Charm School After Dark: Lesson 1 (36 page)

Dare was closest and snapped into professional mode, just about to jog over to the car when both doors flew open and Caelen and Brynn came pouring out. Caelen almost fell out of the car, her outfit was so tight. The beautiful red dress that hugged her body to perfection, emphasizing her tiny waist and full breasts, rode up her shapely thighs. She looked so good, he wanted to pound his chest, gorilla-style.
Mine
. She was so damn beautiful.

“Dare. Don’t do it!”

The statement would have been much more dramatic if she could move faster than a dehydrated snail. “Don’t do what?”

She took another tentative step and her heel broke. She didn’t pause, and now looked like a lopsided teeter-totter as she made her way toward them. Up-down, up-down.

Brynn eventually hooked a hand around her arm and hustled her across the sidewalk. “Don’t do something you’re going to regret!” Once again, she flung herself at him, and damn it, he allowed it. It was their new thing. Dare got upset; Caelen jumped in his arms. And because it felt so good, he might have to lose his mind more often.

Dare bent his head slightly and took in her warm scent. With one last squeeze he drank her in, and then let his arms drop, not yet ready to go there. Hell, he hadn’t even figured out why he was here with Janie, let alone what he was going to do about Caelen. “Like what?”

*

C
AELEN FELT SO
warm and loved, trapped in Dare’s fierce embrace, but now he was stepping back, loosening his hold. She held on with a death grip, not letting an inch separate them. “I thought you came here to hurt…”

She looked around, confused. The only person next to Dare was a petite blond, so fragile and perfect, it looked like a good wind would blow her over. Caelen tried not to focus on her flawless skin, crystal blue eyes and silky straight hair.
Bitch.
But where the hell was the guy she was supposed to be saving Dare from killing?

“Hurt who? Janie? Damn it. Not you, too. I don’t hurt women.”

“I know that! I didn’t think you were going to hurt
her.”

“This was what I was talking about. You get so angry. Just calm down. We’re all worried about you,” the blond interjected and tried to lift a hand toward Dare.

Caelen sucked in a breath, realizing what was happening. That blond bitch was trying to lump her in with all the other people who’d decided Dare was a dumb fighter who only knew how to use his hands. Which she realized with a start, she might have just done. But she would never,
ever
think Dare would hurt a woman. “You don’t speak for me! I don’t want to change him. I like him angry and mean. And I completely trust him. So shut up. Brynn, take care of her.”

“Take care of her? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re my backup, so
take care of her,”
she hissed, not really sure what she expected her sister to do. As she gazed at Dare, she heard Brynn introduce herself.

Most of the firehouse had emptied out into the driveway, the men blatantly trying to listen in on their conversation. Varying sizes and ages of firefighting yumminess lounged around the garage and fire trucks. They looked like one of those calendars she made sure to buy at the beginning of every year.

A few catcalls and shouts drifted toward them, but Caelen put it from her mind. She focused in on Dare and was eternally grateful he hadn’t flung her to the side. Maybe because she had him in a full-body bear hug. But still, she was grateful. She cleared her throat, suddenly uncertain now that the danger had passed. Or never existed. “I, uh… So what’s up?”

“That’s what you want to say to me, right now?”

“No, of course not. But you’re so mad, and… I don’t want you to be mad at me, and… I don’t want you to get in trouble because you killed somebody, and… I don’t want you to be mad… at me,” she finished weakly.

“You said that part already.”

“I know. That was the important part.”

Shaking his head, he looked up as if completely exasperated. “What were you stopping me from doing? What were you saving me from?”

He still wouldn’t really look at her, and it was breaking her heart. Not giving him an inch, she placed her hands against Dare’s cheeks, still terrified he would reject her. “I know you’d never hurt her. I don’t care what she says.”

“You did scream ‘don’t do it’ right before you tackled me.” He stepped back carefully and placed his hands on her forearms, as if to pull her palms from his cheeks.

