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Now that the Mavericks had each found their soul mate, they couldn’t resist ribbing him since they could no longer rib each other. Which was why Daniel elbowed Sebastian and said, “That means he’s got a hot one on the hook.”
Sebastian laughed. “If he doesn’t want to talk about her, she’s got to be pretty special.”
If they only knew, they wouldn’t be laughing. They’d be going for his throat.
* * *
When they were done for the day and packing up, Evan approached him. “Hey, I think your email address was accidentally left off the invite.”
“What invite?”
“Catalina. Paige and I want to have Thanksgiving on Catalina Island with everyone. It’s her birthday a couple of days after that, and we thought it would be a great way to celebrate with the whole gang.”
Lyssa would be there. What the hell was he going to do when he saw her? How was he supposed to get through twenty-four hours on an island with Lyssa?
“I’ll do my best,” he said as he tried to think of an excuse his friend would buy, “but I’ve got meetings back East and I have to fly out again right away after today.”
Evan narrowed his eyes. “No one meets on Thanksgiving. That and Christmas are the only two days of the year when the business world shuts down. Besides, I know you wouldn’t want to disappoint Paige, would you? She’s pregnant and might burst into tears if she hears you’re not coming. Don’t do that to me.”
Cal couldn’t help but laugh. “Boy, are you ever laying on the guilt trip.” Didn’t Evan know that Cal already had a guilt trip crushing him?
“Fly from wherever you are directly into LAX and meet us at the ferry,” Evan insisted. “You’re family. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”
It was an honor to be considered part of a family like the Mavericks. Strong. Steady. Always there for each other. Only Cal and Lyssa knew the truth—that he was scum who’d indulged in a sexy afternoon with the Mavericks’ younger sister, then run as fast and far as he could because he couldn’t stop wanting her…and didn’t trust himself to have the strength to keep his hands off her.
All his life, Cal had thought he was a better man than his father. Now he knew how wrong he was. Their situations might be different—Cal hadn’t cheated on anyone the way his father had cheated on his mother—but in many ways, Cal wondered if his situation was even worse.
He’d broken the trust of all the Mavericks. He’d broken Susan’s and Bob’s trust. He’d broken his own trusted rules about never mixing business with pleasure. And worst of all, he was afraid he’d broken Lyssa’s trust in him. Because he was no longer the good guy she could count on to be there for her as a business partner…and as a friend.
Chapter Ten
The moment she received Paige and Evan’s invitation, Lyssa knew Cal would finally be forced to face her. Paige had said the guest list was just family since it was Thanksgiving and Paige’s birthday.
And Cal was family.
Lyssa felt totally fine about everything now. No one knew what they’d done, and no one ever would. She could maintain her equilibrium. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t even hurt anymore.
Instead, she was wholly focused on moving forward. And right now, the entirety of her life was her job. She didn’t want to leave the foundation, so that meant she and Cal had to efficiently and unemotionally clear up any garbage left in the aftermath of their very short affair. It was her one big goal for the weekend—to tidy up loose ends with Cal, put the past in the past, and move on.
Then Cal could stop running away and get back to San Francisco where he belonged. There was so much to do at the foundation, so much she still had to learn.
And if, in the middle of the night, her heart sometimes felt a little weak, and her body sometimes felt a little needy, and all she could think about were his kisses and his touch and his mouth on her…well, she’d forgive herself those tiny lapses and trust she would soon forget. One day, she vowed, their hours on the plane together would be nothing but a distant memory.
But as she stepped out of the limo Daniel had rented for them at LAX and saw Cal on the Catalina Island ferry dock, despite her vows to be strong and relaxed and determinedly positive, an ache closed around her heart.
Daniel and Evan had flown everyone down from San Francisco—her parents, who’d come in from Chicago, the brothers, their ladies, plus the immediate family. Of course, Tasha was with Daniel. But Lyssa noted the absence of Tasha’s brother Drew. She wondered if he’d been invited. He was a bit of a black sheep, but he’d been a tremendous help to her with the foundation.
