Authors: Claire Kent
She made a choking sound and turned her head away briefly. “You’ve got to be kidding. I thought I made that clear yesterday.”
“Sometimes things change from day to day.”
“Not this.”
“Good.” He reached over to slide his finger down a length of deep gold hair that had escaped her braid.
“No touching during the social time,” she teased lightly, playfully batting his hand away.
He moved his hand back, relaxing into the kind of rivalry they’d enjoyed yesterday in the park. “I thought the social time was over.”
“That was just wishful thinking on your part. I never agreed to that timetable.”
“So what’s your timetable?” He leaned forward so he was hovering over her, using his size to make her feel his presence.
Her breath quickened, so he knew she felt it. “I’m not sure yet.”
“Well, decide quickly—because there’s something about you, something about the untouched look of you, that makes me really want to touch.” The gravelly texture of his voice was genuine. He was intensely aroused now and having trouble not grabbing her and pressing himself against her.
She slowly lifted her hands until they were resting on his shoulders. He took this as an invitation and moved his face so his lips were just a breath away from hers. “So, the social time is over, then?” he murmured.
She was breathing so fast she was almost panting, and he could feel the urgent tension in her body. She was just as turned on as he was. He felt a surge of pleasure at this thought.
Suddenly, she pushed him away. “I’m sorry,” she choked, grabbing her clutch and straightening to her feet. “I can’t do this.”
Caleb froze for a moment, watching her walking away from him, stumbling slightly as she did so.
What the hell?
She was leaving him like this? She looked upset, like she was on the verge of tears.
And he’d done absolutely nothing.
When he registered the situation, he experienced a wave of annoyance and frustration. Women didn’t just walk out on him like this—certainly not without explanation.
So he followed her. He would never pressure her into doing anything—that was the refuge of a lesser man—but he would at least get an explanation.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, falling in step with her in the lobby of the hotel.
“I told you. I’m leaving.”
He reached out to grab her arm to keep her from going any farther. “But why? You can’t tell me you don’t want me too.”
“I don’t”—she shook her head roughly—“it’s too complicated,” she continued. “But I don’t want to be here anymore. Please let me go.”
He almost groaned in exasperation and resisted the urge to shake the truth out of her. Instead, he said mildly, “At least let me walk you to your car.”
She gave him a quick look, but then nodded mutely.
They walked down the sidewalk toward her car in silence. The moon shone on her face, and he noticed long strands of hair slipping out of her loose braid.
Despite the murmuring resentment, he was once more aware of his intense attraction for her. His body stirred again as he studied her out of the corner of his eyes. He noticed her supple lips, the trace of nipples through the fabric of her dress, the unconscious swing of her hips.
He waited for her to say something, explain why she’d suddenly broken the way she had—as if something was driving her that he was completely oblivious to. But she never did. She walked in complete silence, and it would feel like a defeat for him to break the silence himself.
Eventually, they made it to her car. He’d taken note of it yesterday. Expensive. Not ostentatious.
“All right,” she said, with an obvious conclusion in her voice. She stood next to the driver’s side door and stared at him impatiently. “Thanks. Sorry the night didn’t turn out the way we thought.”
He pressed his lips together, fighting back annoyance at her stubbornness and at how she was blatantly trying to get rid of him, when it was quite clear that she still wanted him. “Tell me what’s wrong, Kelly.” He paused for her to answer, but she didn’t. “If you need some sort of help, then just tell me.”
She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I don’t want your help. I don’t even know you.” She focused on his face with a strangely tired gaze. “You’re not someone I’d turn to for help.”
She didn’t know him, which meant she didn’t trust him. He didn’t know or trust her either. But he was fascinated, and he was sure now that she was in some sort of trouble, which would explain her strange reactions to him.
Caleb hated not knowing things, especially things that affected him in any way.
Kelly was still staring at him, waiting for him to walk away. As if he would just do what she wanted him to do without question. Finally, she said, “I’m more stubborn than you are, and I don’t have anywhere I need to be tonight. I can wait you out.”
