“What did you do? Wait, why is she still there? Why didn’t she call me herself? Caleb, what did you do?”
He sure wasn’t about to give a complete answer to that question. “We argued.” He chose his words. “She eventually calmed down. She must have been exhausted because she fell asleep on my sofa.”
There was complete silence at that. He wasn’t even sure Melissa was breathing.
“Melissa?”
“Are you sure she wasn’t mad at me?”
“It was definitely me.” He took a chair at the table and set down the brandy.
“What did you do to her?”
“She thought I coerced Noah into lobbying you to sell the Crab Shack to me.”
“No, that was his...” She paused. “It was his idea, wasn’t it? You didn’t. You wouldn’t.”
“No. I wouldn’t use Noah to get to you. I know I’m on the opposite side of this, Melissa. But I play fair.”
“I don’t know why,” she said softly. “But I believe you.”
“Thank you.” For some reason, it meant a lot to him that she did.
“Would you consider it?” Her question was hesitant. “Would you buy the Crab Shack if Jules was willing to sell?”
He paused, remembering his promise to Jules about not using Melissa, and wondering how far he could ethically go in this conversation.
Before he could answer, she spoke again.
“Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“From my perspective,” he said, “it’s a fantastic idea. I’d buy the property in a heartbeat. But Jules feels very strongly on the subject.”
“I know she does. Sometimes... I sometimes think she’s blinded by her love for our grandfather.”
“What is it you want?” Caleb found himself asking Melissa.
“Mostly, I want Jules to be happy.”
Caleb swirled the brandy in his glass. “You have no reason to believe this, but I want her to be happy, too.”
“What should we do?”
Although he would have loved to use the opportunity, Caleb’s conscience kicked in. “I’m not the best person for you to talk to about that. It’s a definite conflict of interest. But I will tell you I’m not bluffing about rescinding the easement.”
“That’s what Noah said. He said you were too far into the project, and you couldn’t afford to back down.”
“Noah seems very logical.”
“I’ve never met anyone like him.”
Caleb thought he could peg the tone in her voice. Noah was a lucky guy.
“What do you want for yourself?” Caleb repeated.
“I want to help run a business. I want to put my degree to work. I want to make a meaningful contribution to something successful.”
He read between the lines. “But it doesn’t necessarily have to be the Crab Shack.”
“I’m not as invested as Jules.”
“We could—” He stopped himself.
It took Melissa a moment to speak. “You don’t want to feel like we’re ganging up on her.”
He vividly remembered what Jules had said about not being able to fight him, her father and Melissa all at the same time.
“I don’t,” he said. “Even if it’s for her own good.”
“Do you think forcing her to give up is for her own good?”
“I think...” He hesitated on how to frame it. “I know she can’t win this fight.”
“Unless you give up.”
“Why would I give up?”
There was a smile in Melissa’s voice. “I’m beginning to figure out the answer to that.”
Melissa had ended the call then, and Caleb found himself coming to his feet, moving back down the hall just far enough that he could see Jules. She was unbelievably beautiful. He couldn’t believe they’d made love a second time. He couldn’t believe she was here.
He stood and gazed at her for a long time.
There had to be a path forward for them. More than ever now, he needed a path forward that kept her in his future.
Nine
It took Jules a moment to realize she was still in Caleb’s living room. She was warm and comfortable. She was also still naked.
Last night came flooding back, and she knew she’d made a terrible mistake in confronting him. It might have turned into wonderful lovemaking, but she was now more conflicted than ever.
She sat up in the morning light, spotting her clothes neatly folded on the chair beside her. She couldn’t help but be grateful for the small gesture, and she quickly got dressed.
Half of her wanted to slip out the door and go home. But that would be cowardly. She’d done what she’d done, and pretending it hadn’t happened wasn’t going to change that.
She heard sounds down the hallway and guessed they were coming from the kitchen. Running her fingers through her hair and gathering her courage, she determinedly walked toward the noise.
Caleb was in a bright, spacious kitchen, pouring coffee.
He looked up to stare at her.
Her stomach lurched with nervous energy. “I have absolutely no idea what to say.”
“How about ‘morning’?”
“Morning,” she said, relieved by his relaxed posture and demeanor.
“Coffee?”
“Please.”
He retrieved another cup and poured. “Do you take anything in it?”
“Black is fine.” Any form of caffeine was fine with her at the moment.
He came around the breakfast bar, a cup in each hand. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Soundly.”
He smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”
The polite chitchat was stringing her nerves tighter and tighter. “Caleb...I don’t know what happened last night.”
“You mean you don’t remember it, or you don’t know what caused it.”
“I remember it fine.”
Their gazes locked as he handed her a cup.
