Charm School After Dark: Lesson 1 (22 page)

“What?”

“Nothing.” Why bother? The same pattern repeated itself. If he cared for a woman, there was always someone else she cared for more.

Caelen harrumphed and sat back, and he became particularly aware that each movement brought her further, not closer, from him. “Dare, our agreement doesn’t say I have to explain any of this to you.” She ran two hands through her dark hair, pulling it back away from her face. “Why do you care, anyway? You
know
this is temporary.”

The words were like cold ice down his spine.
Right.
All the headway he’d made, gone. Just because of that asshole and the ring of her phone. She didn’t owe him anything, but a small part of him had hoped—no,
demanded
that she’d felt the connection. He expected more from her.

Maybe he expected too much. Just like with Janie. “Forget I said anything. Maybe you should get going.”

“Forget? What’s going on with you? I haven’t done anything wrong, I haven’t broken any of the rules…” She gasped and placed her hands over her face. “Oh my God! Scratch that. I pretty much broke every rule we set in place. Damn it,” she whispered to herself, and turned toward him. “But not the one about seeing anybody else.” She threw her hands up in the air, working herself up into a lather. “Where is this coming from? Is this usually how you act right after you come? Forget it. Why do I bother? Damn uncommunicative men who don’t want to talk—” Caelen crab-walked on her knees, giving Dare a wide birth, across the California King.

“Damn it! What am I supposed to think? You were hell-bent on stopping, once you heard the phone ring.”

“Yeah, I was, wasn’t I? Did you ever think that might have been because I was letting you touch me – you sneaky jerk! – which broke every rule I had put into place? And fed right into your oversized ego.” Caelen stood, frantically looking around for her robe. “Wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.
Maybe I should get going…”
she said in an exaggerated deep voice, mimicking him.

Why did she keep doing that?

“I will get going. Permanently.”

Her words hit him like a blow to the windpipe. Going? Permanently?
No.
Reality was starting to dawn, and he was slowly but surely figuring out he might have overreacted.
Shit.
“Caelen…”

“You were seriously yelling at me because my phone rang!”

Shit, shit, shitshitshit!

“Should have known. Did this to myself. Follow the rules, Caelen. Stupid, stupid, stupid!” She rammed on her robe, stuffed the tequila and her boots in her backpack, and made a beeline for the door.

“Caelen, wait!”

“No,
you
wait.” She turned dramatically, heading straight for the living room.

“Wait? Why do I have to wait?” He loped after her, hoping she’d give him a minute to explain. The only problem? He had no idea what to say.
Sorry, I’m a jealous fuck
just didn’t sound like a good enough excuse.

“What? Just—Never mind. Leave me alone. Call me, never!” And with that last word, she flounced out the door.

Chapter 22

‡

Y
OU REALLY DID
it this time, Caelen. You just had to go and have an orgasm, didn’t you? How long did it take,
hours
, before you broke the rules?
Caelen sat on the cold, hard curb, shoving her slippers back on. Things had gotten a lot chillier in the time between her arriving –and experiencing a
crazy
-amazing orgasm– and now.

It was just a reminder that no matter how talented Dare’s nimble fingers were, she couldn’t trust him. He was surly and rude and obviously had a thing about “phone shaming” a woman minutes after she came apart in his arms.

He had no right to accuse her of cheating. Just because, what? The phone rang? So what if a quick glance down confirmed it had been Victor. Dare had no way of knowing that; therefore, she shouldn’t be punished for it.

Even though it was true.

Ooooohhh!
It was too frustrating to even think about. She rammed one arm through her backpack straps and hopped back on Ms. Belle’s ten speed. The ride home was becoming a comedy of errors; her robe got caught in the chain, her backpack kept sliding down her arm, and a giant puddle decided to get in her way.

At this pace, it would be days before she made it back to Ms. Belle’s. Just as she’d finally found her balance and she’d successfully navigated a root strewn driveway, a loud
honk!
had her careening into someone’s finely manicured lawn. She caught herself just before she went face first into a waist-high hedge.

What the hell?