She dug her hands into his hair and slowly massaged his scalp, tugging at his hair, hoping he loved the feeling as much as she did. His eyes squeezed shut for a moment in pleasure, then popped open and glared, as if she were trying to fool him. Frustrated with his scowl, she gave his hair a sharp tug right before she disentangled her fingers. He was pulling away from her!

“Ow!”

Now she just felt empty without his arms around her. “I might have said that, but I didn’t think you’d hurt
her.
She’s your ex, right?”

He nodded and placed his hands in his pockets.

“I don’t like her.”

No smile.
“Caelen.”

“For the record, I thought you were going to kill her new boyfriend, not
her.”
She said over his shoulder when she noticed Janie and Brynn hadn’t left. “Go away.” That’s how Brynn could have taken care of her, by making her go away.

Finally, her sister got the hint and dragged the confused woman toward the firehouse. A short, dark-haired guy jogged up to the two of them. Dare eyed him, carefully watching but didn’t make a move to charge.

“Yeah, go away.” Dare directed his statement toward the firefighters who found their whole conversation fascinating. When none of them moved, he grabbed her by the arm, his touch still surprisingly gentle, and nudged her further away from the crowd.

“Are you still mad at me?” She held her breath.

“I’m so pissed, I can’t think.” He threw his hands in the air. “What do you want? What do you want from me?”

Everything.
“I want you to listen to me. Every single word I have to say, and I can’t afford to wait for you to calm down because that may never happen, so here goes. Everything The Devil said was true.”

He held up a hand. “Not another word. I swear to God, I’m going crazy. Standing here with you,
her,
and her stupid-ass boyfriend, who keeps eyeing me—I can’t take it!”

“Tough. You’re going to hear it all. He was my boss, he had two beautiful kids and his wife was lovely. I met her the day before he fired me.” She took a deep breath. “Oh yeah, and he did it in front of the whole department, and pretended like I’d come on to him. And that we’d never been together.”

“You’re making it worse, not better!”

“I know. I want you to know the worst.”

“Why?”

“Because… Because I want to be with you.
Really
be with you. Not because of a stupid agreement but because,” her voice caught, “you want me. And if you’re ever going to forgive me, you have to know how bad it really was.”

He looked at her,
finally
looked at her, and she saw anger behind his eyes, making his gaze burn golden-brown. “How could you have been with somebody like that? Did you know he had a wife? Kids?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“That’s it. Enough.” He turned to walk away.

“He lied to me at first.”

“Lied?” He asked the question with his back still turned, but at least he wasn’t moving. For now.

“He said he was separated. He went on and on about his wife. He said terrible things.” She felt like pulling out her hair when she remembered the sunny, trusting smile on the women’s face when she showed up to surprise Victor at work.

“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” he asked as he pivoted around.

“Because that’s not the point!”

“Yes, it is!”

“No.
I didn’t
want
to look. I didn’t want to see. I liked partying with my friends. I liked that he took off and I had my independence. The hints were everywhere. He lied to me, but I was his personal assistant. I knew he maintained another home; I even saw the credit card bills. He promised me the world, but I was blind. Purposely blind.”

He ran his hand threw his hair and yanked so hard, his eyebrows met his hair line. “What am I supposed to do with that? Did you love him?”

“I thought I did.”

He sucked in air, quick and hard.

She shouldn’t be the only one confessing here. Pointing a well-aimed finger at his chest, she started to poke. “Why did
you
come here? Why would you come and see your ex-wife after all this time? What? The minute we get in a fight, you come running back to her? You’ve been divorced for over a year.”

“It was because of Brynn.” He cleared his throat. “She said I might be confused about some stuff. Crisscrossing my feelings for Janie with you. Hell, I don’t know. I’m not good at this stuff. But after I found out what you did, I was so red hot … It felt like, like you were the one who cheated on me.”

“I would never do that to you. But
you
have to believe that. Deep down, you have to believe
me.
I wish I had a crystal ball and saw you coming back into my life.”

“Yeah.” He blew out a breath.

“Did you get what you wanted? From her?”

“Maybe.
Hell.
I don’t know. I learned that we’re all totally screwed up, because of childhood. It’s just—She pissed me off all over again. Told me she’d been afraid of me. That we didn’t communicate.”

