Fragile Love (Fragile Series, #3) Read online

  “You’re a miracle worker.” Lillian gave him a quick hug and stood up, prancing to the door. “How do I look?”

  “Like a million bucks, as usual.”

  “Liar.” She stuck out her tongue. “Please listen for the timer. I’ll be back soon. And don’t try to get the lasagna out by yourself.”

  “I won’t.”

  “I’ve got it timed, so it will finish cooking in the oven.”

  “You literally just said that.”

  “Oh.”

  “I won’t try to get it out. And I’ll be listening while I answer these emails, so I can turn the oven off and make sure the house doesn’t burn down before you get back.”

  “Good. Do you know how upset I’ll be if the lasagna is ruined?”

  “How upset?”

  “I’ll fill a thousand pools with my tears.”

  Andrew clapped. “That’s very poetic.”

  “Oh, my gosh. ’Bye.”

  “Brush your hair!” he called down the hallway after her.

  “I’ll do it in the car!” She pulled her coat on and ran out to the car, immediately cranking up the heat. The traffic wasn’t bad. On the interstate she set cruise control, and very carefully attempted to comb her hair with one hand. Some gut feeling told her she should stop and wait until she was parked at the airport. After living through both Amelia and Andrew being in life-threatening accidents, she had learned not to mess around with cars. Instantly, she stopped combing.

  There was a little traffic congestion getting into the airport, but she managed to control her road rage and not yell at cutting cars. Pleased with herself, she parked in the temporary spaces and grabbed her brush. “Come on, hair, please cooperate.” Every thirty seconds she glanced at the clock.

  Her phone beeped. Andrew sent a photo of the oven, which was off.

  Thank you so much, she replied. I’m going in to get him.

  Try not to get carried away with yourselves, he sent back. I don’t want this whole thing on my own.

  She felt her face flush. Don’t you dare! See you in a bit. Locking the car behind her, she tried to do a graceful-looking jog into the arrival hall. Cayden had said to pick her up alone, but it looked like they wouldn’t be able to find that secluded parking space somewhere to get frisky.

  I’ll get frisky with him later, she resolved. I’ll do something he doesn’t expect.

  There was a good standing space in front of a café. She parked herself there and sent Cayden a quick text. Hey, I’m here in front of—

  “Excuse me, Miss, are you waiting for someone?”

  Lillian looked up and saw Cayden right in front of her, a big smile on his face. Forgetting everything, she threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his mouth.

  “Wow!” he exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting this enthusiastic of a greeting!”

  “I missed you,” she whispered in his ear, giving his earlobe a quick nibble.

  “Oh, man. I should come back more often.” The skin on his neck prickled. “Did you just get here?”

  “Yeah, I did. Were you waiting?”

  “I must have walked through at the same time you came in.” He adjusted his backpack and took her hand. “Let’s get home. Unless...”

  “Andrew has dinner waiting for us.” She made a pouty face and then winked. “I’ve got some surprises planned for later, though.”

  “Tell me more,” he growled, squeezing her hand.

  “They’re surprises. You’ll have to see for yourself. Where’s your jacket?”

  “Oh. I forgot it’s cold here.” He pushed open the door and the instant the night air hit him, he whistled. “Did it get colder this week?”

  “Yeah, the temperature has been dropping.”

  “I’ll say.” He reached into his backpack as they walked and pulled on a hoodie. “Maybe Los Angeles isn’t such a bad place to be in the winter.”

  “We’ll have a vacation home there one day,” Lillian joked, but it caught Cayden’s ear.

  “I like the sound of that!” he said, opening the car door for her.

  “Thank you, sir,” she said as she sat down.

  He bowed and crossed over to his side, rubbing his arms to warm up. “Turn that heat on! My body is in shock right now.”

  Lillian winked at him. “I can shock you more later.”

  “Holy crap, what’s with all the sexy comments lately?” He pulled her towards him and pressed their lips together. There in the darkness of the car, Lillian melted at the feel of his warmth and his musky scent. Cayden put his hand on the back of her head, the other on her thigh, slowly running it up to her hip.

