Chapter 4 Emma #2
“No!” And damn it, in the past sixty seconds, everyone in the entire ballroom seemed to have made a beeline for the auction items, crowding the aisles, nudging him even closer to me.
In the few seconds I’d grappled to hold my ground, two more bids had been written down.
“Are they glitching?” I whispered to myself.
“Just rich.” Caleb lifted a shoulder. “Plus, it’s all for a good cause. Every penny will go to the Children’s Literacy Initiative.”
“Seriously,” I said, grabbing the pen from his hand. “Shoo!” All too aware that when it came to my job, I was in the fight of my life, and no one was going to stand in my way, especially Caleb Colburn.
The ballroom lights flickered on and off three times, and someone from the stage asked everyone to take their seats.
Without another word, I quickly placed one last bid and crossed my fingers that no one else would come along and outbid Rosalind.
As I walked away, I pulled my seat ticket from my clutch.
The tables each sat twelve. Mine was half-full already.
The seat on my left was taken by a man who looked to be in his nineties.
He flashed me a smile and a wink. “You just made my night’s wish come true.” He patted my chair. “Sit, chickie. I’m Marty Alson.”
Even though I knew he was full of it, I smiled at him. A few minutes later, we were discussing the pros and cons of bacon as an ice cream topper when someone sat on my other side. With a ready smile, I turned to talk to Rosalind and froze.
Not Rosalind.
“Guess who,” Caleb said, reaching for the pitcher of water, then filling my glass before his.
“No.” I snatched the glass out of his hand before he could take a sip. “This isn’t your seat.”
“It is.” He flashed his ticket.
I stared at it in confusion. “No, it was supposed to be the CEO of my company.”
“Rosalind Hall? She asked me to switch with her; she wanted to wine and dine someone at my table. As you know, she’s a client of ours, so I agreed.” He flashed a smile. “I had no idea it would work in my favor.”
I glared at him. I had an ongoing mental pros and cons list for this job. The pros were clear, but the cons were really lining up, and every single of one of them was a callback to Caleb. “Go tell her you need to switch back.”
He looked across the room to where Rosalind sat, talking animatedly to the woman next to her. “You think she’ll be happy about that? ’Cause I don’t.”
I sagged back in my seat, wishing I’d opted for alcohol instead of water. “You don’t understand. It took me forever to get this temp job, and I need it to turn permanent—which I can’t do unless I’m somehow impressive.”
His gaze never left mine, the gold in his eyes seeming to glow. “You’re already impressive.”
I absolutely was not going to acknowledge the little tremor low in my belly.
“Hey, stud,” Marty said from her other side. “Get your own chickie. I saw this one first. Plus, I’m pretty sure I saw the Legend of Star Falls last month. My nurse said it was just my astigmatism, but I know what I saw. I’ve been waiting for my soulmate to show up, and she just did, so scram.”
“This is Mr. Alson,” I told Caleb.
Caleb held out a hand.
Mr. Alson leaned in to shake it but said, “She’s still mine.”
“Actually, I belong to myself,” I said.
“She belongs to herself,” Caleb repeated with a firm smile.
“Fine. I gotta go drain the lizard anyway, and with my prostate the size of a postage stamp, it’ll take me a while.” The old man got to his feet with a groan and pointed at us. “If the food comes and any of mine’s gone, I’ll know.”
After he was gone, Caleb said, “I’m tempted to eat everything on his plate just to see what he’d do.”
No, he couldn’t cute his way out of this. Was he annoying and untrustworthy? Yes. Was he also clever and gorgeous and viciously funny? Unfortunately, also yes.
And that smile. That damn smile. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to one, get invited to represent my company tonight, and then two, maneuver the seating arrangements to sit next to Rosalind? And you ruined it in under sixty seconds.”
His brows vanished into his casually tousled wavy hair. “Are you, play-it-by-the-book Emma Sumner, admitting you cheated?”
“Shh!” My face heated as I looked around. “People will hear.”
“First,” he cooed in my ear, “they’re already looking, because we make a seriously hot couple. And second…no one can hear us.”
“Because you’re whispering in my ear like we’re…”
“Lovers?” He nipped at my earlobe, and I nearly moaned. I certainly shuddered, and a deep sound of satisfaction rumbled from his throat.
Dear God, he was potent.
He pulled back and took in my blush with a rough chuckle. “Who cares what anyone thinks?”
