NautiCal (Forever Wilde 8)

“Why didn’t you tell me my fiancé was cheating on me?” he cried.

Mia answered before I could. “This is good news. You don’t even want to marry him. Settle down. Also, don’t you remember what happened with your exes, Vic and then Zara? Hell, Worth even tried telling you when your dry cleaner was cheating you, and you didn’t listen.”

Lucas looked like he was truly hurt. “You seriously weren’t going to stop me from marrying a cheating asshole?”

“Would you have believed me if I’d told you Pres had slept with Cal?”

Lucas opened his mouth but then closed it again.

“Exactly,” I muttered.

“But wait,” Lucas said, shifting in his seat next to Mia. “What about you and Cal? Cal was cheating on you? Why?”

“No, we weren’t really dating. I just… I helped him out by letting him stay on the ship, and then… well, I guess we simply took advantage of being thrown together like that.”

“He’s a good guy, Worth,” Mia said softly, hugging her coffee close.

My chest pinched, remembering the terse response to my text. Thank you. That was all he’d said. Not that I’d expected more. Of course not. We’d only been temporary hookups. But still, my heart hadn’t seemed to have gotten that message.

“Agreed.” I stood up and set my coffee down on a nearby table. “On that note, I’ll get out of your hair. But first…” I locked eyes with Lucas. “I hope you know how proud I am of you. You could never, ever disappoint me. You’ve always been so strong, Luc. When Father wanted you to go to business school, you followed your dream instead. When your peers in vet school pressured you to take a high-profile placement, you chose to work for the charity instead. You’re a man of conviction and passion. I hope you don’t ever stop following your heart.”

Lucas put his hand in front of his mouth and aimed watery eyes at me. “You bastard,” he said.

Mia grinned. “Awww. Hug it out.”

I stepped over and hugged him hard before clearing my throat of residual emotion and bolting for the door. “Later!” I called over my shoulder.

They volleyed more questions after me about my future with Cal, but I ignored them and got the hell out of there. The last thing I needed was to explain to them something I didn’t fully understand myself, and I was full up enough with emotion as it was to even think about the beautiful man in Texas.

Thankfully, the following day I was headed to California on business and would have plenty of work to keep me busy while my heart tried desperately to get used to the idea it wasn’t in a relationship with Calgary Wilde.

21

Cal

Sometimes my family’s love was aggressive and borderline painful, like a Swedish massage. Maybe all that pushing was meant to release the toxins, but in the meantime I just had to sit there and endure the pummeling.

Nico whispered to me, too low for anyone else to hear it under the arguments going on around us in the farmhouse kitchen about what was best for Cal. “Hypothetically, if four of your siblings were banding together to buy—”

“Absolutely not,” I snapped before facing everyone else from my spot in the corner of one of the sofas. “If any of you are thinking about trying to buy the sailing school from Brian, kindly fuck off. Even if he planned on selling—which he isn’t—I don’t want your damned handouts.”

Everyone stopped talking and faced me, except for Grandpa, who was flipping pancakes, and Stevie, who was searching thoroughly for something deep in Chief Paige’s pocket. They’d showed up with Sassy, who’d apparently sold them on the idea of free breakfast.

“Texas needs another Christian camp like a hole in the head,” MJ muttered under her breath. “They’d have a better chance at distinguishing themselves if they made it a naturist resort.”

I almost choked on my coffee. “Don’t make me picture Brian and Sharon naked, MJ. It’s too early for that sh-stuff.”

“Are they even keeping the sailboats?” Saint asked peevishly. “Probably not. They probably think sailing is an abomination since there’s nothing in the Bible about Jesus and sailboats.”

“Wrong,” Stevie interjected. “Luke mentions Jesus sailing across a lake. And I know this because my mother used to mutter, ‘Even Jesus got to sail into the sunset once for fu…freak’s sake.’ So I looked it up.” He shot a glance at my nieces, one of whom was dead asleep on Neckie’s lap and the other who was too engrossed in an iPad to notice any four-letter words.

“At least they’re not fighting you on your cabin,” Augie said sweetly. “That was nice of Annie to make sure you got to keep a little piece of the camp for yourself.”

Saint huffed. “Nice, my ass. After everything he’s done for that place? One acre and a half-rotted—”