Caleb stared back at her for a minute, until he was forced to admit that she wasn’t going to cave. It didn’t matter. He was flexible. He could work with her infuriating refusal to talk to him.
He could still get the answers he needed. He’d just do so in a different way.
“All right,” he said softly. “I’ll leave. Take care of yourself.”
Kelly blinked, as if he’d surprised her, then she nodded. “You too.”
She wouldn’t move until Caleb had turned around and started walking away from her.
His back to her, Caleb headed toward his building. He felt irrationally angry, at being dismissed by her this way. No one had treated him like that in years.
He had made it almost half a block when he heard her scream.
Whirling around, he immediately assessed the situation. Saw two figures next to Kelly’s car, apparently pulling her out of the driver’s seat.
“Kelly!” he shouted, sprinting back down the block.
It was an automatic response. He hadn’t thought it through and then decided on the best option. He’d just seen danger and reverted into an instinctive crisis mode.
He ran toward her at full speed. Didn’t think. Felt the adrenaline begin coursing through his body as his feet pounded on the sidewalk.
She was struggling with one of the men now, clearly trying to free herself from the attackers.
Caleb shouted again as he approached them, knowing that something as harmless as noise could sometimes scare muggers off. He was close enough now that he was able to see distinct movements, and he saw her clobber one of the men on the jaw. She pulled away and kneed the second man in the groin as he reached out to seize her again.
But she hadn’t gotten far enough away when the first one made another grab for her. Caleb watched as the man brutally slammed Kelly into the side of the car.
And Caleb was washed with waves of rage. White-hot, blinding rage. He had no idea where the violent emotion had come from, except that it was one of his primal instincts that he’d done his best to stamp out.
But he’d never been able to completely erase the raw, primitive side of himself, and it took him over at that moment, as he watched Kelly slump limply to the pavement. He didn’t know her. Didn’t owe her anything.
Yet he was fiercely enraged by seeing her attacked.
As he reached the two men, they were trying to pull her up, and Caleb grabbed one of them and slammed his fist into the man’s face.
The impact from the blow shook him, and Caleb felt a jolt of pain shoot all the way up his arm. The second man knocked Caleb aside before he could turn toward him. Caleb felt the man’s elbow hard on the side of his mouth.
But by this point there were other voices from down the street, as other people saw what was happening. The two men ran away, and Caleb had no choice but to let them, since Kelly somehow—as she was trying to rise—had ended up slumped on his feet.
Giving up on catching the attackers for now, Caleb knelt down beside Kelly, waving away the couple who had started over to help. As he did, his hand moved to his mouth, and he realized that he was bleeding from a cut on his lip.
Kelly was blinking up at him, clearly dazed and in pain, one of her hands blindly groping at his knee.
“Are you all right?” he asked softly, holding her by the shoulder.
“Yeah.” Her voice was choked, and she groaned helplessly as she tried to sit up. One of her hands moved to her head and the other to her stomach as she plainly tried to fight both dizziness and nausea.
“You need a doctor,” Caleb said, his mind working quickly now that the crisis was over.
“No,” she objected weakly. “I’m fine. Just help me up.” She made a few attempts to stand, but wasn’t able to do so yet.
“You are not fine. I’ll take you to the emergency room, and then we’ll have to report the attack. Could you tell what they were trying to do? Mug you? A carjacking?” It hadn’t really looked like either of those, but he wanted to know if she would take the offered suggestions.
“They weren’t muggers or carjackers,” Kelly muttered. Her face was pale, and her eyes were still dazed, but she grabbed for his shoulder in an attempt to rise. “I know who they were.”
“Kelly,” Caleb began urgently, feeling the dull anger return at the knowledge that she was hiding this from him, along with a renewed feeling of powerlessness. “What is going on?”
“It’s my business,” she said, despite her obvious weakness. “Just help me up.”
“I’m not going to let you try to drive yourself away,” Caleb gritted through clenched teeth. In her struggle to rise, her neckline had shifted, and his eyes were drawn once more to the lush crease and shadow at the top of her breasts.