The people pleaser I’d always been wanted to kick him. Instead, I said, “This is all your fault. You make me stupid.”
He fully turned to face me now, blasting me with a shocking amount of sexiness between that tux, the stubble, the dark ink just barely peeking out from his shirt collar…
And don’t get me started on the bad-boy thing that had him leaking testosterone and pheromones. He was kryptonite. Sexy kryptonite.
“This isn’t funny,” I muttered as the food arrived and plates were set before us. Glistening roast chicken, golden-brown potatoes, and a stack of my least favorite food on the planet: steamed green beans.
He studied me intently, and his amusement faded. “You really think you need to sit next to Hall to be in a good position at work?”
“Yes! The competition’s fierce, and I’m only temporary.
” Temp job, temp living situation, temp every damn thing.
Hell, my entire life was temporary thanks to a series of unfortunate events, and I was over it.
Between college debt and the fire that had claimed everything I owned, this job would be a new start.
All I needed were a few weeks of steady paychecks to save up for first and last month’s rent and a security deposit.
Okay, maybe a month, tops. The thought consumed me; I couldn’t wait.
“At our meeting earlier this week, you were incredible.” Caleb said this so casually, it took me a moment to process.
“You were knowledgeable, asked the right questions, and called me out not once but twice when I tried to get you to agree to something that would have made things easier for us, but weren’t exactly as Henderson wanted.
You knew your stuff and stood your ground. You’ve got to be valuable to them.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please. I know Ruth’s reputation. I bet she’s way harder on you.”
“She’s inflexible, even when she’s wrong. Once she’s made up her mind, you can’t reason with her. You going to eat those potatoes?”
I blocked his already-reaching fork with mine. “Yes, but you can have my green beans. And you meant you can’t always get your way.”
“Well, yeah.” He stabbed his fork on a green bean from my plate and ate it. “Remember how gross the green beans always were in our cafeteria?”
At my involuntary grimace, he nodded. “I swear, I think they made them disgustingly soggy and mushy on purpose. Me and the guys used to chuck them at the ceiling. They’d stick for a bit and then fall on people’s heads.”
“Mature.” I paused. “They weren’t that bad if you added a bunch of salt.”
“These are perfect,” he said, stuffing mine into his mouth. “No salt necessary.”
I managed not to shudder. After those lean years, I’d promised myself I’d never have to eat green beans again. “Tell me more about Ruth.”
He shrugged. “Sometimes we don’t know a design is flawed until the build, and in those situations, the architect needs to be able to adapt. Ruth is good, great even, but unbending. You aren’t. You were willing to hear me out and compromise.”
I opened my mouth in surprise, but before I could speak, someone showed up onstage, thanking everyone for being here tonight, and especially for bidding.
Then he invited up the key speaker. “Tonight, we’re lucky to have our own homegrown hero in the house.
Please join me in welcoming Caleb Colburn! ”
Caleb rose and, catching my shock and surprise, winked at me as he strode to the stage. I was still gaping, stunned, when he stepped up to the microphone and said something that made everyone laugh, but I’d missed it in my stupor.
I craned my head right and left, taking in the large ballroom filled with hundreds of people. And Caleb stood in front of them with confidence, like it was no big deal. Talking, conversationally, not seeming bothered in the slightest that everyone’s attention was on him.
I’d have died.
“All of us at Colburn Restorations are proud to be a part of this project,” he was saying in that sexy gravelly voice.
“It’s a first for us, and we won’t let you down.
” He smiled, and I realized I smiled back.
He had a way of making a person feel like he was talking directly to them, and I was willing to bet that just about everyone in the room felt the same.
“Ryder and I have shared a lot of firsts,” he said. “In fact, we shared our very first enemy the day Tucker was born.”
Laughter filled the massive room.
He grinned. “Yeah, we took one look at that scrawny, squalling baby and had two questions: What the hell is that thing, and what do we do with it?” He leaned into the crowd, like he was imparting a state secret.
“Don’t tell anyone, but we used to dangle him down the laundry chute by his feet to see how long he’d last.” Once again, the room erupted, and Caleb laughed low in his throat, like he was talking to a small group of friends.
“I’m pretty fond of those memories. Oh, and disclaimer: Tucker’s fine.
No scars. Or at least…” He grinned again.
“No physical scars. But if there are any therapists in the room, you might want to check in on him next time you see him.”