Sweet the Sin (20 page)

“He’s not a nice guy. He’s not nice at all.” She spoke the words with absolute conviction.

Whatever else Caleb was and had done, he would never be
nice
.

“All right. I can’t stop you from doing what you want to do. Just be careful and keep in touch as much as you can. I’ll touch base in the normal way if I find something. You better get going.”

“Yeah,” Kelly agreed, shaking off her distraction of before. She needed to pull it together and not let the mortifying revelation she’d just had unravel her. “Thanks for everything.”

“Sure thing.” Jack stepped forward suddenly when the door to the workout room opened, and pressed her back against a wall so it would look like they were talking intimately when one of the residents walked in wearing workout clothes. After verifying that the person was harmless, Jack nodded wordlessly toward the door and followed her out.

The hall was empty, and she shook her head when she saw a particular expression on his face. “You love all this subterfuge and sneaking around, don’t you?”

Jack chuckled appreciatively. “Of course. I never get to do it anymore. You wouldn’t believe what my job is like now. So much paper shuffling and calling people up, giving them jobs to do. That wasn’t why I got into the security business.”

The corner of her mouth quivering, Kelly replied, “I thought maybe packing a weapon made you feel all manly.”

“That was it.” His eyebrows twitched. “Of course.”

Jack’s expression was so amused and self-deprecating that Kelly surprised herself by laughing out loud—then surprised herself again by feeling self-conscious at the warm, responsive flicker that appeared in Jack’s eyes.

A month ago, she’d be after this man without another thought. She would have made sure they fucked before the day was over. And it was troubling—deeply troubling—that she liked him a lot but had absolutely no interest in fucking him.

Clearing her throat, she pushed the thought aside, gave Jack a little wave, and started for the elevator.

In the silence, she could no longer keep an even more troubling revelation at bay.

It was true. It was horrible, but it was true.

She didn’t want Caleb to be guilty.

Caleb slammed down his coffee mug in a futile expression of his absolute frustration.

Unfortunately, the mug was halfway full, and the impact sloshed hot coffee over his hand.

Growling in annoyance, he pulled his hand away, waving it in the air to dry and cool it.

It was almost five o’clock, and the whole day had passed on an equally exasperating keel. Only very occasionally, on the worst days, did he keep drinking coffee all day long like this.

He’d just hung up with his investigator, and there was still little progress on looking into Kelly’s background. After the one lead he’d gotten last week about the Russian gang in Baltimore, they’d run into a dead end.

At Caleb’s sharp, impatient comment, the investigator had been trying to explain to him just now that they had to rely on word of mouth or documented evidence. There was little documented evidence of any of Kelly’s relationships, and the Russians were, for obvious reasons, a closemouthed community.

Caleb hadn’t taken the reasoned explanation particularly well. He’d laid the man out in his coldest tone, the one that made his staff want to run and hide.

He turned his desk chair so he could stare out through the wall of windows in his office. His view of the DC cityscape was enviable, but he wasn’t even seeing it at the moment.

The tension at the back of his head was almost unbearable, and he raised his hand idly to rub at it.

If Kelly would just tell him who the man was, he could take care of it for her.

Maybe it sounded foolish—thinking he was in any position to take care of a Russian mob boss—but money and contacts could go a long way. Maybe law enforcement had their hands tied, because they were bound by legal restraints.

Caleb wasn’t. He had the number of a guy who cleaned up messes—no matter what the messes were. Caleb could have Kelly’s mess cleaned up for her, without the slightest twinge of his conscience. He’d done it before, and in this case he’d do it with pleasure.

But he could only help if she gave him a name.

He picked up his mug and brought it to his lips, but the coffee was lukewarm now so he put it down without taking a full swallow. He kept rubbing his neck, picturing Kelly’s face if he could tell her that she’d never have to worry about the bastard threatening her again.

“Mr. Marshall.”

Caleb heard the voice with one part of his mind, but it didn’t register immediately.

“Mr. Marshall.”

This time, the words sunk in. He blinked a couple of times and twirled the chair around to see Linda standing in the doorway of his office. She’d obviously just knocked and spoken to him twice.

“Oh, sorry,” he said with a rueful smile. “I was out of it.”

“I apologize for interrupting,” she said, although she had nothing to apologize for. After working for him for fifteen years, she still wouldn’t call him anything except “Mr. Marshall.” “Did you miss the call to Jim Strait?”

Caleb made his brain focus and realized he was supposed to have called someone fifteen minutes ago, a call that had been scheduled for three days now. Linda had even reminded him of it five minutes before he was to make the call.

But then the investigator had called about Kelly, and he’d completely forgotten about everything else.

