He almost passed out when she took her hands away. “Did I curl your toes?”
“You know you did.”
“I wasn’t at my best. I was under the influence of evil substances.”
“I gave you a discount for that.”
He laughed, shifting his weight so it wasn’t only other happy-ever-afters holding him upright. “You’re speaking like a shop owner already.”
She looked around. “This place makes me happy. The work we do makes me happy. Our family make me happy.” Then her gaze came back to him. “You make me happy.” Hands to her hips. “Cult busts do not make me happy.”
“Coming in loud and clear.”
“There’s more. I don’t want to be the good-time best friend. I don’t want to be someone you borrow from time to time. I don’t want the comfort of having you always at my back if I can’t also have you in my arms. If I have to say this every day I will. Give me everything you’ve got, Zeke Valentin Naasir Judd Sherwood. Everything you held back. Every piece of anger you thought I wouldn’t like. Every moment of jealousy I made you feel. Every affectionate moment you denied us. I want you when you’re tired and grumpy. I want you when you’re bored and lazy. I want you when you’re confused and distracted. When you hide away, I want to be who you call to hide with you. When you shout at the world, I want my voice alongside yours. I want all the moods and parts of who you are that you never let me see because you were busy trying not to be what I need.”
For Rory, he could do that.
“I want you to be what I need, and I want you to need me back,” she said.
Learn to do it better every day. “You got it.”
“Are we still at an impasse?”
He looked at her tapping foot, followed that steady beat all the way to her gift of a smile. “How do the characters in your favorite books solve seemingly insurmountable differences? Because there aren’t enough words for me to apologize.”
“Is that your sneaky way of asking if I’m ready to give you a second chance?”
“Yeah.” He took a step towards her and she didn’t back off. “Will it work?”
She sighed. All his expectations of joy and safety and comfort and searing hot sex, and maybe one day a family of their own, were in that exhalation.
“Do I have to do all the heavy lifting?” she said, flirtation on her lips.
He took another step towards her and they were toe to toe, like they were meant to be—no more mysteries or doubts, finally, nothing held back—friends, partners, lovers.
“Fully prepared to contribute physical and emotional labor till the day I die. I love you, with everything I’ve got, Aurora Rae.”
“Big talker.”
She licked those smiling lips. Ah, no fair. “Tease.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
Pray his forty-five minutes of privacy weren’t up. Take advantage of knowing exactly where the security cameras were. Show her what she’d always meant to him, aside from one near-fatal wobble that just proved they knew the risks, understood the truth, and weren’t living in a fictional story. Take her in his arms and plant the future in their sugar sweet addictive kiss and then set the bookshelves to blushing while he made good on that promise to curl her toes.
And do that, create their own new world of abundance, every day for the rest of their natural lives or until the world burned up in a fiery cataclysm. Whichever happened first, because there was no better way to go out than loving Aurora Rae Archer Sherwood and there was no pretending or overthinking that.
o0o-
I hope you enjoyed The Mysterious Stranger.
If you want more of the Confidence Game read on for
for Cal and Rory’s breakup scenes
and
the first chapter of
Cal and Fin’s story in
One Night Wife
-o0o-
Extras
Cal and Rory’s breakup
from
One Night Wife
Cal Sherwood saw the slap coming. He could’ve ducked, stepped aside, grabbed Rory’s wrist, but he did nothing to defend himself because he deserved it.
Rory’s hand to his cheek stung, it jerked his head to the side, wrenched his neck and made his eyes water. The crack of it ringing out against the stark white marble of Sherwood Venture Capital’s fancy-pants showpiece reception area surprised Rory so much she staggered, her eyes going wide as she sucked in a shocked breath. But she shaped up again before Cal could muster words through a burning jaw.
This time he caught her wrist. “That’ll do, Aurora.” She tried to pull free but he didn’t trust her enough to let go, and if she hit him again, his sympathy would evaporate faster than a con after a mark was bankrupt. Rory had poured heat on him, ruined the setup, lost them money and then she’d disappeared.
“It’s not possible for me to hate you more,” Rory snarled.
That was because she still loved him. It was a curse he could see it clearly in the glittering wash over her cat green eyes and the stubborn jut of her chin. “You can hate me all you want, but it won’t change anything.”
He wasn’t in love with her. Never had been and she knew it. Didn’t mean she hadn’t fought to change that. Because that’s what Aurora Archer did, made the world bend around her. It would’ve been easy to lie to her, except Sherwoods and Archers were long term business partners. They were family, and they didn’t lie to each other, and eventually Rory would have wanted more, and Cal didn’t have more in him.
Eyes locked, they stared each other down. Cal was grateful to see Rory again even though right now, her breathing hard, her body on alert, her expression schooled to give him nothing, she wanted to hit him again, or shove him or jam a spiked heel in his foot.
He brought her palm to his chest. They might’ve been about to dance, except Rory was furious and humiliated and that was Cal’s fault too. “Not here.” This was best handled in private, which was why Rory had started it in reception.
In the reflection of the glass wall behind Rory, Cal saw Zeke step into the corridor and freeze and Camilla walk into him.
