The charity event ended a couple of hours later and Addison, Raphael and her father prepared to head home. As they did so, Addison couldn’t help but notice that Caleb was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he’d taken what she’d said out on the patio to heart and was going to steer clear.
Once they made it back to the mansion, Addison exhaled and began removing her three-inch heels. She and Raphael were staying at the Walker mansion temporarily until they could find a place of their own.
“Ready to head up?” Raphael asked in the foyer.
“Sure thing, babe.”
They were both headed to the stairs when her father snuck up on them and said, “Addison, may I have a word?”
Addison stopped in midstep. It was amazing that her father had no problem with Raphael sharing a room with her. He hadn’t said a thing about it, but he wasn’t going to be able to let her seeing Caleb rest. He was determined to speak his mind.
Addison turned around. “Of course.”
Raphael stared at her for several long moments before heading up while she descended the few steps she’d taken and followed her father into the living room adjacent to the foyer.
“Yes?” She folded her arms across her chest.
Her father wasted no time laying into her. “Do you really think it was appropriate spending time with your former lover while your current one is in the next room?”
“Daddy—”
“Don’t ‘Daddy’ me.” He strolled toward her and grasped her shoulders. “I warned you, Addy, that man was dangerous before and that edict still stands. Just because he’s dressed himself up in some fancy clothes doesn’t mean he still isn’t trouble. In fact, it makes him more so.”
Addison snatched her shoulders away. She was tired of being manhandled today. “I don’t need you of all people to tell me that. Do you think I’ve got amnesia? I didn’t forget what he did to me, Daddy.”
“Then act like it!”
Addison glared at him, and her eyes became narrow slits. She didn’t appreciate being scolded like a child. “Thank you for your concern, but I’m capable of taking care of myself. I didn’t fall apart before, and I won’t now.”
“No, you just had to move thousands of miles away. Away from everyone who loved you, who could help you.”
“You couldn’t help me, Daddy. Don’t you see that? You couldn’t have protected me from heartbreak. It was bound to happen sometime. It’s just a part of becoming an adult, and when I look back, it made me a stronger person.”
“I can see that.”
“Then respect me enough to allow me to handle this, handle him in my own way.”
Her father nodded. “Alright, honey. I’m sorry if I overreacted, but seeing that man again ...”
Addison patted his arm. “It’s okay. I’ve got this.”
When she finally made it to the suite she shared with Raphael, he was already in bed, bare-chested and wearing silk pajama bottoms. “Everything okay? Your father seemed a little uneasy. Are you sure he doesn’t have a problem with us sharing a suite?”
“All is well,” she answered as she bent down by the bed so he could unzip her dress. When he’d lowered it to her waist, she rose and stepped out of it. “You don’t have to worry about us sharing a room. My dad thinks the world of you.”
She draped the dress over the chair and walked over to her vanity set to sit and remove her jewelry. She was placing it in her jewelry box when Raphael asked, “Did he think the world of Caleb Hart?”
Hearing Caleb’s name roll off Raphael’s lips sent fear through Addison. She turned around in her chair to face him.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice? We’ve been together awhile, Addy, and even before then, when we were just friends, I could sense when you were in distress. And I sensed it tonight, and then imagine my surprise when Duke Hart mentioned that his nephew was here.”
Addison couldn’t speak. What could she say? He’d caught her red-handed. Not in a lie per se, but a lie of omission.
“And then when I searched for you, I couldn’t find you.” Raphael rose from the bed and walked toward her. “My mind began to wonder where you could be, or should I say, who you could be with. So were you with him?”
Addison inhaled deeply and rose from her seat, never breaking eye contact with Raphael.
“He was why your father wanted to talk to you, wasn’t he?” Raphael searched Addison’s face. “Why? Does your father think he has that much power over you?”
Addison blinked rapidly. He was throwing so many questions at her, she didn’t know where to start.
“Well? I’m waiting, Addison.”
“Yes, I was with Caleb.”
“Dammit, I knew it.” Raphael turned away from her. “I thought I smelled another man’s cologne on you when you kissed me earlier.”
“Raphael, please ...” She touched his arm, but he moved it away. “It wasn’t like that.”
He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “How was it then? Explain it to me.”
“I didn’t go looking for him.”
“So he came looking for you?” He said it as more of a statement than a question.
Addison nodded. “He found me on the patio, and we talked.”
“Talked?”
Raphael sounded like he didn’t believe her.
“Yes, talked.”
His eyes searched hers, and she could see he was trying to reconcile her answer with his thoughts. When he glared at her again, she knew he didn’t believe her. “Is that all? What did he want?”
“To apologize,” Addison said, “for how he treated me all those years ago.”
“And?” he pressed. “Don’t make me pull it out of you, Addison, just tell me for Christ’s sake. We’ve always had honesty going for us. Don’t change that now because of him. Don’t keep something this big from me.”
A tear trickled down her cheek. She wouldn’t have said anything. She would have taken it to her grave, but he was pushing her for the truth, and she couldn’t deny him. He deserved better. “He said he wants me back and then, then he kissed me.”
