SASSY IN STILETTOS ARe version (6 page)

When he and Micha got together, it would be
because she decided that being with him was far less detrimental than not being
with him. No amount of pushing would get her there.
Stubborn
woman
. He might not believe in luck, but he also wasn’t a fool. When an
opportunity presented, he was going to take it.

But this thinly veiled ruse from Adele Westhorpe
was pure torture.

All night, Micha had been knocking knees with him.
Brushing his arm with hers, teasing him by leaning in and giving him a whiff of
her perfume. He was half drunk with lust. But he didn’t move away. The way the
lights danced on her cinnamon skin made her look like she was shimmering under
the stars.

“Oh, Caleb, I can’t believe we won’t be paired
together,” Beth whined.

He glanced at his date.
Shit
.
He should have been focused on her. She was beautiful and poised and didn’t
have a mouth like a gutter snipe. Plus, she’d also made it clear that she
wanted in his pants. So why the fuck was he torturing himself by chasing after
a woman who said she didn’t want a relationship?
Because
you’re a masochist, you moron
. Yeah, that or he was so stubborn he never
gave up on anything even when he should.

“I know, but you’ll have fun. I’m sure Adele knows
what she’s doing.”

He’d have to remember to thank her later. The old
lady had been on him for years to find a nice woman who would give him hell and
settle down already. She’d been a second mother of sorts, growing up. She was
also a world class meddler.

He watched as Beth stood up to join her scavenge
partner.

Turning to grin at Micha, he asked, “Do you want
to go get our silk scarves, or shall I?”

She narrowed her almond-shaped, grey eyes, and
most of his blood rushed somewhere south of his brain.

“If you think I’m going to let you tie me to you,
then you have another think coming.”

“You really want to disappoint Jaya and Adele and
all their hard work? I know you’d rather make an escape, but I promise you this
will be painless. I’ll even do all the hunting. You only have to come along for
the ride.”

She straightened her back and smiled. He studied
her. She was way too calm. She was going to try to ditch him anyway.

As she stood, she said sweetly, “You wait here. I’ll
go get our package.”

He grinned. “You know, on second thought, I’ll
come with you. “

Her smile vanished.

As they walked, he placed a hand on the small of
her back, leading her through the small crowd. Who was he kidding? He wanted to
touch her. Little spikes of electricity traveled from his fingertips throughout
his whole body as they walked. God, this woman would literally be the death of
him.

As one of the assistants tied them together, he
wondered about the smartness of his plan. Micha was prickly on her best day. Now
she was forced into close proximity with him. How the hell would that go?”

She paused when they stood in front of the
assistant with the scarves. “You know, I’ve changed my mind. If I have to do
this, I’m leading the way.” She put out her palm expectantly.

“Come on, Micha, you might actually have some fun
if you let yourself.”

Micha sniffed indignantly. “Who says I don’t have
any fun?”

Oh, Caleb knew she had fun. He’d seen her do it. “I’m
just saying this is an opportunity for a good time.  Besides, I’m excellent
company.”

She glanced down at their tied hands. “Yeah, I’m
sure you get that a lot.” She sighed deeply, as if trying to psych herself up. “Okay,
Mr. Good Times, what’s the first clue?”

Caleb grinned as he opened the envelope. Micha leaned
in, and he caught a whiff of her perfume again. For three long seconds, his
body stilled.

“Well, are you going to stand there, or are you
going to open the envelope?”

He shook his head to clear it. “What the lady
wants, the lady gets.”

Once he ripped the envelope open with his free
hand, they both peered at the clue. In bold, embossed calligraphy was one
question. He read it aloud. “In what room were Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio
caught having sex on New Year’s Eve?”

Micha barked out a laugh. “Why, Adele Westhorpe,
who knew?”

Caleb slid a glance over at Alec’s mother and
boldly winked at her. She’d orchestrated this. She might have had help from
Jaya, but this had been her idea. “That old lady has tricks up her sleeve.”

Micha wrinkled her nose. “Tell me about it. Any
ideas on the clue?”

