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Since Cal couldn’t tell them it was dangerous for him to be in the same state as Lyssa, having no control whatsoever around their sister, he had no choice but to agree. “I’ll be there.”
He flew into San Francisco late Friday night so he wouldn’t have to test his self-control by dropping in at the office to see Lyssa. He just hoped she wouldn’t end up pitching in with the guys on the house renovations. He’d heard something about a pool party Ari was throwing, so hopefully Lyssa would be there all day, rather than anywhere near him.
The guys were in the backyard when he arrived the next morning. “We’re planning to lay down the redwood deck today,” Will said. “All along the back of the house and down to the pool patio.”
The house was a five-bedroom, five-bath bungalow with a great room that included a dining area, plus a breakfast nook and large kitchen. There was still work to be done both inside and out, but Cal was impressed by what the guys had already accomplished. The pool and hot tub were in-ground, surrounded by a new concrete pool deck. They’d laid sod in the big backyard and planted flowers and shrubs all around the fence they’d erected. Outside the fence was another treed acre that would grow wild. This inner sanctuary was where Susan could grow her roses and the flowering shrubs she adored. She’d be in heaven not having to work around a Chicago winter for the first time in her life.
“You guys have done a great job,” Cal noted.
“You think Mom will be pleased?” Matt was a big, muscular man, though Cal had heard tales that he’d been scrawny as a kid.
“Susan is going to feel like you’ve created heaven on earth for her.”
The Mavericks all grinned like little kids who were about to get a gold star from the teacher.
Gideon sidled up to Cal. “You and Lyssa are doing a very impressive job with Lean on Us. I can’t thank you enough.”
He told Gideon the absolute truth. “It’s all Lyssa. She works tirelessly for your foundation and loves every second of it.”
“I feel lucky to have her on board. Both of you.” He slapped Cal on the back, then said, “She gave me the details on that gala she and Dane are planning. Sounds like it’s going to be quite the shindig.”
Dane. That was all he’d heard out of Lyssa’s mouth recently. Dane said this. Dane said that.
Was Dane going to ask her out? Or had he already done so?
Cal’s blood pressure rose as jealousy ate him up. No. He couldn’t go there. Couldn’t let himself think that he had any hold on her. Just because he couldn’t have her didn’t mean she was off-limits to anyone else. Especially a handsome billionaire like Dane Harrington.
“Lyssa always has brilliant ideas,” he told Gideon.
“You’re right, she does. But I’m wondering if you’re working her too hard. She couldn’t make the pool party today because she had to go into the office.”
Cal held up his hands. “She never listens to me when I tell her to take time off.”
Gideon shook his head. “Figured as much. She’s a Maverick, after all.” Gideon was a big, strapping guy who looked like he’d only just come out of the military, rather than having left ten years ago.
Jorge, Rosie’s son, was running laps with Noah around the pool, his arms out as he pretended to be an airplane. Gideon had fallen head over heels for Jorge as well as his mom. Jorge was the same age as Noah, Matt’s son, and the two boys were best friends.
“Careful,” Matt called as his son skidded close to the pool’s edge. “You’re getting close to falling in.”
“I know how to swim, Daddy. So does Jorge.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t watch out for you.” Matt tickled both boys in the ribs, and they giggled like two very happy six-year-olds.
Cal felt an ache around his heart. Once upon a time, he’d dreamed of this—having a family, a loving wife, the white picket fence, laughter. But when he was seventeen, everything in his family had gone sideways, and after that, it had been easier to focus on school, then jobs, then building his business. So much easier than facing his past, or delving into his emotions and the darkness he’d shoved way down deep inside. He’d never met a woman who made him want to dig deep enough to make things last, because he couldn’t live without her, because he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Not until Lyssa.
She was the only woman he’d never been able to get out of his head.
Lyssa, the Mavericks’ younger sister.
Lyssa, the woman he’d taken again and again on a transatlantic flight.
Lyssa, the woman he couldn’t stop fantasizing about. Even when he was surrounded by her brothers, all of whom would tear him apart with their bare hands if they knew what he’d done. The way he’d made her gasp and cry out with pleasure. The way she’d—
