“Your friends are all in relationships. What do you ask them?”
“I’d rather repeatedly stab myself in the eye with a dull pencil than ask my friends about their relationships.”
Leah’s loud burst of laughter echoed around the gazebo. “Why do men find it so difficult to talk about relationships?”
“I don’t find it difficult. I’m just not interested. Besides,” he said, leaning toward her. “It’s nosy to snoop into other people’s lives.”
She hit him with that smile he’d started to crave like freshly popped popcorn with extra butter. Bright and joyful and full of pure giddiness.
“Well you can just call me nosy, because I love peeking into other people’s lives,” she said. “I’m a self-proclaimed reality TV junkie.”
“You can’t be all that nosy.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because in the year you’ve lived next door to me you never bothered to get to know me at all.”
Her eyes darted to his. She opened her mouth, but then closed it. Caleb considered giving her a pass, but then decided against it. Instead, he pushed a little harder.
“So?” His brow lifted. “For someone who claims to be so nosy, why haven’t you been all up in my business, Leah?”
Her pregnant pause was as telling as anything she could say.
“I…uh…I guess I didn’t want you to think I was getting too personal.”
His gaze dropped to her lips just as she pulled the bottom one between her teeth. She released it, and the urge to kiss her full, glistening mouth grew so strong Caleb had to clutch his hands to stop himself from doing just that.
When he spoke, his voice was little more than a whisper. “For future reference, I don’t mind you getting too personal.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, her tone equally hushed.
The air crackled and sizzled around them, the sexual tension growing thicker with each second that ticked by.
Leah was the first to look away. Slapping her palms against her thighs, she cleared her throat.
“So, what about the rest of our story?”
Her evasion technique was about as smooth as a bumbling criminal running from the police, but Caleb went along with it. He had no business staring at those lips the way he’d been staring, imagining the feel of them against his own, longing to make it a reality.
The reality was that she was someone else’s woman. Why was it so hard for his brain to comprehend that?
Maybe because of the way Leah had looked at him. He hadn’t imagined the heat in her eyes, or the way her chest rose with the labored breaths she sucked in. She was just as affected by this energy pulsating between them as he was.
“What about our first date?” Leah asked.
“Huh? Caleb blinked several times, trying to remember the conversation.
“We need to come up with something good for our first date.”
Right. They were making up a past for their fake relationship. How could he forget?
“How about your first date with Mr. Lexus?”
“You have no idea how much joy it would bring to Derrick if he knew you referred to him as Mr. Lexus. It would make his day.”
“In that case, don’t tell him,” Caleb said.
“Don’t worry, I doubt I’ll have the chance.”
His forehead furrowed. “Why not?”
Leah hesitated for a moment, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth once again. Once again, Caleb was so tempted to pull that lip from her teeth and run his finger across it that he ached with it. He wanted to see if her lips felt as tender as they appeared.
“Derrick didn’t just back out on this weekend,” she said. “He backed out on everything.”
That got his attention. “What do you mean?”
“I mean he broke off our engagement last night.”
Her revelation slammed into him like a two-by-four.
They broke up? She was no longer engaged?
“Why—” Caleb had to clear his throat. “Why did he break things off?”
“He said he wasn’t ready to get married.” She averted her eyes, but not before Caleb caught the sadness lurking in their warm, brown depths. It made him want to beat the shit out of her ex for ever putting that look on her face.
“He shouldn’t have asked you to marry him in the first place if he wasn’t ready,” Caleb said.
“Actually, it’s more than just that,” Leah continued. “He said that I was too cold to marry. That I didn’t show him enough attention.” She looked over at him. “I could have showered him with attention twenty-four seven, and it wouldn’t have been enough.”
“Why were you with him?” Caleb asked. He knew he shouldn’t harp on it, but from everything she’d said about him, Derrick was a selfish bastard who didn’t deserve to have a woman like Leah give him the time of day, let alone agree to marry him.
“I’ve spent the past twenty-four hours wondering the same thing.” She released a sigh. “But I don’t want to think about Derrick right now. Please, let’s just not talk about him.”
“Okay,” Caleb said. “But I just have to point out that your ex-fiancé is a dick. One that never deserved you.”
“He totally is,” Leah said. “Which is why I would not want to use a single thing from my relationship with Derrick when it comes to concocting our fake one.”
He inwardly winced at the word fake. He didn’t want their relationship to be fake.
And if Caleb had known her boyfriend had been such an asshole all this time, maybe he wouldn’t have kept his distance. He wasn’t in the business of poaching another man’s woman, but when that man didn’t deserve that woman?
Still, Caleb knew he couldn’t make his feelings known to her. Not yet. She’d been engaged to another man less than twenty-four hours ago. If he tried to start anything with Leah right now he was practically setting himself up to be the rebound guy. He didn’t want to be some temporary rebound. He wanted this to have a chance. Wanted it to be real.
“Okay,” Leah said. “Let’s put our heads together and come up with our own fairytale relationship story.”
“We were talking about our first date,” Caleb said.
“Yes. What about dinner at one of the swanky places on Restaurant Row in Midtown Manhattan?”
“Dinner? Really? That’s the best you could do?”
