Chapter 29
CALLUM
She was out almost before her head hit the pillow.
My poor girl had been working her ass off and I was to blame for that.
I lay there in the dark with her tucked against my side, one arm around her shoulders, and stared at the ceiling.
The house was quiet. Dash and Krista had gone to bed an hour ago.
I liked having people in the house. Mostly, I liked Victoria in my house.
Victoria shifted slightly, her cheek pressing against my chest. I tightened my arm around her without thinking about it. Reflex. I did that throughout the night whenever she stirred. It always calmed her.
The best part of my day was when Victoria was in it.
She rolled her shoulders in her sleep. She was tense. She’d been carrying a lot. I carefully rolled her onto her belly. And then I straddled her without putting my weight on her. I slowly worked her shoulders like I had the other night. She stirred, letting out a soft moan.
I kept going, slow and easy, working my way across her shoulders. So many knots. How did she carry around this kind of stress all day and still smile? Under my steady pressure, each of the knots slowly loosened.
“Mm.” She was awake now. “What are you doing?”
“You’re tense,” I said quietly. “Go back to sleep.”
“Hard to sleep when someone is doing that.”
“Good hard or bad hard?”
She laughed. “Good. Very good. The best.”
I worked my way up the side of her neck and she exhaled slowly, her body relaxing beneath mine. I leaned down and pressed my lips to the curve where her neck met her shoulder.
“I don’t think I’ve told you how much I appreciate what you’ve been doing with the auction. I know it’s a lot of work. I should be paying you. You took something I barely had an idea for and turned it into something real.”
“It’s not a big deal,” she murmured. “And it’s charity, don’t pay me.”
I pressed my lips against the back of her neck. “It’s a big deal and you’re amazing and I need you to know how much it means to me.”
She turned her head slightly, flashing me a smile. “You’re just saying that because you want something.”
“I’m saying it because it’s true.” I moved my thumb along the ridge of her shoulder blade. She groaned again. “And also because I want something. Rather, someone.”
She laughed again. I kissed her neck and pulled the shirt to expose her shoulder, which I kissed as well. She shivered. “Callum.”
“Mm.”
I kissed her neck again, running my tongue across her flesh. I trailed my lips up to the curve of her ear and felt her hand come up to rest on my forearm, fingers curling in. Not pushing me away. Pulling me closer.
I pressed another kiss to her jaw. Her cheek. She rolled onto her back. I stretched out over the top of her.
“There was definitely an ulterior motive to that shoulder rub,” she murmured.
“Maybe. I could just go to sleep.”
“No way. Not after you started all that,” she said and jumped my bones.
The next morning, Victoria was already moving around the bedroom when I opened my eyes. I lay there watching her with absolutely no shame about it. She had a change of clothes that she had left a couple days ago. I liked watching her move around my room.
I could watch her do that for the rest of my life.
She picked up her phone from the nightstand. Whatever she saw, she didn’t like. Her posture changed. That tension I worked out of her shoulders was back.
“Hey.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “I just want to give you a heads-up about something so you don’t hear about it later and wonder why I didn’t mention it.”
I sat up, instantly more awake. “Okay.”
“I have a lunch meeting today.” She set the phone face down on her knee. “Jeff Connors. Betty confirmed it just now. He’s considering a significant sponsorship for the charity gala that’s coming up for us. She asked me to meet with him.”
I did my best not to react. Jeff Connors. The guy was a slimeball. An absolute prick. And she was going to have a meal with him.
“Okay,” I said.
“You’re pissed.”
“No.”
“Callum.”
I exhaled. “He’s not my favorite person.”
“I don’t think he’s anyone’s favorite person, which is probably why he wants to buy some goodwill. Betty is sending me because I know the material and I can handle a pitch conversation. And because I’ve been dealing with men like Jeff Connors my entire life. I know exactly how they operate.”
I still hated it. “I know you can handle it,” I said. She was the most capable person I’d ever met. “I’m not saying you can’t.”
“But?”
“I just want you to know you can call me if you need an out. Any reason. I’ll answer.”
She flashed a smile. “Gonna pull a fire alarm?”
I winked. “That’s Drew’s thing but I think I can figure it out in a pinch.”
“Thank you.” She leaned in and kissed me. “I’ll be fine.”
“I know you will.”
She grabbed her bag. I walked her to the door. Dash and Krista were still asleep. I stood in the doorway and watched her get into her car and pull away.
