Ben grins and moves over to his station. I pause to watch him lift his gun and shoot. His movements are smooth and confident as he pops off eight rounds in a tight grouping on the target in the farthest position possible in the shooting area.
I smile and give him a thumbs up, appreciating his point-blank accuracy, then we both spend the next half hour unloading rounds into different targets.
When we’ve used all our ammo, I realize that my wrists don’t itch and the raging tension inside me is gone. I smile at Ben as we put our gear away. “That was a blast. Seriously, thank you for bringing me.”
He grins and hoops his arm around my neck as we head out of the room, but we stop short when a group of seven guys walk in with all their gun cases. Swiveling me around, he says, “That’ll be crowded for a bit. Let’s leave the back way and swing around.”
I nod my agreement and follow him out the back exit. As we step outside, my stomach growls loudly, practically echoing in the quiet alley. My face heats.
Releasing me, Ben glances down at my belly, then meets my gaze, amused. “Are you hungry?”
I give a wry smile. “I skipped breakfast since you came early.”
“Now I feel bad,” he says, then his eyes light up. “Ah, there’s an awesome coffee and hot chocolate stand just a couple blocks from here. They have the best scones I’ve ever had.”
Clasping my hand, he tugs me along. “Come on. We can walk from here.”
I pull back, suddenly aware we’ll be leaving Calder behind. “Let’s drive there.”
He shakes his head and drags me forward, turning down a connected alleyway behind another building. “Vi’s Café stand is a couple blocks away if we cut through an alley or two. On the road it’s five blocks. It’ll be nice to have some alone time for a bit. Don’t worry. We’ll be back before they miss us.”
As we pass a couple homeless people who’ve pulled old newspapers up to cover themselves from the cold, I think about my promise to Calder that I wouldn’t go anywhere without him. We turn the corner and the sound of a glass bottle rolling in the alley behind us makes me jump, glancing back. When Ben’s hand tightens on mine and he tugs me closer, my heart begins to race.
I don’t think Ben would lead me away from protection with the intent to hurt me, but I can’t say the same about others. The sound of crunching gravel around the corner has me pulling my cell phone from my back pocket and surreptitiously typing Calder a message that we went to get scones at Vi’s Café stand. Hitting send, I slide the phone back into my pocket.
I’m ready for a coffee the moment we reach the stand. Ben hands me a steaming cup and then a huge blueberry scone. “Try it. You’ll never eat scones anywhere else.”
While we stand off to the side and use the shelter of the roof to block the cool wind, I scarf down my scone in record time.
Ben laughs and hands me his. “Are you still hungry?”
I hold my coffee cup with two hands to warm them and take a quick sip before shaking my head. “No, but you were right. It was the best scone I’ve ever had, and that’s not just the hunger talking.”
The wind ruffles his short dark hair and his eyes light with amusement. “Told you,” he says after he finishes off his scone. “So, do you think you’d like to go back to the shooting range again, maybe later this week? Next time you can learn to shoot a handgun if you want.”
I hesitate. It feels wrong to make future plans with him, because it’ll be based on my preferences, not Celeste’s. “Why don’t we wait until later in the week to make an appointment?”
His expectant expression falters, but he quickly nods to hide his disappointment just as his phone rings. “Sure, we can do that. Sorry, I need to answer this,” he says and pulls his phone out of his coat pocket.
Now I feel bad. He’s trying to forge a connection and find a common ground with Celeste. I put my hand over his before he can answer his phone. “I really enjoyed it, Ben. Honest.”
He smiles and his brown eyes warm as he lifts the cell to his ear. “Hello?”
Glancing at me, his smile broadens. “That’s fantastic! Thank you so much for your help with the funding. I believe this pilot program can do a world of good for the vets.” He pauses and nods. “Yes, the hospital approved space yesterday.”
While Ben discusses a few more things with the person about the outreach program, the tiny hairs on my neck rise. I quickly glance around the busy street to see if anyone is staring at us, but everyone continues to bustle past, oblivious to others around them.
