16. Celeste
Chapter 16
Celeste
B oyfriend.
I roll my eyes and fasten the black fishnet to the garter and admire the result in the mirror. I’m wearing a short, silky black camisole that barely covers my ass, and a pair of lacy panties.
Okay, the garter and the stockings might be overkill, but if Caleb can walk around in his underwear, I can wear mine. I’m classy, after all.
And a bit slutty.
I decided to approach our little tug-of-war pragmatically. We—well, only I—have been fighting the attraction, but it’s only made everything worse.
So if one approach didn’t work, I’m going to try the exact opposite. We’ll scratch the itch, and I’m not going to overthink the aftermath. Mostly because the current frustration is at least as taxing as the potential regret and awkwardness.
Never before have I let my fear of what might be dictate my actions, and I won’t start now.
I throw on my green silk robe. Caleb ogled me in it at my apartment, so I know he likes it. Let’s see who will beg whom now.
His business call must have ended because I hear him downstairs. I toss my hair, put on some lip gloss, and pad my way down the glass stairs.
This outfit really requires heels, but this is just a casual evening at home. Barefoot will do.
I almost giggle. This is going to be fun.
Caleb isn’t in the main living space. He must have returned to his office. Goddammit. Now I feel ridiculous. My grand entrance was spoiled.
Before I can consider my next move, the door of his office clicks open. “No, Corm, I’m not fucking ready to bite the bullet for the team. I’m not on the team yet. I told you, I want twenty-five percent.”
His voice approaches quickly. I randomly pull a book from the bookcase and plop in the armchair, sideways, with my legs swinging over the armrest.
Caleb emerges from the hallway and stops. I look up from my reading quickly and mouth hi .
Score.
He’s gaping at me, but I quickly return to the page I’m reading. Well, pretending to read, because all my senses and attention are focused on the man across from me.
“No, this is not some misguided revenge for Saar. You want my expertise, and I want an influential seat at the table. Simple.”
The person on the other side is arguing loud enough for me to hear his voice, and I forget my character for a second and look up.
My eyes lock with Caleb’s. He’s leaning against the arched doorway under the stairs, a cunning smile dancing on his handsome face.
He lets his gaze run up and down my figure, and I swear my skin burns.
“Quinn, make it happen or find someone else. I’ve got to go.” He disconnects the call.
I return to the book. He moves toward me. I think. I’m so engrossed in my pretend reading, I can’t be sure.
A soft click, and his watch drops to the coffee table. His phone follows. I can sense him closer. I can smell him closer.
“What are you doing?”
I close the book and meet his gaze. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m reading.”
“I didn’t know you were starting a company.” He folds his arms, his head slanted to the side .
Frowning, I glance at the cover of Zero to One: Notes on Startups, Or How to Build the Future .
Merde.
“Because a dancer can’t be interested in business?” I snap, abandoning my femme fatale character.
He lifts the book from my hands and sits on the coffee table, flipping through the pages.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you’re business-savvy. It’s just that your attire at the moment is more of the chilling with a romance book kind.”
He puts the book aside and rests his arms on his legs, leaning forward.
“I used to run a successful business.” For some outlandish reason, I’m defending a point that is not the point here.
“Is that what you want to talk about?” His gaze is heated as he calls me on my bullshit.
I lift my legs and spin round to sit up, crossing one leg over the other as I lean in. “I wasn’t planning on it. In fact, I wasn’t planning on much talking.”
“What would your boyfriend say?”
I roll my eyes. “I wasn’t planning to talk about that either.” I coil a strand of hair around my finger, smiling. I’m not going to tell him there is no boyfriend. The man has enough power over me already.
He licks his lips in slow motion and drops his hand to my knee. The touch is electrifying. I push up off the sofa and stand between his legs while his touch skims up my thighs.
Ironically, this is similar to my first attempt to seduce him, but while then I felt like I was selling myself for a visa, this time… I don’t know, it’s just the two of us consenting to having a good time.
