A Curvy Girl for the Cadet: A Perfect Fit Novella (14 page)

“Clayton gave Mama a flower ring, because he knows she’ll love him,” Aubrey spoke up.

The room fell completely quiet for a moment. All eyes on him. He never liked to be the center of his family’s focus, but he wasn’t going to be able escape it tonight.

“Something smells good.” He took a step towards the kitchen. “I think we need to eat.”

*

Alex presented them with a masterfully created dessert. Clayton wasn’t sure what the hell it was called, but Alex had placed an individual skillet in front of all of them that was filled with what looked like a warm chocolate chip cookie, drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce and topped with homemade vanilla ice cream. He heard Daisy’s soft moan as she slid the spoon into her mouth and all of a sudden he wasn’t hungry anymore. He could get filled up just watching Daisy eat her dessert. Watching Daisy close her eyes, and have that look of bliss cross her face. Hearing the soft noises she made. She must have felt his eyes on her because she stopped eating and looked at him.

“Am I being a piglet?”

He grasped her face and quickly kissed her chocolate flavored lips. “No. That was not the thought that was running though my head.”

She gave him a shy sexy smile, her cheeks going slightly pink. Everything she did, and said turned him on. The way she lived her life was arousing to him. Not just sexually, but somehow when he was around her that dead feeling he had felt for so long had melted away. “You guys are sweet together,” Tina said as she took his father’s hand and looked at him. “I think love is in the air all around.”

“We were going to wait to tell you all,” his father started. “But why the hell should we wait? Life is too short. Tina and I are going to be moving in together.”

“Tina is going to be moving in here?” Clayton asked, feeling something switch inside him.

“Yes, son. She spends most of her time here anyway. It seems right.”

“It seems like bullshit,” Clayton said.

“Excuse me,” his father said in that tone he used when Clayton was a kid. Only Clayton wasn’t a kid. He was a grown man who could say whatever he wanted.

“You’re going to move your girlfriend in here. In the house you shared with your wife for twenty years. In the home you raised your children in. You’re going to move someone else in here and live a big happy life when none of the rest of us had the chance to have that here. You heard me. I said it’s bullshit and I meant it. This whole thing is a bunch of bullshit. The rest of you can sit here and celebrate, but I refuse to be a part of it.” He got up and left the table. Too fed up with it all then.

*

Daisy went after Clayton. Betty attempted to, but Daisy stopped her. She knew that there was very little that she could say to make a difference to Clayton. And truthfully Clayton had every right to feel what he was feeling.

She found him lying on the bed in his childhood bedroom which was sparse by anyone’s standards. A single double bed, a desk. A shelf filled with his smaller trophies and a photo of him when he was still a West Point cadet. But nothing else. It wasn’t a very warm room. It was the opposite of her childhood bedroom, or Aubrey’s which was filled with pictures, posters, books and the products of her hobbies.

“He was a control freak,” Clayton said reading her mind. “Bed had to be made with hospital corners. Food was only to be consumed in the kitchen. Dishes had to be washed immediately after use. I had to be out of bed and dressed by six AM no matter what I had to do that day. I was trained to be the perfect solider. The perfect son. He never let up.”

“It worked.” She crawled on the bed beside him and rested her head on his chest. “You are perfect.”

“And you’re full of shit.” He lifted his hand and ran his fingers through her loose hair. “Did you come to tell me that I behaved like an asshole and should apologize to them?”

“Hell no. I get it Clay. It doesn’t seem right for them to be moving on especially when they are still in love with each other.”

“You saw it too? They do still love each other. I can see it all over their faces.”

“Do you want them to get back together?”

“I was the one who made them split up. If they still acted the way they did when they were married it would make sense. But now they are looking at each other like that. And talking all the time. They go on vacations together. It doesn’t make sense. But that would be okay if he didn’t keep this house, because every time I come back here and see them laughing and having a good time, it reminds me of all the shitty times that we had here. His lashing out at her. Her crying. The twenty years of secrecy. My whole damn life spent walking on eggshells. Going to the army was a relief to me. It was the first place I felt relaxed. Insurgents shooting at me and explosions going off around me was more peaceful than growing up in this house.”

“You don’t feel relaxed in Durant?”

“There are moments when I do.” He rested his lips on her forehead.

“Why did you come back here?”

“I almost died. I missed my sister, and frankly I had nowhere else to go.” There was more to it than that. There had to be more to it than that, but Daisy didn’t push it. She had known that Clayton was a quiet man. Not prone to emotional outbursts. Not one to share what was going on inside him, but he did with her. And she chose to view it as a gift. Danny never told her what was going on with him. He kept it bottled inside until it ate at him. Until the only thing that could soothe it was eighty proof.