  She felt her heart drop to the seat, and moaned. “Damn. We need to go.”

  “We can’t have a little playtime?”

  “Later,” she said, giving him a little kiss on the cheek. “Andrew’s waiting.”

  “He can eat without us.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “Later, for real.”

  “I’m holding you to that.”

  “You think I would skip out on getting a piece of this?” She lightly tapped his abs; she could even feel them through his hoodie and shirt.

  “If I were someone else, I wouldn’t miss out on this.” He puckered his lips.

  “Exactly. We’ve waited almost a week, so waiting a couple more hours won’t hurt.”

  “Fine, fine.” Cayden settled back in his seat, his hand still on her thigh. Neither of them said anything for a while until he leaned forward and started playing with the radio. They had gone through each station twice until he decided on the same one that the radio had been set to in the beginning.

  “We’re home,” Lillian announced.

  Cayden looked up, surprised. “Already?”

  “Yep.” She parked the car and unbuckled. “Sorry you just found your station.”

  “Good song, too.” He shrugged and popped his neck. “Thanks for picking me up, Lil.”

  “I wish I could pick you up,” she murmured low enough that only he could hear as they walked to the front door. “That would make things a lot more fun.”

  Cayden pushed the door open and gasped. “Is that lasagna I smell?”

  “It is lasagna!” Andrew’s voice floated to them from the kitchen. “Come and get it, ladies!”

  “Watch who you call a lady,” Cayden shouted, dropping his backpack onto the floor.

  Lillian ran ahead. “I’ll fix the green beans now, and then we’ll be ready—” she stopped, her eyes resting on the stovetop. The green beans were already cooked, still on heat just low enough to stay warm.

  “Problem solved,” Andrew said.

  “You shouldn’t have! Thank you.” She blew him a kiss and got some plates down from the cabinet. “I’m glad to see you didn’t try to take out the lasagna, though.”

  “I knew you would be pissed.”

  “Yeah, and if you did, then it wouldn’t be done enough.” She slipped pot holders onto her hands and took out the lasagna. “It’s perfect. Hope you two are hungry.”

  Andrew and Cayden looked at each other and nodded. “Yep, ready to eat,” they said at the same time.

  “Airplanes are so stingy,” Cayden complained, sitting at the table. “I mean, I’m in the plane for a few hours and all they give is that tiny pack of peanuts.”

  “I like it when they give you biscotti,” Andrew said.

  “At least the biscotti is more filling than peanuts.” Cayden sighed. “I shouldn’t be saying all this in front of my new client. I should be endorsing the peanuts for the proteins and good fats.”

  “But the biscotti tastes so much better.”

  “True, there’s that.”

  Lillian set their plates in front of them. Cayden started to ask where her plate was, but she answered before he could finish. “Mine is coming,” she said, scooping out her serving. “I’m all right.”

  “Whipped,” Andrew whispered to Cayden.

  Cayden flipped Andrew off.

  “Behave!” L
illian lightly slapped Cayden on the head.

  “Sorry, Mom.”

  Andrew stifled a laugh. “Weird fetish you’ve got there.”

  “Seriously, Andrew?” Lillian droned. Andrew burst out laughing, and Lillian looked at Cayden. “Ignore him.”

  “Will do,” Cayden replied, scratching his ear with his middle finger. “Thank you for dinner, Lil.”

  “What about me?” Andrew demanded through a mouthful of food.

  “You, too, Drew.”

  “Don’t call me Drew.”

  “I’ll call you Drew whenever you make fun of my sex life.” Cayden flicked a piece of bread crust at him.

  “All right, all right. We’re even.”

  Lillian rubbed her face with her hands. “This is so much chaos for the dinner table.”

  “Let’s be more serious, then.” Andrew sat up straight, and held his fork and knife very properly. “Cayden, how was your time in Los Angeles?”

  “It was fine, as to be expected,” Cayden replied in a terrible British accent. “I found two replacements for my clients, which takes a large burden off me.”