Ben hangs up, his eyes dancing with excitement as he clasps my shoulders. “I’ve been working on getting this program approved for eighteen months. I can’t believe it’s finally coming together.”
I smile. “That’s wonderful, Ben.”
He yanks me into a tight hug and spins me in a circle. “You have no idea. There were times when I thought it was going to fall through.”
I laugh at his exuberance and hug him back “Congratulations on the success.”
“This is such great news.” Setting me down, he quickly cups my cheek and presses his mouth to mine.
I’m so shocked by his unexpected kiss, I freeze, unsure how to react. Calder’s tight voice right behind us jars me into action, and I pull back. “
Miss Carver
, you’re being summoned home. Let’s go.”
Ben clasps my hand and turns to face Calder. “I’ll take her.”
Calder slides his phone into the pocket of his leather jacket as he tilts his chin toward his car pulled up to the curb. “Mr. Carver’s instructions were quite clear. He wants his daughter home immediately. No delays.”
My nerves are hopping inside me like jumping beans. I release Ben’s hand. “It’s okay, Ben. I should go.” Shrugging out of his jacket, I hand it to him. “Thank you for taking me shooting and for the
best
scone.”
As I step toward the Charger, Ben follows, tucking his jacket over his arm. “I really wish I hadn’t agreed to take my friend’s shift.”
“You’ll be missed tonight.” I get in the car and push the button to roll down the window. “Now go save some lives.”
Just as Ben reaches for my hand, Calder presses on the gas and pulls away from the curb.
“Calder! You could of taken the guy’s hand off.”
“That’s the least of what I could’ve taken off,” he snaps without glancing my way.
I close my eyes and exhale. While I wait for him to speak, my head starts to throb. I blame tension and lack of sleep, but when Calder doesn’t say another word the entire time, I finally break the silence as he takes the exit. “What does Gregory want?”
“Nothing.”
I gape at him. “You lied?”
He continues to stare straight ahead as he turns a corner and pulls up to the Carver estate gates. “It was either that or deck the prick.”
“That wasn’t what it looked like, Calder,” I mutter.
“What does
not
kissing him look like?” he growls, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as we start up the long driveway toward the house.
I tense at his accusing tone. “
He
kissed me. You just happened to pull up at the worst possible time.”
The car slams to a halt, furious green eyes snapping to me. “Because there would’ve been a better time to see him put his fucking tongue down your throat?”
“
I
didn’t kiss him back,” I say before I open the door and get out. Slamming it shut, I start walking. He’s angry. I get it. I wasn’t happy that he met with Alana early this morning, but the difference is they
have
a history, one that she appears to want to rekindle. I have no history with Ben, nor do I plan on it. Big difference.
Calder’s car idles beside me. “Get in the car, Cass,” he says tightly through the open window.
I fold my arms around myself to stay warm and keep walking. “Can we not fight right now? I don’t have the brain capacity for it. I need to take a nap or I won’t be able to function this evening.”
He rolls the car along and sighs. “Get in the car. I want to fill you in on what Bash told me.”
The case will only get solved if we work it, so I open the door and get in.
Calder pushes on the gas. “Elijah was able to hack into the GPS on Phillip’s car. He was on the same stretch of highway as Celeste that night.”
“That’s good, right? It’s tangible evidence that proves he went looking for Celeste and probably found her.”
Calder shakes his head. “It places him in the vicinity but not with her. He could claim an entirely different reason for being on that road at that time and say he had no knowledge of Celeste being there. I agree with you that proving he is the father would go a long way in giving the police more ways to connect him to Celeste, especially as far as motive goes.”
I rub my temples, trying to ward off an impending headache. I can feel it just behind my eyes. “But will that be enough if we can’t prove he’s the Deceiver? The threat in his text was pretty damning.”
Calder nods. “It should give the police another person of interest.”
