Page 37

I HELD MY HANDS UP in front of my face, listening to how the water slapped the tiles with a splash. “Caleb!”

I opened my eyes. Caleb was leaning back with a carefree grin on his face.

“I can’t believe you…”

He shrugged. “You challenged me, and I accepted. Now,” he gripped my thighs, and pulled me closer to him. “We have some business to discuss.” Had I been slightly less inebriated, I might have tried to escape, but I had to admit that I liked the feel of his hands on my bare flesh.

“And what might that be?” My question came out breathier than I intended, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Caleb shifted, his fingers pressing a little harder into my thighs. Our position was indecent, not to mention improper for a boss and his employee, but I was more concerned with how my body was reacting than with propriety.

My nipples hardened. My breath stuttered. My tummy dipped. It was all so delicious, and I thanked Aphrodite herself that I was still very much covered with bubbles. Caleb was no fool, he knew how I still reacted to him, but having him see it was something else entirely.

“You haven’t given me an answer,” he replied. His voice was thick, and hoarse, and made my skin tingle just a little. “You rushed out of my office like your hair was on fire.”

The image that came to mind had me smiling, and smothering a laugh. “I was not impressed with your plan, Mr. Callahan.” I brought my hand up, and touched his cheek, feeling his stubble beneath the tips of my fingers. “You infuriate me,” I admitted. “And sometimes you hurt my feelings without thinking about it. But the worst part is that I still care about you. And your daughter.”

My words hung between us, permeating the air with their meaning. I didn’t mean to admit all that, especially not to Caleb, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I blamed the alcohol.

“So does that mean you’ll do this for me?” Caleb sounded hopeful, but his disregard for my admission didn’t go unnoticed. I felt has hands wandering, up my thigh and then back down to the crook of my knee. My eyes fluttered, and my mouth parted, because I was human after all, and not unaffected by his touch. That’s what had me considering his ‘indecent proposal’ and cursing myself for it in the same breath.

“Depends.” I slid closer until the backs of my thighs met the soaked denim covering his legs. If I moved any closer I would be in his lap, and that was dangerous territory for both of us. At least I was cognizant enough to acknowledge that. “What do I get out of it?”

Caleb watched me, and if I weren’t already naked, his stare would have made me feel that way. He had those damn bedroom eyes. “Anything you want,” was his reply.

“You have nothing I want,” I told him, watching the arctic blue of his iris’s darken. I was lying, but I knew he would never give me what I wanted, he’d been clear about that from the outset. “So why should I help you?”

“Consider it payment,” his eyes flicked down to my mouth, and then back up, “For helping you.”

Ah. So he was bribing me.

That sobered me a little.

I guess I should have been prepared for something like this to happen, it was just a matter of time.

I dropped my gaze, and tried to push away, but Caleb’s grip on my thighs held me in place.

“What’s wrong?” he lifted a hand, and tipped my chin back up.

“Is that the only reason you helped me? Because you thought there was something in it for you?”

Caleb paused, and then dropped his hand. He leaned forward, our noses separated by mere inches.

“I chose to help you because it was the right thing to do, and then I realized that I wanted to help you. But I can’t deny that it makes some good leverage. I really do need your help though, Kadence.”

Perhaps it was the alcohol, or the latent feelings I had for this complex man, but deep down I already knew I was going to say yes as soon as he’d asked me. I recognized then that I was only mad because I’d always fantasized about us being together because he wanted me, not because he needed me to be part of a ruse to mollify a bunch of old men in stuffy suits.

“Okay.” The word fell from my lips without much resistance. I should have regretted it straightaway, but I couldn’t bring myself to deny him. I was starting to wonder if I ever would. “But,” I lifted my hand when he tried to speak. “I have a few requests of my own.”

Caleb settled back against the tub, his arms stretched out on either side, and he smiled as if to indulge me. “I’m listening.”

“No sex.” For whatever reason that made Caleb crack up.

He lifted his hands up. “No problem there. What else?”

“No touching, except for when we’re in public, and no kissing either. At all.”

Caleb folded his arms across his chest, and pursed his lips as though he was thinking about it. In my drunken stupor I could only come up with rules relating to physical closeness, and really, that was the only ‘area’ of our agreement that I was worried about.