Playing for Keeps Read online

  Sienne’s office was empty.

  He hit up Hannah’s next and hit the jackpot. Three of them in the same spot, in fact. Hannah was sitting cross-legged on her desk eating out of a small Chinese food container with chopsticks. Kayla was in Hannah’s desk chair, her plate balanced on her big belly, eating with a fork because she had no chopsticks skills and never had. Sienne was eating standing up, leaning against the desk, laughing at Kayla, who’d just dropped a pot sticker on her chest.

  “Hey,” Kayla said at his entrance, pulling her shirt up to her mouth to eat the pot sticker right off the shirt.

  He shut the door harder than it needed to be. “Oh good,” he said. “A meeting of The Coven. Let’s talk.”

  The Coven froze in unison and then looked at each other, brows raised.

  “Is it that time of the month?” Sienne asked him.

  Caleb blew out a breath. “You know I had all the males in this entire company go to sensitivity training. Maybe I need to send all the females as well. And no, it’s not that time of the month. It’s the I-need-to-fire-all-of-you time of the month.”

  “Wow,” Hannah said, taking another bite. “It’s like he wants to die.”

  But Caleb wasn’t playing. “Sit down,” he said to Sienne.

  “I like to stand.”

  “Do you like to be unemployed?” he asked.

  Sienne chewed her bite and swallowed, taking her sweet-ass time about it too, but she did finally sit. “What the hell crawled up your—?”

  “Which one of you approved the background search on Sadie after I told you not to?”

  They all gave each other a careful look again, their faces now blank in the Parker family way when they were closing ranks.

  “Someone needs to start talking,” he said and met Sienne’s gaze. “I pay you the most, so you first.”

  “You pay her more than me?” Hannah asked.

  Sienne set down her Chinese food container and wiped her hands on a napkin before meeting his gaze. “I approved it.”

  “After I explicitly asked you not to do it,” Caleb said, wanting to make sure he was hearing her correctly.

  “You were—are—acting off,” she said. “You’re doing things you’ve never done before, like leaving work early.”

  “Not early,” he said. “I’m just putting in normal hours instead of the usual insane overtime—something you’ve been after me forever to do, by the way.”

  “You’re leaving meetings to take personal phone calls. And texting all the time. And you’re so secretive about it, about her.”

  “Because it’s private,” he said.

  “It?”

  “Yes, and it’s between me and her and not all of you. It’s not about work, so leave it alone.”

  “But we’re not just your work people,” Hannah said. “We’re your family. We’ve been doing this for how many years? Why are you upset now? What’s so different this time? What is she to you?”

  He was only just starting to understand the answer to that question, so he certainly wasn’t about to discuss it with his nosy-ass sisters. “What does that matter?”

  “It matters,” Sienne said. “You know we had to check, maybe now more than ever since you’re acting so weird.”

  “Sienne,” Hannah said and gave a single head shake. She looked at Caleb. “There’s more,” she said quietly. “We . . . found something.”

  He cut his eyes to her.

  “I know you’re pissed off,” she said. “But—”

  “Actually, I’m furious. Looking into her, maybe I could see. If I’m being honest, we’ve had reasons to do that in the past.” This was a grudging admission. “But to have Kayla follow her around after I asked you not to?”

  “You’ve never complained before,” Hannah said. “What did you expect?”

  “I expect you to let me live my life and let me make my choices,” he said. “You went too far. I should fire all your asses.”

  Kayla’s eyes welled up with tears and he blew out a breath. “Don’t cry.” He pulled her into him and pressed his cheek to the top of her head. “You’ve made a lot of sacrifices for me, I get that. And I appreciate all you’ve done, more than I can ever say. And yes, you’re in charge of my professional life. But this is my personal life, so I really need you to hear me on this. I love you, but you all need to butt the hell out.” He gave them each a long look and turned to the door.

  “I’m still going to send you the file,” Sienne said.

  “Don’t,” he said.

  “Okay, let me reword,” Sienne said. “I already sent it to you. You should read it.”

  He shut the door on them and drew in a deep breath, mind spinning. To the shock of his staff, he left the building. He was headed back to Cow Hollow, though he made a quick stop on the way.

  He parked and checked his phone. Sienne had indeed sent him a file this morning with the subject line:

  Mercedes Lane, please read.

  He didn’t. Instead, he entered the Canvas Shop. Both Rocco and Mini Moe were at the front desk, elbow-to-elbow, taking up half the shop with their size, talking about the radish and grape salads they were eating.

  “Hey,” Mini Moe said defensively, jabbing his fork in Caleb’s direction. “It’s gluten-free.”

  “Not judging,” Caleb said.

  “Are you sure? Because even I’m judging us just a little bit.”

  Caleb refrained from laughing, knowing it was best for his physical well-being. He looked at Rocco, who hadn’t said a word or uttered a greeting. “Is Sadie here?”

  “Why?”

  “I’d like to talk to her.”

  “Why?” Rocco asked, shoveling in another bite of his salad and crunching aggressively.

  Caleb blew out a breath. “She told you.”

  “She told me things were fucked up.”

  “Yeah,” Caleb said. “And I’m here to apologize.”

  Rocco and Mini Moe looked at each other in surprise.

  “What?” Caleb asked. “What’s so weird about that?”

  “Nothing,” Rocco said. “Except I don’t think a guy she’s been into has ever cared enough to apologize for anything.”

  He’d guessed as much, but hearing it made Caleb feel like an even bigger dick. “Does that mean you’ll tell me where she is?”

  “Apparently, he’ll tell you anything you want,” Sadie said darkly from behind him and he turned to find her standing in the opened doorway to the back rooms.

  “And,” she said to Rocco, “you know what else is gluten-free? Shutting up.” She turned to Caleb, cool and remote.

  “Hey,” he said quietly.

  Sadie didn’t acknowledge this. She simply glared at Rocco and Mini Moe.

  Rocco offered his fork with a grape on it.

  She shook her head. “I don’t consume wine in pill form.”

  Rocco shrugged and went back to eating.

  Caleb handed her the travel tumbler he’d stopped for, filled with her favorite coffee.

  She eyed the container and the words on it:

  I like my coffee black like my soul.

  She gave a reluctant smile.

  “Can we talk?” he asked and felt a déjà vu since only an hour ago she’d told him they needed to talk. That hadn’t gone so well. He was hoping this went better.

  But she hesitated. He actually thought she was going to turn him down flat, but she finally nodded and jerked her chin toward her workstation. She yanked the curtain around her area and pulled herself up to sit on the counter. Her body language said Closed Off as she sipped the coffee he’d brought her, watching him from eyes that weren’t giving much away.

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “You were right about what was happening, but I want you to know I didn’t ask for you to be vetted. I wouldn’t have done that without telling you first. My sisters are going to cease and desist and leave you the hell alone. If you want to be done with this, with me, I’ll understand, but I hope that you’ll give me another c