Chapter 6 Caleb
CALEB
I loiter in the kitchen, keeping my distance as I eavesdrop on the conversation. James Taylor probes way above his pay grade, asking way more questions than is necessary.
“How did the house catch fire?”
“The stove,” Piper replies with a trembling voice. “It was old, and there was nothing in the manual that said I needed to replace it after so many years. It was fine. There were no previous issues. And they were known for their durability.”
Sounds like she’s covered all bases…
“And you bought this oven yourself, Ms. Hart?”
“No. My father did, actually.”
“And where is your father now? Can you provide me with an address?”
My ribs contract. Piper hasn’t yet mentioned her father, which means he’s still probably in Boston with the chick.
The news was still fresh when I landed in town nine years ago.
She has it all handled now, but I wonder at what expense.
“My father moved away nine years ago, and is uncontactable.” Piper’s voice is small. “He used to own the house.”
“And you are the new legal owner?”
“Yes. I pay the mortgage.”
The frown in James Taylor’s brow deepens, like he doesn’t believe she’s capable of handling her own finances.
I clench my hands into fists. Piper is a trooper, and is more than fucking capable.
He asks more box-ticking questions, scribbling down Piper’s answers as she struggles to respond in full sentences.
Is he trying to investigate her for insurance fraud?
My ribs crush into my heart.
New York City.
Six years ago.
My good friend of many years leaps into a fire to save the three remaining victims. The flames are almost as tall as the office block. Smoke everywhere. Violent enough to damage our respiratory equipment.
Gareth is in there with a breathing aid strapped around him…
But it’s not gonna keep him alive.
He materializes through heavy plumes of smoke with two thirds of the remaining victims. Paramedics take away the choking patients, and reach out next for Gareth, but he’s already back inside the building, determined to rescue the third.
“Everyone’s out,” reports a suited man—the company’s senior manager.
And that’s when I stop breathing.
“Gareth’s still in there looking for a victim that doesn’t exist!”
I lunge forward, but the second unit of officers steer me back toward the truck. “Don’t. He’s gone, Rourke.”
“Not yet.”
“If you go in there, we grieve two dead officers today instead of one.”
I clench my gloved hands and remember that Ellie needs her father.
I’m the only family she has.
I stare at the burning building as my long-term partner burns to a crisp.
Two months after that incident, I was finally coming to terms with Gareth’s tragic yet heroic passing when I heard that the fire was done to claim insurance.
Gareth died and left his family heartbroken, all because somebody wanted money.
He died on account of selfishness.
When he had been nothing but selfless.
“And how are you handling the mortgage payments as a single parent?” James Taylor’s corporate voice filters back into my consciousness.
I step forward and intervene. “The woman lost her house and all of her belongings only two days ago. Give it a rest, why don’t you?”
James shoots me a snakelike look that I’m more than happy to return.
“Certainly.” He bows his head like he suddenly gives a fuck, and offers his hand to Piper. “It was nice talking with you, Ms. Hart. I will be in touch next week when I’ve completed the first round of assessments on your home.”
“Okay,” Piper says, clearly itching to shut the door in his face.
She slams it as soon as he disappears.
“Thanks.” She offers me a half smile. “I didn’t mentally prepare for an insurance assessor to bombard me with questions at ten AM on a Sunday.”
“Hm.” I huff. “Sounds like someone needs to get a life.”
Piper smiles, but it lifts only one side of her face, like the assessor’s sudden presence has troubled her.
It would trouble all normal human beings. Sunday is a day of relaxation for those who don’t work weekend shifts.
James Taylor is clearly trying to investigate more than damage. He should kick up his feet and relax like the rest of us. Piper doesn’t have a hidden agenda. Small-town folk don’t. It’s the reason I moved up here to raise Ellie—people are transparent. What you see is what you get.
Piper has been more guarded recently. She hesitates, not out of nervousness like before, but because she now understands what happens when you fall too far in love.
That is why she’s acting guarded.
James Taylor’s visit has nothing to do with her acting tense.
I analyze her tense features and pray for another moment outside on the porch again. It was the first time I’ve seen her acting like her old self again since our reunion. But it was a fleeting moment, and she quickly reined in her personality as soon as she caught it slipping.
Too much has changed.
We can’t go back there.
It stings. Coffee dates were always our thing.
“First round of assessments,” she repeats. “How many rounds does he have in mind?”