“You can do better?” she asked him.
Caleb paused for a moment before he pointed to her. “Whitewater rafting in the Adirondacks,” he challenged. “Or is that too much for you?”
Leah tipped her head to the side. A slight grin gradually lifted one corner of her mouth. “Actually, I would consider that a perfect first date,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to go whitewater rafting.”
Caleb jerked his head back in surprise. “Really?”
She nodded. “You know that beer commercial with people whitewater rafting in the Rockies? I DVR’d it. I’ll watch it every now and then and imagine myself racing across the water.”
“If you’ve wanted to go rafting this much, why haven’t you?”
“Besides the fact that I never had anyone willing to go with me?” She hunched her shoulders. “It’s just not something I’ve ever made the time to do.”
“You know what I think?” Caleb asked. “I think you need to start making the time to do some of the things you really want to do. Life is short. Why waste a day of it just sitting on the sidelines. Get out there and do what you love.”
The moment he said the words, Caleb nearly choked on his own hypocrisy.
Who in the hell was he to talk about wasting time sitting on the sidelines? He’d made an Olympic sport of it. For the past four months he’d intentionally put himself on the sidelines, too afraid to make a move.
His role in the mishandling of the Bergen County prostitution sting had messed his mind up so badly that just the thought of going back out into the field made Caleb want to hurl up his lunch. The accolades
he’d received from colleagues, praising the work he’d done on other cases throughout the years didn’t matter. None of that mattered. What mattered is that he’d messed up, and because of him the lives of three young girls were shattered.
How in the hell was he supposed to put himself back out there knowing what his mistake had done?
“Do you want to know something else I’ve always wanted to do?” Leah asked. The gaiety in her voice wrenched Caleb’s mind away from his dark musings.
“What’s that?” he asked, warming up to her smile.
Her eyes glittered with excitement. “Rock climbing. It’s one of the activities available to guests this weekend, but I didn’t sign up for it because I knew Derrick wouldn’t be interested.”
“In that case you have to do it,” Caleb said. “You’re going to love it. It’s the biggest adrenalin rush. There’s some great spots in the Shawangunk Mountains over in Ulster County.”
She put her hands up. “I’m not ready for climbing real rocks. I was talking about those walls you find at the gym.”
“Why not just play on the jungle gym at the park? If you’re going to go rock climbing, go rock climbing.”
Her brown eyes widened with understanding, as if a lightbulb had just gone off in her head. “Now I get it,” Leah said. “You’re a total adrenalin junkie.”
“Can’t argue with the truth,” Caleb returned.
“I like that.” Her eyes dropped to his lips.
There was an air of electricity that pulse between them; a charge that filled the space surrounding them. Caleb wondered what she would do if he closed the space between them and connected his mouth with hers. It seemed so natural, like the obvious next step.
But it wasn’t. It only seemed that way to him because, in his mind, they’d already made it past several of those normal relationship steps. He had to keep reminding himself that reality was very different from the fantasy he’d built up in his head.
“Okay, what other adventures have we experienced in our make-believe relationship?” Caleb asked her.
Those eyes lit up again. “What about zip-lining in Jamaica? Is it okay if we’ve done that once too?”
“You mean you’ve never been zip-lining in Jamaica?” Caleb asked incredulously.
“You have?”
“No,” he answered in that same incredulous tone before allowing a smile to break out across his face.
Leah playfully slapped his arm, but before she could pull her hand away, Caleb caught and held it. When he spoke, he made sure his voice was deliberately serious.
“If zip-lining in Jamaica is something you’ve always wanted, you shouldn’t let anything stop you.” His voice lowered. “I would love to be the one to take you on these adventures, Leah. Just say the word, and I’m there.”
That charge returned to the air, hotter and brighter than before. Her eyes connected with his and held. Caleb could see her chest rising and falling with the shallow breaths she took as her eyes dipped to his lips.
One second. That’s all it would take for him to lean forward and press his lips to hers. To finally experience what he’d dreamt about for the past year.
With a start, Leah’s head reared back and she jerked her hand away from his. She jumped up from the bench.
“I…uh…I think we have enough to get us through the mixer tonight,” she said. She pointed to the horizon. “The mixer starts at sundown. We should make our way over there.”
She quickly left the gazebo.
Caleb stared at her retreating form for several moments, wondering if he’d done himself more damage than good, but he couldn’t just sit idly by anymore. Not after discovering that she was no longer engaged.
He wanted her for himself.
He’d had a thing for this woman from the very first morning he’d walked into his brand new backyard and found her firm backside up in the air as she picked herbs from his garden.
But he had to be careful. He didn’t want to set himself up as a rebound guy. He knew he would never be satisfied with being the one who soothed her ego and got her ready for the next guy who came along. He wanted to be that next guy. He wanted to be the only guy.
He would have to figure out a way to make that happen. He had to.
Chapter Four
By the time Caleb caught up with Leah, she’d made it past the tennis courts and nearly to the boathouse. He started to speak, but thought better of it. He could tell by the look in her eyes a few minutes ago that she’d been caught off guard by what had passed between them back in the gazebo.