We’re quiet once we reach the house. When Calder cuts the engine, I share what happened before I left the house. “Jake knows I’m not Celeste.”
He cuts his gaze my way, on full alert. “What did he say?”
I can’t lie to Calder, not about something this important, but I stick to the present issues. “He wasn’t happy that I’m pretending to be Celeste. He thinks his father and Phillip are crazy to ask me to stand in for her.”
“Did he threaten you?” he asks, his eyes narrowing.
I’m unsure how to answer. Jake grabbed me, but he didn’t threaten me with violence. His way is more psychologically twisted, so I decide to hedge my response. “Beth saw him getting agitated and straightened him out.”
He scans my face. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I shrug and shake my head. “I thought it was strange that he didn’t tell Beth he knew I wasn’t Celeste after she yelled at him for giving her sister a hard time over the engagement decision. Then again, the Carver/Hemming family dynamic isn’t the most normal one. I still can’t figure out why Phillip would tell Jake about me, but not Ben.”
Calder’s jaw muscle tightens. “Are you sure Ben doesn’t already know?”
I shake my head. “Why would Ben keep up the pretense with me today? No, he doesn’t know. But what I do find weird is…that for someone who seems obsessed with Celeste, Jake acted oddly calm and accepting of her disappearance.”
Calder clenches his hand around his keys. “Do you think Jake is the one who hurt Celeste? All because he didn’t win her in their families’ antiquated engagement agreement?”
The fury simmering in his gaze reminds me that when it comes to Celeste being wronged in any way, Calder is definitely affected. “I have no idea, but I think it’s a good idea to try to get Jake’s DNA tonight too. Once we have both men’s DNA, then Sebastian’s lab person can run the paternity tests.”
Calder rubs his fingers along his nose and shakes his head. “That’s not going to work. According to the lab guy, he did determine that Celeste’s DNA matches the blood the police retrieved, but he’ll need a pure sample of her blood for the paternity test. It rained some that night, and since the car door was left open, the blood isn’t the best sample to work with for determining paternity. Apparently the baby’s DNA in the mother’s blood is much harder to determine with a degraded sample.”
“I guess that means I’ll need to convince Beth to release a portion of the blood Celeste left behind at that clinic,” I say, sighing at the thought.
“If it’s for Celeste, she’ll help.”
I grimace. “Beth’s pretty much in the ‘don’t trust Cass’ camp right now, but I’ll try.”
When I start to get out of the car, Calder’s warm hand covers mine on the seat. “Alana was only here because she was doing me a favor, Cass.”
I raise my eyebrow. “She wants more, Calder. And if you can’t see that, then you’re blind.”
When I try to slide my hand free, he applies pressure. “It only matters if it’s reciprocated.”
Just the feel of his hand on mine makes my pulse race. “I basically said the same thing about Ben. You didn’t seem to care.”
He starts to slide his thumb over my hand, but stops to turn the diamond on my finger completely around and out of sight. Intense green eyes flick back to mine. “I don’t want him kissing you, let alone thinking for one fucking second that anything else is going to happen.”
“He took me by surprise, Calder. I didn’t encourage it.”
“I laid awake last night with an erection from hell, because I couldn’t stop thinking about how fucking good you taste.” His hand closes fully around mine. “I want this bullshit done and over. No more guys thinking you’re theirs, no more lies and subterfuge. No more pretending. Just me branding myself on every inch of you.”
I’m so turned on by his seductive promise, my lips instinctively part and my breath stalls. It’s not fair that he has such a strong affect over me when I don’t know where we’re going. Maybe one day he’ll share the things he’s holding back. Until then, I can deal with him keeping a few secrets, since I have some of my own, but that doesn’t change the fact he obviously has commitment issues. Not that I’m ready to walk down the aisle, but knowing upfront that that particular path is one he never plans to take is a double-edged sword jammed between us. No matter which direction I turn, I’m going to get cut.