Authors: Claire Kent
“I’m not here on vacation. And I’m not planning to raid the refrigerator or have a long soak in your hot tub.”
“Why not?” He gave her a decidedly flirtatious glance over his shoulder. “You’re welcome to raid the wine cellar too, although you might wait until the headache is gone. The tub in this suite should be decent, but the best one is in the master bath. You’re welcome to use it if you’d like.” He cocked an eyebrow. “But I warn you, it has very powerful jets.”
Kelly saw his face blurring in front of her eyes as she processed the fact that they were actually flirting. But she made herself hide it and playfully threw one of the throw pillows from the bed in his direction as he started to leave the room.
It bounced off the back of his shoulder before it fell to the floor.
She could hear his chuckle as he moved down the hallway. Warm, husky, sensual.
Her whole body tightened in response to the sound of it, which just made her hate him even more.
She stayed in bed for a few more hours. Once her headache was mostly gone, she got up, took a shower, and ate some of the lunch that had been carried up to her room.
Her clothes from the night before had been freshly laundered, and the housekeeper found her a pair of more comfortable shoes, so she wouldn’t have to go around in her heels. So she got dressed, clipped her hair up into a heavy knot, and went out to explore the estate.
Kelly would have expected any home of Caleb’s to be cool, modern, and stylish, but the house was an old brick Georgian that had been beautifully updated, full of both character and comfort. The house was built on a large piece of land, so she wandered around, peering at the lake, the stables, and the stretches of grassy lawn. She avoided the wooded areas. There wasn’t much else to keep her occupied, and she figured walking around was a predictable thing for a guest to do. She knew she was probably being watched by Caleb’s security—he had more surveillance than she’d expected to find—so she couldn’t do anything that looked suspicious. But it was a sunny day and warm for April, and the walk and fresh air revived her considerably and banished the final symptoms of her concussion.
There was a high wall surrounding the whole estate, and—as she approached it—she noticed the iron gate that led to the road.
It wasn’t open, but it wouldn’t be very hard to get beyond it, if she were coming from inside and not from outside. She studied it idly, thinking through what she would do tonight, until a man—obviously security—stepped out into the open between her position and the gate.
He didn’t say anything, but his presence there was meaningful. Obviously he’d been told that she wasn’t supposed to leave.
But surely even Caleb wouldn’t dare to keep her here as a prisoner.
She took a short nap in the middle of the afternoon, knowing it would be wise to catch up on her sleep, since she wouldn’t be doing much of that tonight. At about five thirty, she took her towel and the bathrobe she’d been offered up to Caleb’s master bathroom.
It wasn’t as if she were really in the mood for a long, luxurious bath. She was getting edgier by the minute, thinking about what would happen when Caleb returned from work. But he’d offered, and it was a good idea to accept the invitation.
She was tempted to snoop in his bedroom, but it was far too early to try something so risky.
Instead, she went into the huge bathroom, shut the door, took off her clothes, and drew herself a hot bath.
After dumping some of the bath salts she found into the enormous tub—the salts appeared to have never been opened, so she assumed Caleb wasn’t in the habit of taking baths himself—Kelly turned on the jets. She lowered herself into the water and shuddered in automatic pleasure.
Caleb hadn’t been lying about how powerful they were.
It was a very good bath, and Kelly soaked for a long time, closing her eyes and doing her best to release the tension in her body.
She wasn’t able to relax mentally, but—to do what had to be done—she needed to at least take the physical edge off. So the bath was a good idea for more reasons than one.
Eventually, she started draining the water. Caleb would be home soon, and she didn’t want to be here when he returned.
That might look too obvious, like she was throwing herself at him. With a man like Caleb, subtlety would be important.
After toweling off, however, she slathered some scented lotion on her skin. Hopefully, Caleb would get home soon enough for the fragrance to still be lingering.
She pulled on the thick, white bathrobe and gathered up her clothes. On the spur of the moment, she dropped the tennis bracelet she’d been wearing between the tub and the potted plant.