He felt strange about focusing on her cleavage when she was obviously in pain, so he made himself look away.
She swatted away the hand that had been on her shoulder, the one he was using to prevent her from rising. She stumbled to her feet, and Caleb had no choice but to put a supporting arm around her waist, since she almost collapsed back to the ground.
Kelly smothered a groan and closed her eyes. She held his arm to keep her balance and put her free hand on her belly. Soon, she’d have a heavy bruise under one eye and a substantial knot on the side of her head.
“Where are my keys?” she mumbled, pulling away from him and trying again to stand on her own.
Caleb couldn’t believe how foolish she was acting. “Kelly,” he said roughly, then cleared his throat to restore his voice to normal. “I’m not going to let you drive. You likely have a concussion.”
Now there were tears leaking out of her pained eyes. “I have to go. He’ll find me again.”
Caleb filed that away with the other information he’d gotten from her thus far. Obviously she was running from someone. That would be helpful to know when he began to check into her background more deeply.
She was taking deep breaths and trying to steady herself, and her cheeks and lips were sickeningly white.
Part of Caleb—a part that he’d almost forgotten existed—wanted to take care of her. And the rest of him recognized a good opportunity when he saw one. So his whole self was speaking when he offered, “Come with me, then. Let me help you. I’ll take you somewhere safe where you can recover.”
“No, Caleb,” she objected in a quavering voice. “I don’t want you involved. I don’t even know you.” She sucked in an urgent breath, moved her hand back to her stomach, and turned away from him.
Caleb felt a little queasy himself when he asked, “Are you going to be sick?”
“No,” she replied, swallowing the word. “I’m okay.”
She definitely wasn’t okay. Caleb narrowed his eyes. “I’ll take you to the emergency room, or you can come with me and let me help you. Those are your only two options.” He wasn’t used to people not doing what he said, and he didn’t like it at all.
“Can’t go to emergency room,” she gasped. “He’ll find me.”
Caleb’s brow furrowed as he watched her. She was definitely concussed, and there was something else going on here.
“Come with me, Kelly. You have no reason to trust me, but you have no reason to think I’ll harm you either.”
“No.” She put both hands flat on her car for support.
“Kelly,” he urged, putting an arm around her waist again, since he was afraid she was going to fall down.
Finally, she slumped against him. And, since she didn’t argue anymore, he took that as her agreement. “My car is a couple of blocks away,” he said gently. “In the garage of my building.”
Kelly tottered beside him for half a block before her knees began to buckle. So, seeing no other available means of getting her to his car, Caleb swung her up into his arms and carried her the rest of the way.
He didn’t like it. It made him feel strange—as if the gesture were too clichéd, too heroic, too
something
. It didn’t suit him at all. The same way he’d felt making the call to Wes earlier that day.
But Kelly couldn’t walk anymore, and he had to get her to his car somehow. So he tried not to think too much about it.
Her body was soft and substantial in his arms. She was basically a dead weight—not trying to support herself or present a pretty picture. It made him feel uncomfortable. His chest felt too heavy and too tight all at once.
But his mind was whirling. There was a mystery here. So many unanswered questions.
After getting her into his car, he drove to his house outside of the city, since that would be less visible than his downtown apartment. Kelly was in and out of consciousness, but Caleb kept trying to keep her awake.
When he was stopped at a light, he glanced over and saw that her eyes were closed. So he picked up his phone and texted out a brief message to a guy he used to investigate things he didn’t want listed on the Vendella company books.
Find out more information about Kelly Watson. Focus on men she’s been in relationships with.
Kelly’s eyes were still closed when he put his phone back down and accelerated as the light turned green.
His mind was whirling with questions and possibilities.
He didn’t fully trust Kelly. He didn’t fully trust anyone. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
She obviously needed his help, and he liked that. But he needed to know her story in order to do anything about it.
When there were things he didn’t know, his world would start to spin out of control. And when things were out of control, he would have to resort to methods that were distasteful, unpleasant, in order to gain the upper hand.