He ran a hand down his face, releasing an unsteady breath.
He couldn’t go through with this. He would go out there and tell her that Glenn had called to say that he and the rest of the guys would be able to make the fishing trip after all.
Yeah, she would believe that all three of his friends’ plans had fallen through in the last ten minutes.
“Idiot,” Caleb said underneath his breath.
Maybe he could tell her that he’d just gotten a call that his grandmother was sick. Leah didn’t know that both his grandmothers had been dead for over a decade.
Hell, why not just tell her the truth? That he’d suffered a bout of temporary insanity when he’d accepted her invitation to join her in the Berkshires.
Except a weekend away was exactly what he needed.
The original goal of his fishing trip was to rest, relax, and figure out his next steps. He had until Monday to come to a decision about what he wanted to do with the next five, ten, maybe even twenty years of his life. Giving himself room to think, in the way he used to do it when he was a kid—with a fishing pole in his hand and nothing but the peace and quiet of a gurgling creek—was the best way to help him clear his mind.
How was he supposed to clear his mind and relax while sharing space with Leah Cross? Hell, he’d been sporting a semi since the moment she came over to talk to him this morning. His body would be in a constant state of arousal the entire damn weekend.
He couldnotdo this. No matter how much he needed it.
Wait. Why was he stressing himself over spending the weekend with Leah when she had never shown any kind of interest in him outside of being just a friendly neighbor?
Caleb could still remember that time months ago when he ran into her in downtown Manhattan. She hadn’t even recognized him. Granted, he’d been wearing a suit that day instead of his normal jeans and T-shirt, which had been his standard attire for the various undercover jobs he’d been working for the previous year, but the fact that Leah hadn’t even recognized him after living next to him for six months had told Caleb everything he needed to know. He wasn’t even on her radar.
Hell, he’d known that the minute Mr. Lexus started showing up in his sleek luxury sedan with all the bells and whistles. That’s when Caleb learned that not only wasn’t he her type, but he had no chance of becoming her type either. That car probably cost more than what he made in a year.
Not that he was a pauper. He made a good living. And thanks to his grandfather’s thrifty ways and generous heart, he’d been able to put down half the selling price as a down payment when he bought this house. But that didn’t mean he was at Leah Cross’s level.
So why not take her up on her invitation?
He’d go up there to the Berkshires and let that cool mountain air rejuvenate him. He’d break in his new fishing rod while contemplating whether or not he was ready to go back out into the field.
“You can do this.”
Now thatthatdecision had been made, Caleb finished packing his bag. Just as he was about to zip it up, he went back into the bathroom, pulled a sleeve of condoms from the box, and stuffed them in the duffle’s inside pocket.
Fuck it. He may be a fool, but at least he was an optimistic one.
He double-checked the stove, even though he hadn’t cooked anything on it today, and raised the temperature to 79 degrees on the thermostat before walking out the front door and locking it behind him.
When Caleb approached Leah’s open trunk, he found her bent over inside it.
Don’t get caught staring at her ass.Donotget caught staring at her ass.
“Are you ready?” She turned around before he could avert his eyes.
Great. He just got caught staring at her ass.
“Uh, yeah, I’m all set,” Caleb said, holding up his duffle bag.
She didn’t call him on the staring. Instead, she moved to the side and motioned for him to put his duffle in the trunk. Once he’d slipped it in beside her bag, they stood next to the open trunk for several awkward moments while neither of them said anything.
“Do you—”
“Are you—”
Leah gestured for him to go first.
“I just wondered if you wanted me to drive?” Caleb asked.