“Well, we can assume that Marylyn and Joe could
afford the best, which usually means penthouse. We should hit the elevators.”

Micha’s brow furrowed. “What are you, some kind of
scavenger hunt rookie? We don’t want to tip off the others. First pair back
gets a killer surprise right? I want the surprise.”

He knew she was competitive. Every day he watched
her workout in the park and go on runs. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman
who liked to lose. “Okay, then where to?”

“Back stairs, away from prying eyes.”

“Lead the way.”

They meandered out, in the opposite direction of
the majority of the tied duos. No one followed. As soon as they rounded the
corner, Micha paused and slipped off her dangerously high stilettos, using his
arm for support. Once she had them in hand, she broke out into a light jog. “Try
to keep up, Atkins. I have no intention of losing.”

“You think I do?”

“I don’t know,” she huffed as they rounded the
third flight of stairs. “You don’t really seem to have that killer instinct.”

Caleb’s heart stuttered. Is that what she thought?
That there was nothing dark and dangerous about him? “You do know that I pretty
much amount to a professional body guard, right?”

She slid a hot gaze over his torso. “Oh, I know. I
guess what I mean is, you don’t come off as uber-macho alpha. You’ve got this
laid back vibe. It puts people at ease, which is probably good when you need to
blend in.”

She was more right than she knew. “I see you spend
a lot of time watching me?” He led them around to the next stairwell.

She chuffed. “Don’t be a mo—”

He stalled her on the seventh floor and she tugged
her arm back.

“What are you doing?”

“Seventh floor. You forget that the Westhorpe San
Diego was renovated back in the seventies. Then again in the early nineties and
finally two years ago to add on more floors and make it the skyscraper you see
now.”

Her eyes widened. “And before that, it was a garden-style
hotel.”

“Exactly.” He nodded.

“Who knows, maybe you’re not so bad as a partner
after all.”

“Your vote of confidence is inspiring.”

He led them though the blush-carpeted hallway to
the lower level terrace door.

“Where are we going?”

Sighing, he shook his head. “Are you going to fight
me every step of the way?”

She shrugged. “Probably. Now, where are we going?”

“So you’re Marylyn Monroe. You have a penthouse. Why
is it scandalous to have sex with your hubby in your room? Far more scandalous
in flagrante
.”

Her eyed grew wide. “Exactly.”

As they pushed onto the lower terrace, they were
met by a bellhop in a 1950s uniform. “Good evening. For the lady and gentleman.”
He produced an envelope and handed it to Caleb. “For the lady.” He produced a
feather boa and wrapped it around Micha’s shoulders.

Micha giggled. “Adele does know how to treat a
girl. Come on, hotshot, open up the next clue.”

“Oh, look who’s all engaged in the game now.”

“Shut up and tear.”

This card was silver with more rock and roll style
lettering. Like something the band KISS might use. “Where was Prince Michael of
Westcott Isles recently spotted in a compromising position?”

Micha squeaked. “This one I know for sure. C’mon.”
She nearly popped his arm out of the socket in her haste.

“Easy, killer, we’ll get there. You need to take
it easy on me.” Even without her heels she was tall. At least five-nine, maybe
ten. She looked slight, but she was deceptively strong. “Want to tell me where
we’re going?”

She rounded the hall to the elevators. “We’re
going to the hot tub.”

“If you wanted me alone, all you had to do was
ask.”

She rolled her eyes. “Again, with the being a
moron. That’s where the prince was caught naked, being spanked by some local
waitress. The magazine covered the story from the angle of royals gone wild. I
mean first there was that, then there was the whole Prince Harry thing. Royals
haven’t been this much fun since Princess Stephanie of Monaco. Or so I’m told.”

“You lost me at bare ass naked, being spanked by
some local waitress,” he muttered.

They followed the signs to the pool. She tugged
him past the elevator and grinned.

“What? Do I detect a smile?”

“No of course not,” she said, laughing.

He frowned and halted her. “To get to the pool,
the fastest way is the elevator. As strong as either one of us is, it’ll take
all night to climb to the roof.”