Caleb doesn’t break our gaze as his hands move higher. My knees buckle when he squeezes my ass. My hair cascades around my face as I lean forward, lowering my hands to his thighs while sinking my ass into his hands.
He cups the back of my neck, and our lips connect. It’s not a heated kiss, it’s an exploratory one, just tasting each other, finding a rhythm, taking our time to play, to seduce, to enjoy.
Snaking his hand between my legs from behind, he finds my sensitive bud, rubbing it through the flimsy fabric of my panties.
I’m glad I didn’t wear my heels, because there is no way I could stand here like this and take his ministrations. Even barefoot and used to physical activity, I’m barely able to hold myself.
“I can’t wait to taste you, black swan.” He shoves two fingers in me, not bothering to push my underwear to the side, and the freaking fabric intensifies the friction.
Without much fumbling, Caleb crooks his fingers and finds the spot like he’s always had a map of my pussy.
He continues pumping his fingers in and out, my panties stretching painfully around my thighs as he shoves more of the fabric into me.
“Mon dieu,” I moan. “I’m going to come.”
“That’s the point. Let go and scream my name.”
The explosion that follows his words is spine-tingling. Mind-blowing. Heart-stopping.
Thank God I don’t sing in the theater, because I’m sure I lost my voice with the scream. And while his name was on my tongue, I swallowed that.
“Merde.” I sink into the armchair behind me, spent. Fuck, how do I go back to my vibrators after this? But that’s a problem for later.
Caleb stands and yanks me up with him. Holding me around my waist, he pinches my chin between his finger and thumb. “I said to scream my name.”
“I can’t give you everything.” I try to sound casual, sassy, but the deep truth behind my words comes across loudly.
His face hardens for a moment, as he stares me down with an intensity that makes my heart try to escape from my chest. I fully expect him to drop me here and leave, but then a crooked smile tugs at his lips.
He shakes his head and drops his mouth to mine in a punishing, bruising kiss, sealing the deal. Accepting the challenge.
I didn’t mean it like one, but clearly there are no boundaries to his cockiness. I’m not going to complain. My vibrators will get a well-deserved rest while he’s trying.
He slides the silky fabric from my shoulder, and I moan into his mouth. The elevator ding penetrates through my dazed mind, and before I can make sense of what’s happening, Caleb jumps away from me like I just burned him.
“Fuck, I’ll have to bleach my eyes now.” A young woman—no, a girl—at the elevator covers her eyes, dropping her backpack to her feet.
“Mia, what did I tell you about swearing?” Caleb reprimands her.
She snorts, rolling her eyes. “Fuck is literally the first word you ever said to me.”
I pull the two sides of my robe together as if I can scrape together some decency here. What the hell is going on?
Dressed in a simple black T-shirt and ripped jeans, the girl’s makeup might be an attempt at a goth style or just a case of absolute lack of experience in making herself look pretty.
“Who are you?” Instinctively, I step away from Caleb, almost toppling onto the sofa behind me .
The girl jumps down the step and assesses me with distrust. “Who are you ?”
Caleb’s eyes dart toward the elevator, and then to the hallway that leads to his office. Is he looking for a fast exit?
I put my hands on my hips. “What the fuck, Caleb? She’s too young, even for you!”
“Ew, gross.” The girl scrunches her nose.
“Celeste, this is Mia, my daughter. Mia, this is Celeste, my wife.” Caleb recites through his teeth, like uttering the words is the last thing he’s ever planned to do. Or like one of us got him into this situation.
“Daughter?” I ask incredulously.
“Wife?” Mia asks at the same time.
“Mia, why don’t you go to your room and order pizza? I’ll come talk to you in a minute.” Caleb goes to pick up her backpack while Mia stares at me.
My mind fires in so many directions that I can’t settle on one. He has a daughter. A teenage daughter. How did I not know that?
Goosebumps sprout on my skin, and I sigh. Because out of all the ways I could have met this girl, I’m half-naked.
