Chapter 15
CALLUM
Icranked the treadmill up to nine and focused on the wall in front of me. The basement gym was all rubber flooring and mirrored walls. I was a frequent flyer on the equipment. It didn’t just sit and get dusty.
My home gym had seen me through a lot. It was like having an in-house therapist. The gym was usually the one place in my life where everything went quiet.
No business decisions, no family obligations, no charity auctions, no decisions about the store opening.
Just me running from all the stress in my world. Usually, it worked.
Not today.
I turned it up to ten.
I could still feel her fingers in my hair. The way she’d grabbed me with both hands like she needed something to hold on to. The sound she made when my tongue ran over her clit.
I punched the speed up to eleven.
The treadmill belt was screaming beneath me. My lungs were screaming too. I kept going. My arms pumped like I was trying to outrun the hounds of hell.
Over the years, I’d had plenty of evenings with women I found attractive, women I enjoyed spending time with, women who were interesting for a night or two before the whole thing dissolved naturally into nothing.
I’d enjoyed sex with those women. That was the system.
Clean exits, no complications, no one gets hurt.
But that was not what happened with Victoria. She had gotten under my skin and into the very fiber of my being. It’d been a week and I swore I could still taste her. Feel her body wrapped around mine. I was caught up and I didn’t think I liked it.
I finally hit stop on the treadmill and stood there with my hands on the rails, chest heaving, sweat dripping off my nose onto the rubber belt. I’d been at it for almost an hour. My legs were burning. My lungs felt like they had shrunk to the size of peanuts.
I still couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Most women I spent time with were trying to impress me. Victoria seemed entirely unbothered by that pressure. She said what she thought. She called me out but not to be cruel. She was shooting me straight, which was a rare thing in my world.
I grabbed my towel from the hook on the wall and pressed it to my face. I needed a reason to see her again. A legitimate one. Something real.
The problem was, I couldn’t think of one. She wasn’t in my world. She ran in circles adjacent to my family but those weren’t circles that overlapped with my daily life. I couldn’t exactly call her up and say I was in the neighborhood. She’d see right through it.
I turned the idea over in my head while I took off my workout clothes and stepped into the shower. The water ran hot enough to strip paint. I stood under it and stared at the tile.
I could donate to the charity. I’d already planned to write them a check, something substantial, but I could make it an occasion.
Ask for a meeting to discuss the donation.
That was reasonable. That was something a normal person might do.
Victoria would absolutely see through it but at least I’d get to watch her figure it out.
I could tell her I wanted to discuss the matter over lunch. Very business casual.
Or I could just call her. Like an adult. Pick up the phone and say I wanted to see her again.
Why did that option freak me out? I wasn’t nervous. I didn’t get nervous. I was Callum Blackwell. I was a businessman. I didn’t get nervous over a phone call to a woman.
But dammit, the thought of getting rejected by her was too much. I was a chickenshit. Coward. That damn word again.
I got dressed, grabbed my keys, and drove to the store.
The Beverly Hills location looked different every time I walked through the door. Progress had a way of sneaking up on you when you were in the middle of it. Every day it looked slightly more like the vision Adrian had shared with me back at the beginning.
The floors were done. The white marble caught the light from the overhead fixtures and threw it back in every direction, filling the room with a brightness that made everything feel elevated.
The champagne walls for the bridal section were complete, and I had to admit they looked exactly right.
Not beige. Not cream. Something in between that was somehow more sophisticated than either.
A shade dark enough to make a white wedding gown pop, but not dark enough to look dingy.
“There he is,” Drew called from somewhere near the back.
I found him standing with two of the contractors near the menswear section, where the dark wood paneling was being installed along the walls. It looked very classy. The kind of place a man could relax and enjoy a drink while searching for the right fit.
“Looking good,” I said, running my hand along one of the panels. The craftsmanship was excellent. I’d been particular about the wood grain matching across the seams and whoever they’d sent had actually paid attention.
“Almost there,” one of the contractors said. “We’ll have the paneling done by end of week. Then we’re just waiting on the shelving units for the accessories section.”
“They’re confirmed for Thursday,” I said. “I spoke with the supplier yesterday.”
“Then we’re in good shape.”
I thanked them and moved through the space with Drew at my shoulder. He nudged me.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Drew.”
“What’s up with you?” he asked. “You look weird.”
I looked down at my attire, which looked fine. “No, I don’t.”
We stopped in the middle of the main showroom.
The velvet couches and chairs had been arranged around a low marble coffee table near the window.
It looked like a place where someone might sit for an hour with a glass of champagne and browse through a catalog that was preloaded on iPads.