Hell, he’d been caught off guard. After Leah revealed that she was no longer engaged, Caleb had decided to test out whether the attraction he’d felt this past year could possibly be mutual. He hadn’t expected it to be returned with such force. Whatever had passed between them back in the gazebo had been too strong to ignore.
But he wouldn’t bring it up just yet. He knew better than to push her into acknowledging anything she wasn’t ready to see. They had the entire weekend together. He would take this slow.
They arrived at the clearing where tonight’s mixer was being held. A huge fire pit sat in the middle of the grounds, surrounded by groupings of handsome Adirondack chairs with plush cushions. They added the same touch of opulence that was evident in the main dining hall.
Caleb recognized most of the couples milling about from this morning’s welcoming session. Thankfully, Marcy and Mark, who’d joined them at lunch, were already deep in conversation with another group. He didn’t have anything against the husband and wife, but they were so sugary sweet he was afraid he’d get diabetes if he hung around them for too long.
Instead of claiming one of the empty seats, he tipped his head to the fire pit. “It’s a marshmallow roast. I guess that means we should roast marshmallows.”
“I guess so,” Leah said. The small smile she sent his way didn’t reach her eyes. Yeah, she’d been spooked by that surge of attraction that had passed through them earlier.
They went over to the pit and Caleb lifted two metal skewers from a tall, slender, galvanized bucket. He stuck a jumbo size marshmallow on the end of each skewer and handed one to Leah.
“This is a treat,” she said. “I’ve never done this before.”
“Roasted marshmallows? My childhood was made of stuff like this,” he said.
“I didn’t realize roasting marshmallows was such a huge thing in D.C.”
“Nah, not in D.C. I spent my summers down in rural Georgia with my grandparents,” Caleb explained. “My older brother and I would go camping in their backyard all the time. We’d roast marshmallows while my uncle Leroy did his best to scare the shit out of us with his ghost stories.”
Leah burst out laughing. “Somehow I just can’t picture you being afraid of ghosts.”
“Believe it. I was a total scaredy cat, and not just of ghost stories,” he said. “But I hated admitting that I was afraid of anything, so I’d make myself do whatever I had to do to get over the fear. That wasn’t always the smartest thing either,” he said, wiggling his right arm. “Broke this when I was eight years old, trying to prove to my cousins that I wasn’t afraid of heights. Fell right off the roof of the chicken coop.”
She laughed so much that tears started to form in the corners of her eyes. “It sounds like you grew up more of a country boy than a city boy,” Leah said. “Now I understand why you were so upset about your friends bailing on you this weekend. You’re overdue for some outside adventure time.”
“Long overdue,” Caleb agreed. “I don’t get to do this kind of stuff nearly as much as I’d like to. I just wish I could make it down to Georgia more often. It’s beautiful there. Give me a clear night, and I’m satisfied. I’d just lay back on the grass and stare up at the stars. They’re so brilliant and bright. Nothing compares to it.”
“It sounds lovely,” Leah said. “I’ve lived in the city my entire life. I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Caleb reached over and swi
ped his thumb along the edge of her mouth, wiping away a piece of marshmallow. “I’ll add that to the list.”
Her eyes followed his hand as he sucked the marshmallow off his thumb.
“What list?” she asked, her voice low. Husky.
“The list of experiences I plan to show you.”
Her brows rose. “What type of things are you putting on this list?”
“Everything you’ve wanted to do but haven’t because of your ex-boyfriend.”
“It’s not all Derrick’s fault,” she said.
Caleb put a finger over her lips. “Shhh,” he whispered. “I’m instituting a new rule for the weekend. No more mentions of the ex’s name. Unless you call him Mr. Lexus.”
He felt her lips curve into a smile.
God, what he wouldn’t give to kiss her right now. What he wouldn’t give to skip over this part where he had to suss out her feelings and take things slow. He wanted to jump right into it. He wanted to make her his.
A tinning sound rang out around the clearing. Caleb turned to find Geoff hitting his ring against a wine glass. He and his wife stood next to a table that held several ice buckets brimming with bottles of wine.
“We hope everyone is having a great time so far,” Geoff started. “As Katherine explained in this afternoon’s short orientation, today is all about getting to know your fellow couples here at this weekend’s retreat. We encourage you all to mingle. Some of you have attended our retreats before. Share your experiences and why you felt the desire to return. Tomorrow, we will start to get into the nitty gritty of Relationship Excavation 101.” He smiled. “By the way, Katherine deserves the credit for the title of this weekend’s retreat.”
“Actually, Geoff deserves the credit,” Katherine said as she stepped in. “It was on a surprise trip to Egypt for our anniversary that I came up with the idea.” She gave him a kiss as she handed him her wine glass.
“We’ve stated before that activities are optional,” Katherine continued. “The main focus of this weekend is digging down to the heart of your relationship and reconnecting. With some couples, just the act of getting away from your normal environment is enough to create that spark that has started to fizzle, or to open up the lines of communication that may have closed over the years. I do recommend that couples participate in at least one or two of the scheduled activities. But, as always, it’s up to you.”
Mr. Right Next Door (Camp Firefly Falls Book 6) Page 5
