Playing for Keeps Read online

  “Yeah,” he said as he strode with her into a large living room. “But we’re not going to make it there.”

  “We’re not?”

  “No.” The rough gravel of his voice and the look on his face turned her on way more than she’d like to admit. He dropped a knee to the biggest couch she’d ever seen and laid her out on it. “But we are going to get all of our clothes off this time,” he promised and had them both stripped down to bare skin in less than a blink, and then proceeded to crawl up her body and get started making the most of their eight hours.

  Sadie assumed the next morning would be awkward. After all, morning-afters weren’t in her repertoire. When Caleb dragged her out of bed before dawn’s first light, she told him he should prepare to die. He only laughed and slung her over his shoulder and strode into his bathroom.

  She’d considered biting his very fine ass, but then he stepped with her into his blissfully hot shower so she decided he could live for another few minutes.

  “You almost died,” she told him.

  “Shh,” he murmured and lifted her up against him. “I’m not finished with you yet.” Then he took his time making sure she shared in his joy of coed morning showers and she forgot all about murder.

  After, she told him that maybe he might be the perfect man after all—if he cooked her pancakes. But he reminded her he couldn’t cook worth shit. So whew, he really wasn’t perfect.

  Lollipop was in the living room attacking a pillow when they came out of Caleb’s bedroom, ready for work.

  Sadie froze. “Your sister’s here?”

  “No, she just dropped off Lollipop.”

  Remembering the last thirty minutes in the shower, Sadie bit her lower lip. “Think she heard us?”

  He gave her an amused look. “Us?”

  She smacked his chest and he laughed, grabbing her hand. “She didn’t hear anything, the walls are very well constructed and nearly soundproof.”

  The “nearly” worried her, but she put it out of her mind when Caleb bought her McDonald’s, breakfast of champions, and then drove her and Lollipop to work, where she’d drop Lollipop off at the pet shop for doggy daycare for the morning. Before she and the dog slid out of his car, he pulled her in close for a goodbye kiss that curled her toes. His touch was sometimes playful and sometimes lust-filled, but it was always meaningful.

  “Have a good morning,” he murmured, smiling at the undoubtedly glazed-over look in her eyes.

  “I’ve already had a good morning,” she reminded him. “Did you wreck your knees on that hard tile floor in your shower?”

  He smiled a very sexy, very knowing smile that brought her back to the steamy hot shower and how he’d dropped to his knees, slid his hands up her thighs and leaned in to give her one of the most erotic experiences of her life.

  “You worried I won’t be able to do it again?” he asked.

  “More that I’m worried for my knees when I return the favor.”

  His eyes went molten lava and he kissed her again. When he broke away, she had to look down to make sure she was still dressed.

  After what felt like a very long shift at the day spa, she headed to the Canvas Shop. Both Mini Moe and Blue were there, as well as Cal, who was talking to Rocco.

  “I’m sorry,” she said to Cal. “I don’t have you on my schedule for today—”

  “I know. I’m just on an early dinner break. Listen, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure,” she said. “Come on back with me while I get set up for my first client.”

  He leaned back against her counter and started to pull something from his pocket and she pointed at him. “Stop right there. I don’t want to hear anyone having sex.”

  He raised his hands. “I know. And I’m still sorry about that. I just . . .” He met her gaze, his own serious now. “I want to show you something. I was in the building the other day and also this morning. I’m interviewing for a job with Hunt Investigations on the second floor. That’s confidential, by the way.”

  “Okay. So why are you telling me?”

  “Because . . .” He broke off with a grimace and ran a hand over his head. “Shit.”

  “What is it, Cal?”

  He accessed his photos and thumbed through, showing her two pictures.

  Of herself.

  One was of her walking through the courtyard with a bag of McDonald’s, which meant it’d been taken that morning. The other was of her leaving the Canvas Shop, Lollipop on her leash, and given the clothes she was wearing, it had been taken the week before. “What the hell is this?” she asked.

  He took the phone back and went back to the first pic and zoomed in. There were people in the background, which wasn’t odd because the courtyard was usually full of people. But there was a young woman sitting on a bench, her phone up and facing Sadie.

  Then Cal scrolled to the next pic. The same woman was in the background of that one too.

  Sadie shook her head in shock. “What the . . . ?”

  “You either have a stalker, or you’re being watched for some reason. Want me to—?”

  “No,” she said grimly. Because she recognized her so-called stalker, and because she did, emotions were tumbling through her like a category five hurricane. “I’ve got to go. Text me those photos.”

  Cal nodded and left her alone. She stood still for a beat, closing her eyes, trying to contain the sudden tsunami of emotions tumbling through her, battering her from the inside out.

  Because her stalker was one of Caleb’s sisters. Given that she was extremely pregnant, it was Kayla, no doubt backed by the others. She felt a blood-boiling temper that her privacy had been violated. This was immediately followed by humiliation, because she should have known. Of course to allow a woman into his life, Caleb would’ve had to have that woman vetted. She might have even thought of it sooner, but Caleb had pretty much locked down her good sense from that very first night when they’d rescued Lollipop. The poor dog was thankfully blissfully unaware that both of her owners were crazy.

  Caleb was having her followed.

  And probably doing a deep background check as well, which meant she was going to have to face facts. He’d either already learned things about her that she’d never wanted anyone to know, or he was about to learn those things.

  Either way, the combo of bad temper and humiliation had her feeling like a cat with her back against the wall, claws out. She texted with her first client, who agreed to move their appointment back an hour, and strode out to the front.

  In unison Blue, Mini Moe, and Rocco did a double take at her expression.

  “You’ve been here five minutes,” Rocco said. “Who’s pissed in your Cheerios already?”

  She couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t tell anyone. “Why is that a saying? Because it’s disgusting. I mean, think about it, did someone actually piss in someone’s Cheerios for that to be a thing?”

  “Nice deflection,” he said. “I take it you’d like me to mind my own fucking business.”

  “Yes,” she said, never having been more grateful for his real friendship than that moment. But even real friendships had limitations. He knew some of how screwed-up she’d been, but he didn’t know all of it—such as how she’d been involuntarily committed by her own parents. And if she had anything to say about it, he’d never know. No one would. “I’ll be back.”

  “You look like you’re going to kick someone’s ass.”

  “That’s because I am,” she said grimly.

  “Need backup?”

  She stopped and moved back to him, going up on tiptoes to brush a kiss to his scruffy jaw. “No, but I love you for asking, thanks.”

  “Suits screwed up, didn’t he.”

  She had to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. Not easy when it was the size of a regulation football. But there were cracks forming in her temper, allowing other, more uncontrolled emotions to squeeze through, and she couldn’t have it. Not yet. Not until she dealt with this and could get herself