That was another Cleo idea. We didn’t want fingers touching all the white wedding stuff.
They browsed, they picked, and then they got their grubby little fingers on whatever they wanted.
“How’s the opening looking?” I asked.
“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Adrian called yesterday.”
“Good or bad?”
“Interesting.” Drew tilted his head. “He thinks we should do a fashion show for the launch event.”
“That’s not a new idea.”
“No, but his version is a little different.” Drew started walking toward the window, looking out at the street.
“He thinks a traditional catwalk show is played out. Everyone does it. You walk some models down a runway and people golf clap and eat canapés and go home and maybe they remember one dress.”
“And his alternative?”
“He doesn’t have one yet. He said he wants to do something unexpected. Something that makes people feel something instead of just watching.” Drew turned back to me. “He’s thinking interactive, maybe. Or narrative. Like, tell a story with the clothes instead of just displaying them.”
I considered that. Adrian had good instincts.
He knew what resonated with people. My cousins had a flare for being extra.
Hell, the last show I attended was in the pouring rain on top of a mountain in Greece.
They really liked the dramatic. If he was saying the standard approach wasn’t enough, he was probably right.
“Did he have any specific ideas?”
“He’s got a few directions he’s thinking. Nothing locked in.” Drew paused. “He mentioned something about real couples. As in, not models playing at being in love. Actual people who are either engaged or recently married. Let them tell their story while they wear the clothes.”
“That could work,” I said slowly.
“It could be incredible,” Drew said. “Or it could be a disaster if the couples are boring or nervous or fight backstage.” He shrugged. “But you know Adrian. He’s not going to let it be a disaster.”
“I’ve been brainstorming,” I said. “I’ll think of something.”
Drew looked at me sideways. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.”
“You said that already and I didn’t believe you then either.” He crossed his arms. “You’re spacing out. I’ve been talking to you and I can see you’re not actually here.”
I didn’t say anything. I walked over to one of the velvet chairs and dropped into it, leaning my elbows on my knees. Drew sat down across from me and waited. He was annoyingly patient when he wanted information.
“I’ve been a little distracted,” I admitted.
“By what?”
I looked at him and sighed. “The girl.”
“What happened at that dinner? You haven’t been the same since.”
I shrugged and thought about lying, but I needed advice and Drew was the best option. “We went back to my place for a drink.”
He knew what that meant. “Ah. I see.”
“Please don’t make it weird,” I said again.
“What do I care? You take women home all the time.” He shook his head. “I mean, I guess it’s been a while. So congrats on breaking your slump. Just watch. You’ll have two more notches on your bedpost by the end of the week.”
“No, man,” I said more intensely than I had intended.
“No what?”
“It wasn’t like that with her,” I said. “She’s cool. I want to see her again.”
That got Drew’s attention. “Well, well, well. That’s different for you. But, hey, what’s wrong with that?”
“It’s a bad time to be distracted,” I said.
“You can work and get a girlfriend. People do it all the time.”
I looked at him. “She’s not my girlfriend. Chill the fuck out.”
He raised both hands. “Okay. Sure.”
“It was one night. I like her. Let’s not jump ahead.”
Drew shrugged. “We just watched it happened with the cousins. And when they fell, they fell hard.”
“I’m not them,” I said with a grin. “I’m just saying Victoria is someone I want to see again.”
“Great, so why do you seem so wound up?” he asked. “You should go for a run.”
“I already did,” I said, slumping back on the couch.
“Yikes.” He shook his head sorrowfully. “She’s got you all twisted up. Just ask her out.”
“I will. I’m just thinking about how.”
He snorted a laugh. “Since when do you think when it comes to women? Just ask her out, bro.”
“I don’t want to come on too strong. I want to keep it casual.”
His eyes widened like he’d come to a realization. “Holy shit, you’re scared she’ll reject you.”
I stood up from the chair. “Are we done here?”
He stood as well. “Look, do whatever you want. Ask her out, don’t ask her out. Just make don’t get distracted by what-ifs. Just talk to her and all this overthinking will stop.” He gestured around the showroom. “At least get through this grand opening first. A lot of people are counting on you.”
“I know.”
Drew clapped me on the shoulder. “On the bright side, you’ve got me here to help.”
I looked around the large space and something tickled the back of my brain.
“I think I might have an idea,” I said.
Drew stopped walking. “See? You stop being distracted and you’re back in the game.”
“Give me a few days to hammer out the details, but I think I know what we need.”
“Can’t wait,” Drew said. He checked his watch. “I have to go. Call your girl. Set up a date for after the opening. And then you can focus.”
I nodded and waved him off. I needed to get my idea on paper.