He stifled a groan. “Shit. I totally forgot. Can I call him now?”

“His assistant said that he had another meeting at five, so we’ve rescheduled for tomorrow, if you don’t mind fitting it into your lunch slot.”

“That’s fine. Thanks.”

Caleb massaged the sore muscles of his neck and wondered what was happening to him. He was never absentminded. He never let anything distract him from his job.

“If you don’t mind my asking, sir,” Linda asked hesitantly, pausing in the process of turning to leave.

Caleb raised his eyebrows and waited.

“Is everything all right? Is there anything I can help you with?”

Damn. He must be in bad shape if Linda was willing to break her normal professionalism to ask him a question like that.

“No, but thank you. I’ve just been—distracted lately. It’s personal stuff.”

Linda nodded with a sympathetic smile. “You’re welcome. I believe it’s not uncommon with a new relationship. I do hope everything works out.”

Having said that, she made a quick exit, as if afraid she’d overstepped. Caleb stared at the door she’d closed behind her.

She obviously thought he was in a new relationship. Maybe that was what everyone thought.

There was no reason for people not to think so. He hadn’t taken Kelly out in public—on any sort of date—but she was living with him, and he’d been going home most evenings far earlier than he usually did.

He hadn’t even gone into the office for the last couple of Sundays.

He supposed he
was
in a new relationship, although he and Kelly had both been running in circles to avoid using that language.

There was no reason not to use it, though. He was with Kelly in a way he hadn’t been with any woman—maybe ever. He wasn’t about to give her the send-off any time soon, and he would be very unhappy if she decided she wanted to leave him.

Over and over for the last few weeks, he’d been on the verge of running—aware that he’d gotten in so deep with her that he’d have a hard time coming out of it. When she was crying in the middle of the night. When she walked into his office with cords in her hand, offering herself to his hands. When they’d made love on the couch and she’d felt as real to him as she ever had before. Each time, he’d been torn between the fear of her getting too close and the fear of her never being close enough.

His instinct for self-preservation was strong, but his need for her was stronger.

And his strongest need at the moment was to keep her safe from whoever was threatening her.

She wouldn’t tell him who it was because she wanted to protect him, but she didn’t understand.

Other people needed to protect themselves from him.

He needed to get working again. He needed to stop brooding about all these unanswered questions. And he needed to stop picturing her face when she came, when she cried, when she laughed.

How was he ever supposed to work if he couldn’t stop thinking about her?

He couldn’t, though. For one of the few times in his life, he simply couldn’t focus on work. Not when there was something more important to do.

He stood up, feeling compelled to go find Kelly and talk to her now. He wanted things to move forward. He didn’t like this weird emotional limbo he was in.

Just because he’d never done something before didn’t mean he shouldn’t do it now.

He wanted to do it now. With Kelly.

Linda looked startled when he asked her to call down for his car, saying he was heading home. It was just after five, but he usually stayed later than that.

He called out good-byes to the staff he passed as he left the executive suite, and he was feeling determined and inspired as he rode down the elevator.

He would talk to Kelly. He would get a few things settled. She would know that she could trust him to do whatever she needed him to do, that she could fully depend on him.

As he was passing through the lobby, a feminine voice stopped him.

“Mr. Marshall.”

He turned to see the cute blonde who had been temporarily working security for several weeks. She was wearing the coat that went with the uniform, so she must have been doing something outside. “Yes?”

“I have something to show you, if you have a minute.”

The woman wasn’t smiling, and she was doing security in his building, so he suppressed his impatience as he nodded and followed her into a back room.

“What is it?” he asked, trying not to sound like he wanted to get through with this conversation, although he definitely did.

The woman smiled. “Today was my last day here. I’m not working for Vendella anymore.” She opened her coat, revealing that she was completely naked beneath it.

Caleb stared at the woman’s body—small, firm breasts, flat belly, long legs, nicely curved hips.

His body tightened just a little—the reflexive response to seeing an attractive naked female body—but that was it.

That was it.

Several weeks ago, he would have had her turned over the table and be rutting her hard with no prelude or hesitation. He’d had her in mind for a fuck from the beginning, and she’d obviously picked up on the signals.

But something had changed. Something really important had changed.

Caleb didn’t want her anymore.

He didn’t want anyone but Kelly.

He stood frozen, trying to process this revelation, which was even more disorienting than his reflections on being in a relationship up in his office just now. Somehow, it drove the reality home a lot more fully.

It was one thing to admit to being in a relationship. It was something entirely else to admit that he wanted only one woman.

Never in his life had he experienced something like that.

