The Mess You Left Behind: An Enemies-to-Lover Romance

by V. T. Do

  I quickly shook away that thought as it came. If I kept thinking that way, I might start building a fantasy about us in my head, and I didn’t need that kind of letdown in my life.

  We drove the rest of the way in silence. Wyatt stopped in front of my gated community. He entered in the code like I told him to, and then three blocks in, he stopped at the mammoth castle I had called home since I was six. It was impressive, even from my point of view. With six spacious bedrooms in total, seven and a half baths, a large yard and front porch, two swimming pools, and white trimmings, it looked like something out of a fairy tale. It was a show of vanity, and if that was a sin, my family would spend eternity in hell.

  I never did like how much we flaunted our wealth, almost as much as I hated how other people did it as well. It felt like we were winning in this world because the game was rigged from the very beginning. And instead of speaking out over the injustice of it all, we were competing with each other to see how many people we could push down on our way to the top.

  Vanity. It was all for vanity.

  While I grew up sleeping in one thousand thread count sheets imported from India, Joey was fighting with her stepdad over a threadbare blanket in a cramped apartment with no heat during the harsh New York winters.

  My face felt hot as I watched Wyatt take it all in.

  I knew from the way he was dressed that he did well for himself. The suits he wore were all designer and tailor-made, something I knew much about, but the calluses on his palms told a different story. The way he talked, the way he walked, even with his arrogance, was absent of those polished mannerisms most wealthy men I grew up with exhibited as if it was their nature. Wyatt didn’t grow up rich.

  He’d worked hard for what he’d earned, and that made him admirable in my book. It made him even more attractive to me. My grandpa was a self-made man as well.

  “So this is where you live.”

  I shifted in my seat. “Yes. Thank you for taking me home.”

  He looked at me then, a question in his eyes. “Why does all this make you uncomfortable?”

  “It doesn’t.” His eyes called me on my bullshit. I shrugged. “It’s a little... excessive. That’s all.”

  “It is that.” He leaned in closer to me. I held my breath. If I moved just three inches forward, our lips would meet. “Money isn’t something you have to be ashamed of, you know. It’s not this dirty thing everyone makes it out to be.”

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I think.” I made a move to get out of his car. He stopped me by placing a hand on my shoulder. “What?” I asked.

  Space. I needed space. But he wasn’t giving me any. I couldn’t think clearly, not when I was this close to his eyes. God, his eyes. I had never seen eyes like that.

  “What would you do if I kissed you?” he whispered, his breath fanning across my face.

  “I would say that is not what friends do.” I was surprised my voice didn’t crack.

  He smiled. A barely-there smile. “What if I don’t want to be your friend right now? We can be friends tomorrow. But for tonight, maybe you can just be mine.”

  I shook my head. “Then I say you need to decide what you want.”

  “I know that right now I want to know what your lips taste like.” As if on cue, I automatically licked my lips. He cupped my jaw. “Say yes, Emery.”

  My eyes closed a little. One kiss. What would that hurt?

  “Y-yes.”

  His lips slammed against mine without warning. This kiss...

  God, this kiss.

  I had never been kissed like this before. With the kind of frenzy that could drive me insane. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me. He smelled like mint and coffee, and my own brand of addiction.

  I moved my lips over his, and even if I didn’t have much experience in the kissing department, kissing him was easy, natural, even.

  His tongue swiped across my bottom lip, and I groaned, pressing myself further into him. He pulled an inch away, and I wanted to swoon. “Open your mouth, Emery. Let me in.”

  I inhaled a deeper breath of air, and after only the slightest hesitation, I did as he asked. He covered my lips with his once again, but this time, I felt his tongue in my mouth. I resisted the urge to clamp down on his tongue, and let him explore me leisurely.

  When I mimicked his movements, he let out a deep rumble. I loved the sound so much, I did it again, my movements growing bolder. His hands moved then. And I let him.

