elixir tonight so you’re fully declawed before you spend all those hours with your siblings.”
She shook with silent laughter. “That’s probably a good idea.”
Under normal circumstances, yoga was Wade’s answer to anything stressful or upsetting, especially when his wife, Mia, was in Boston visiting her dad. Tonight, yoga wasn’t doing it for him. He wished Mia was home so he could vent to her about the many ways his afternoon had been seriously fucked up.
Instead, he went through the motions while his mind raced and his heart ached for his poor dad. No amount of stretching or breathing was going to help him find his Zen tonight. He gave up after half an hour and was coming out of the shower when the house phone rang.
Hoping it was Mia calling, he ran for the extension in the bedroom and picked it up right before the call would’ve gone to voicemail.