“Good,” he said.
“No, bad.”
“That’s sure not how I remember it.”
“You know what I mean.” She took a drink, hoping to jump-start her brain. She needed to be fully functional right now.
He gestured toward a round wooden table, with four padded chairs. It was set in a bay window facing southwest. The storm was over, and the sun was coming up, lighting the calm ocean.
“What do you want to do?” he asked as they sat down.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Go home, go back to—” Her thoughts went to her sister. “Melissa must be worried.”
Come to think of it, why hadn’t Melissa called? Had Jules’s phone battery died?
“I talked to her last night,” he said, then immediately put the cup to his lips.
Jules felt her embarrassment and anxiety rise. Her voice came out raspy. “What did you tell her?”
“That you were angry. We’d fought. You were exhausted and fell asleep on my sofa.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
The morning light softened his expression, and he looked more like a friend than a foe. This was the up close Caleb. This was the Caleb she had to avoid if she wanted to stay sane.
“I did tell her you thought I’d put Noah up to it. And I also told her that wasn’t true.”
Jules found herself nodding. She believed Caleb when he said that. Which meant Noah thought she was going to fail. And Melissa must still have her doubts.
The aspen trees outside fluttered in the breeze, and the waves pushed against the rocks below. The only sound in the kitchen was the faintest hum of the refrigerator.
“If we’re going to keep doing
this,” he said.
She sat up straight. “We are not going to keep doing this.”
“We keep saying that, yet...” He spread his hands.
“This time it’s true.”
“I should have used some protection.” He seemed to hesitate. “But you must be using birth control, right?”
She worked her jaw for a moment. She wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but she didn’t believe that was true.
“Hormone shots,” she said. “Not specifically for birth control,” she felt compelled to explain. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about her sex life—which for the most part didn’t exist. At least, until he’d come along. “But that’s one of the effects.”
He gave a nod. “Good.”
“Caleb.” She put a warning note into her voice. “We’re not going to—”
“I heard you.” He spun his empty cup on the polished surface of the table. “I like you, Jules.”
She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want the good Caleb to make her do something stupid. Truth was, if she operated on emotion alone, she’d drag him straight back into bed.
He caught her gaze again and held it. “I’m ridiculously attracted to you, and—”
A sound caught their attention. The front door opening and closing.
“Caleb?” It was Matt.
Panic hit Jules straight in the solar plexus, and she lost her breath.
“He knows,” Caleb said.
The panic grew. “He what?” She rose to her feet.
Caleb looked like he regretted the admission. “He’s a close friend.”
Her tone was a harsh whisper. “I haven’t even told my sister.”
“I didn’t tell anyone else,” Caleb whispered back as Matt’s footfalls grew closer.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“Morning, Caleb,” Matt said as he entered the room. “Oh, morning, Jules.”
“I...” she started, but came up blank and ended up blinking.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Caleb said.
Matt held up his palms. “None of my business.”
She took another stab at it. “We have a...”
“Love-hate relationship,” Caleb finished for her.
“Lust-hate relationship.” She couldn’t see any point in pretending.
“I really don’t need to know,” Matt said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
“You’re the only one who does,” Jules said. “Not Melissa, not anyone.”
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Matt said, stopping the pour to look affronted.
“Matt’s not going to tell anyone,” Caleb said.
Jules realized that who Matt did or didn’t tell wasn’t the problem. The problem was her conflicted feelings for Caleb and how she was going to get them under control. The other, bigger problem was how she was going to get the Crab Shack up and running.
“Do I need a lawyer?” she asked Caleb.
It was clear from his expression that he’d followed her change of topic. “My lawyer is rescinding the easement this morning.”
“Seriously?” Matt asked from the other side of the kitchen.
Caleb shot him a look of annoyance.
“I thought it was just a threat,” Matt said.
“I never thought it was just a threat,” Jules said. The words felt heavy as she uttered them. “I’ve known all along he was serious.”
“You left me no choice,” Caleb said.
“You always had a choice. You could live with seventeen Neo locations and however many tens of millions that pulls in.”
“It’s not about money.”
“If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be doing this.”
“What about you?” he asked. “You had a choice, too. Neo and the Crab Shack could live amicably side by side.”
“That’s not a choice. That’s a Watford trying to con a Parker. That’s history repeating itself. It’s the very thing I came here to fix.”
“You are so misguided.”
“You just hate it when we don’t roll over and play dead.”
Caleb’s eyes darkened. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“I’m wrong a lot.” She rose to her feet, reminding herself all over again how stupidly wrong she’d been to come here last night. “But not about this.”
She took two steps back, trying desperately to see the distant Caleb, the one she despised, the one out to harm her. She backed into the wall, but she quickly recovered. She concentrated with all her might, but it didn’t work.