“He did what?” Raphael rose and so did his voice.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea he would do something so brazen, Raphael. I swear. I haven’t seen him in four years.”
“Yet he still thought he could put his hands on you, kiss you, even though you’re with another man?” Raphael’s disgust was evident. “You did tell him, didn’t you? That you’re with me?”
“Of course I did.”
“That’s why your father’s worried. He thinks that you could be persuaded.”
“I won’t be. I love you, Raphael.”
“God, I can’t believe this.” Raphael grasped his head in frustration. “I thought that man was finally out of your life and that we were free to be together, but he’s not, is he?”
“He is. I don’t want Caleb back.”
“But he’s not going to give up trying to get you back, Addison. And I don’t want to believe he has a chance, but I was there. I saw how devastated you were after your breakup.”
Addison shrugged. “What do you want me to say, Raphael?”
“I want you to make me believe that he doesn’t have a chance,” Raphael replied, coming toward her. When he reached her, he pulled her into his arms. “I want you to make me believe that I won’t lose you to him.”
Addison wrapped her arms around Raphael’s neck and brushed her lips across his. “He doesn’t have a chance.” But even as she said those words, she was worried that Raphael should be worried. Caleb was her first love, and she’d fallen hard for him, but when he’d sent her packing she’d made her peace and accepted his decision. But she’d done so with the assumption she’d never see him again. Caleb had changed the script, and now Addison wasn’t so sure how the second act would end.
Chapter 18
“Last night was pretty interesting,” Duke said the next morning to Caleb as they ate lunch in Duke’s office at Hart Enterprises.
“Yes, it was,” Caleb replied, never glancing up from the papers he was reading.
“C’mon, Caleb, are we not going to talk about the elephant in the room? That you didn’t see Addison again?”
Caleb put down the papers and looked up. “No, we can talk about it.”
“So? I assume you spoke.”
“We did, and it went much better than I thought it would.”
“Really? How so?”
“I expected Addison to be angry with me ... and she was. She reamed me out pretty good, which is what I deserved, but—”
“But what?”
“There’s still a chance for us, Uncle Duke.”
“You think so? After all this time? After how you ended things?”
Caleb nodded. “Yes.” He’d stayed up nearly half the night thinking about it all. If he’d read the signals correctly, Addison was happy with her new beau, Raphael whatever his name was, but she wasn’t over Caleb either. Anger and hate were the opposite coin of love, which meant she still had feelings for him. They might be buried, but he’d unearth them. And that kiss last night had been the first shovel.
“But she’s dating someone. And if the rumors are true, they are close to engagement.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Caleb’s voice had a fire to it. “I’m not going to lose her again.”
“So you’re going to try to steal her away from this fellow? That’s not right, Caleb.”
“I’m not stealing her. She’s not a prize to be won,” Caleb said, “plus she was never his to begin with. And I’ll prove it.”
“I doubt it’s going to be as easy as you think. Do you honestly think this man is just going to step aside without a fight?”
Caleb thought about what Duke had just said. “No, I don’t suppose he will. But I have a plan.” He’d thought about a way to get close to Addison. Hart Enterprises had a new public relations campaign coming up, and Addison’s firm would be dying to scoop up a contract to do the work. Caleb intended to use that to his advantage.
Later that afternoon, Caleb put his plan into action and arranged for a meeting with the principal of Addison’s firm for the following day to discuss the particulars of what they would need. Soon, he would reconnect with Addison, and hopefully, with time, he would be able to show her he was a changed man.
Addison stared at the computer screen. With her personal life in turmoil, she was unable to concentrate on the campaign in front of her. On the one hand, she had Raphael, her ideal man who was handsome, smart, funny and kind with a giving heart. On the other, there was devilishly sexy Caleb, the former bull rider who’d once had her heart and whom she’d never truly forgotten. Perhaps it was because of the “what if.” The accident had abruptly ended their short courtship, and she’d never truly known if they would have survived of their own free will. She’d always wondered.
But she’d never known the option was still on the table, so she’d had to move forward with her life and Raphael was a part of that. Was I supposed to have waited indefinitely to see if Caleb would ever walk again? At the time, he’d made it very clear that he didn’t want to be with her. Of course, his sister, Rylee, had disagreed, and after that horrible day at the hospital when he’d told her to go, Rylee had called Addison and begged her to give him some time. But Addison had refused to be his punching bag and had left town instead. Did I make a mistake? Should I have waited for him?
Her intercom buzzed. “Addison, can I see you please, in my office?” her boss, Stella Hayes, asked from the other end of the line.
“Sure thing. I’ll be right there.” Addison rose from her high-backed chair and walked in her three-inch pumps down the hall.
She couldn’t believe how lucky she’d been in landing this gig after returning from Paris. It was a coup, and she knew every PR agent in Dallas had been vying for it, but once Stella knew she’d worked for a large firm in Paris, it had sealed the deal for her, not to mention her grasp of several languages: French, Italian and Spanish, which she’d acquired while abroad.