  “Excellent,” Andrew said, taking a tiny bite of lasagna.

  “And how was your week, Andrew?”

  “Much better than last week,” he answered, letting out a laugh. “Last week, if I recall, I was unconscious.”

  “That is indeed true.”

  “This week I have gotten used to my crutches and my new leg brace. As we can see by the perfection of these heated-up canned green beans, I’m faring swimmingly.”

  “You two are ridiculous,” Lillian muttered, eating at her own pace while the other two joked.

  Andrew clapped a hand over his mouth. “How offensive!”

  “Go to your room,” Cayden commanded.

  “Again, with the weird fetishes.”

  “Shut up, Drew.”

  “I don’t even know what to do right now,” Lillian pretended to be irritated.

  “You can eat,” Andrew said. “As I was saying, this week I also began physical therapy, and I have been doing my exercises daily since the appointment.”

  “Lies,” Lillian put in.

  Andrew paid no attention to her. “I’ve also started working remotely, doing as much as I can from the comfort of my laptop.”

  “He needs help with his exercises,” Lillian said to Cayden. “He doesn’t do them right. But he won’t listen to me.”

  “I don’t see the point of some of them,” Andrew argued. “And why are you watching me?”

  “There’s definitely a point to them,” Cayden said. “I’ll look at them with you after we eat. We’ll have an anatomy and physiology lesson.”

  “This is getting too sexual for me, Cayden.” Andrew fanned his face with his hand.

  At a loss, Cayden looked at Lillian. “Help?”

  “Okay, I’ll settle down. Sorry.” Andrew shoved a bite into his mouth. “This is great, Lillian. Way better than the ones already made in the grocery store.”

  “Gee, thanks,” she said.

  “It’s really good,” Cayden agreed. “Hits the spot.”

  “Which spot, Cayden?” Andrew giggled like a little girl, and Cayden thumped another piece of bread crust at him.

  “I give up.” Lillian stood up and got a bottle of wine out of the fridge.

  “How long has that been in there?” Cayden asked.

  “I don’t even care. You two are too much to handle right now,” she said, taking a sip. “Ah. It’s not too bad. I don’t remember where this came from, though.”

  “Have fun later,” Andrew winked.

  Lillian groaned. “Can you leave?”

  “You’re kicking out a cripple?”

  “Just go to the living room. Cayden, can you help him?” Taking a gulp of wine, she waved them off. “You two do your thing. I’ll clean up.”

  “We’re done already?” he frowned.

  “Yes,” she said shortly, going over to him and running her fingers through his hair. “If you want more, you’re free to take it into the living room.”

  Cayden thought about it. “I’ll have more later, I guess.”

  “It’ll be here. We’ve got plenty left. Are you finished, Andrew?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he replied, pushing to his feet and taking off with his crutches. “Cayden and I will have more later. Shortest damn dinner in my life,” he muttered.

  “Look at him go!” Lillian squealed, squeezing Cayden’s shoulder. “My little Andrew’s growing up!”

  “Get in here, lover boy,” he called behind him.

  Cayden kissed Lillian as he stood. “I guess you know where we’ll be.”

  “I’m excited for later,” she winked.

  “You’re excited?” He chuckled. “You’d better be dressing up in something bad-ass or whatever you’re planning. All this talk feels like foreplay. I’m going to be walking around with a woody all night.” Taking his drink with him, he kissed her hard before releasing her and going to join Andrew in the living room. Lillian heard them talking but didn’t try to eavesdrop. A few moments to myself, she sighed, swirling the wine around in her glass. I guess I didn’t realize how much of an introvert I am until my house suddenly had two extra humans in it. Humans who happen to be tall, built men. Andrew wasn’t nearly as muscular as Cayden, but he had height.

  She scrolled on her phone while her glass slowly got emptier. Once there was no more left, she took her time cleaning the kitchen. The guys were still talking in the other room; she was curious what they had to talk about so much. I didn’t know his simple physical therapy exercises would spur so much conversation. But, then again, I know nothing about muscles and bones, or whatever it is Cayden knows about.

