“Um…Caden?” She wondered if she’d crossed a line.
He cleared his throat. “Hold on. I’m trying to get an image out of my mind.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, and after they made a plan to get together later in the evening, she drove toward her next appointment revved up in more ways than one.
CADEN WAS GETTING ready to go see Bella when Evan threw the front door open and slammed it shut. He was already tired of this teenage attitude.
“Hey.” Caden shot him a look.
Evan stalked into his room and slammed that door, too. Caden had had just about enough of this behavior, regardless of if it was typical or not. He knocked on Evan’s door, and when Evan didn’t answer, he walked into the room. Evan stood at the window with his back to Caden.
“What’s going on, Evan?”
Evan slid his hands in his pockets and rounded his shoulders forward.
“Ev?” When Evan didn’t acknowledge him, he took a step closer and forced himself to tether his anger. “Evan, look at me when I’m speaking to you.” Caden didn’t like having to pull the parental look-at-me card, but he liked being ignored even less.
Evan turned with his neck bowed, eyes trained on the floor.
“What’s going on that’s got you slamming doors?” Life was so much easier when Evan’s biggest issue was fighting over a toy car in a sandbox or wanting a new cell phone. This world of him having a life that felt separate—and far too secretive—from Caden was bull.
It’s normal teenage bull, he reminded himself.
I hate this.
Evan shrugged.
“Look at me.” Evan lifted his eyes, and Caden hated the feeling of what he did next—looked for bloodshot eyes and heavy lids. He was relieved that Evan’s eyes were clear, even if brooding and angry.
“I know you’re going through a lot right now, but I won’t have you slamming doors and ignoring me. If you want to talk, I’m here. If you want to keep it to yourself, that’s fine, too, but I won’t be ignored when I ask you a question. Got it?”
“Whatever.” Evan sat in front of his computer.
Caden blew out a frustrated breath and paced the small bedroom. “No. Not whatever, Evan. That’s not even an option as an answer.”
“Fine. I’ve got it.” He clicked something on his monitor, and a PC game emblem filled his screen.
“Ev.” Do you want to talk? He knew him well enough to know he didn’t, but leaving the room without talking felt wrong. Too wrong.
Evan looked up at him and opened his mouth as if he were going to say something; then he turned back to his computer.
Aw, hell.
“I’m right here if you want to talk.”
Evan pushed back from the computer and fidgeted with the edge of the chair.
Caden sat down on Evan’s bed and waited.
“Can we take a trip back to Boston soon?” Evan asked.
“Absolutely. Want to see your friends?” Stupid question. Of course he did, just as Caden wanted to see his parents.
Evan nodded.
“We’ll plan a trip, but, buddy, is something going on with your friends here? You never used to come home angry after hanging out with friends.”
Evan shifted his eyes away. “The kids here aren’t my friends, Dad. They’re just kids to hang with, talk to. You know. But they’re not my friends. They don’t even like the same things I do. It doesn’t matter. I’m not hanging out with them anymore. They suck.”
Caden felt a little guilty for being relieved, and that guilt merged with the realization that this was his fault for moving them out of Boston.
“That stinks. I’m sorry, Ev. Hopefully, when you start school, you’ll meet kids who are interested in the same things you are.”
“Whatever.” He turned back to his computer.
Caden rose to his feet. “It’s not whatever to me. It’s important to me that you’re happy, and I’m sorry we moved, but I still think it was the right thing to do.”
“Because of Bella or because of the job?”
The question hit him like a punch to the solar plexus, but it was the innuendo behind it that pissed him off.
“I’d never jeopardize your well-being or your happiness for anyone, Evan. Not even Bella.” He strode out of the room, then hesitated, as the words hit a little too close to home. He drew in a deep breath to calm his anger and turned back to his son.
“Listen, buddy, I can stay in tonight if you want to hang out.”
“No thanks.” He didn’t miss a beat in his game.
Caden stood in the doorway, mired in guilt and struggling with indecision. He knew that staying home wouldn’t help. Evan would be chained to his computer for the next few hours regardless of where Caden was. He wrestled with the message he’d be sending by leaving. Would Evan think he was less important than Bella? Or was Evan using Bella as a manipulation to derail Caden from whatever was behind his bad mood?
Caden studied him, fully engrossed in a PC game, and decided this was probably a case of the latter. “I’ll see you later, buddy. Call if you need me.”
He pulled up to Bella’s ten minutes later, and when she answered the door with smiling eyes and open arms, he breathed her in. The guilt and anger that felt like a companion only moments ago dissipated with Bella’s warm embrace.
“I really missed you,” he whispered.
“I missed you, too.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, and when their lips met, the lingering guilt was swept away. How could he feel guilty about being with someone who meant so much to him?
“I bought a bottle of sangria. Would you like a glass?”
“I don’t want to move from holding you in my arms.” He kissed her again, deep and slow. He wanted nothing more than to disappear into her, but he also wanted to talk to her about Evan. He forced himself to draw his lips away. “Sangria. Sure.”
He followed her inside. She reached up to retrieve wineglasses from the top shelf of the cabinet, and the sundress she had on lifted, flashing the sweet curve of her rear. He couldn’t keep himself from circling her waist from behind and nibbling on her neck.
“You look delicious in that outfit.”
She leaned against him, tilting her head to the side, giving him better access to her neck. He kissed his way up to her earlobe, then laved it with his tongue.
“Caden,” she whispered, then turned around.
He sealed his lips over hers. His arms slid to her lower back, and he pressed his hips to hers.
She smiled against his lips. “Is it bad that I want to make love to you every time we’re together?”
He touched his forehead to hers. “Are you kidding? I was thinking the same thing.” He inhaled deeply.
“We should talk, right?” She bit her lower lip and wrinkled her brow.