Chapter 12
Caleb was working in his office several days later when his phone rang.
He picked it up to glance at the screen, preparing to ignore it, but when he saw it was Wes, he connected the call after all.
“Hey, are you in town?”
“Not yet,” Wes said, sounding unusually serious.
“Did something happen?”
“No. I was planning to fly in yesterday, but I couldn’t get away from work. I’ll come in next week now. But I was wondering if you’d do me a favor.”
“Sure.” Caleb replied automatically, but he was starting to feel a sinking in his gut, intuition telling him he wasn’t going to like this favor.
“Shit, I hate to ask, but Dad is as sick as a dog with the flu, and my mom needs to get in for a blood transfusion.”
“Don’t you have someone there to help them?”
“Of course. There’s always a nurse, but Mom’s gotten really…” Wes cleared his throat. “She needs someone she knows with her.”
“I haven’t seen her for years.”
“I know that. But she knows you. I know it’s a lot to ask, but they’re falling apart on me, and I’m on a different continent.”
Caleb couldn’t remember ever hearing Wes so stretched, almost helpless. All his well-practiced instincts at self-preservation were screaming at him to hang up, to get away. But he heard himself saying, “I’ll do it. When does she need to go in?”
“This afternoon. Can you get away?”
Caleb glanced at his afternoon, most of which was scheduled with meetings or calls, a sick weight churning in his gut.
“I’ll do it.”
As soon as he said the words, he knew this was the last thing he should have agreed to.
Three hours later, he dropped Wes’s mother back at their town house and could finally let out his breath.
He felt ill and exhausted in a way he hadn’t for years, and so many memories were bombarding him now that—if he didn’t distract himself soon—he might just go home and drink himself into a stupor.
He should probably get back to work since he’d had to reschedule his whole afternoon, but a headache was pounding at his temples, and he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He didn’t want to work. He wanted to see Kelly.
He called Breah to tell her he was coming home early, and he was surprised and displeased when she told him that Kelly wasn’t there. She’d evidently gone shopping this afternoon.
So he called up Pete, who was the man he’d assigned to her, and was told they were at an upscale mall.
It was on his way home, so Caleb headed over there. At least it would be a distraction. Make him forget what the hospital had smelled like, the memories it had brought with it.
It took a while to get there and then more time to get parked, call Pete, and then find the dress store he’d indicated. But finally Caleb entered the boutique and saw Pete standing next to what was obviously the dressing room door.
“She’s trying shit on,” Pete said, straightening up when Caleb approached.
Caleb rubbed a hand through his hair, wondering what he was even doing here. He could have gone back to work. Or gone back home. He didn’t need to rush here to just wait around while Kelly shopped.
He wanted to see her.
“How long has she been in there?” he asked.
Pete shrugged. “A while. Twenty minutes.”
“How long does it take to try on clothes?” Feeling frustrated by the whole day, Caleb pushed through the door. There obviously weren’t separate men’s and women’s dressing areas in this shop, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t allowed.
He stopped short as soon as entered.
His eyes had landed unerringly on Kelly, who was standing behind the partly open door of the farthest cubicle.
She was talking to a man.
The man was around forty with a strong build and a slightly rumpled appearance. He was smiling down at Kelly in a way that made Caleb stiffen.
What the hell was she doing in here with this guy?
He paced toward them, a surge of possessive resentment coursing through him. They weren’t touching, but Kelly was smiling back at him and it felt private, secretive somehow.
The man noticed him first, his expression changing as he processed Caleb’s appearance.
Kelly turned, jerking visibly in obvious surprise.
Or guilt. Maybe guilt.
Caleb was bristling with irrational jealousy as he reached them.
“I guess this means you’re already taken,” the man said, giving Kelly another smile. “Too bad.”
“Nice try,” Kelly said, smiling distractedly and giving the stranger a little wave. She turned to Caleb. “What are you doing here?”
“Who was that?” he demanded.
“Just some guy. What are you doing here?”
“What were you doing in here with him?” He looked over his shoulder, but the other man had already left the dressing room.
“He was flirting with me.” Kelly was frowning now, and her shoulders were stiff. “What did you think? We’d come in here for a quick fuck?”
“You didn’t know him?” Caleb was starting to wonder if he’d overreacted, but there had been a vibe earlier that he couldn’t quite pin down, something that roused his suspicions.