“Caelen, get in the car!” Dare was perched high in his black Jeep, his large hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

Spiteful man.
He probably
meant
to scare her. “Are you crazy? You could have killed me. Don’t you know people are sleeping at this ungodly hour?” She realized with a start that she was the only one screaming, so as delicately as possible walked the bike back to the sidewalk and away from Dare.

Dare spoke through his window, leaning out slightly so he wouldn’t have to yell. “I seriously doubt you were in danger of
dying.
Caelen, come on in. Don’t make me get out.”

She ignored him and peddled on. Of course, now that she had an audience, she found it impossible to maintain her balance. “Go away!” she said through gritted teeth.

“Hell, no. Not ’til you talk to me. Come on. I’ll even take you out for a doughnut and coffee, afterwards.”

Doughnuts, yum!
They weren’t Pop Tarts, but they ranked a close second. She let the idea of warm gooey dough distract her from her fury, until she saw the knowing smile on his face. He thought he had her! She proceeded to pedal harder and finally found a groove. Two more blocks and she’d be home free.

“Caelen. Damn it! I just want to talk.”

As she rounded the corner, he revved the engine, drove up on the sidewalk and effectively parked two tons of steel and wheels in front of her path. She had plenty of time to go around him; unfortunately, she just didn’t have the maneuverability in the rusty ol’ bike to do anything but stop in front of the car.

Dare bound out of the Jeep in his usual masculine intensity and started to crowd her in.

Oh no he didn’t!
“I swear. You come one step closer, and I will scream bloody murder.”

“All right. All right. Why do you have to be so dramatic all the time?” He leaned against the side of the car, his arms crossed, scuffing the sidewalk with his running shoes. “I just want to explain a few things.”

“Well, I don’t want to hear it. I’m sick to death of accusations and innuendos. You either believe me or you don’t. And obviously, you don’t. This was all a big mistake, so get out of my way.” Caelen noticed his defensive posture, a fleeting spark of vulnerability lighting his features before the frown settled back between his eyebrows.

She knew he hated talking, revealing anything personal, and although she was still furious, she just
knew
he was going to say something honest that might drain the fury out of her. So she ran, or biked, for her life, peddling the ten speed before he could start talking.

“Caelen, damn it! Come back here!”

This time the bike held, and she made it to Ms. Belle’s craftsman right before he jumped in the car to race after her. He probably would have caught her if he’d walked, but his shock bought her some time.

Throwing the bike down in haste, Caelen made a break for the back door, not bothering to store it properly.

Dare’s Jeep careened in, tires squealing, as Caelen waded through what felt like deep sand. Her damn slippers were slowing her down. Just as she reached for the door, his engine shut off, and she could hear, or thought she could hear, his elephant-sized footsteps closing in. In seconds, the key was in, the dead bolt opened, and the door slammed before Dare could make it up the steps.

Seconds? Minutes? Hours? No, probably just seconds ticked by, and no sound from Dare. She expected to hear pounding, shouts,
something.
And she was not ready to admit that as time passed, she almost felt… disappointed?

No, no, no.
That couldn’t be right. With a sigh, she leaned back against the large wooden door, sliding down until she was just a puddle of fluffy robe. Thank God her sisters couldn’t see her now.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

Victor, you prick!
This was it, the final straw. She would either have to change her number or
–gulp–
shut down her phone for a while. Just before she swiped the screen, she saw a message from Dare.

Pick up the phone.

Two seconds later, her phone rang, and she picked it up. Without hesitation.

*

C
AELEN ANSWERED, BUT
she didn’t say a word. They both remained silent until he broke first. “You ready to give up that fast, Betty?” There was a slight echo to his words.

“Where are you?”

“Sitting on the front steps.”

Caelen held her breath. They were feet from each other, the door the only barrier keeping them apart. But she wasn’t willing to bridge the gap. The anger still lingered, but it was starting to be replaced by hurt.

More silence.

“I don’t know how things got so messed up.”

“I do. My phone rang, and you acted like a big, fat
jerk.”

