Chapter 22
The cocktail party was an engagement celebration for an acquaintance of Caleb’s.
Evidently the man was big in the local business scene, so the guest list included quite a few important and influential people.
It was being held in a nineteenth-century mansion that had been converted to an upscale event venue, and Kelly had a hard time even beginning to estimate the price tag for this evening’s festivities.
Only in the past couple of weeks had Kelly started going out in public with Caleb as his girlfriend, so she was slightly self-conscious as they circled the ornate ballroom. The Watsons had been wealthy by most people’s standards, but they hadn’t been anywhere close to this league.
Her dress wasn’t cheap, but it was off the rack, which wasn’t true of most of the evening gowns she saw. And her only piece of expensive jewelry was the pendant at her neck. She could feel the weight of it as she moved. As if it were Caleb pressing against her skin.
She stayed mostly quiet, drinking the excellent champagne and letting Caleb take the lead as they circled.
He worked the room like it was a battlefield, a thing to be conquered.
She tried to keep the perspective she needed by reminding herself how fake it all was—how fake Caleb was as he schmoozed all these important people—but he really was impressive, and it was hard not to recognize that.
He charmed the women and created bonds with the men and generally made sure everyone he encountered had a favorable impression of him.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her in a low voice as they moved on from someone who was evidently a former UN ambassador.
Letting him guide her to a quiet corner of the room, Kelly smiled up at him. “I was trying to keep up with everyone’s names.”
“That might be true, but it’s not all you were thinking about.” He eased closer to her, his eyes holding hers with that magnetic gaze that was so hard to resist. “What are you thinking about me?”
“What makes you think I’m thinking about you?
” She kept her smile flirtatious, but it was deeply troubling that he could read her so easily, that he’d been able to see the direction of her thoughts from the expression on her face.
She was playing a dangerous game here, and it was so hard to be on all the time.
She was so tired of always being careful, always leading conversations the way she wanted them to go so she could get the information she needed, always guarding every expression of her face and nuance of her voice. She was getting so tired of all of it.
She took another swallow of champagne, starting to feel the relaxing buzz from the alcohol. She was on her third glass, and she better stop with this one. Being relaxed was good—was necessary—but being too relaxed would be a mistake.
“You keep watching me.” His smile was intimate beneath the characteristic cool smugness. He reached to run a hand down her hair, which was still loose and tousled from before. “I think it’s because you can still feel me inside you.”
She could still feel him inside her, and she was very aware that she probably looked like she’d just been tumbled in the back room. Her pussy gave a little clench at his sexy tone, but she shook her head. “Maybe you should dial back the confidence a little.”
His smile broadened. “If you say so. But you were thinking about me, weren’t you?”
“Yeah. I was just watching you conquer the room and wondering how you got so good at it.” It was safest to stick to the truth whenever possible. It was always the most convincing, and it was easier to remember than the lies.
But more and more it was making even these little interactions between them feel like the real thing.
Caleb gave a nonchalant lift of one shoulder, although she thought he was pleased with her comment. “People are easy.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? You think so?”
“Well, most people. On this level.” He gestured out at the mingling, well-dressed crowd. “It’s all surface. It’s just a skill you can learn.”
“I’ve never found making small talk easy.”
He took her empty glass from her hand and put it with his own glass on the tray of a circling server. “That’s because you haven’t had as much practice as I have. It’s all politics—parties like this—and that’s a skill. People are easy.”
“I hope the implication isn’t that I’m easy too.”
He made a sound in his throat and slid an arm around her, pulling her closer to him.
It wasn’t an inappropriate touch for public, but it felt private, tender, like it was something that other people shouldn’t witness.
“Nothing about you is easy, Blossom.” His eyes met hers without wavering.
“I have no skill to fall back on with you.”
Her breath hitched, and her hands clenched in his jacket, holding on to him in the only way she could. Her heart was beating wildly, but she managed to conjure up a sexy, teasing tone as she replied, “No skill at all?”
His eyes went hot. “Well, maybe?—”
Before he could respond, a voice interrupted from just over Caleb’s shoulder. “If I was prone to clichés, I might say something about getting a room.”
