Chapter 10 #2
She mentioned to Breah that she felt like shopping for clothes, and the next thing Kelly knew, she was being driven to a high-end shopping center.
She was trailed by a bodyguard, but she’d expected that—since Caleb was still playing the protector—and she took her time, browsing in a few boutiques and buying a few pieces of sexy lingerie and a pair of shoes she couldn’t resist.
Finally she got to a shop where the dressing cubicles were in a completely separate room from the main store. She grabbed a couple of outfits and went to try them on, making sure the bodyguard waited at the door and didn’t come into the dressing area with her.
She went to the farthest cubicle and hung the clothes up before she pulled her phone out and sat down.
If Jack didn’t answer—right now, in the one chance she had to talk to him—then she would be highly annoyed.
After the third ring, a male voice came on the line. “Martin.”
She sighed in relief, recognizing the gruff tones from when she’d talked to him before she came to Caleb’s. “It’s Kelly.” She spoke softly even though she was alone in the dressing room and the bodyguard was a room and a closed door away.
There was a slight pause. “So I guess that means he doesn’t have you tied up in his dungeon.”
It was so close to the language Caleb himself had used in his teasing, seductive way that Kelly was startled. To hide it, she made sure her voice was very light. “I’ve looked and looked and looked, but I can’t seem to find a dungeon.”
“Too bad. Is everything all right?” Jack sounded a bit concerned.
She knew he thought she was stupid for doing this. He’d told her in no uncertain terms the last time they’d spoken. But she already knew it was stupid. That was hardly the point. She was still doing it.
“Yeah. I’m fine. I just needed to know if you’ve found out anything that will help me.”
“Not much. You’re not in his computer yet, are you?”
“No. I don’t know how I’m going to manage that. The man must suffer from paranoia with all the security he has in place. Plus he doesn’t trust me yet. I’ll need more time.”
Jack muttered something inaudible, and she didn’t ask him what he meant. Whatever he’d said, it was disapproving.
“Anyway, I need some direction—at least something to be looking for, other than the general date. Please tell me you’ve got something.”
“I’ve got some people who might have been involved. I’m going to read their names. You ready?”
She had nothing to write them down on, and she couldn’t risk that anyway, so she focused carefully on the five names he gave her until she’d committed them to memory.
“Has he introduced you to anyone? Do you hang out with his friends?”
“I honestly don’t think he has any friends. He doesn’t do anything but work and?—”
“Spare me the dirty details. What is your situation like? Can you get away if you need to?”
“It’s a little hard to manage, but it’s possible.
He thinks our fictional mobster is after me, so he’s got a bodyguard tagging along after me, but I’m shopping now.
I’m sure I could slip away if I needed to.
Or, if necessary, I could tell him I was leaving.
He’d let me go, but I’d have no chance of getting in with him again. Why?”
“I was just checking. I might have something to show you in a few days, but it would have to be in person, unless you want to risk me sending it to your phone.”
“No.” Her heart jumped at the thought. “I don’t trust him not to get into my phone. Don’t send anything by phone.”
“Okay then. Well, if necessary, maybe you could arrange a shopping trip, and we could find a way to meet up quickly. I’ll let you know.”
“Okay.” The thought made her nervous, but she dismissed it as irrational. Caleb was neither omniscient nor omnipresent. She had to be careful about the bodyguard since he would report back to Caleb, but there would be ways to work around that.
She was in control here. Not Caleb. No matter what he thought.
“Anything else to report?” she asked, deciding she better end the conversation soon before the bodyguard got nosy.
“Well, I just got a new receptionist,” Jack grumbled. “And she can’t even make decent coffee. I’ve been drinking this swill for a week now. It’s becoming a nuisance, but I’ll be damned before I pay four dollars for a cup at Starbucks.”
Kelly couldn’t hold back a laugh. Jack was obviously competent at his job, and he was also kind of funny. “I’ll be greatly disappointed in you if I find out you’ve caved and forsaken your principles for the lure of half-decent coffee.”
“So far I’m managing to stay strong. I’ll be in touch.”
She hung up, feeling strange and a little relieved, like there was a whole world outside Caleb’s sanctum.
She’d been starting to feel like there was nothing in the world but him.
On Thursday of the following week, Kelly was still at Caleb’s house outside the city.