She couldn’t separate him into halves anymore. She couldn’t see her enemy. She saw only Caleb.
* * *
“Thanks for doing this,” Caleb said to Matt a week later as they watched Noah climb the stairs to the marina deck.
It was nearly ten o’clock, and things had been dark at the Crab Shack for over an hour.
“Are you sure he’s an ally?” asked Matt.
“I think so. I hope so. I’m running pretty short on moves, so I better be able to make this happen.”
“Jules still not talking to you?”
“I can’t get anywhere near her.” And Caleb had certainly tried.
Since his lawyer had filed the papers, she was refusing to have anything to do with Caleb. He’d tried three different carrots, and none of them had worked. Now the stick had been an even more colossal failure. If he didn’t come up with something new, Jules was going to lose all her money, and he was never going to have a chance at exploring their feelings for each other.
“Hey, Noah,” he greeted the man, stepping forward to shake his hand. “Thanks for coming.”
“You said it was about work?” Noah asked.
Matt gestured to the cluster of deck chairs.
“Melissa told me what you suggested,” Caleb opened as the three of them sat down.
It was a clear night, but breezy waves crested higher than usual as the tide rolled out. The yachts creaked against their mooring ropes, while the flag over the dock snapped in the wind.
“What did I suggest?” Noah asked, his expression becoming guarded.
“That they sell to me. It’s a good idea. And she listened.”
“It had nothing to do with what’s best for you,” Noah told Caleb.
“I get that.” Caleb guessed Noah had Melissa’s best interests at heart when he made the suggestion. “But Jules won’t go for it.”
“No kidding.”
“Melissa explained what happened?”
“That Jules thought I was your pawn? She told me. You do know that’s never going to happen. So, if that’s what this is about...” Noah started to rise.
“No,” Caleb quickly assured him. “It’s not.”
Noah hesitated for a second, but then settled back down.
“You want a beer?” Matt asked Noah.
“Are you going to ask Melissa out?” Caleb asked Noah.
“No.”
Caleb was curious. “Why not?”
“I’m getting the beer.” Matt rose and crossed to the wet bar.
“Because she’s a university graduate, and I’m an ex-con with a GED.”
The answer took Caleb by surprise. “You’re also a licensed carpenter.”
“Can you imagine her bringing me home to Daddy?”
Matt handed around the beers and sat back down. The wind gusted, and he settled his cap more firmly on his head.
“You’re selling yourself short,” Matt said.
“This can’t be why you asked me here,” Noah said.
It wasn’t.
Caleb had a different motive. “If I can get Jules on board, would you consider working
for Neo?”
He knew Jules and Melissa respected Noah. Caleb liked him, too, and he admired Noah’s work. What he wanted was a solution that worked for everyone.
“Or for me,” Matt said. “If it turns out the Crab Shack job ends, I’ve got plenty of work here at the marina for a good finish carpenter.”
Noah looked from one man to the other. “Even if I think you’re right, that the sisters should sell, they’re never going to agree.”
“I can’t give up,” Caleb said. “Melissa admitted she’d like to work at Neo.”
“Melissa’s not Jules,” Noah said.
“I’m not through trying.”
“Then I wish you luck.” Noah came to his feet.
“Ask Melissa out,” Matt said to Noah. “I hate that you’re hesitating over your past.”
“He’s divorced, so probably not the best advisor on women. But I agree with him.” Caleb had seen the way Melissa and Noah looked at each other. They deserved a chance.
“Divorced or not—” Noah cracked a half smile “—I’d rather take his advice than yours. I’ve never seen a guy get himself into such a mess over a woman.”
Caleb wished he could disagree. “If I can’t change her mind—”
“It’s going to cost you a million dollars,” Matt finished the sentence.
“That’s not what I was going to say.”
Noah polished off his beer. “You’re not going to change her mind. And, Matt’s right, you’re the one who’s going to cave.”
Matt laughed at that.
Before Caleb could work up a counter-argument for the both of them, Noah was gone.
* * *
“Noah asked me out.” Melissa was beaming as they laid out copper light fixtures and polish on the drop cloth–covered bar. She lowered her voice, glancing surreptitiously at Noah where he was working outside on the deck. “Your plan worked. I’ve been staying aloof and playing hard to get for nearly a week.”
Jules forced out a smile for her sister. She was genuinely happy for her. “Congratulations. Where are you going?”
Jules wouldn’t use this moment to feel sorry for herself. She’d been avoiding Caleb all week. She missed him, but that was too bad. She might as well start getting over it.
“Dinner and a club. Saturday night. We’re going to drive into Olympia.”
From Temptation to Twins Page 15