  Hoping she wouldn’t interrupt, she walked to the doorway and stood there, watching the two of them interact. Andrew was sitting on the couch, his leg straight out in front of him. Cayden was supporting his foot, holding it about six inches above the floor.

  “So,” he motioned around Andrew’s leg, “that’s the purpose of this exercise they gave you.”

  “My brain is melting,” Andrew said.

  Cayden didn’t seem to hear. He was in his element. “You don’t want to lose your range of motion when you heal. That’s what the ROM means. Range of Motion. It’s short form.”

  “Aren’t you smart?”

  Cayden rolled his eyes, but tapped Andrew’s foot in warning. “If you lose ROM when you heal because this muscle hasn’t healed in its proper place, you’ll walk with a limp for the rest of your life.”

  Andrew huffed. “I don’t know, man. It just doesn’t feel good when I do that.”

  “Of course, it doesn’t feel good. Your femur’s broken and your ACL is torn.”

  “Let me rephrase: it doesn’t feel right.”

  “Don’t be a wuss.”

  “I’m not a wuss. I’m being serious.”

  Lillian giggled from her place at the door. Neither of the guys noticed.

  “You can’t not do these just because you don’t like the way it feels.”

  “That makes me sound petty.”

  “That’s literally what you’re saying to me, though.”

  “I’m just saying some of these are what old people do,” Andrew protested. “I don’t feel like I, as an able- bodied man, should be doing those same exercises.”

  “Able-bodied?” Cayden sat back on his butt, propping Andrew’s heel on his knee. “Can you get up and do a jig for me, to demonstrate how able-bodied you are?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Cayden shook his head. “I don’t know what you mean. Physical therapy isn’t a compromise of manhood, Drew—uh, Andrew.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re not less of an ‘able-bodied man’ for doing these little exercises that seem silly right now. You’ll be so glad you did them when you’re healing twice as fast as you would be if you weren’t doing them. Trust me.”

  “Twice as fast?” Andrew perked up.
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br />   “Definitely faster than if you just sat here waiting for your body to heal.”

  Andrew scratched his chin. “Now you’re getting my attention.”

  Lillian, deciding now was an appropriate time to enter the scene, walked over. “Hello, men,” she greeted, sitting next to Cayden.

  “Lillian,” Andrew said, “your boyfriend has told me that I’ll heal faster by doing these ridiculous exercises.”

  She nodded. “I agree with him.”

  “Because he’s your boyfriend?”

  “Because I’ve seen how he works with his clients, and I know he’s the best at what he does.”

  “I’m not a physical therapist, Lil,” Cayden said.

  “No, you’re not, but you understand the body and some of the same stuff a therapist does. How muscles heal and where they are, et cetera.”

  “But twice as fast?” Andrew asked again.

  “More efficiently, let’s put it that way.”

  He sighed. “I guess I’ll have to give it a try, then.”

  Lillian held her hands up. “Finally. I never thought he would say this.”

  “He is dangerously convincing,” Andrew pointed at Cayden. “You’d better watch out, Lillian. He might tempt you to do things you never thought you would do.”

  She smirked. “He already has.”

  Andrew made a gagging noise. “I was joking about your sex lives earlier. Keep it to yourself. Help me up; I’m going for a shower and a nap now.”

  Cayden helped him stand up and get his crutches situated. “See you in the morning, then?”

  “Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” Andrew replied, heading off down the hallway. “Goodnight, you two.”

  “Goodnight, Andrew,” Lillian said. “Call me if you need anything.”

  Cayden yawned. “That was exhausting. He’s a tough one.”

  “I warned you.”

  “I think he’s got it now, though. I’ll go through everything with him in the morning and try to work my convincing magic.” He kissed her on the forehead. “I think I’m going to head to my place for the night.”

  “Ah, a location switch?”

  “Yeah, let’s switch things up. I haven’t slept in my own bed in a long time. You coming to join me?”

  “I’ll meet you over there in a little while. I’m going to wash my face and change.”