Trust

by Casey Diam

  Chapter Thirteen

  Caleb

  My father’s home office was old-fashioned, having a wooden desk and bookshelves lining the walls. Books I was sure he’d never opened in his life because everything was a distraction, including the classical rug I stood on before his desk.

  Turning his back to me, he walked toward the window, listening to the person speaking at the other end of his business phone. A business phone that was changed out at least three times a week when there was an ongoing project. It was the same way I’d found out about Paige Wells. My dad had gotten a call while I was in a meeting with him—that, and his men had been bragging to my brother about their sweet new assignment.

  My mind drifted to the stack of disposable phones, files, weapons, bullets, and God knows what else that was beneath my feet in his hidden cellar. I’d stumbled upon it as a child, but I hadn’t been inside of it since then because a combination lock had been installed. No one else had access to it, though I was starting to think someone else had to. Alex Connor was not the kind to do anything himself; he had a guy for everything.

  Everyone’s time was also insignificant to him, which was why I’d been awake since 5:40 a.m., doing a pickup in DC. My brother and I were the only ones allowed to do those jobs.

  That’s what he wants me to believe, but I know this is just another way for him to keep me under his thumb.

  Gritting my teeth, I stepped forward and set the briefcase on his desk.

  “Hold on, D. You’re leaving?” Dad asked.

  I turned around. “Yeah. I need to get some sleep. I’ve been driving for sixteen hours.”

  “You still have a room here.”

  “Yeah, I’ll pass,” I said, continuing to the door.

  At three this afternoon, I’d called Paige, but she hadn’t answered, and though I’d been getting updates from Calvin, I wanted to hear from her. So, as soon as I sat in my car, I called her again. Still, no answer.

  I resorted to sending her a text message.

  Me: Sorry about this morning. Got called into work and didn’t want to wake you.

  She responded ten minutes later.

  Paige: Last night was a mistake. I wasn’t thinking.

  Me: Do you usually make the same mistake twice?

  Paige: No, of course not. What would be the point of learning a lesson if I did that?

  I grinned.

  Me: Now, I’m curious. What kind of lesson did you learn last night?

  As I parked my car behind the building, my phone pinged.

  Paige: That I shouldn’t go around kissing strangers. It’s careless and not happening again.

  Me: Why not? You didn’t like it?

  A few minutes of no response turned into thirty minutes when I dropped down onto my mattress, missing some kind of presence from her.

  Dark images of us making out took over my thoughts, and I cupped my balls, remembering how I’d masturbated in the bathroom after she’d fallen asleep. There shouldn’t have been any heated moment. I shouldn’t be thinking about her at all. My father would probably kill me himself if he knew what I’d been up to. But it felt like Paige and I had known each other for more than a few days, and not seeing her, even though she was across the street, was hard as fuck.

  I pressed my phone to my ear and listened as the phone rang, long enough that I thought she wouldn’t answer.

  “Hey.” The brief acknowledgment sounded stealthy.

  “How was your day?” I asked.

  “Good. How about you?”

  “Okay, just long and boring.” After a few minutes of quiet between us, I said, “I want to see you again. Meet me at the coffee shop at six thirty.”

  “I’m not dating you. I don’t date, and I don’t know or trust you.”

  “Then, get to know me. Tell me, what do you want to know?”

  “Caleb, I can’t date you.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll still be at the coffee shop, and it’s up to you whether you want to join me or not. And, if you do, I won’t think anything of it. I’ll just think, Oh, my new friend Paige is here.”

  “Fine, but I won’t be there,” she said.

  I frowned because, even though the main reason for meeting her and keeping an eye on her was to find out what my dad was up to, I really liked her.

  Interrupting a comfortable silence between us, she asked, “I know you don’t have a television now, but what’s your favorite show to watch?”

  I thought about the TV in my suite at the hotel; I hadn’t turned it on in months. “I don’t watch much TV. But, when I do, I would say a crime, thriller, or any show in that area.” Getting comfortable, I stuffed a pillow beneath my head and turned to my side. “By the way, if I fall asleep, it’s nothing against you. I’m just really tired.”

  “Well, I don’t want to keep you up.”

  “You’re not. I’m just warning you in case I do fall asleep. Right now, I want to know what your favorite show is.”

  “It’s embarrassing.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re addicted to porn or something.”

  “No, not even close.” Paige sighed. “It’s Kim Possible.”

  “Kim Possible? What’s that?”

  “Some stupid cartoon, but I don’t watch it all the time, just sometimes. I watch drama and crime shows, too. But, if I’m going to bed, I stick to something less intense.”

  “Like Kim Possible?” I lowered the phone from my ear and googled the show, smiling at the redhead cartoon character that popped up. “She kind of looks like a cartoon version of you. If you dyed your hair, I’m pretty sure it would be just right.”

  “Did you just look that up? Oh my gosh, don’t laugh.”

  I stifled a chuckle. “I’m not. I can picture you watching it, though. It’s cute.”

  “Do you keep many secrets?”

  Her question caught me off guard. “I guess you could say I do.”

  “Could you tell me one, even if it’s one of the things that matter? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really weird, and I have a hard time trusting people.”