“Of course I didn’t know him. He was in here looking for a shirt to wear to a wedding, and I talked him out of buying a really ugly one. He was just coming on to me. It happens sometimes, you know.”
That squared with what the guy had said as he left, but still. Caleb stood tensely, studying her face, wondering why he still wanted to clobber someone.
“I didn’t peg you for the jealous type,” Kelly said, turning away to get her purse and a blue dress out of the cubicle. “And I’ve got to say, all this alpha-male possessiveness is really not appealing. I’m allowed to talk to other men, you know.”
Of course she was allowed. He didn’t normally overreact this way. He had no idea what was wrong with him. Only he hated the idea of Kelly with another man.
He hated it.
“As long as talking is all you do,” he muttered, an edge to his tone that surprised him.
It evidently surprised her too. She stared at him for a minute, her hair slipping out of her long braid the way it always did. “If I’m supposed to curb my extracurricular activities, then the same better apply to you.”
Did she really think he was fucking other women? Did she really think he even wanted to?
He stepped forward, walking her backward and holding her in place by bracing a hand on the wall. “I don’t share.”
Her cheeks were flushed now, and she arched slightly, visibly turned on. But her voice was controlled as she replied, “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. But I know you’re not talking about me as your possession.”
Of course she was his. Her gold hair, her creamy skin, her lush curves, her long legs, her supple mouth. Her knowing, intelligent eyes. All of it felt like his, and he still bristled at the idea of anyone else laying a hand on her.
“Okay,” Kelly said, reaching up to stroke his jaw. “If you’re going to go all caveman on me, then you’ll have to wait until we get home. I’m not getting fucked in the dressing room.”
“It doesn’t have to be now, but you’re definitely getting fucked.”
She was smiling as she pushed him out of the dressing room, and he stood beside her as she paid for her dress. She didn’t say anything, but she kept slanting little looks up at him as if trying to figure out what was going on with him.
When they left the mall, Pete drove her car home, and she got in the passenger seat of Caleb’s car.
She was studying him so closely now that it was making him self-conscious.
He said, “I know you’re hot for me, but we agreed we’d wait until we got home before you get fucked.”
She gave a little laugh, but he hadn’t distracted her from her questions. “What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Yeah.” He’d turned on the car, but he hadn’t shifted into drive yet.
“I know you didn’t blow your whole schedule to go shopping with me, so what’s going on?”
There was no good reason to tell her, but he heard himself saying, “I had to… do a favor for a friend and then didn’t go back into work.”
“What favor?” Her voice was soft, as if she were afraid of spooking him.
He let out a long exhale and closed his eyes. “I had to take a friend’s mother to the hospital for a blood transfusion.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, clearly surprised. “Why you?”
Naturally, she would be surprised. He wasn’t the sort of man who’d go out of his way for someone else. “Because she knows me. She’s not doing well, and the only people she remembers are from way back. My friend didn’t have anyone else to ask.”
“Well… that was really nice of you.”
He opened his eyes and gave her a narrow-eyed look. “ Nice isn’t the word I’d use to describe me.”
“I know. But still.” She looked strange, like she was rattled for some reason. Her eyes kept darting from his face to her hands in her lap. “I’m sure your friend appreciated it. Was it?—”
“Was it what?”
“Was it hard? You seem kind of… I don’t know… stretched or something this afternoon.”
He closed his eyes again.
“Yeah.” He decided the conversation had gone on long enough. He straightened up and backed the car out of the parking place.
She didn’t pursue her earlier questions. She sat with her arms hugging her stomach, looking strangely fragile and confused.
After about ten minutes of silence, he looked at her and asked, “You okay?”
She smiled, but he could tell it was forced. “Of course. I’m waiting to get fucked at home.”
He could tell she didn’t mean that either.
It was a few minutes before he spoke again, and when he did, it wasn’t what he’d intended to say. “I don’t like hospitals.”
He’d surprised her again. Her big blue eyes gazed up at him questioningly.
He gave a little shake of his head. “I don’t.”
After a moment, she murmured, “Too many people to save.” She understood completely.
He stared out the windshield out to the traffic on the highway. “And no way to save them.”
That night, Kelly asked him to tie her up.
He’d brought her to his room at bedtime, and they’d been kissing and caressing under the covers. Nothing wild or creative, but it had felt intense. He was tired after a long week and was mostly in the mood for something quiet.