  Let him touch me, from my shoulder to my waist, my belly, and upwards, until he had my modest breasts in his large palms. My hands clenched around his shoulders when I felt the swipe of his thumbs across my nipples, turning them hard.

  I grabbed a fistful of his shirt, pulling him in, hoping he would keep me balanced, because I swore it felt like I might fall off the axis of my own little world.

  Then a loud knock came on the window of the car. With a yelp, I pulled away, my heart beating frantically. It took a few seconds before awareness crept back in and I realized who was at the window.

  Preston stood there, still in his driver’s uniform. He frowned at me. I looked back at Wyatt, then without saying another word, I got out of the car.

  “Hey, Preston. What are you doing here so late?”

  He raised an eyebrow, but thankfully didn’t comment. Instead, he walked me to my front door. I resisted the urge to glance back at Wyatt. “Just running some errands for your aunt. I just got back. And it’s early still, Miss.”

  “Oh?” I looked at my watch. It was a little after seven. “Right.”

  I stood at the threshold of the door, turned to him, and smiled. “I’ll go look for some dinner. Have a good night.”

  “Miss Caldwell?”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you being careful?”

  “What? Oh, you mean...” I blushed and looked over his shoulder. Wyatt was still there. I wondered why he hadn’t driven off. “Everything is under control,” I told Preston. “Good night.”

  I walked inside without waiting for him to reply. I didn’t know how I would be able to look Preston in the eyes again. I had known him almost my whole life. He was the one who had driven Joey and me to school when we were little. He was there for almost every milestone I’d had, and he was a shoulder to cry on when my grandpa died. He was more of a father to me than even my own, and he’d just witnessed Wyatt kissing me and fondling me in the car as if we were two teenagers.

  I decided then that the only way I could ever live this down is if I ignored Preston for the next month. He mostly just drove my aunt anyway. I could totally do it.

  It wasn’t until I got out of the shower that night that I realized I’d left more than my dignity in Wyatt’s car. I had left my phone.

  And my phone didn’t have a lock.

  Chapter Eleven: I Can’t Keep You Safe

  Wyatt

  I watched as the older man walked over to where I was parked. He looked like he could be Emery’s dad, only he looked nothing like her. And the clothes he wore looked more like a uniform. He worked for the Caldwells, but the way he’d walked Emery to the door showed how close they were.

  I could still taste her on my tongue. I should regret what I’d done, only I couldn’t find it in me. And I hadn’t planned on kissing her. But I saw her reaching for the car door handle, and all I could think was I didn’t want her to go so soon. So I closed the distance between us and asked for a kiss. One little kiss. I told myself I would stop as soon as I find out what she tasted like—sweet, so fucking sweet—but quickly learned that one taste was not enough. I wanted to explore her mouth and learn all that she liked.

  And she was hot liquid in my arms, with just the right amount of curves. She wore such conservative clothes, it was hard to imagine her naked. Not that that had stopped me. I had jerked off to the image of her more times than I cared to admit.

  I quickly readjusted myself in the seat as the older came over to my side of the car. I rolled down the
window and met his frown.

  “I know who you are,” he said. I kept my expression neutral and my mouth shut. I wasn’t going to speak until I knew what it was he wanted. “Tell me what your intentions with her are. You already got what you came for. Shouldn’t you leave Emery out of this?”

  My eyes hardened. “I never brought her into this, and I don’t plan to. We met purely by coincidence. I was just driving her home.”

  “From where I stood, it looked like a lot more than that.”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t going to explain my relationship with Emery. If there was one to begin with. Did I want there to be? At this point, I wasn’t sure.

  “Please, just leave her alone. She’s innocent in all of this.”

  My heart softened toward the man. He obviously cared for her. “I don’t plan on hurting or using her, if that’s what you’re thinking. She’s safe with me.” And that was the truth. She was safe with me. I wasn’t sure why that mattered so much, only that it did.