  “If I tell you a secret, it will be in person. And you’re not weird; you’re careful. I like that you are.”

  And how could I not like that about her? My father lived and breathed carefulness like it was a grenade about to detonate.

  It had always been that way with him, even when I was eleven. I could remember when Calvin had shown up at my house, uninvited, during one of my and my father’s sparring sessions back then.

  All he had wanted to do was hang out. Like kids our age should have been doing. But my father had blown a gasket, telling me that I had to be more careful and that one mistake on my part could cost me my life.

  I had thought he was crazy—Calvin was harmless, after all—but it didn’t change anything. I wasn’t allowed to have friends who weren’t part of the family at the house. Not ever. To prove that he wasn’t kidding, my father pulled me from public school the next day. I’d made a mistake, and there was no room for mistakes.

  “Caleb?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you falling asleep on me?”

  My brain was tired; my body was tired. “A little bit.”

  “Is it weird if I ask you to stay on the phone with me?”

  “Do you have some weird snoring fantasy or something? Do you want to listen to me snore?”

  “No.” She laughed. “Besides, you don’t snore. I would have heard it last night.”

  “Are you in bed, too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Next time, come over.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Paige

  A sixth sense told me I could trust Caleb, and it overrode the fear that would have had me running in the opposite direction.

  He’d gone along with my craziness last night without asking why I wanted him to stay on the phone with me. Eventually, he’d fallen asleep, and after a few minutes of listening to his soft breaths, hoping he would wake up but knowing he couldn’t stay aw
ake with me, I hung up. Still, the gesture was intimate, almost as if he wanted to be there for me in case I needed him.

  A bell jingled overhead as I opened the door to the coffee shop. I walked straight to the cashier’s line, scared to look around, scared to see him. Goose bumps rose on my skin. It was the first time the feeling of being watched gave me butterflies, not a run as fast as you can and don’t look back sensation.

  “A medium decaf coffee latte, please,” I ordered.

  “Two forty.”

  I handed the money over to the cashier and then dropped the change into the tip jar before heading over to wait, all the while fighting the urge to search the small café for Caleb.

  The cafe wasn’t large, and I would have spotted him as soon as I walked in if I hadn’t kept my gaze down.

  I should just look and get it over with.

  Why am I being such a weirdo about seeing him?

  He’d told me he would be here and also that it wasn’t a date.

  It’s okay... I should just look.

  Lifting my head, I looked over, and there he was, sitting at a table in the corner, his back to the wall and his head bowed. He was decked out in a three-piece black suit, and a tablet was positioned upright on the table before him.

  He looked up, and a mischievous smile spread across his lips.

  Holy shit.

  He was so gorgeous that he looked edible. Suddenly, I wished I’d had more practice with the opposite sex.

  I strolled over and stopped before his table. “Hi.”

  He positioned a hand on the back of the chair next to him. “Hi.”

  Placing my cup on the table, I reached behind me to remove my backpack.

  “Sit next to me.” He jerked his head, pulling the chair out.

  The nerves returned, although they might not have left. He moved my paper cup over, and I seated myself, glancing at the screen of his tablet. It had a PowerPoint slide with graphs and charts, listing information I would need to stare at longer to interpret.

  “How did you sleep?” he asked.

  “Not well.”

  “You seem to have some trouble sleeping. At least your eyes aren’t red today.”

  “Yeah.”

  Thanks to the hours I slept the day before on your cozy mattress.

  He scooted closer to me, and my whole body warmed, my nipples starting to tighten beneath my sweatshirt.

  “Where are you off to this morning?”

  “School. What are you working on?” I asked, pointing to the device in front of him, unable to make eye contact with him so close.

  Stupid butterflies.

  “Presentation. I have a meeting at nine.”

  “Oh.” I folded my arms on the table.

  “Did you miss me last night?”

  “No.” My cheeks flamed. “Why would I have missed you?”

  He extended a hand around the back of my chair again, bringing him even closer. His fingers brushed over my shoulder as he asked, “What time do you get off work today?”

  “Seven. Why?”

  “You should join me at my place for dinner. I’m not a great cook. Actually, I can’t cook at all, but I’m sure I could come up with something for us. Maybe order in.”

  “For us?” I knew I was blushing because, beneath my jacket, my whole body was being tormented by heat.

  “Yeah, you and me would be us.”

  “Caleb—”

  “Caleb what?”

  His face was so close to mine that I didn’t want to take my next breath.

  “I—you—”

  “Look at me,” he said. “I want to see you try to explain this because I can’t.”

  I swallowed and turned my head to face him. My eyes did a back and forth between his lips and eyes. “I...”

  Rational thoughts fled as my eyes zoned in on his lips. My head leaned toward his, and his toward mine. I couldn’t stop. He had this magnetic pull, drawing me to him, forcing this need on me to be connected to him. I had to feel him, touch him, kiss him. Our lips made contact, just a simple caress.

  “Good morning,” he whispered against my mouth.

  His soft lips explored mine, sucking and nibbling as if we had all day to do this. The sensual stroke of his tongue teased my lips apart as he deepened the kiss. And, with his other arm resting on my shoulder, I was completely in his arms, completely at his mercy. My whole body tingled, aching with a desire only he could satiate.