Both Kelly and Caleb jumped at the unexpected interruption of a conversation that had felt so intensely personal.
Caleb’s expression was briefly annoyed as he turned to see who had broken in, but it immediately transformed into a genuine smile. “Wes. I should have guessed it was you barging in where you’re clearly not wanted.”
Wes was evidently a real friend if Kelly was to go by Caleb’s demeanor.
He looked to be around Caleb’s age—early forties—and had a pleasant face, soft hazel eyes, and a warm smile.
He wasn’t the powerhouse and sex god that Caleb was.
Not even close. But he looked intelligent and rather nice.
“Ah, but someone had to save your reputation. Gloria Cannon was starting to tsk her tongue at you.”
Caleb was grinning as he made the introductions. He liked this man. Kelly couldn’t help but see it, and it intrigued her since he didn’t seem to be close to anyone.
Except her.
“We were friends at school,” Caleb explained, drawing her to his side, his arm resting on her waist. “And then we interned together for a few years for his dad.”
“I guess you’ve known each other a long time then.”
“You don’t have to make it sound like we’re ancient, but yeah, we’ve been friends most of our lives,” Caleb responded.
“What do you do now, Wes?” Kelly asked, genuinely curious and wanting to make sure she acted like a normal girlfriend would.
“I build cars.”
She was processing this as Caleb interjected, “Not with his own hands, just to clarify. He sits at a desk like I do.”
“I’m a corporate executive with the company, but it sounds more impressive if I just tell people I build cars.” Wes smiled at her. He seemed to be genuinely pleased to meet her, which wasn’t true of a lot of the other people at this party.
“You live in DC?”
“No. I’m in Paris actually. But I’m back in town for a little while for family reasons.”
Kelly suddenly made the connection. The mother of one of Caleb’s friends had needed to go to the hospital for treatment several weeks ago. This must be the friend.
That day had evidently been rough on Caleb—he said he hated hospitals—so she figured he would only have done it for someone he was really close to.
It was strange to meet a friend of his, connections going back to his childhood. It made Caleb somehow seem more fully human.
“Have we met somewhere before?” Wes asked, peering at her more closely.
Kelly blinked. Surely he hadn’t been one of her one-night stands. There were a lot. She didn’t remember all their names, but she was sure she’d remember their faces. “I don’t think so. I probably have a common face.”
She added that last bit on purpose to steer the conversation in a different direction, and Caleb didn’t let her down. He made a sound of rough objection. “The last thing you are is common, Blossom.”
She smiled at him sappily, but her relief was short lived.
“I’m sure I’ve seen you before. That hair is unmistakable.” Wes was clearly serious. His observation of her had grown intense.
If he’d interned at Reliant, there was a small chance he’d seen a picture of her as a child on her father’s desk and somehow made the connection to her now.
Frustrated by his persistence and anxious about the slim possibility, she said tartly, “I’ve never been to Paris.
And, not to imply anything rude, but you’re not exactly in my peer group, so there’s no way our paths crossed when I was younger. ”
Caleb laughed uninhibitedly at the implication that Wes was old, and the topic finally shifted.
They chatted for a few minutes, but then Caleb went to round them up some more drinks. As soon as he stepped away, Wes said with another smile, “Now that he’s gone, you can give me the real scoop.”
She lifted her eyebrows, but her heart gave a little leap since it sounded like Wes believed there was some secret about her to be known.
Surely he wouldn’t be going back to the idea that he’d seen her before.
She was absolutely convinced he hadn’t. “What scoop?” Her mind was buzzing a little from the alcohol.
She shouldn’t have drunk the third glass of champagne.
She wasn’t as sharp as she needed to be.
“How did you and Caleb meet?”
She let out a breath of relief, trying not to reflect it on her face. “We just ran into each other by accident. At a park actually. He was there with Ralph.” Wes evidently knew who Ralph was, so she continued, “I thought he was a client I was supposed to meet, so we started talking. We hit it off.”
What had actually happened was they’d fucked each other like animals before they knew each other’s names, but no need to be quite so detailed about their first encounter.
“What do you do?” he asked.