“Not for a minute. I just want to hear you say it.”
“Well, if you insist, I can go through each of my exes one by one and rate their—”
“Now you’re just teasing me.”
“No. Teasing would be telling you that I’m lying naked on my bed, wishing you were here.”
“Play fair, Lily.”
“You can have me any time you want,” I remind him. “You’re the one putting restrictions on this relationship.”
“It’s good for us,” he insists, but even he sounds less-than-convinced by the argument.
I could continue, but as he’s out of town that would only frustrate the both of us.
“It’s your turn,” I say cheerfully. “Which will it be this time? Truth or dare?”
He exhales a long breath. I’m sure he’s nervous about what I might throw at him after the stunts he’s pulled so far in this game.
“Truth,” he says finally.
Seriously? Again? He’s no fun.
I sigh loudly, just so he knows I’m disappointed. I could just return his last question, but honestly I’m not sure I want to know how many girls he’s slept with. He can keep that secret.
But there is something I do want to know. As much as I’d like to think I have some self-control, my curiosity gets the better of me.
“Where are you?” I ask.
I feel the shift immediately. Like a wall sliding down between us.
“Lily, I don’t think—”
“I’m following all the rules,” I remind him. “You’re welcome to refuse to answer, but then you have to tell me about that phone call.”
I shouldn’t have asked. We were fine, when we were just playing the game. I should have asked him something dirty and let him tell me when he was ready toward the place where L" aid=". But there’s no backing out now.
When Calder does finally speak, his answer doesn’t do anything to set my mind at ease.
“I’m in New York City,” he says.
“On business?”
“There’s a lot to deal with right now.”
“That’s very vague.”
“Purposefully so. Lily, this has nothing to do with you. I’ve already asked you to let me deal with this on my own.”
The defensiveness of his tone stuns me.
He must sense something in my silence because the next time he speaks, his own voice has softened.
“I know you’re trying to help,” he says. “But please, I don’t want to drag you into this. You are—you are the one thing keeping me together. The one perfect, beautiful thing in my life right now. The only thing set apart from all this bullshit. I need that. Please, Lily, I need that. I need you.”
My breath catches in my throat.
“You know I’m here for you,” I whisper.
“I know.”
“But you can’t go around calling me perfect.”
He chuckles, and though it does little to reassure me, it eases the tension a little.
“Just take the compliment, Lily.” He’s starting to sound like his old self again. “You know, one of these days I’m going to tie you down and make you listen to an entire lecture on how amazing you are. And you won’t be allowed to refute a word of it.”
“Is that so?”
“I’ll probably have to gag you.”
“Bound and gagged? I like where this is going.”
He laughs again. “Nice try.”
“I’m going to keep trying,” I say, dropping my voice low. “Until you give me what we both want.”
“In all seriousness, though,” he says. “Thank you, Lily.”
He sounds so vulnerable. I wish I could reach out and hold him.
“Of course,” I murmur. “I’m here.”
* * *
His words linger in my head the following morning.
You are the one thing keeping me together right now. I need you. It warms me and terrifies me all at once.
Still, I feel like I understand him a little better now. If he needs some time and space to figure things out, then I need to let him have it.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t do a little investigating on my own.
It’s amazing how quickly this scandal has spread across the internet. Most of the major news outlets have picked up on the story by now, but it’s the gossip blogs that have completely exploded. In a matter of days, Calder has gone from “world’s most eligible billionaire” to a joke—or at the very least, someone to be pitied.
Right now, people are still getting over the initial shock of what appears to be an “overnight” change in the family’s means. There’s very little beyond pure speculation about the reasons for that change. Certainly nothing that offers me any clues about the truth. Still, I can’t look away. It’s like a sick, twisted addiction. I click through site after site, and though I grow more nauseated with every post, I don’t know how to stop. It’s like when you have a sore tooth and you can’t stop poking at it with your tongue.
I’m probably an hour into my search before I come across the pictures from the park. I gape in horror at the photos—at Calder’s stunned, angry know what you do to me.”
Judging by the captions and comments, no one has been able to identify me, though there’s plenty of speculation about my relationship with Calder.
“Knock knock.”
I nearly jump out of my skin at Dad’s voice, and I quickly click away from the images on my computer screen.
“Are you in the middle of something?” he asks.
I shake my head. “What’s up?”
“You talked to Gina Billings yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Oh, God,” I say, turning away from my computer. “Is she still putting up a fuss? She canceled on us yesterday and kept insisting that we refund her non-refundable deposit.”
“Did you send her another copy of the contract?”
I nod. “And I reread it to her over the phone about sixteen times. Even offered her credit toward a future date. I thought I’d settled everything with her.”
“Well, apparently it’s not quite settled yet. She left us a pretty scathing review online. Essentially called us criminals.”
Great. We’re still new enough to the facility-rentals business that we need all the good word of mouth we can get. I’ve snagged a few nice testimonials from other clients, but a heated rant could topple that good press very quickly.