He immediately pulled me into his arms.
“Evie, don’t cry. You’re not going to lose me. I swear it. I promise that I’ll always be your brother. No matter how much you piss me off. All I’ve ever wanted is to protect you. I’m sorry if I went about it the wrong way. You’re always going to be my little sister. As livid as I am at both of you, I’m going to try to accept it. You’re right. You’re entitled to your own happiness, and I’m sorry that I interfered with that. I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to be the big brother you deserved.”
I pulled away. “I appreciate that. Thank you.”
“Do you love him?”
“I’ve never stopped loving him.”
He sighed deeply. “I meant what I said—if he hurts you again, he’ll have to answer to me.”
“Does that mean you’re not going to fire him?”
“Is that what you think I would have done had you told me this back then?”
I nodded. “Maybe.”
“From the moment I met you in Dad’s office, I promised myself I’d take care of you, but I guess I never realized you could take care of yourself. That you’d been taking care of yourself for a long time before I came along.” He lovingly smiled. “I’ll always be here for you, Evie. Even when you don’t want me to be. I’m your big brother, and you’re fucking stuck with me.”
I chuckled, and he kissed my forehead.
“What about Caleb?”
“He’s still my agent. We’ll see what happens with our friendship.”
“If you can forgive me, Jax, then you can forgive him too. He’s your best friend. You’re the godfather to his children. Be mad all you want. You have every right to be, but you need to find it in your heart to forgive him. Please. Do it for me.”
Neither one of us said anything for what felt like forever.
Until he shared, “Speaking of kids, you’re going to have another niece or nephew.”
My hands flew to my mouth, trying to hold back more tears. “Sophie’s pregnant?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my God!” I jumped into his arms. “Congratulations!”
Caleb kept his distance from us for the rest of the evening. Jax and I talked a bit more before he left to fly back home. It was late by the time I began packing and heard a knock on my bedroom door.
“Come in.”
Caleb entered, closing the door behind him and then leaned against it.
“Wow. You actually knocked. Did that bruise on your cheek finally give you some manners?”
He grinned, arching an eyebrow. “Don’t get used to it.”
“How are you going to explain the bruise to your family?”
“I was thinking of telling them you beat me.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it.
“Jax left?”
“He did.”
“Everything alright between you two?”
“Yes. Thankfully.”
“Good.”
“You need to ice your cheek, Caleb. It’s going to look a lot worse in the morning. I feel horrible you got hit in the first place.”
“I’m fine.”
“There’s a bag of peas in the freezer. I can get it for you.”
“You want to take care of me?”
“Considering I’m the reason you’re hurt, I think I owe you that much.”
“At least he knows now.”
“What about the article? If it gets published, I’m going to lose my business. No one is going to want to work with—”
“I took care of it.” He made his way toward me.
“What do you mean? You paid them the money?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Caleb, that’s ten million dollars. Not to mention, extortion is illegal. They should be prosecuted, not rewarded.”
“Darlin’, I promised I’d always protect you.”
“Caleb—”
He silenced me with his mouth on mine, kissing me as if his life depended on it.
“I love you, Evie Monroe. I’d give up everything for you.”
For the first time in what felt like forever…
I believed him.
Chapter 29
Evie
We were on our way to Caleb’s parents’ house, and I made him stop at the flower shop to buy his mother a mixture of pink roses, my favorite.
“Stop fidgeting.”
“I can’t help it. I’m freaking out.”
Despite his mother wanting to send the chauffeur to pick us up from the private hangar, Caleb had an SUV waiting for us. He was adamant about having his own vehicle which didn’t surprise me. He was a control freak like that.
Ethan and Ariel were on their iPads. They were watching a movie with their headphones on, so we could speak naturally.
“What if they don’t like me?”
“I like you.” He winked at me. “A lot.”
“Caleb.” I playfully slapped his chest. “I’m serious. I’ve never met someone’s parents before.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. My dates never got that far. You would know, you ruined most of them.”
He smiled proudly. “They’re going to love you, darlin’.”
“Do they know about me?”
“They do.”
“Okay … and?”
“And what?”
“Oh, come on! I’m dying here. Don’t make me beg.”
He whispered, “But you know how much I love it when you’re on your knees for me.”
My eyes shifted to the kids. They weren’t paying us any mind.