There was nothing blatantly sexual about the bracelet. It was just intimate, and hopefully Caleb would find it in his bathroom sometime this evening.
Her panties would be better, but she couldn’t get away with accidentally forgetting about those.
She returned to her room and kept her bathrobe on so she could wait until Caleb returned from work. She’d timed out the trip from his office, estimating how long it would take for him to get through rush hour traffic. Surely he’d be home soon.
She waited. And waited. And waited even more.
The housekeeper came in to offer her dinner, which she ate in her room, brewing with a growing resentment.
Thoughtless ass. Working all evening when he must know she was expecting him to return.
Some gallant host he was.
Finally, she was so annoyed by his non-appearance that she changed into her clothes, grabbed her phone, and called a cab to come pick her up after she’d figured out the address to give them.
If she were really here under the circumstances she was feigning, she might do the same thing. After all, she was better now, and there was no reason for her to hang around here all evening, when Caleb failed to contact her or make an appearance.
She’d reached the entrance and was about to demand the guard let her out when the gates opened and Caleb’s car drove through.
He stopped when he saw her and got out.
“What are you doing?” He looked faintly annoyed, like she was an underling who wasn’t cooperating. He was still wearing his suit—he hadn’t even taken off the jacket—but he looked less sleek now. Slightly rumpled. A little tired.
Even sexier.
The attitude immediately roused her anger, compounded by her continued attraction to him. “I’m leaving. What does it look like?”
“Why?”
“Because there’s no reason for me to stay here.”
“And it didn’t occur to you to at least wait and let me know you were leaving?”
“I didn’t know when you’d be back. For all I know, you work all night long.”
His face changed slightly as he stepped over closer to her. “I got caught in a meeting that went longer than expected.” He gave her a faint smile. “I should have called to let you know I was running late, shouldn’t I?”
Her throat tightened as she realized he thought she was offended or hurt by his lateness. He thought it was funny. Cute.
Like she was some predictable female.
Smothering the resentment, she said coolly, “Excuse me. My taxi is here.”
It was. The cab had pulled up as they talked and was waiting beyond the gate. She started to walk toward it, but stopped when Caleb reached out to take her arm.
“At least have dinner with me first.”
“I’ve already eaten dinner. Two hours ago.”
He glanced at his watch, evidently just realizing how late it was. He gave her a sheepish, flirtatious smile. “Well, have dessert with me.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t actually feel like dessert. I’m tired.”
She couldn’t help but feel a spark of satisfaction at his frustrated expression. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah. Just tired.”
“Then don’t go home. Stay here tonight and rest up some more, and we can talk tomorrow morning.”
She studied his face and decided she had him right where she wanted him.
If she was going to attract him enough to hold his interest beyond a few rounds of sex, he couldn’t think she was so easy.
So she relented. “Okay. I’ll stay here tonight, but I was serious about being tired.”
He gave her a flash of a smile. “Did you think I was going to make a move?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“You’ve got me all wrong.”
Kelly knew one thing for sure. His smile might still give her thoughts of dragging him into bed, but she hadn’t gotten him wrong at all.
A few hours later, she had steeled herself for what she needed to do, so she got out of bed, where she was ostensibly sleeping, and went to check her hair, making sure it was hanging in a thick, rumpled fall down her back.
He thought she looked innocent and untouched, so she would use that to pull him in even deeper.
She would be scared about the mysterious someone who was threatening her and sending thugs after her. She would not want to be alone tonight. She would go to his room looking vulnerable and needy. He would get to feel all strong and protective again.
She was sure it would work.
The idea of sex with him now was so upsetting, her stomach was a tight knot, but she ignored it.
She’d had sex with men she didn’t know or particularly like before. She’d had sex with Caleb before, and her body seemed to still want more. She could do this. She had to do this, if she was ever going to succeed with this ridiculous scheme to get close to him and find evidence of his guilt.
