Serena’s heart thumped with annoyance. Did he really think that he could just show up and demand a piece of her time with no forewarning and that she would jump? ‘No, I’m working late this evening,’ she lied, feeling not even the teensiest bit bad about doing so. It wasn’t as if she owed him anything. She’d done her duty by telling him about the baby and, if she did agree to sit down with him at some point, and that was a bigif, then she wanted more preparation than a few seconds, wanted her thoughts to be ordered and eloquent and she was feeling neither of those things in that moment.
The sound of his voice had undone her, propelled her back to that night in Singapore, to all that she had felt that she didn’t want to remember. How much worse would it be if she actually had to see him? How would she be able to meet those quicksilver eyes and not feel, not remember it all in exquisitely painful and hypnotising detail?
It had been hard enough squelching everything he’d awoken in her, forgetting the joy of their connection and how it felt to not be lonely. She didn’t need that box opened.
‘Is that so?’ Caleb drawled. ‘Because someone who looks exactly like you seems to be exiting your office building at this very second.’
Serena stiffened.He was here, watching her?
Her heart thudded again and frustration had her gritting her teeth together, not because she’d been caught out, but because he had obviously been testing her, and it was a test she had failed.
Casting her eyes left and right, it was then that she noticed the black Escalade, parked only a few feet away. Before she could say or think anything else, the door was opening and a long, strong body was emerging to stand on the pavement before her. He was dressed in a dark suit and coat, both of which screamed designer and only enhanced his towering six-foot-three, unrepentantly masculine appeal.
Through either the monstrous efforts of self-preservation or the passage of time, Serena wasn’t sure which, the memory of what a breathtakingly formidable presence he was to behold had dimmed to something more palatable, but as he faced her down, there was no hiding from the truth of him. His full spectacular force filled her vision, and her heart thumped again. Harder.
‘Hello, Serena.’
The face that regarded her was hard, and unnervingly cool eyes observed her with even more implacability. The strain on her senses intensified, and the sense of foreboding inched even higher up her spine, yet still she stood, devouring him with her eyes, wary, and yet also very, veryaware.
Of how the coat hugged the width of his shoulders. How his eyes, even in evident displeasure, still seemed to glow. How he commanded the air surrounding him. And that was when she felt it, that slow-moving ripple across her skin, which made her tingle all the way down to her bones and which she wanted to quell at all costs.
‘Why didn’t you say from the outset that you were outside my office waiting for me?’ she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest and staring at him with as much coolness as she could muster, which was exceedingly difficult when heat continued to rise in her like a lethal tide.
The brief movement of his sharp features offered no kind of answer. ‘Why did you lie about working late?’
‘Because I’m tired,’ Serena shot back without taking a breath, her nerves rattling very close to the surface now. ‘I’ve had a long day and an even longer week, and I really don’t feel like having this conversation right now.’
‘Well, now you have no choice in the matter.’ He checked his watch. ‘I reserved us a table at a place nearby. We should be going if we’re to make it on time.’
Serena didn’t move. ‘I meant what I said, Caleb. I’m tired.’
‘As am I,’ he said, closing the short distance between them with two forceful, impatient strides. ‘I’ve spent twenty hours flying halfway across the world, but the sooner we have this conversation the sooner we can both go home and get some rest.’
Stalking back to the car, Caleb held the door open, expectancy glowing in the steely eyes that glared over at her. Stubbornness kept Serena planted exactly where she was. She had never responded well to being told what to do and liked it even less since Marcia had thoroughly abused the power, and she resented the hell out of Caleb for airdropping into her day and issuing his arrogant commands. But now that he was here, unease would eat away at her until she knew exactly what he wanted, and she didn’t need that extra strain, not when she was trying so hard to keep her stress levels low to avoid the same fate for the pregnancy as last time. Huffing out a sigh, she stepped forwards. ‘I’ll give you one hour of my time,’ she said, sweeping by him without making any eye contact and with care not to touch him as she slid into the warm interior of the car. ‘Not a minute more.’
Serena watched the waiter carefully set down their drinks on the polished table, her chest tightening with every extra second that he took. Not a word had passed between herself and Caleb on the short car ride. They seemed to have tacitly agreed not to speak of the matter at hand until they had reached their destination, but now the air between them was stretched so taut that every breath she took was tainted with the bitter taste of tension. It also didn’t help that her body felt…electrified.As if every nerve and every sense had sprung into quivering life. Not with fear, but with something else…something she didn’t want to name or think of or feel as acutely as she did. What she wanted was for this—whatever it was—to be over so she could get on with her evening. Her life.
‘You seem nervous, Serena,’ he commented as she clattered her spoon against her cup.
Slowly, she lifted her eyes to look at him, feeling thrumming through her as their gazes clashed. ‘Wasn’t that the whole point of your ambush outside of my office? To catch me off guard and throw me off balance?’
Caleb was a man who liked to always have the upper hand. Even if Serena hadn’t already deduced that from their brief interaction, one look at him, with his towering stance and determined jaw, would have confirmed it. The problem right now was that he didn’t have control—after all, she was the one carrying his child and making decisions that could impact his life—but it was clear that he wanted the power back where he believed it rightfully belonged—in his hands. And that he would make whatever moves he could to get it back.
‘I thinkambushis a little extreme,’ he responded levelly. ‘I would have been in contact, but prior to setting off I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of my plans. Once I was here, I thought it was more expedient to come to you straight away so we could talk about the situation.’
Something in her coiled as he referred to her pregnancy as asituation,but she was grateful for the anger as it singed away some of the nerves, infusing her instead with the strength required to force her way through this laborious conversation without giving away anything she didn’t want to. Her power, for one.
That was something she was never surrendering again. Ever.
‘So, talk.’
He fixed his grey gaze on her, as stormy as the skies beyond the window. ‘You are pregnant?’
‘I am.’ His eyes seemed to drill deeper into her. ‘If you were hoping to see some proof of that on my body, you’re a few months early.’
He leaned forwards. ‘I don’t understand how it could have happened.’
‘I would have thought you’d understand the basic facts of life.’