As she walked toward Stella’s all-glass corner office, she could see a man sitting inside it. His back, however, was facing the glass pane in front of her, so she couldn’t see his face. She opened the door and before she even set foot inside, the man turned around. Addison’s heart nearly stopped. Caleb. What the hell is he doing here?
“Addison.” Stella got up off her sofa. “Why didn’t you tell me you had this campaign in the works?”
“Pardon?” Addison was dumbfounded by Stella’s question, and, of course, Caleb.
He was sitting on a white leather sofa with one long leg crossed over the other. He looked quite dapper in the designer suit he wore. Addison was charmed, seeing him so smartly dressed again as he was the other night. And there was the signature smile. He was giving her a sexy smirk, clearly pleased with himself that he’d caught her off-guard yet again.
“I was just telling Stella,” Caleb said, putting his arm across the back of the sofa, “that we were discussing bringing Hart Enterprises next campaign to Hayes & Hayes.”
“Were we now?” Addison asked with a touch of sarcasm.
Only Caleb seemed to catch it and he cocked his brow, daring her to say otherwise to her boss.
He smiled broadly. “Yes, and I’m eager to share with the oil community the new refining process that we’ve incorporated. The oil business gets such a bad rap that I’d like to improve on it.”
“Sounds great,” Stella said, “doesn’t it, Addison?”
“Of course.”
“We would be more than happy to put together a proposal on handling Hart Enterprises’ business,” Stella added.
“Excellent!” Caleb rose from the sofa and extended his hand toward Stella. “I look forward to hearing from Addison.” At Addison’s surprised look, he said, “I explained to Stella that with our long friendship, I wouldn’t dream of anyone else handing HE’s account but you.”
Addison plastered a fake smile on her face even though inwardly she was fuming that Caleb had placed her in such a precarious position. She could envision the smoke coming out of Raphael’s ears once she told him of this latest development involving Caleb.
“Good day, ladies.” Caleb nodded at them before leaving the office.
As he walked out, Stella turned to her. “Addison, how could you have left out your connection to Caleb Hart and Hart Enterprises? This would be a great campaign for us.”
“It’s a recent development,” Addison said as she continued to watch Caleb head for the elevators. She needed to speak with him before he left. “If you’ll excuse me.” She rushed out and took a shortcut to the elevators to head him off.
She caught up with him at the elevator bank. “Caleb.”
He smiled when he saw her with her arms folded across her A-line sheath dress. “Addison.”
“My office. Now.” She headed toward it and didn’t look back to see if he was following her because she knew he was. When she made it to her office, she held open the glass door and once he was inside, she closed it. She wished she hadn’t because Caleb’s large presence overwhelmed the tiny room.
Caleb strolled over to the chair across from her modern, sleek desk, and Addison walked behind it. She wanted distance between them.
“What can I do for you?” Caleb asked.
“Don’t play coy, Caleb. It doesn’t suit you. You know why you’re here.”
“If it’s that’s obvious, why don’t you tell me?”
“You’re trying to come between me and Raphael by inserting yourself into my life. And clearly you figured the best way was through work by creating a scenario that would force us to do business together. You knew that the idea of u
s leading your campaign would be too good for the company to pass up.”
He smiled, revealing a brilliant pair of white teeth. “Okay, I admit it.”
“So you’re not even going to try to deny it?” Addison laughed derisively. “You’re really too much.”
Caleb leaned forward, and his deep-set brown eyes focused on her. “I told you the other night that I wanted you back, and I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that happens. If it means I have to play a little unfair,” he said, shrugging, “then that’s what I’ll do, Addison.”
Addison was flabbergasted. Words escaped her.
“I made a mistake four years ago when I asked you to leave me,” Caleb continued, “and it’s a mistake I intend to rectify. We can be good together again, Addison, if you’ll only allow yourself to entertain the idea. I’m not the same man I was. How can I be when I was forced to face my own mortality? I had to figure out if I was going to let that accident define me or if I was going to move on from it. I chose the latter.”
“And you walked again,” Addison added.
Caleb nodded. “I had to learn how all over again like I was a toddler. I can’t tell you what a humbling experience that was. And all I can say is that I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to do it with you by my side, but I wasn’t sure what was in store for me and if the rehabilitation would even work. What if I would have been disabled all my life? Unable to make love to you? I couldn’t take that chance, not with your life.”
“It wasn’t your decision to make,” Addison replied. She could feel her eyes becoming misty, but she refused to allow him to see that he was affecting her. He would take that as a sign in his favor, and she couldn’t afford that. “It was mine, and you took that choice away from me.”
“I know and I’ve regretted it, but I used it to fuel me.”
Again, Caleb was surprising her with his forthrightness. She’d been prepared to read him the riot act once she had him alone in her office, but he was being upfront and honest. “And you recovered.”
“It was a long, hard road, Addison. Don’t doubt that for a moment it was easy, especially knowing that I’d lost you.”
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