  How is he doing this to me? Making me lose myself. Making me forget where or who I am.

  Logic resurfaced, and I jerked back.

  “Oh my gosh.” I covered my face, embarrassed of the show we’d just put on in a coffee shop at six thirty in the morning. “I can’t believe we just did that.”

  His hand rubbed over my back. “It’s fine. No one’s watching—actually, everyone is watching.”

  “Oh my God.” I turned my body to him, placing a palm on the side of my face to conceal my embarrassment from the rest of the café. “Why did you make us do that?”

  “I’m joking. People tend to look away from PDA, not toward it,” Caleb whispered, kissing my cheek. He leaned back in his chair, his finger rising to stroke the daith piercing I had in my ear. “I like this.”

  A shiver traveled down my spine, and I looked at him, the intensity in his eyes holding me captive.

  After a second, he said, “Paige?”

  “Caleb?”

  “I don’t want to drink my coffee now,” he muttered.

  “Why not?”

  “Because my lips taste like bubblegum, and the next time I lick my lips, I want to taste you on them.”

  The tip of his tongue peeked from his parted lips, evoking some earlier memories of us. Specifically, his tongue, my nipples. My having an orgasm within minutes of kissing him.

  “What are you thinking of?”

  “Uh... my lip balm. It’s bubblegum flavored.”

  “Right.” His finger stroked up and down my neck, eliciting a wave of desire to move through my body. “Do you mind when I touch you?”

  I shook my head. “I like it.” A loud rumbling of thunder sounded in the distance, and I glanced outside. “Oh no. It’s going to rain. I should get going.”

  “You haven’t had your coffee yet.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Would you like me to drop you at school?”

  “No. It’s fine. I have an umbrella.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked, brushing a thumb along my jawline.

  I nodded, leaning into his touch, which was so gentle yet powerful, I felt both aroused and secured. My gaze moved from the table to his eyes and found concern. Like he could see right through to the pain and loss that carved my insides. Looking away, not wanting him or anyone to know how vulnerable I was, I pulled my coffee closer.

  “You wanted to know one of my many secrets?” Caleb asked.

  “You don’t have to. Last night, I was just—”

  “Can I trust you?”

  I nodded as I drank the warm contents from my cup.

  “Remember the hotel parties Chelsey was curious about in the car? My younger brother—that’s the guy she was asking me about. He still tries to throw parties, but they aren’t as wild as they used to be. Dad put him in his place some time ago.”

  “I see.”

  “And I’m”—he chewed on his lip—”my brother and I are adopted.”

  “Oh.”

  Relief washed over me. He was a normal guy, not one of them. I wanted to say something, share something of my own, but I couldn’t find the courage to journey into the same territory he had. That was too much.

  Instead, I hugged him and whispered in his ear, my heart sinking with the words, “I used to play the guitar, too.”

  A second later, the chair moved back as I stood. I grabbed my backpack, and draping one strap over my shoulder, I told him, “I can cook for us later.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Caleb

  When Paige had offer
ed to cook, I’d thought I had fallen for her just a tad. No girl had ever offered to cook for me, although there was no need. I lived in a hotel with room service and hundreds of surrounding restaurants right out the door. In fact, I had been planning to order takeout for us, but Paige had insisted on making us dinner. The only thing I’d had to do was get the groceries for her spinach and mushroom lasagna.

  Sorting the new kitchen utensils into the cupboards and all the groceries into the refrigerator, I went on to assemble the two wooden barstools. With the table-style extension on the island, we would be able to sit across from each other. Once I was done with my mini setup, I showered and threw on a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. I then got on my laptop and ran a few searches for furniture, quickly realizing it was as much of a task as walking around the grocery store with the list Paige had texted me.

  A knock sounded, and I walked away from my laptop on the island to open it. Paige stood there, looking more beautiful than she had the last time I saw her. Her hair was hanging loose, and a few curls framed her face. She brought a hand up and brushed those strands back, blending them into the rest of her honey-blonde locks.

  “Hey.” I invited her in, one hand settling on her hip and pulling her to me as soon as she entered.

  “Hi,” she said.

  Paige was shy. The more time I spent with her, the more I saw it. She never initiated touching me, and fuck, I wanted her to touch me as much as she liked and as inappropriately as she wanted. I gave her a kiss on the lips, the exact amount of pressure to entice her into wanting more. Then, I pulled away, and her lips followed mine for a second, telling me she was right where I wanted her to be.

  Let’s see how much willpower you have.

  I pulled away and led her to the kitchen.

  “Good. You thought of stools. Did you find all the ingredients okay?”

  “I did,” I said, anxious to surprise her with dessert.

  She set her bag on the floor and peeled off her jacket, leaving her in gray joggers and a white tank top with a black sports bra peeking out around the edges. I wanted to forget dinner, set her on the kitchen island, and have her instead.

  “I’ll help you,” I told her. “At twenty-four, I think it’s about time I learn how to make at least one decent meal.” I removed the items from the fridge and placed them on the counter.