Redeeming (Red Lips & White Lies Book 2)

At least I wore pants today . . .

—Caitlin’s Secret Thoughts

“Do you want me to go inside with you?” Bellamy asks as we sit parked in Callen’s driveway, looking from Maddox’s car, to Rome’s motorcycle, to the house, and back.

“What do you think they’re doing here?” I ask her as I gather my bags, struggling to bend over to get them. The spa was heavenly and so were the little boutiques we stopped at on the way home, but now I’m back to exhausted, and I just want to be snuggled up on the couch with Callen and Cupcake, watching the latest episode of my favorite Food Network show.

Less than two months to go. And my little girl already has a better wardrobe than most grown women could ever hope to have. Problems of a stylist’s kid.

Bellamy gets out of the car and waits for me. “I guess there’s only one way to find out why they’re here.”

I get out of the car and stand there, pouting.

“What the hell? I was relaxed, B. I don’t want to go in there and listen to my brothers and my baby daddy arguing.” If I wasn’t so tired and my limbs didn’t still feel like jelly, I’d consider stomping my foot for effect.

“Girl, you’ve got to stop calling him that,” she laughs and starts for the door.

Fuck. Guess I’m doing this.

“Fine. But it’s not any worse than boyfriend,” I grumble.

I feel like I’m sixteen years old when I say boyfriend. And sixteen and pregnant isn’t the look I’m going for.

Bellamy takes a few bags from my hands and walks in first. “Honey . . . I’m home,” she calls out.

My best friend, ladies and gentlemen. She’s crazy, and she’s all mine.

Those crazy-ass Instagram reels of little old ladies doing crazy shit when they’re eighty . . . that’s going to be us.

Lucky saunters down the stairs, the sleeves of his shirt pushed up and showing off his newest ink. “Hey, baby. Why don’t you come give Daddy some sugar?”

“Oh gross,” Bellamy gags. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.”

I laugh out loud. “What the hell is wrong with you, Lucky?”

He peeks inside my bag, probably seeing it’s baby clothes and not food, and loses interest, then kisses my cheek before he waggles his eyebrows at Bellamy. “She wants me.”

“She,” Bellamy cackles, “is five years older than you and not at all interested in teaching a little boy how to please a woman.”

Lucky acts like he just took a shot to the heart when he covers it with both hands.

“You’re gonna have to find someone else to be your Mrs. Robinson, Lucky.”

“Your loss, B.” He keeps his eyes locked on her until Callen walks into the room and shoves him away.

“You’re freaking her the fuck out, kid.” He wraps an arm around my back and rests the other on my basketball bump as he drops a kiss to the top of my head. “Did you have fun, kitten?”

And I absolutely melt in his arms.

I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to let go of my anger after holding on to it for so long, but with him, it’s harder to hold on to the anger than it is to let go.

Scary as hell. But Callen Sinclair is worth it.

“Dude, you’re freaking me the fuck out. That’s just weird shit. Does she purr too?”

Before Callen or I can laugh at my brother’s stupidity, Bellamy interrupts, “And . . . thank you for proving my point. If you can’t make a woman purr, you don’t know what you’re doing in bed, little Beneventi.”

“The fuck? Little? I’m bigger than Rome and Maddox,” Lucky argues as my other brothers both walk into the room, and I stand frozen in place.

Maddox is here. I know his car is here, but the last time we were all in one place, fists were thrown, and words were thrown. I’m not even sure what to think when Rome grabs his junk and laughs at Lucky. “Keep dreaming.”

Moron.

Maddox ignores the comment and slaps him on the back. “Come on. Let’s leave them alone.” He smiles at me, then looks at Callen. “I’ll see you at Crucible.”

Callen gives him a chin tip, and my brothers leave as Bellamy laughs. “I expect to be updated tomorrow.”

She drops packages on the couch and waves as she turns to leave, and Callen turns my face to his and brushes his lips over mine. “Did you have a nice time?”

“Umm . . .” I lick my lips, ready to jump his bones but know I need answers first. “Don’t bury the lead, Sinclair. Want to tell me what the hell my brothers were doing here and if you and Maddox broke any furniture before he left?”

He rubs his hand gently over my belly, and our daughter kicks him, hard. Which means she also kicks me hard. Callen smiles, and I wince. Men have it so easy.

“How about you come with me so I can show you the furniture we didn’t break?” He takes my hand in his, and I lean my head on his shoulder, so damn tired.

He walks me past his room. I guess it’s now our room. It’s the room I’ve been sleeping in for the past month. But I haven’t moved my clothes out of the one across the hall just yet. Maybe I’ll just use that one as my closet. Again, stylist and designer. I see nothing wrong with having an entire room as a closet. Callen stops me in front of the closed door next to his room and turns to face me, and he’s obviously nervous. “If you don’t like this, anything can be changed, okay?”

“Should I be scared?” I giggle. Callen isn’t usually one for dramatics, but as he pushes the door open behind him and keeps his eyes locked on me, I get it. And oh my goodness . . .

“Callen . . . You did all this?” I ask in awe. “You did the whole nursery?”

I step into the beautiful space he created for our daughter. Pale pinks and rose golds mix with the elegant white furniture I’ve been looking at for months. “How did you know?” I gasp.

“Do you like it?” He wraps a hand around the back of my neck and presses his lips to my forehead as I nod. “Your mom helped me pick out the furniture, and Everly may have told me about the chandelier you’d been looking at. And your brothers helped me put everything together.”

I walk over to the crib and pick up the stuffed dinosaur wearing the Kings football jersey and smile. “A little touch from your family. I love it.”

Before I know it, I’m crying, and I can’t stop. “Callen . . . I don’t have the words. This is incredible. And my brothers . . . how did that happen?”

He moves me over to the pale-pink velvet Queen Ann chair and sits me down, then picks up my feet and puts them on the matching ottoman before he pulls off my ballet flats and massages my fat, swollen feet. Holy hell. This is heaven.

“Maddox showed up at Sweet Temptations today. He wanted to talk. He may have mentioned that you refused to talk to him until he made things right with me.”

He digs his knuckles into my arch, and I moan and basically forget my own name.

“You blow me away, Caitlin. Your confidence. Your loyalty. You. I am constantly in awe of you.” He puts one foot down and picks up the other and starts again.

“I’m sorry. I guess I should have told you . . .”

“No, Cait. I get it, and I appreciate it. Thank you.” He leans over, lifts my shirt and kisses my belly. “I love you.”

“Promise, Callen?”

“Promise.”