“That’s… yeah, pretty much what happened.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not—I guess, I—Damn it!” he spluttered, unable to get out a complete sentence. Finally, he muttered, “I might be willing to admit, I have a few
issues.
Okay?”

“No kidding,” she thought,
out loud.
“Look, I’m tired. No, I’m exhausted, and I just want to go to sleep.” She pulled her robe tighter. “Let me go, Dare.”

The words fell between them like chunks of ice.

She heard him suck in a lung full of air. “I
can’t.”
His words sounded muffled as if he were shaking his head. “I hate it when I get so pissed. It’s just… A lot is going on, right now. I might be taking some other stuff out on you. I—Did you know I was divorced?”

Caelen froze, realizing she never thought, in a million years, that Dare would talk about his divorce. “Um, yeah, Brynn mentioned something.”

“Did she give you details?”

“N-no.”

“My wife cheated on me.”

She didn’t respond. She had no words.

“With one of my own.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Not from my station but close enough for everyone to know about it.”

“Dare, I’m so…”

“There’s more.” He took a deep breath and a bitter laugh escaped. “The guy she cheated with? He just got assigned to my crew, and I… Well, I wasn’t too happy to hear the news.”

She leaned back against the door, getting closer to Dare. “What did you do?”

“I got myself suspended for five days, when I mouthed off to my lieutenant.”

“What?”

“I know. I was ready to kill him. Everything got so mixed up. The confrontation has been a long time coming. The minute she admitted the affair, I took off to find the guy, but she sat in front of the door begging, ‘Please don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him.’ I…”

He paused again, his voice going even deeper. “It was finally what I heard in her voice that got through. She would have put her body in between the two of us, sacrificed herself for some young punk. I was so pissed, but what if I hadn’t heard her? Sometimes I can’t even see when I’m like that. I don’t hurt women, but I was ready to take him apart. What if she’d gotten in the way?”

Caelen’s anger dropped away. Doubt and self-recrimination were emotions she’d never associated with Dare. He always seemed so confident and cocky, but everyone needed a little reassurance every once in a while. “You stopped because she was a woman, but you also stopped because you loved her. It’s obvious. You loved her enough to let her go. That’s amazing. Not many people could have done the same.”

Caelen heard nothing except a rhythmic jingle. Must be his keys rattling. She could just see him tapping his leg from nervous energy. “Yeah?”

“Come on. I remember your dad. I remember what he did to you and your brothers.”

When Dare paused this time, the air was heavy with silence. Another topic Dare never,
ever,
spoke about, his father. The stillness broke her heart. As kids, he’d try to disguise his fear, but Caelen had caught a glimpse of it, more than once.

Maybe it was time to get it all out in the open. “One time, I saw you. After he’d hit you. It was late. I heard Ms. Belle unlocking the door, and I was too nosy to give up the chance to find out what was going on. You remember how I had a little problem with butting in where I didn’t belong?”

He didn’t laugh as she’d hoped. “What did you see?”

“I just remember the blood. I think it was a head wound. Do you remember?”

“No,” he said on a bitter laugh. “That could be from getting hit in the head, or it could be that it happened so many damn times, it all just runs together.” He sighed. “You never told me.”

“I never told anyone. It wasn’t anyone’s business.”

“Caelen…”

“I’m not finished. I didn’t say anything, but I did
do
something.”

“What did you do?”

Memory broke through. It was one of the last summer’s they’d had together. She’d formally launched the “Torture Goldie” campaign. “Well, first, I wouldn’t leave you alone. I hounded you every second I could, teasing you mercilessly.”

“I remember. But you never teased me about the two black eyes I was sporting.”

“Of course, not. I’m not that big of a jerk. I was helping you… in my own, verbally abusive way.”

“That’s what you call helping?” He laughed softly. “I think you called me every name in the book. I was ready to wring your neck. How did that help?”

“I wanted to get your mind off him, so I made sure you were focused on me.”
Now for the hard part.
“I know they took him away because of it. I didn’t want you to think about him in jail and…” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t want you to think it was your fault.”