The eye roll was back, and she chewed her bottom
lip. “You’re not afraid of a little exercise, are you?”

“Hardly, sweetheart, but I thought the point of
this adventure was for us to win.”

She gave him a tight smile. “Yeah.” She slid
another glance toward the stairs, then headed back for the elevator.

As they stepped into the elevator together, he
leaned in and whispered, “Try not to take advantage of me, okay?”

Micha swallowed hard before licking her lips.
I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine
. All she had to do was keep her
eye on the changing numbers, and she’d be fine. She would not think about the
sardine can she’d voluntarily enclosed herself in. A sardine can with no exits.
No exits
and
Caleb Atkins.

She wiped the palm of her free hand against the
boa, though it did nothing for moisture absorption.

The silence and tension thickened around them. Her
breathing grew more shallow. She tried to drag in deep breaths by counting, but
no matter what she did, the oxygen wouldn’t flow into her lungs or to her brain.
The edges of her vision started to gray.

She slid a glance to Caleb’s face, and he was
studying her closely. His lips flattened. “God damn, Micha, why didn’t you tell
me?”

She cracked her neck. “Tell you what?” She tried
every coping mechanism she could think of, including trying to count to one
hundred on her fingertips, but her heart merely thudded faster.

“That you’re claustrophobic. Winning is not worth
giving you a panic attack.”

“I’m fine.” Her voice sounded shrill and high to
her ears.

“Bullshit.” He intertwined their connected hands.
“Look at me.”

She turned, but she could barely look him in the
eye before her gaze flitted away again. She couldn’t do this in front of him. Then
he would know. Shame washed over her. “Caleb, don’t—”

“Seriously, you are the most stubborn woman I’ve
ever met in my life. Look at me.”

Reluctantly, she dragged her gaze back to his. His
moss-green eyes were warm and compassionate.

“Micha. I’m with you. Nothing bad is going to
happen to you while I’m here.”

“Uh-huh.” Easy enough for him to say. He didn’t
seem to notice the walls moving imperceptibly closer.

He squeezed her hand
again. “Listen to my voice. We’ll be fine. Only a little longer, and we’ll—”

The elevator jerked,
and Caleb wrapped his body against Micha’s, bracing the both of them. The
flickering lights cast a series of eerie shadows on the walls. Finally, the car
lurched once, twice, then stopped moving.

Micha’s heart seized.
She slammed her eyes shut.
Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit
. When she realized that they’d stopped, she opened them
with the slow caution of a child who expected to see the boogey man in her
bedroom.

Truth be told, she
would rather have faced the boogey man. She was going to lose her shit entirely
right here—in front of the last person on earth she wanted to see her crumble. With
her luck, there’d be crying.

Tremors overtook her
body, and her eyes stung with unshed tears. “Shit.”

“Hey.” Caleb tugged
her hand again. “It’s okay. The power has probably gone off for a second. Adele
has been doing construction on this tower. We’ll be fine. You’re not alone.”

Caleb turned her to
face him and tucked her close. And he talked to her. Her brain had sheltered
itself in its safe place, so she couldn’t distinguish the words, but his voice
washed over her. Shaking, she clung to him, focused on the timbre of his voice and
the movement of his lips.

Caleb was her safe
place. For once she didn’t have to do it alone. Tension started to roll off her
shoulders. The fear ebbed as she listened. While he stroked her back, the walls
receded. She was no longer that scared girl in the dark. She had found a
lighthouse.

He kissed her temple
and continued to whisper in her ear. Eventually, her breathing slowed. She was
no longer in a darkened box, but she was with Caleb in a stopped moment in time
when anything could happen. Micha focused on his lips. The curve of them. How
he always looked like he was on the brink of a smile. The white, even teeth
behind them. His spicy scent washed over her, and she felt like she was home,
where she belonged.

She pulled back, but
he didn’t release her. The energy around them changed from one of fear and
soothing to one that crackled with electricity. He frowned. “Micha, I—”

She acted before her
brain could think her out of doing the one thing she’d been dying to do for two
years. Tipping her head up, ever so slightly, she kissed him softly.