“I wish you were scorched earth, Cal Sherwood,” Rory snarled.
He wished Rory had taken the breakup better, but he’d always known her pride wouldn’t allow the wound to go unavenged and that was one of the reasons he’d let their relationship go on too long, four years too long. That and the fact they’d been a kind of wonderful together, able to read each other’s intentions so well they were an unbeatable team on the job. And then there was the sex. He missed the sex so much during the six months they’d been apart, he’d let it show when she walked in, and she knew that tell and punished him for it.
Rory’s fingers curled in his shirt. “We had everything going for us.” The shift from revenge to seduction was so swift it made his head spin more than the slap had, but that was Rory, that’s what made her both loveable and lethal.
“You deserve more.” Someone who would cherish and protect her as much as he would risk and satisfy her.
That was the moment she almost forgave him. He saw it in the micro-expression that twitched at her lip and the corners of her eyes, but then she palmed his chest and broke away, zipping herself into righteous anger again.
He should’ve let her hit him a second time.
There was something wrong with him, in the meat of his heart and the matter of his head that he hadn’t been able to love Rory enough to be in love with her and want to keep her. Too much time spent engineering the reactions of others had left him unable to feel or trust his own emotional responses.
Zeke chose that moment to step into the room, motioning for Camilla to wait. “Do I need to get between the two of you?” He raised a brow at Cal but then focused on Rory. “Much as it pains me to say this, Rory, you can’t kill my big brother. We need him.”
“You’re right, Zeke, where is the fun in killing him?” Rory walked into Zeke’s outstretched arms. All traces of her explosion
were frosted over. She was a dormant volcano again. “I’d rather torture him until he goes mad. But I won’t work with him again.” She could level a medium sized city in the glare she gave Cal. “Never again.”
In a warped way that was a relief, though Rory was an incredible asset for the company, she’d been dangerously not herself when Cal ended it with her. The whole company had been forced to tiptoe around the Cal and Rory are no longer together thing, half expecting them to get back together, half expecting Rory to unleash a violent storm and put them all in danger.
And that’s exactly what she had done, going missing in the middle of a job, peeling out without warning and leaving Cal holding the rope by himself, forced to deal with the aftermath of her stunning accusations.
But as at ten minutes ago, she was back from wherever she’d gone to hideout, and she was done with him.
“You don’t have to work with Cal, Rory. I’ve got your back,” Zeke said.
And that stung too. Cal had been hopeful losing Rory from his bed wouldn’t mean he’d lose his matched partner in crime. But in hoping for that he’d become the thing he despised most, a chump, an egg, a rube, a sucker. That shouldn’t make him feel like getting drunk. It was an immensely practical turn of events, the best outcome for them all.
“Is everyone okay here?” Camilla touched his arm, then stepped behind the reception desk. Her eyes flickered over his face. “Can I get you anything, Cal?”
He’d have to inspect Rory’s handiwork. Good thing he wasn’t attending any events tonight and in need of a cover story for the damage to his face. “Rory might need ice for her hand.” She’d never show she was in pain, but she’d walloped him hard so it had to have hurt her as well.
“Of course,” Camilla said. She approached Rory, and the two Archer cousins moved towards the inner office, which left Cal with Zeke.
“Thank Christ,” Zeke said, shifting to watch Rory and Camilla depart.
“That’s she’s back?” They’d put up a search, but Rory had covered her tracks well and when the woman didn’t want to be found, there was no finding her. Cal had been overjoyed to see her swing through the Sherwood office doors, never mind knowing this was the whip tail of a storm they’d all been waiting for.
“That she finally declared she hates you. Much better it’s in the open. We can all follow her lead.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“You and I.” Zeke had sided with Rory, everyone had, and for the first time there’d been strain between them all and questions about Cal’s leadership as a result, and Cal was desperately sorry for that. It’d created a sense of unease that’d hung over Sherwood like a shroud all winter. This was home base, their safe space. The only place they could be themselves and speak honestly with people they could trust implicitly, but that’s not how things had been lately. And that was his fault too.
“I feel a whole lot better about you now,” Zeke said.
“Because?”
Zeke gave him a raised brow. “Because she left a hand print on your ugly mug.”
It was a small price to pay if Rory was home, if Zeke was prepared to joke with him again. Zeke had in turn been aghast, angry, appalled and then withdrawn over the ordeal and Cal had missed him. It had been a miserable couple of months.
“Cal, you know she’ll be fine. But she’s going to hate you for a long time.”
For the rest of his life, so long as she never jeopardized another job, Cal’s own safety, or the needs of the company again. “I know she pushed you away before but keep an eye on her.”
Zeke nodded, then hitched a thumb toward the door. “You should get out of here so we can welcome her home and get the need to bitch about you out of our systems.”
That was good thinking. The sooner the crew reintegrated Rory, accepted the new status quo, that there would never be a Cal and Rory again, they could all return to focusing on the business of Robin Hooding the ugly rich instead of ripping into each other.
With that thought he took his ugly mug to the pub for a craft brew and a good brood.