“Sing to me,” she said to him.

“Sing to you?”

“Yes. Sing to me.”

She felt his lips curl into a smile against her skin. “What do you want me to sing?”

“
Baby Got Back
?”

He chuckled. “I’m afraid I don’t know the words.”

“How about the
Thong Song
? Don’t know that one either? How about
Getting Jiggy With It
?”

“I’m afraid I’m not up on my late 90s hip hop.”

“Damn,” she said softly. “How about
Little Green Apples
? It was playing on the radio in the truck the last time we went to the pond.”

To her surprise he sang the first line to her in a smooth rich baritone that made her heart flip over and she knew in that moment she was in love. Irresistibly, irrevocably in love with him.

She shut her eyes and inched closer to him as she listened even though her body was already pressed against his. She wanted to get closer. She was never close enough when she was with him.

“Let’s fool around in your childhood bedroom,” she said sliding her hand up his shirt. “That’ll stick it to them.”

“My entire family is out there.” He grinned at her before he rolled her onto her back and kissed her.

“I thought you were the more mature sibling, and that I was the only one who pitched fits at family functions,” they heard Maggie say.

“I didn’t pitch a fit. I stated a fact. It is bullshit. Now go away I’m trying to make out with my girlfriend.”

“Am I your girlfriend?” Daisy asked him seriously.

He looked at her for a long moment. “Unless you don’t want to be.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Maggie walked over to them. “You’re engaged. The big ass rock on Daisy’s hand tells the world that.”

“Right,” Clayton said standing up and taking her hand. “Let’s grab Aubrey and get out of here.” He looked at his watch. “They opened the old drive-in for the summer. If we hurry we can catch the 8:15 showing.”

“The drive-in sounds like fun. I’ve always wanted to go.”

“Hey, I want to go too.” Maggie folded her arms across her chest and frowned. “You think you’re just going to leave me here with them?”

“You could go home with your husband. You stole my best friend and now you want to come along when I take my girl out?”

She nodded. “You’re my big brother and I love you so much.”

He shook his head and sighed and Daisy knew that Maggie had gotten to him. “Fine come along, but you and your husband are buying all the snacks tonight and I want the biggest bag of gummy bears they make.”

Chapter 13

“I should leave my phone at your house more often,” Clayton said to Daisy as he kissed her one more time. She had stopped by the office with his phone and a box of doughnuts from the new gourmet doughnut shop in town.

And she did it all looking amazing in a yellow skirt that hugged her body, hit her at the knees and a simple white V-neck sleeveless shirt that made her chest look more enticing than usual.

Somehow she had become his girlfriend. He hadn’t meant to use the term when he was talking to Maggie. But it had slipped out and he didn’t want to take it back. They were more than a fling. A fling implied that whatever this was between them was just quick and hot and would burn out quickly. That it was nothing more than sex. But he knew that wasn’t the case. He liked her. He liked being around her and hearing her talk and breathing her in. Which was going to make it even worse when things eventually ended.

“Have dinner with us tonight? Aubrey wants to make Coca Cola pot roast and bacon potato salad. And for dessert chocolate chunk red velvet cookies with cream cheese filling.”

“I’ll be over for dinner,” he said, kissing her. “You don’t have to invite me every night. Your place is the first place I go when I leave here.”

“I don’t want to assume, you know?”

“Assume.” He spoke into her lips. “I’m not sure how you did it, but you got me, Daisy.”

She paused for a moment and looked into his eyes. “You got me too, Clay. Just don’t break my heart.”

Her words made him pause. He was taking things one day at a time. Not making any plans. Not thinking about the future, but in the end, he knew they weren’t going to end up together. “I don’t want to break your heart, Daisy. It’s the last thing I want to do.”

“Am I interrupting something?” Abraham stood just inside the door, a clipboard in his hand.

“No.” Daisy stepped away from him. “I was just leaving. How are you, Abraham? It’s nice to see you again.”

“It’s always nice to see you and I can see by the way my boy had his hands all over you that he agrees.”

“What can I say?” She shrugged. “After a lifetime of dating boring, skinny bottle blondes your friend has developed an appreciation for a thickums like myself.”

“Who told you I dated boring, skinny bottle blondes?”

“Maggie. Duh. Abraham, come over for dinner one night. Or tonight if you can. I would love to get to know you.”