I went back inside and started coffee. I sipped it once it was ready and mulled over the lunch thing.
She was a grown woman. She’d told me about it voluntarily, which was exactly what I would have wanted her to do.
She wasn’t hiding it. There was zero chance she was going to cheat on me with the guy.
I pulled out my phone and looked up the restaurant she’d mentioned. It was a nice place. I wasn’t worried about Victoria’s ability to handle Jeff Connors. She would eat him alive if he stepped out of line.
But the problem with men like Jeff Connors was they didn’t believe rules applied to them. I had to remind myself she knew how to play that game. She’d shut him down if he was a jerk. Victoria would walk out. I knew she would.
But she’d also told me she needed the sponsorship for the gala. Men like Jeff Connors counted on that kind of need. They understood leverage instinctively. It was how they operated and got shit done. Master manipulators.
I was not going to show up at that restaurant. That would be insane. That would be the kind of thing that would make Victoria furious and rightfully so. I had never been the jealous type. I respected her and trusted her judgment. But what if she needed me?
I was her boyfriend. Weren’t boyfriends supposed to make sure their girlfriends were safe? I doubted Jeff would do anything to hurt her, but he’d make her uncomfortable. I didn’t even want him doing that. I would prefer if she never had to see him at all.
Dash appeared in the kitchen doorway about twenty minutes after Victoria left. He looked at the coffeemaker like it was the most important thing he’d ever seen in his life.
“Please tell me that’s fresh,” he said.
“It is.”
He poured himself a mug, took a long sip, and then turned around and looked at me. He looked around. “Where’s Victoria?”
“She had to work.”
“What’s going on? You look stressed. Do you normally wake up stressed? That’s intense.”
“She has a lunch meeting today,” I said. “With Jeff Connors.”
Dash was quiet for a beat. “The Jeff Connors.”
“Is there another one?”
“God, I hope not.” He picked up his mug again. “Jeff is mega-rich and the guy is a mega-asshole. What’s the meeting about?”
“Potential sponsorship for the charity. Victoria is going to talk it over with him. She told me this morning.”
“Good.”
“I’m standing here thinking about driving to the restaurant to make sure she’s okay,” I said.
Dash looked at me. There was no judgment, which I appreciated. “Understandable.”
“But she needs the sponsorship.”
“And you’re trying to figure out what to do.”
“If it were Krista, what would you do?”
“I guess it would depend.”
“I’ve never done this before,” I said. “The actual boyfriend thing. I don’t know the rules. Am I being too much? Is this the kind of thing that drives women insane? She’s capable. She told me she’s fine. Am I supposed to just believe that and stay home?”
He sipped his coffee and mulled over his response. I genuinely wanted to know. Needed to know. I couldn’t ask Drew or any of my brothers. They didn’t have any more experience in the relationship world than I did.
“Here’s what I know,” he said. “And I know this because I had to learn it the hard way. Respecting her means trusting her judgment. She told you she can handle it. You believe her. That part is settled.” He held up one finger.
“But being her boyfriend doesn’t mean you disappear.
It means you’re available. That’s your angle. ”
“I told her to call me if she needed an out.”
“Right. So you’re available.” He shrugged and reached for a banana in the fruit bowl.
“Here’s the other thing I know. If Krista were sitting across a table from some guy who made her skin crawl for a meeting she needed to take because her job required it, I would not be sitting at home waiting for a phone call.
But I wouldn’t walk in and make a scene, either.
Wouldn’t do anything to embarrass her or suggest I didn’t trust her.
But I would absolutely be within a reasonable distance. ”
“So I’m not crazy?”
“I didn’t say that.” He grinned. “I said I’d do the same thing.
Whether that makes either of us crazy is debatable.
I can go a little caveman when it comes to Krista.
Even if she could kick my ass and every other man that looks sideways at her.
It’s a natural instinct to want to protect the people we care about. ”
I laughed and was so relieved to know I wasn’t alone having thoughts like these. I did have the right instincts.
“The key is being invisible about it. You’re not there to rescue her.
You’re just in the neighborhood.” He paused.
“And if she finds out you were there, which she probably will because women always find out, you tell her exactly what you told me. Tell her you’ve never done this before and you trust her completely. ”
“You think she’d understand that?”
“I think Victoria strikes me as someone who’s never had that before,” Dash said simply. “If she’s pissed, apologize. A lot. Kiss her ass and smooth it over. Ice cream goes a long way.”
I felt that might be easier said than done, but I knew what I was going to do.