-00-
Fin flinched. It was a defense mechanism because Rory was the reason Fin failed at auditions. Rory was the reason the standard for female beauty was impossibly high. She wanted to scratch Rory’s flawless, symmetrical face, make her forest green eyes bleed, pull her wig perfect hair and spike her had to be implants, breasts.
And then Rory opened her mouth. “Fin, I’ll be helping you prepare for the events you’ll attend. I have a schedule for you. I’ll walk you through wardrobe, makeup, hair and jewelry. Sherin will give you deep background on the targets, but I’ll let you know which ones are free with their hands and how best to avoid that and fill you in on the dynamic of the wives. I’ve made a list of approved designers for you to shop with. What would you like to do first?”
First Fin wanted to stab Rory to death, because of course the woman was professional, competent, organized, overwhelming. Second, she needed a moment to collect herself. Rory was Cal’s ex, the woman he didn’t love enough. Rory was the reason the spark she and Cal had between them was never going to become a fire. If he couldn’t love Rory, he’d never want Fin, because even with award winning acting, Fin would never be as beautiful, as poised, as awesome as Rory.
“Hi, I’m Fin.” She gave a little wave and they all laughed. Oh shit, such a flaky flake. And in this outfit which wasn’t meant for doing this kind of work. “I don’t normally dress like this.” They must think she was some rockabilly hipster in need of a respectability makeover.
“Don’t let them intimidate you, Fin. I can have them all fired,” Cal said.
“Mom would never let you,” said Sherin. She pushed a page across the table to Fin. “Sign here and I’ll get your expense account organized.”
Fin turned to look at Cal. “Your Mom works here?” She looked at the credit card application form in front of her. It was made out in Cal’s name and only needed her signature. What was this, Christmas?
Cal groaned and her attention went back to him. “She’s part time. It’s a family business. Everyone here is a Sherwood except Rory who is an Archer. And yes, Rory and I were together,” he looked from Fin to Rory, “but we’re colleagues now.”
Gah, that was the most awkward thing to happen yet, because it didn’t look like Rory was convinced of the colleagues thing and even without lie detection training Fin could see that. Lie detection. Cal wasn’t being flippant. This was some seriously strategic business shit.
“Why don’t we start with the formal briefing,” said Sherin. “You can re-group later with Tres and Rory.”
-00-
“Cal has asked me to teach you cueing,” Rory said. “The best way to do that is to demonstrate. Take a seat.” She motioned for Fin to sit. “Caleb,” and for Cal to come to her side, which he did.
The effect of the two of them standing side by side, Cal’s elegant ease and Rory’s fiery glamour, was another reminder things that looked too good to be true probably were.
“We use signals and touch to cue each other on activity in the room,” said Rory. She walked half a room away from Cal. “If we’re separated but have line of sight, like at a dinner party where we’re not seated together it goes like this.” She put her hand to her face, cupping her check. “This means I need help. If my little finger is against my lip,” she demonstrated, “it means urgently. If I put one hand behind my back, it means I’m doing fine. If I touch my shoulder it means beware.” She tipped her head to the side and rolled her eyes.
Cal laughed. “That means she’s bored and would like to go home. I make similar gestures they mean the same things.” He put his hand to his face. “Help,” touched his lip, “right now,” put a hand behind his back, “everything is fine” touched his shoulder, “beware,” and tipped his head to the side making Rory walk toward him and stand slightly in front of Cal, her body grazing his.
“We have touch cues for when we’re together,” sh
e said.
Cal put his hand to her elbow. “All going well,” said Rory. He slipped his hand up to her shoulder. “Are you okay?” she said. He touched her hip and she said, “Walk away.” He put the back of his hand to her thigh and she said, “Time to go.”
There were other touches, and other meanings, move in, stop, start, listen, take note, but Fin lost them because it looked like Cal and Rory were dancing moving around each other to demonstrate, familiar and practiced and fitting together with subtle touches and flowing gestures that she was mesmerized, but her focus snapped back into place when Rory’s voice broke.
“When he touches the back of my neck it means I want you, and when he trails that touch down my back it means I love you.” She stepped away from Cal, her shoulders high, her face contorted. “We didn’t have a gesture for I’m a faithless liar. I recommend you get one.”
“Rory,” Cal reached for her, but she thrust a hand out to hold him off and went to stride past him. “Aurora,” he said, that don’t fuck with me tone, but it was laced with love and longing and finality.
Rory stopped and covered her face. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I put everything at risk.”
He stepped in to her, close, hands in his pockets, giving her the chance to escape around him. She collapsed against his chest.
Fin stood, she needed to get out, give them this moment of privacy, but it was hard to wrench her eyes away. Zeke arriving in the doorway was the distraction she needed. He wore a worried frown but didn’t come into the room, jamming up the exit and making it harder for Fin to leave.
Rory chose for all of them, breaking away from Cal, her face streaked with tears. “I know you love me in your way. I know you forgive me. I need to let you go, stop punishing you.”
Cal’s head shake was slight but it was there. He still held one of Rory’s hands, reluctantly letting her take it back.
The Mysterious Stranger (The Confidence Game Book 3) Page 27