I study the lines of tension under her lip and wonder if this is about money, or having to stay under my roof longer than she needs to.
“Insurance people are always strange,” I say. “But their line of work is important. They expose the villains living among us.”
“What do you mean?”
“James Taylor sounds like he’s hungry for information.”
Another questioning look from Piper.
“Insurance fraud,” I clarify. “You’d be surprised how many cases I’ve had to deal with. People really are willing to go to that extreme, risking lives of innocents all for money and brand-new rebuilds.”
“Really?” Piper hitches an eyebrow up to her hairline. “What if they have a plausible reason?”
“Bad people never have plausible reasons.” I take a moment to note Piper’s eyebrow, rising higher still into her hair.
She wouldn’t be capable of setting her own house on fire.
It’s not in her character.
But just to be on the safe side… “How are finances going for you at the moment?”
Piper rolls her eyes and scoffs. “Jeez. You sound like the insurance guy.”
“I’m delighted to hear that.” I fold my arms over my chest. “I’m asking as a friend.”
“We’re friends now, are we?”
“We have to be if you and Sonny are staying here.”
I know what she’s thinking.
Friends don’t leave.
Friends don’t lie.
“Finances are fine,” she says, keeping her responses short. “They always are when you live in a town miles away from civilization.”
“Fair enough.”
Then I do something I’m not proud of and straight-up lie to her face.
I guess it’s not the first time. But I need a way out.
“I have cases to file upstairs in my office. I’ll see you later.”
I trudge upstairs with great effort and lock myself away in the office. There are no cases to file, but I needed to escape before I did something regrettable.
Her lips are looking awfully kissable today.
Fuck.
I slip out my phone and check in with my anonymous girl who’s been giving me the silent treatment ever since last night.
It felt good to relieve some tension, but I’m right back to where I started—compulsively thinking about Piper.
That bare shoulder has no reason to turn me on. Today she’s wearing lazy clothes—a simple white tee paired with gray sweatpants. She clearly threw on the first items of clothing she saw this morning, to rush outside and get started on the insurance. Is she that desperate to get out of here?
My cock remembers our eye contact before the insurance assessor interrupted. Fate brought him to my door for a reason—to dissipate the tension swimming between Piper and me before it got too out of hand.
My testosterone levels were reset…
Until this morning when I saw her looking like a three-course meal in sweats.
But it was never about the clothes. It was more about the woman in them.
I take out my cock and massage it under the desk.
I was one heartbeat away from ruining everything. From going there.
I throw back my head as the desire thickens, and remember the way her tight, virgin walls first wrapped around my length in longing as I thrust inside. Her arms were bound around my shoulders like I was the only secure thing in her life.
The trust she put in me was daunting at first, but I wanted to stay in town.
I wanted to be part of her life.
The best part.
I shut my eyes and pretend I’m back in that tent again.
I watch her heaving breasts.
Her walls are welcoming, wrapping tightly around me.
I’d pay millions to hear her sigh again, and come undone from her orgasm.
Growing a child has only enhanced her womanly curves.
Her breasts are larger, more pronounced.
There’s so much more to grab, and my palm was itching earlier to reach out and squeeze them right through her shirt.
Her ass is even fuller too, and moves independently from her body with a mind of its own.
It could do with a spank.
I did that to her a handful of times back then. The excited squeal that flew out of her mouth told me she enjoyed being touched there. With force.
I tighten the hand around my cock and pretend now that I’m deep inside of her, spilling my seed.
I wanted to be the first man in her life.
And the last.
Exhaling a long, disappointed breath as my climax fades, I regain my vision and stare blankly at my reflection in the computer monitor screen.
Our reunion was never meant to happen.
I recline into the office chair in defeat, and remember her hitched eyebrow when I mentioned the insurance fire. The brief lines of tension caught me off guard for a moment.
Now I look back in retrospect and wonder if she lied to me about her financial situation.
Piper is forgetting that I, too, am a single, working parent. Fire and rescue pays more than barista work, but that doesn’t mean I live life on easy mode without a dependent child to feed, clothe, and house.
Prices in small-town Maine are cheaper than they are in New York City, which is why I was able to buy a house with acreage, no problem. But the bills are never-ending when you have a little person to take care of.
And Piper doesn’t exactly have a family support system.
I lean forward and pinch the bridge of my nose, unsure if her setting fire to her house for insurance would be a good thing or not.
I need distance.
And this might just be a good enough excuse for me to stay away.