“Thank you for the invite. I’ll let Clay know either way.”

“I’ve got to go get my kid.” She kissed Clayton’s cheek. “Share the doughnuts with your friends. Hopefully, I’ll see you both later.”

She walked out then and Abraham walked over to the box of doughnuts sitting on Clayton’s desk. “Holy shit! There’s bacon on this doughnut. Look at this.” He lifted a little card up. “Like a box of chocolates it tells you what the flavors are. Peanut butter banana. Spiced chocolate. Lemon buttermilk. These are no gas station doughnuts. Your brother-in-law make these?” He picked one up and sunk his teeth into it. “Damn. That woman has a behind that won’t quit for days and she brings you food this good. It’s no wonder you can’t keep your hands off her.”

“She’s good to me. And Alex doesn’t make those. He’s more focused on his cupcakes at the moment.”

“Those were fantastic too and you know the word fantastic is not often in my vocabulary so you know how good they are. You think you could pick me up another dozen or so jars?”

“I’ll bring some tomorrow. Did you need something?”

“Yeah, I came to tell you that that Jonathan Davies kid you hired is working out great. Apparently he’s a mechanical wiz and fixed one of our trucks when it broke down this morning. If it’s okay with you I would like to hire him on full time.”

“It’s fine with me. What’s his story?”

“He hasn’t told me yet, but I am bringing him to the support group this week. The kid has seen some stuff.”

“I know. He’s haunted. I can tell.” He was just like the rest of them, trying to figure out how to make it in the world outside the military.

“What about you? Have you considered coming?”

“I’m good right now.”

“Because you’re getting some.” Abraham grinned at him. “It’s hard to think about the past when a beautiful woman is wrapped around you, but if you need to talk we’re here.”

“I know. I talk to Daisy. Her husband was the marine who survived the helicopter crash in Kabul.”

“Oh. He shouldn’t have survived that. I can’t even begin to imagine how he did.”

“He had a hard time readjusting when he couldn’t go back. He never readjusted. Daisy knows how it is. We talk.”

“So it’s true that you’re going to marry her?”

“You heard about that?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to believe it, because I was pretty sure the guy I went through war with would have told me.”

Guilt. It sucker punched him in the gut.

“We’re not really engaged.” It was true and yet saying the words bothered him. “She’s raising her niece, and the girl’s grandfather is a senator and he and his wife just showed up out of the blue threatening to take her away from Daisy because he thinks he and his wife can provide a more stable home. I just told him that we were engaged so they would back off.”

“Shit. Really?”

“We’re just pretending, but you’re the only person who knows that.”

“Your family doesn’t know?”

“No. Just you.”

Abraham shook his head and Clayton knew by the look on his face he thought Clayton was screwed. “How the hell are you going to get out of that?”

“I don’t know. It’s going to be tough.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t get out of it. Maybe you should really marry the girl.”

*

Later that evening Daisy stood in the kitchen as she chopped potatoes for tonight’s dinner.

She was in love.

Damn.

She felt guilty about it. In her head she had known enough time had passed, that she should move on. That for most of her marriage Danny was more of a friend than a lover. But still she felt guilty. Still, she felt that she hadn’t tried hard enough to talk to Danny. She didn’t push hard enough for rehab, for counseling. She still felt responsible for his death, even though he had killed himself with his actions that night.

And of all the men in the world there was to fall in love with she had fallen for another soldier. Another wounded soldier with demons. Another man who wanted to go back.

Clay was a different man though. Clay talked to her. Clay always came home. He always was there for her. She had been used to doing things for herself, by herself for so long that she had gotten used to not having anybody to depend on. Even before Danny got hurt and he was home she couldn’t count on him. Not to be there for her. Not to be there for Aubrey. Because he never wanted the little girl in their lives.

“You want her. You take care of her.”

And she did and while he never mistreated Aubrey or was mean to her, he ignored her. Treated her like a pet he didn’t really have time for. Daisy might have been able to forgive him for everything else, but she couldn’t forgive him for that.

That was the biggest difference between him and Clay. Clayton liked Aubrey. He talked to her. He cared for Daisy’s little girl and that’s probably why she loved him like she did.

It was probably going to be the reason that her heart shattered when this was over and he went away.

She heard his truck pull up in the driveway and her heart lifted knowing he was about to walk through the door. There was a little voice in the back of her mind that told her to get out while she could. Before it was too late. But she wouldn’t. She was going to love him as long as she could because it was too hard not to.

