Taken Hard (The Hard Boys 2)

“You could tell her.”

“No. Not me. This has to come from you.”

“It’ll hurt her.”

“Will it, or will she realize all this time she had a father who actually gave a shit about her?”

Edward nodded. “I’ll talk to her soon.” He turned as if to leave, then stopped. “What are your intentions with her?”

Caleb smiled. “I love her. She doesn’t know that yet, but one day soon, I’d like to marry her.” He wasn’t about to ask this man for permission.

“I’d like to get to know her.”

“That’s on you. Not on me,” Caleb said. “I’m going to follow whatever Lilly wants to do. It’s all I can do.”

“You’re good to her. Thank you.”

Caleb watched the awkward man leave. That was the longest conversation he’d ever had with him. No wonder the man rarely left the bar or his home. He clearly had a problem with socializing.

He kept his cell phone on him in case Edward decided to go find Lilly. There was no way she was going to get through finding out who her father was alone.

For the next couple of hours, he got stuck changing the oil on two cars, changing the brakes on another, and writing up his assessment on two more.

He always had a lot of work to do. Cars were easy to deal with. They spoke to him. As he was filling in the last payment details for one of the vehicles he repaired, Rome entered his shop, tossing him a bag from the diner.

The scent of food assailed his senses, and he stopped what he was doing to eat.

“I need to talk to you,” Rome said.

“You only ever turn up when you want something. Why aren’t you seated behind your books and a computer?”

“Very funny. How do you get a woman to … you know?”

Caleb took a bite of his burrito and looked at his younger brother. The kid was the same size as all of them, tall and muscular, but he was shy, almost gentle. Where he, his dad, and James embraced the Hard name, Rome was softer.

“To have sex?”

“No, to want to go out with you. To maybe ask you out.”

“Rome, you’ve got to be the one to do the asking.”

His brother growled.

“What is this about? You’ve been pissy for a long time now. What gives?” He finished off his burrito and took a long gulp of the water. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he was.

“There’s a woman I want to ask out.”

“So ask her.”

Rome licked his lips and glanced past his shoulder. Caleb looked behind him, but no one was there. “What if there were … issues that could stop you from asking?”

“The only issue I see is if she’s underage, and if she is, fucking gross.”

“No. Ew, fuck, man. Look, I want to ask … someone out.”

Caleb rolled his eyes. Being underage wasn’t a thing. “Is this woman older than you?”

Rome’s face went bright red.

“For fuck’s sake, just ask the teacher out already. She’ll either say yes or no. What have you got to lose?”

“What if she thinks I’m a kid?”

“Look in the mirror, Rome. Other than your teenage attitude, you’re all man. Stop behaving like a baby and grow the fuck up. Thanks for the lunch.”

“Is that what you did? Ask?”

“Yeah, it’s what I did. Also, talk to Mom or Dad. They’ll give you some advice as well on how to handle everything.” He wouldn’t have gotten to where he was without them.

Their mother was patient. She wanted to see all her sons settled with a woman and be on the married path once and for all.

Caleb was close to being settled.

He saw a future with Lilly.

He hoped one day, she’d see a future with him.

Chapter Seven

Lilly stood inside the library checking out the latest books. Caleb hadn’t been impressed by her returning to work so soon. Other than a few aches, she didn’t feel any problems. She was more than fine to work. Of course, he knew best and was insistent on bossing her around.

She’d already called Edward and asked if she could start her shift. He wanted her to take more time to recover and didn’t want to see her again for some time. At least she still had a job. That was the main thing.

After scanning the latest batch of books, she loaded up the trolley and made her way over to the abundant bookshelves, humming a tune inside her head as she got to work.

Aunt Betty had called her that morning and asked if she would be returning home anytime soon. She promised her she would that night. There were no more clothes, and Caleb hadn’t asked her to move in, not that they were even at that point. Other than a few kisses and lots of dates and spending time together, nothing else had happened.

Nothing.

They hadn’t even touched.