At some point during the short drive, Cal places his hand on my thigh. The weight of his palm comforts me, and before I have a chance to stop myself, I grasp his hand and interlock our fingers.
For the first time since Cal showed up, I’m not scared, angry, or irritated by his presence.
I’m grateful for it.
After we return from the grocery store, Cal goes out of his way to give me space. It’s as if he knows I might break down if he asks a single question about the bakery. He spares me a few glances throughout the night, but I focus on pouring my heart out through baking rather than talking to him about it.
I pull out my shiny new mixer while Cami drags him into a fake tea party with her Dreamland dolls. As much as I wish I could protect Cami from getting attached, I’m unable to pull her away from Cal. The connection they have is special. It might be a lost cause, but I’m hoping once he moves away again that he will be up for visiting Lake Wisteria solely for Cami’s sake.
And yours too.
The thought of Cal leaving makes my chest ache, so I push it away and get back to baking. Cal keeps Cami entertained the entire time I make his favorite dessert, as I promised when he bought the mixer.
He is an easy guy to please. His favorite sweet happens to be snickerdoodle cookies, although I haven’t figured out why. Out of all the things I can bake, this one seems so simple.
While working on rolling the dough in the cinnamon-sugar mix, I find myself getting lost in Cami and Cal’s pretend play. I even laugh a couple of times when Cal slips into a British accent to match the princess from England. For someone who despises Dreamland and everything Kane-related, he sure knows a lot about the characters. He can even sing the songs, which is both hot and oddly impressive.
“Only one or else you’ll spoil your appetite before dinner.” I give Cami a look as I drop off a plate of fresh cookies for the tea party.
Cal bats his lashes at me. “What about me?”
“What’s the point of saying anything? You always were a fan of having dessert before dinner anyway.”
“Only because you were on the menu.” He winks.
This man is the Devil.
He takes a bite of the cookie and lets out a mix of a groan and moan. It’s the hottest sound ever, and heat pools in my belly from it and the way his eyes shut. He was always the type to savor things.
Sweets. Drinks. Me.
The last thought triggers a memory of Cal tucked between my legs, his tongue and fingers working in tandem to make me come. My lower half throbs.
You need to get laid.
By what? A vibrator?
Huh. Now that’s an idea.
Although I won’t be able to make all my problems go away permanently, I wouldn’t mind trying to take some of the edge off tonight. At this point, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep the fantasy of Cal between my legs from becoming a reality.
I’ve always loved having dinner with Cami. It’s the one part of the day where we can sit down together and enjoy each other’s company, and I thought life couldn’t get any better than that.
At least I did until Cal joined us.
Having him spend time with us at dinner feels natural. Like we were always meant to be a trio, even if we spent six years apart.
I prolong the dinner for as long as possible, solely because I want to relish in Cami’s happiness and Cal’s attention for a little longer. Cami gives me a weird look when I offer snickerdoodles for a second time today, but she doesn’t call me out on the fact that I already let her have dessert before dinner.
“Can we watch a movie?” Cami asks as Cal chomps on his fifth cookie. Seriously. Where does he pack it all, and how do I get my body to do the same?
“Sure. I’d love to see a movie.” I don’t think twice before answering. Cami’s bedtime is in a couple of hours, so we have enough time.
She clasps her hands together. “And build a fort?”
“That sounds like a fun idea.” Cal’s eyes lock on to mine as his tongue darts out to lick the crumbs away from his mouth.
That freaking tease.
I’m tempted to take a bite out of his bottom lip just to make a point.
“Who said you were invited?” I shoot him a look.
“Me!” Cami raises her hand.
Cal grins. “It’s settled, then.”
Asshole.
The only reason I decide to go along with their plan is because Cal hasn’t had a single drink all night. I can tell he is trying, so I don’t want to squash his efforts.
“Fine,” I sigh before turning to Cami. “But you need to wash your hands and brush your teeth first.”
“Okay!” Cami bolts for the bathroom.
Cal grabs blankets and a few spare pillows from the linen closet while I turn on the massive TV Cal bought during one of his shopping sprees. I download the KidFlix app and log in using my credentials.
“What’s that?” Cal drops the blankets on the couch.
“KidFlix?”
“Yeah.” He drags a few of the chairs over from the dining area.
“A streaming service.”
“What about DreamStream?”
My head tilts. “What about it?”
He freezes in place. “You don’t like it?”
I bite down on my lip. “Umm…”
“What?”
“It’s not that I don’t like it.” DreamStream is a Kane Company baby, so I have to be careful how I phrase my opinion.
“Then what?”
I consider how to mince my words before settling on the truth. “It’s just that it’s not that good.”
His eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
“We liked it at first. Cami really loved having constant access to all the classic Dreamland shows and movies.”
“So you had a subscription?” He unfolds one of the blankets. I grab on to one of the sides and hold it out while he ties the end to the back of one of the chairs.
“Yeah. For about a year or so.”
“Why did you cancel it?”
“A couple of reasons. First off, they increased the monthly price by double the amount last year. Then, they introduced ads on top of that, which I understand is necessary for making money, but it became too much. If we wanted to skip the ads, then it would increase our subscription cost by double.”
“So, quadruple the original price?”
“Exactly. That’s ridiculous for the content they were offering. For the price of a DreamStream subscription, I could pay for four other streaming apps.”
“Why would they quadruple it?” he asks, more so to himself.
“I’m not sure. It’s not like they were producing a lot of new content or anything that could justify the monthly cost. It was just reruns of all their famous shows and movies with a high price tag, and honestly, with a paycheck like mine, it wasn’t worth it.”
“What would have made the price tag justifiable?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe more new releases and less commercials. Oh, and maybe combining all the Kane Company channels into one place. It’s a bit ridiculous to ask people to pay for four different subscriptions all owned by the same media conglomerate.”
He rubs his stubble. “I think you’re on to something.”
“Me?” I laugh. “I don’t know anything about those kinds of things.”