He kept asking about her old lover, and she’d refused to tell him a lot of details—just a few breadcrumbs for him to follow that wouldn’t take him anywhere.
Her reticence clearly frustrated and puzzled him.
But his curiosity was good. It would hold his interest even if he started to grow sated with the sex.
There was no sign of that happening yet.
He needed to trust her—at least enough to let his guard down around her.
He wasn’t a fool, and he wasn’t going to give her access to incriminating information this early in their relationship.
His office at home was always locked. She knew this because she’d checked it.
Even if she could get in, it wouldn’t do her any good unless she could get onto his computer.
So he worked all day, and they would fuck in the evening. Nothing really had changed, except she was getting used to having sex with him, so it wasn’t quite so traumatic.
But she couldn’t extend this situation indefinitely. For one, her backstory would only hold up for a limited amount of time. For another, being with Caleb like this was tearing her apart.
She was relieved when Caleb texted her just after six that evening, letting her know he had to work late so she shouldn’t expect him back until late. She had a relaxing dinner on her own, a quiet walk with Ralph around the property, and then a bath before she went to bed alone.
She stayed awake for a while, waiting to see if Caleb would show up. But by midnight there was still no sign of him, so she let herself fall asleep.
She had no idea what day or time or year it was when she was awakened by a knock on the bedroom door. “Yeah,” she mumbled loudly, more an instinctive response to a knock and that a conscious invitation into her room.
Caleb didn’t know that, however. He opened the door and came in. All the lights were off in the room, so she couldn’t see him but she knew it was him.
It smelled like him. It felt like him. Caleb was unmistakable.
She’d managed to orient herself by the time he reached the bed, but her mind was too fuzzy to interact with him safely. She needed every bit of her mind acutely attuned to him and to her deception in order to successfully deceive him. Half asleep wasn’t the way to do it.
“Sorry,” he murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed and stroking her hair back from her face. “You were asleep.”
“What did you expect in the middle of the night?” She had enough willpower to make sure her voice was teasing rather than annoyed.
“Wishful thinking on my part, I guess. You want me to go?”
Of course she wanted him to go. She was dying to be rid of him. But she also needed to keep him perfectly satisfied or she’d lose this very slim window of opportunity.
So she said, “No. You can stay. But don’t expect a very adventurous performance tonight.”
He was smiling. She could hear it in his voice when he replied, “Sounds good to me. I’m not feeling particularly adventurous myself.”
She gave herself a quick mental prep session as he took off his clothes and climbed under the covers. He rolled on top of her, kissing her softly and gently moving her bottom so her groin was better aligned to his. Then he found her clit and massaged it as his tongue stroked inside her mouth.
She purposefully softened her body, her pussy, but she wasn’t mentally ready a few minutes later when he rolled on one of the condoms she kept on the nightstand and edged his cock inside her.
It was physically comfortable. Her body was relaxed, and she was wet enough for him to slide in fairly easily.
But he was everywhere. All over her. Poised above her as he thrusted, breathing loud and ragged, staring down at her in the dark, smelling both expensive and natural. Filling all her senses.
It didn’t—couldn’t—feel like a faceless man. It was Caleb. Solid. Real. Human.
“Is this okay, baby?” he asked hoarsely after a few minutes. “Is this not doing it for you? You need something else?”
“No.” She squirmed slightly, her face hot and her heart pounding in her ears and in her pussy. “This is good. So good. So good.” She kept repeating it in a mumble, desperately searching for how she’d been faking orgasms with him all this time. She couldn’t seem to remember.
His speed accelerated, jostling the bed rhythmically. “It’s okay, baby. Tell me what you need.”
She had to do something. She had to. He was recognizing that she wasn’t close to coming, and it bothered him.
With a much-needed brainstorm, she squeezed her hand between their bodies so she could rub her clit. Her pussy tightened automatically as she massaged it.
“That’s right,” Caleb huffed, jerking his head to the side as she clenched around him. “Fuck, yes. That’s what you needed. You’re doing so good. You’re almost there.”
She was whimpering for real now, rubbing eagerly at her clit because the sensations, paired with Caleb’s hard cock moving inside her, felt so good.
He adjusted his position so he could raise one of her thighs, shifting the angle of the penetration just right.