“Hey.” He set his keys on the counter and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. She could tell something was off with him. She could feel it. She could always feel the quiet shifts in his moods.

“What’s the matter, baby?”

“Nothing. I’m just a little tired. Can I stay here tonight?”

No, she should have said. Going to bed with him at night and waking up with him in the morning would feel too good. She would want to sleep beside him every night. Having him next to her would start to feel normal. She would start to feel wrong if she couldn’t have it there. “I want you to. I don’t like it when you leave.” She decided to be honest with him. As long as she had him she would be honest with him.

He lifted her hair and kissed the back of her neck. “You changed out of your skirt.”

“It was tight. I could barely walk in it.”

“That’s too bad. Your ass looked phenomenal in it.” He turned her in his arms so that they were face to face. He cupped her bottom, squeezing it. She grew aroused immediately. “I’ll just have to settle for it feeling phenomenal.”

“Clayton Calhoun, you charmer you.”

“I’m not charming. I’m just telling you the truth,” he said just before he set his lips on hers. It was unexpectedly passionate. He swept his tongue into her mouth and kissed her slowly, deeply with care. It was like he bought a manual of her body and studied it because he knew just what to do to turn her on. “Where’s Aubrey?” he asked, his breath coming harder.

“With her grandparents. They wanted to take her to the library after camp.”

“Good.” He unbuttoned her shorts and slid his hand inside her panties. “You’re so good for me.” He stroked her wetness, causing her knees to buckle. “Nobody else has ever made me feel this way.”

“Let’s go to bed, Clay.” It was a struggle to get the words out because with each stroke she was fighting off an orgasm.

“No. Here.” He pushed her against the nearest wall, freed himself from his jeans and with one quick yank of her shorts he was buried inside her.

“God damn you, Clay.” She dug her fingers into his back, because when he pushed inside of her she literally saw stars.

He pumped into her hard and slow at first, trying to control himself, but she was too far past the point of control. She pushed back against him, wanting to take him as deep inside of her as possible.

“I don’t know how I lived without being with you before, Daisy,” he said as he quickened his pace.

“More.” She begged him. “More, Clay. Faster.” She didn’t want him to control himself. She didn’t need for him to extend this. She wanted as much of him as he could get as soon as possible.

He gave her what she asked for and in seconds she was coming hard. She bit down on his shoulder and he let out a yell as he finished inside her.

“Oh God.” She slid to the floor when he disconnected from her. “Oh, boy. Oh God. I feel like I should send up an extra prayer to thank Him for that and for you.”

“We do have good sex, don’t we?” He got on the floor with her, helping her back into her clothes as he kissed her.

“Why do you think I keep you around?” She ran her fingers through his much shorter hair. “I love your face too.”

“Do you?” He grinned.

“You’re an incredibly beautiful man. Sometimes I marvel at your presence in my life.”

“Why wouldn’t I like you?”

“I was always taught that only certain men found bigger girls like me attractive. I saw it first hand with my sister. The guys that looked like you always showed up at the door for her.”

“Who showed up for you?”

“Oh, I got some cool ones. The fringe of society. The I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-the-world-thinks-of-me, chip on my shoulder type of men. The one with poetic souls, long hair, ripped jeans and bad attitudes. The quarterback of the football team was never interested in me. I’m not complaining about it. I think I had a lot more fun than Jane did, but I’m just telling you how it was.”

“I think I’m more like the guys you dated in high school than the ones Jane dated.”

“Why? Because you have a wounded poetic soul that I just go crazy for?”

“Something like that.” He gave her a half smile. “If my father hadn’t trained me to be a soldier, I’m not sure what kind of man I would be. I knew since I was five that I was going to go to West Point. I was going to be an army man. There was no room in my life for anything else.”

“What is it you want to do? Secretly in your heart, what is the one thing you’ve always wanted to be?”

“A rocker,” he laughed. “Maybe a drummer or a guitar player. I’ve always secretly wanted to be the head of a motorcycle gang.”

“Shut up. No you do not.”

“I do.” He grinned down at her but then sobered. “But seriously, Daisy. Even if I were the captain of the football team I would still find you insanely attractive. Your sister was everyday beautiful, but you’re the kind of gorgeous I can’t take my eyes off of. You’re the kind of beautiful that makes it hard for me to look away.”

If she wasn’t in love with him already, that would have done it.

“What are you doing on the floor, Mama?” They looked up to see Aubrey, the Scotts. Abraham, Maggie and a guy Daisy had never seen before standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Just talking about dinner,” she said, her voice unnaturally high.