She closed her eyes and steeled herself a little more, shaking herself off as she exhaled deeply. In the process, she bumped into a small table, making it wobble. Before she could catch it, a large crystal vase holding cut flowers started to topple and then crashed to the floor.
“Damn it!” She stared in frustration at the mess and broken glass on the dark hardwood floor, catching her breath after being deeply startled by the accident.
With a sigh, she decided that she needed to clean up the mess now, before she went to Caleb’s room, since leaving a broken vase would look too suspicious, if anyone happened to see it.
She tiptoed down the quiet stairs and into the deserted kitchen. There, she started opening closet doors until she found the necessary cleaning supplies.
Grabbing a broom, mop, and dustpan, she hurried back up to her room and cleaned up the flowers, broken glass, and spilled water.
Just as she stepped back into the hall to return the supplies, she nearly collided with Caleb.
“Shit,” she muttered reflexively, her heart leaping as she jerked backward unthinkingly. Her pulse began to pound uncomfortably, and she had some momentary trouble disguising her instinctive, negative reaction to unexpectedly seeing this man standing before her in just a white T-shirt, the trousers to his suit, and bare feet.
She was off stride now. Not prepared to encounter him. Her whole experience with Caleb over the last day and a half had been a balancing act. She needed to be on all the time, to never slip into anything genuine or revealing. But she wasn’t ready right now.
Once she’d basically pulled herself together, she was unpleasantly aware of the fact that she no longer looked like a pretty, innocent seductress. Her hair was no longer sleek and shiny, but rather messy and hanging in rumpled tendrils all over her back and shoulders. Her cheeks were overly red from the rushed exertion of cleaning up the broken vase. And she was carrying a mop and broom.
Cursing silently, she managed to say, “Sorry. You scared me.”
Caleb stared at her speechlessly and didn’t respond.
She couldn’t accurately read his expression in the dim light, but she thought she noticed his eyes focused on her hair, which was hanging loose, the first time he’d seen it that way.
But she’d lost the moment, lost all of her momentum. She couldn’t even begin to get the sexy act going right now, so she decided to wait for another opportunity.
“I had a—clumsy moment,” she explained, when the silence stretched on even longer. “An unexpected collision with a vase of flowers. So I raided your pantry for supplies. I hope that’s okay.” Seeing his eyes shift to the broom in her hand, she shrugged and added, “I was just about to return them.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Caleb replied, with so much composure that she decided perhaps she had misread his earlier reaction. He sounded as cool as he always did. “Just leave them here. Someone will find them.”
That was just like him. Spoiled and lazy and inconsiderate to everyone else. He probably thought of his staff as subhuman. Only existing to wait on his every selfish demand. But, composing her expression, she propped the broom and mop up against the wall and laid the dustpan beside them, then gave Caleb a questioning look. “That’s okay?”
He gave a halfhearted shrug. “Sure,” he murmured. “Why not?”
Now she was rethinking her conclusion about having misread him, because his expression definitely seemed a little distracted. And his eyes were still crawling over her face, hair, and body.
It was a little unnerving, and she wondered if he was so weak willed as to be undone by some long, gold, unbound hair and a length of bare legs.
And then she wondered if she was so weak willed as to still want him to fuck her, despite everything she knew.
Needing to get some momentary distance from him so that she could hide her confusion, Kelly turned around and went back into her room, leaving the door open so he could follow.
Staring at the floor, she saw that there were still a few leaves and petals scattered around on the dark wood and a damp spot still visible from the spilled water. With a sigh, she went to get a towel out of the bathroom, kneeling down on her hands and knees and rubbing at the residual water.
She felt like an idiot. She would have done much better if she could have arrived unexpectedly in his room in a flurry of fluttery prettiness. Now everything was all fucked up, and she stupidly really liked how he looked half-undressed like that.
Mid-thought, she remembered that Caleb had evidently been coming to her room just now, so she glanced up and began, “What did you—”