Deena ignored me, and as I watched her work for a few moments, I knew what she was trying to do. She was shutting me out. Trying to remind me that what happened in that billiards room wasn’t going to happen again. If I was lucky, she’d lend me her professional expertise. If I wasn’t, she’d block me again.
But Deena had made a critical mistake: She’d let me in. What happened in that room couldn’t be erased. I’d finally found a woman who was smart as hell and sexy as sin. A woman who fought back when I tried to dominate her, then sighed in sweet release when she gave in. I’d spent my whole life feeling like something was missing without even realizing it.
Until now.
SIXTEEN
DEENA
I slept badly.The bed felt lumpy, my pillows were too flat, and I swore I could smell Callum everywhere. At three o’clock in the morning, I thought I heard a creak outside my door, and my heart began to thump. If he walked in here and climbed into bed with me, I was afraid I wouldn’t protest. My body ran hot, and my legs moved restlessly, and I wanted to feel him inside me again.
No. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced the thought from my mind.
I refused to touch myself, because I knew my fantasies would stray toward him. But I wouldn’t be so weak. I would be the version of me I knew, the version I’d come to love. Strong, independent, stubborn, and driven. Not some simpering fool who spread her legs for the first man who crooked his fingers at her.
When dawn finally lightened the sky, I rolled my aching body out of the bed and took a cold shower. The stairs creaked in a familiar way as I stumbled down them in search of coffee, but a new sound stole my attention. I paused at the bottom, frowning.
My father was…laughing. He never laughed. He barely evenspoke. He came alive when he was around his buddies, but here? With my mother hovering and us kids making a ruckus? He was stone-faced and closed off.
Then I heard the low rumble of Cal’s voice, and I gritted my teeth. My toes sank into a plush rug as I crossed the hallway toward the kitchen. And there they were. Cal, looking slightly undone in mussy hair and a white shirt with the top two buttons undone. He leaned against the counter with a mug of brew in his hands while my father sat at the small table in the breakfast nook with the paper ignored in front of him, his face lit with a smile.
Cal spotted me first. His gaze swept over me, and I wished I’d worn something other than jeans and a plain T-shirt. My clothes were loose, but it still felt like his gaze ran directly over my skin as he took in the sight of me.
“Morning, love,” he murmured as he set his mug down. “How did you sleep?”
He straightened as I approached, and I felt my father’s gaze on the two of us. The mugs were in the cabinet behind his head, which I had no doubt he knew. He’d probably chosen that exact spot to lean so I’d have to come near him in order to get coffee.
I stopped in front of him and forced myself to smile. “I slept okay. You?”
“Can’t complain,” he replied, and chucked my chin with his index finger. I saw him coming before he kissed me this time, but I still couldn’t escape. Not with my father watching. Not when pushing him away would cause awkward questions. So I stood still and softened my lips, accepting the light, chaste kiss he pressed there. It was nothing. I’d kissed more passionately in high school drama class.
But it set my body on fire.
Judging by the look in Cal’s eyes, he could tell. A wicked smile curledhis lips, but his voice was innocent and doting as he asked, “Coffee?”
“Please.”
I leaned back and watched as he grabbed a mug and poured coffee into it. Then, with the carafe still in his hand, he glanced at the sugar bowl and the jug of creamer, then flicked his gaze to my father, and finally looked at me.
He didn’t know how I took my coffee. And he should know, seeing as he was playing the loving boyfriend. A role he’d cast himself in.
It was my turn to smile at him. I batted my lashes for emphasis.
Cal arched a brow and unscrewed the lid of the creamer bottle. He put a dash in, mixed it, and without sparing me a glance, dumped a heaping spoonful of sugar in my coffee.
It was exactly how I took it. Rattled, I accepted the mug from him and joined my father at the breakfast table, hiding my discomfort behind a large swallow of coffee. Delicious.
“Cal was just telling me about how you met,” my father said.
I blinked. “He was?”
“Said you saved him from losing a business deal when you swooped in and got his man flown across the globe in record time.” My father pursed his lips and nodded, giving me a look of respect I’d never received from him before.
Sliding my gaze to Cal, I caught him watching me. He’d told the truth, and that confused me more than anything. He was playing a part—had been ever since he showed up here—and he enjoyed toying with me in front of my family. He could have made up any story about me. Said that he saved me from a mugging in the city. Cast himself as a hero.
Instead, he’d told my dad exactly what happened. A business deal had been on the line, and I’d rescued it.
“Deena’s very good at what she does,” Cal added. “I’m constantly impressed by her.”