He shook his head, finding his voice at last. “Close your coat and go home,” he said, as mildly as he could manage. Without waiting for a response, he turned to leave the room, heading back through the lobby to where his car was waiting.

He’d been using a car service for the last week, instead of driving himself, so he could get more work done during the longer commute. He got into the back of the car that was pulled up to the curb.

Without thinking, he pulled out his phone and dialed Kelly. He didn’t have anything particular to say. He just wanted to talk to her.

The phone rang until voice mail picked up, so he ended the call, wondering what she was doing.

Maybe she was still with that client she was seeing this afternoon. It could have run long.

He tried futilely to do some work on the drive home, but he couldn’t focus on anything. He spent twenty minutes trying to compose a response to an email that should have taken him about three.

When his phone rang, he grabbed for it in an embarrassingly eager gesture, but it wasn’t Kelly. It was Wes.

Caleb let out a breath, telling himself not to be a heartless ass. Two years had passed without any conversations with Wes, and now it was three conversations in a month. And not easy conversations.

“Hey. Did you make it to town?” he asked, after connecting the call.

“Yeah. I got in yesterday.”

“How’s your mom?”

“She’s hanging in there.” Maybe he was tired, or maybe his mom was worse than he implied, but Wes didn’t sound good at all. “Thanks again for—”

“Don’t thank me again. It was fine.” Mostly, Caleb didn’t want to be reminded of that afternoon. It left him feeling too vulnerable in every way, including the aftermath when he’d seen Kelly with that other man and been consumed by that fierce, irrational jealousy.

“How’ve you been?” Wes asked, his tone changing, obviously trying to move back into a more natural conversation. “I’ve been hearing rumors.”

Caleb stiffened. “About what?”

“All kinds of shit. Did you get married?”

“Of course not.”

“Do you have a beautiful convict on the run from the authorities hidden away in your house?”

Caleb couldn’t suppress a huff of dry amusement. “Uh, no.”

“Oh well. Guess the rumors aren’t all true. You’re seeing someone, though?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Caleb admitted, “Yeah.”

“And you’ve got nothing more to say about that?”

“What am I supposed to say? It’s not exactly big news.” He was brushing it off on purpose, but anyone who knew him would understand that it was, in fact, big news.

Caleb Marshall fucked. He’d always, only fucked. He didn’t date.

“Well, it’s bigger news than I’ve got going at the moment. Why don’t you ever go out in public with her? All I keep hearing is that she never leaves your house.”

“She does leave my house, but she’s—she’s dealing with some stuff and doesn’t want to do a lot of socializing. Who have you been hearing all this from?” Caleb felt a strange mingling of annoyance, self-consciousness, and pleasure.

The pleasure was the most surprising feeling—as if part of him wanted the rest of the world to know that he was with Kelly. That she was fully his.

It must have been someone on his staff or from the office who’d gotten the word out, since he couldn’t imagine who else would know about the woman staying at his house.

“I’m not about to tell you and make some poor soul the target of your wrath. So it’s serious?”

“I never said it was serious.”

“Who do you think you’re kidding? You’ve tried to pretend it doesn’t exist, but you’ve always had this white knight complex going on, ever since Mall—”

“That’s ridiculous,” Caleb interrupted, before Wes could complete the thought.

“No, it isn’t. You make yourself heartless so it won’t hurt if you can’t save someone again. It doesn’t take a psychotherapist to figure that out.”

It felt like the air was thickening around him, dulling his vision, getting caught in his throat. And knowing his friend was right didn’t make him want to hear it any more.

After a moment, Caleb cleared his throat. “If you’re through with the half-assed therapy session, I really need to get back to work.”

“Yeah. Fine. But I want to get together while I’m in town. And you should bring your gorgeous damsel in distress.”

Caleb didn’t dignify that comment with a response, just said good-bye and hung up.

He thought about what Wes had said, though, and he decided it wasn’t quite right.

He did want to save Kelly.

But that wasn’t all he wanted.

His phone rang again. It wasn’t Wes calling back, and it wasn’t Kelly. It was Tim, the head of his security team.

Frowning, Caleb answered the call, having absolutely no idea what he was about to hear.

“Mr. Marshall?” Tim said.

“Yes. What’s going on?”

“You said you wanted us to report if anything happened concerning Miss Watson.”

“Yes.” Caleb’s heart jumped painfully. “What happened? Is she okay?”

“Yes. She’s fine. But Pete, the guy I have following her, witnessed something that seems—worth mentioning.”

Tim’s pause in completing the sentence was the first clue Caleb had that he was about to hear something he really didn’t want to hear. “Okay,” he said. “Tell me.”