  “But will you tell her?”

  “Don’t you think she has the right to know? About everything?”

  He shook his head. “They’re content living their lives the way they are. You would go in and wreck all that?”

  “Everyone deserves to know where they come from.” A lesson my aunt learned the hard way.

  He shook his head and pushed away from my car. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Mr. James. Sometimes a lie is prettier than the truth. Sometimes the truth is just downright heartbreaking.”

  Without waiting for my reply, he walked around the side of the house and opened the gate. I imagined he had his own place in that huge backyard. He had probably been there when Joseph brought Emery home for the first time. And I wondered if he was right. If keeping her away from the truth was really a blessing.

  Chapter Twelve: Trickery

  Emery

  I didn’t sleep more than three hours the night before. I tossed and turned, wondering what I was going to do about my phone situation.

  There was no way he hadn’t looked through my phone. I would have looked through his phone if the roles were reversed. And wasn’t that just embarrassing. I was the least tech savvy person I knew, but my phone held intimate details about my life that not even Joey knew.

  And now Wyatt knew them. As if he needed any more ammunition to make me vulnerable. That seemed to be a specialty of his. God, I hated technology. I bet stuff like this didn’t happen in the eighties. People were so lucky back then.

  I didn’t go anywhere the rest of the day, and when six o’clock came around, I got ready for my date, with much less enthusiasm than I thought I would have, thanks to a certain gray-eyed giant.

  And now I was all dressed up, and there was just something wrong about it.

  As if I had suddenly become all those things I hated growing up. Playing a part. Dressing up for my date with Ethan no longer felt like socializing. It felt like a function and a chore. It felt wrong because almost twenty-four hours had passed since I’d felt Wyatt’s kiss and I could still remember the taste of him.

  I wanted him to kiss me again.

  I wanted him to be the person I was meeting up with, not Ethan, a virtual stranger who may or may not have agreed to go on this date with me because of the Caldwell name.

  But there was no future for us. For Wyatt and me. I even wrote that down and taped it on my ceiling to remind myself not to daydream about him. So far, it had proved to useless.

  Letting out a tired sigh, I walked out of my bedroom. I was wearing a purple dress that went down to my knees, three-inch black heels, and a cute black cardigan. The place Ethan had picked was fancy. Much fancier than what I was used to, and I knew I needed to dress the part.

  Like Aunt Helen always said, image was everything.

  My long red hair was loosely curled and hung down to my waist, and I barely put on any makeup. A nude shade of lipstick and black mascara, making my green eyes pop against my pale skin. I thought I looked nice. Nice enough for a date, but not over the top, lest Ethan think I might want to go home with him.

  I was careful as I walked out the front door. Aside from the staff, who were getting ready to retire soon for the night, I was the only one home. Aunt Helen had gone to one of her fundraisers. Usually I would go with her. I wished I had.

  It was all Wyatt’s fault.

  First, he asked me to cancel my date, then he kissed me. And now I was nothing more than a mess of conflicting emotions.

  The ride to the restaurant was as expected. I took a cab because I didn’t want to have to deal with New York traffic on a Friday night. And if I happened to drink tonight—using the fake ID Joey had given me—it would be better if I didn’t have to worry about driving home.

  The valet helped me out of the car. If he thought my choice of ride was odd, he didn’t say.

  “Ms. Caldwell. Welcome,” the young man greeted me. I smiled at him. Of course he’d heard of me. And knew I was coming. While I was sure that being greeted by name here would impress most, it only unnerved me.

  I was out of my element.

  If I had my phone, I could call Joey. Too bad Wyatt was a jerk and couldn’t be bothered to give me back my phone.

  The young man walked me to the door of the restaurant, holding it open with a friendly smile.

  The hostess smiled at me from where she stood at the podium. She was an attractive woman, probably a little older than me. She was of average height and build, and her smile was practiced. I gave her a small one back.