“She’s an idiot.”

“I know, right?” His rusty laugh was short lived. Then he looked off into the distance at his ex and her boyfriend, who apparently had no trouble communicating because they were in the middle of a big fight. She didn’t look afraid of him. He then glanced at Brynn who was talking to all the sexy firemen. “I guess I can’t kill him.”

“Nope.”

“I’m going to have to work with him. Guard his back and trust he has mine.”

“Can you do it?”

“Don’t know. But I can try. No matter how much it pisses me off.

“Why does it still piss you off if you’re over her?’ The question was asked gently, but Caelen felt a long slow burn in her chest. All she was interested in was honesty and he
had
to be honest with her. They had little else between them except childhood memories and intense chemistry. And she’d been duped before. No more compromising, or sharing, not again. Too long she’d allowed a man to make her feel like second best. Now she wanted it all. His all.

“Because I’m sick of people betraying me. Sick of people lying. If she didn’t want to be with me, she should have told me. And I’m sick of people thinking I might explode at any second. Do you know that if I’d started yelling like this when we were married, she would’ve run into the other room and locked the door? I always thought she just didn’t want to be around me when I was like that. But she was afraid. Afraid of me! The man she married.” He put his hands on his hips and looked down at his shoes.

She let him talk and just listened.

“But it’s not about her, anymore. I was over her a long time ago. She—No,
we
weren’t a good fit. But I still hate the way she ended it. And I hate that I have to work with the guy who helped her betray me. But honest to God, seeing him today and how he acts? She can have him. He’s a baby. A brat.”

“Yeah.” She listened to everything he said, intently, but she still had one last question burning a hole in her brain. “Now to the hard part.”

His head snapped up and his eyes narrowed. “There’s more?”

“Yeah.”

“I can’t take it. Don’t tell me.” He started to pace. “It’s like you want me to hate you. God, Caelen, I don’t want to hate you.” His look was pleading.

Her breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want him to hate her, either. But she had to say it, she had to ask. “Can you ever trust me? I’m not going to say forgive because I didn’t betray you.” She adjusted her purse strap, not realizing until this minute she’d been holding it the whole time. “I betrayed myself, by dating Victor.

She blew out a breath and continued, suddenly feeling tongue tied, unable to get it all out. “I have dated some real assholes. But, what pisses me off about Victor is I knew better. Brynn says I don’t think I deserve better.”

She peeked up at Dare, and he stood, typical pose, hands hooked in his belt loop just listening and waiting.
Here goes nothing
. “But I—I really care about you. Like, a forever kind of care. I’d feel like an idiot saying anything more, because we’ve been together a total of four days.” She fanned her eyes, feeling the waterworks building. “I want…”

“No.”

“No?” Caelen couldn’t breathe. He was rejecting her, cutting her heart out with one word.

“It’s not good enough. Your words are hollow. I want more. I want
everything.”

“But it’s only been four days.”

“It’s been fifteen years!”

“God, Dare. You scare the shit out of me. I’m a wreck. I just got out of a messed-up relationship. I’m practically homeless. I’m about to lose the ‘almost’ job I have right now. I don’t want to lose you, too.”

He shrugged, his muscles bunching with the small movement. “Then say it.”

Caelen shook with fear, the deep freeze penetrating her bones. She knew exactly what he meant, what he needed. But could she provide? Could she put herself out there again? She knew with a certainty, if she wanted Dare in her life, she would have to find a way. But she wanted to be true to herself. She didn’t know if she could say the three little words he craved, but she could tell him everything she loved
about
him. “I love… the feel of your body.”

He frowned, his nostrils flaring as he studied her. He shook his head back and forth in denial. “That’s not what I meant.”

“You told me to say it. I’m saying it! These are my words. This is what I want to say.” She took a deep breath. “I love the taste of your lips. Did you know I have been obsessed with them from the first day we met?” she asked with a soft smile. “I love the way you feel, the way you touch me, the way you drive me crazy with your smart mouth.”