She snatches her backpack and dashes upstairs.
“Sorry about that.” Caleb rakes his hand through his hair .
I belatedly grab a blanket from the chair and wrap myself in it. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Only Finn and Saar know about her.”
“How can you hide a daughter?” I hiss my words.
I don’t know the girl upstairs, but I don’t need to traumatize her with my tantrum, and I sure as hell feel like throwing one. Especially since her father isn’t offering an explanation.
“I only found out about her three months ago.” Caleb sits on the coffee table across from me again.
The scenario from earlier flashes through my mind, and I almost chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.
“How come?”
“I’d much rather continue with our previous activity.” He cocks his eyebrow. Extending his hand, he traces a line down my cleavage. “I think you were ready to beg me.”
I swat his hand away. “Nice avoidance tactic, but you’re getting zero action until you explain.”
“Fair enough.” He props his arms on his knees. “I got her mother pregnant when we were seventeen. Mia will be twelve this summer. When Reese, her mother, found out she was pregnant, she came to see me, but my father intercepted and paid her off. To get rid of the child and to disappear, so I’d never find out.”
My heart sinks. “That’s terrible.”
“That’s my father.” Sounding detached but also deeply affected, he studies his hands for a moment. “Reese decided to keep the baby, but I guess she ran out of money and decided I’d be an easy bank machine.”
“Jesus.” I cover my mouth.
“Mia showed up three months ago, and an expedited paternity test later, I became a father. And added another offense to my father’s list of fuckups.”
“But I’ve been living here for two weeks.”
“Yeah, Mia’s here every second weekend. Her mother didn’t care to face me, so the whole arrangement happened over text message. Mia begged me not to involve my lawyer, and a part of me wanted to pretend this wasn’t happening, so I just accepted it.”
“What do you mean? Jesus, Caleb, you need to meet with Mia’s mother and discuss some proper custody.”
He sighs. “I know. But I… I don’t want the confirmation she’s only after my money. Once I involve lawyers, that’s what’s going to happen.”
“So you’re just, what? Spending two weekends a month with your child without being her official guardian? What if something happens?”
“What could happen? She spends her weekend in her room on her phone, and then goes back to her mother at the end of it. I gave her a credit card, so I don’t know why either of them would be upset with the arrangement.”
I stare at him, unblinking, but no… the scene is still real.
“For a smart man, you can be really stupid.”
“What do you want me to do? It’s not like there’s a manual on how to become father of the year to an eleven-year-old. She doesn’t really want to hang out with me. I tried. And yes, you’re right, I should make it all official, but I needed a moment to grasp reality.”
“You tried? Wow, I didn’t take you as someone who gives up. You’re being so selfish right now. A child needs their father. And I’m sure you don’t have to be father of the year. Simple interest goes a long way.”
“You’ve met her for half a minute, and you know what she needs? She barely talks to me. Her mother only sent her here because they needed money.”
I jump up, the blanket falling to my ankles. “So what? You have so much to give them. You practically gave me a credit card to buy an airplane.”
He stands up too, towering over me. “That’s not what I said. Please do not buy airplanes on credit, that’s not a smart decision.” He smirks.
“Are you seriously joking now? This makes no sense. You can support them and wouldn’t even notice it, so why are you putting your head in the sand?”
“Because I don’t trust her mother. And having someone reminding me of what an asshole my father is—”
“You’re behaving like him right now. Maybe not as ruthless, but equally selfish.”
His jaw ticks, and I fear he’ll shut down. And probably divorce me, but then he bows his head. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
Two things happen in the aftermath of his admission. One, I realize my husband just showed me a vulnerable side of him. It scares me and thrills me at the same time, and it shouldn’t do either. I shouldn’t care. It opens up my heart, and that is not a good idea.
And two, as much as I want to pretend it’s none of my business, no part of me is on board with that notion. And that’s a much bigger pile to unravel.
I came down here today to seduce the man I married. Instead, I gained an instant family.