  “Ms. Caldwell. We are so glad to have you here. Can I take your coat?” After I handed it to her, I watched as she walked to a small room hidden from view. She came back a moment later and said, “Please follow me. Your table is ready.”

  I nodded and followed her, taking in the atmosphere of the restaurant. It was warm and open, with everyone there speaking no louder than what was necessary for their tablemates to hear them. The lights were dimmed and candles were lit every few steps I took. It was a romantic restaurant. Ethan had really gone out of his way.

  The hostess stopped at a corner table, away from prying eyes. And as she turned and walked away, my steps stuttered.

  Wyatt stood at the table, holding out my chair. “Sit down, Emery,” he said so softly I almost didn’t hear him. When I made no move to do as he asked, he walked over to me and led me over to the table by the arm. He gently placed me in front of the seat and pushed me down before walking back to his own seat.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed just as our server came to the table with a bottle of wine. The server paused, looking at us curiously, clearly noticing the tension at our table.

  I blushed to the roots of my hair. So much for all the years of training my aunt had put me through. Wyatt could make me forget to act like a lady in public in just seconds. I didn’t know what that said about him.

  Wyatt hid his smile behind the menu. I kicked him under the table. When the server was done pouring the wine, he left the bottle at the table, and with a soft voice, he told us he would be back to take our orders.

  I waited until he was out of sight before turning back to Wyatt. “What are you doing here?” I asked, more calmly this time.

  “Taking you out on a date,” he answered shamelessly.

  “How are you here instead of Ethan?”

  “Ethan. Yeah. About that. Ethan thinks you canceled tonight’s date because you came down with something unpleasant.”

  “You bastard. Give me back my phone.”

  He cracked a wicked smile before dropping it in my palm. I opened my phone and looked through it. I knew he’d looked at my pictures. I grew embarrassed just thinking about some of them. Especially the picture I had of him. I shouldn’t have saved it when Joey sent it to me.

  “I could’ve had naked pictures of myself in here. And you would have looked at them without my permission,” I said.

  His smile widened. “Unfortunately, I knew you were not the kind of girl to do that.�
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  I crossed my arms over my chest. “What makes you say that?”

  “Because of who you are. You wouldn’t risk the chance that someone might find your phone.”

  I tensed. “Still. You had no right to go through my phone.”

  He lost his smile when he realized how angry I was. “Ah, Emery. I’m sorry. I didn’t go through it all. I looked at a few photos you have, then I used it to text the boy and tell him you weren’t coming.”

  “But you pretended to be me, didn’t you?”

  “Come on. Tell me what I have to do to get you to stop being mad at me.”

  I thought about it. I couldn’t even say I was mad that he canceled my date with Ethan. But still. I smiled. “Your phone.” I opened my palm once again. “I want it for twenty-four hours.”

  He shook his head, but he was smiling, so I knew he wasn’t going to say no completely. “You can have my phone for as long as this date last. I have calls I can’t miss.”

  “This isn’t a date,” I corrected, still holding out my hand. “But okay. I’ll take it.”

  He dropped the small device in my hand, and I smiled like a child on Christmas morning. “If you get embarrassed over what you find in there, just remember, you only have yourself to blame.”

  “What, do you have naked pictures in here or something?” He shrugged like the shameless bastard he was. When I tried to get into his phone, there was a passcode.

  I looked up and glared at him. “Passcode?”

  “I’ll only give it to you if you promise not to delete anything.”

  “Passcode?”

  “Say it, Emery.”

  “Fine, I promise. Now passcode, please.”

  “3-6-3-7-9.”

  “Any reason you have that passcode?”

  He shrugged. “It’s random.”

  “Hmm. I have the power to ruin you in the palm of my hand. What shall I do first?”

  He looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. I looked back down at the phone and went to his pictures. I tensed when I got to the first one, my cheeks flaming. I knew without looking up that he was laughing at me.