Even though she and the aging beauty were probably the same size, Cali didn’t favor the hippie chick look that Mary pulled off effortlessly.
She’d stuffed a dress in her overnight bag at the last minute and that was paying off now. It took up hardly any room, so it hadn’t bulked up the bag. It was a blue paisley pattern, but the pattern was just slightly darker blue than the background so it wasn’t overwhelming but also wasn’t as boring as a straight blue dress.
The waist was tight, but extra material around the top hung over to give the top a slight billowy look while the skirt hugged her hips, letting what ass she had actually stand out. Really, it wasn’t bad for a date dress because it was big enough to be comfortable but still flattering.
She was in a small town, so she kept the makeup simple. Her collection of cosmetics had cost thousands of dollars as it had steadily grown over the years, and she used the basics to turn her decent complexion perfect, and added a neutral, light eye shadow with a cat-eye liner and a nude pink lipstick.
As much as she loved to dress up and put on makeup, doing her hair was her least favorite part. Instead of filling it with product and hairspray, Cali twisted her hair into an easy, pretty braid. The roots had been freshly touched up just two weeks ago when she’d gone on her weekend trip with Easson.
She winced at the memory. As much as she tried not to think about her short romance with the man who’d had her so fooled, the reminders kept coming up. Looking back, all the pieces clicked into place. How he’d casually run into her at the gym. How he’d had almost the same music on his phone, right down to her favorite Taylor Swift song.
And all of it had been a lie. After that night at the Farrell party, she’d found out that he’d joined the gym just days before he “accidentally” bumped into her. And, from the file that Evelyn had shared with her, everything he’d told her about his childhood and life was one big lie.
This was a man she’d spent the night with. Shared her body and some of her deepest secrets with. Which actually could work out in her favor. If he was truly mad at her for “betraying” him, at least he knew that the only friends she truly had were the Devereaux brothers, and they were already under protection. There was no one he could hurt to get to her.
Ahh, the joys of not speaking to any of your family members.
“Cali,” called Mary from the first story. “Rourke is here for you!”
Well...now or never. Cali gave herself one more once-over in the mirror. After okaying the final look, she slipped on her four-inch ankle boots and glanced around the room to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything.
The bed-and-breakfast really was charming. The bed was decorated with a pink floral quilt, and even though the brown of the paneled walls and flooring was overwhelming, the view of the ocean along with the clawfoot tub and pedestal sink in her personal bathroom more than made up for it.
Once Cali was certain she had everything she needed in her bag, she steeled herself for her night with Rourke. She really didn’t know what to expect from him. Dealing with Rourke was like dealing with a volatile stick of dynamite. She never really knew when it was safe or when she should be ducking for cover.
She carefully made her way down the stairs. Her high heels made more noise on the pristine wooden staircase than she wanted. She looked down and tried to stop herself from falling like a klutz and smiled in victory as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Ha. Take that, stupid wo...
Her mind froze as she looked up to see Rourke waiting for her. She’d seen a lot of men dressed up for dates, but none of them did it quite like Rourke Devereaux.
He was still in jeans, but this pair was a dark wash and not a hole or spot of paint in sight. They fit him in just the right way to show off how tall he was. He wore a black shirt with the top three buttons undone until just the barest hint of chest hair was visible. His short beard had been trimmed, but, really, his face didn’t need much work. The son of a bitch was already too handsome, and now everything he wore, from his black boots to the casual way his hair was slicked back served to make him look even better.
“Hi,” she said. The word came out much more breathlessly than she intended.
His dark eyes looked her over, and she realized that he almost always gazed at her like that. As if he was imagining the things he’d do to her once he got her alone. “You look good.” The brisk way he said it made it sound more like an accusation than a compliment, but she’d take it.
“Thank you. I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Oh my goodness, you two look adorable!” shouted Mary from the door to the kitchen.
Cali stiffened as she realized they weren’t alone, but before she could say anything, Rourke had crossed to her side and set an arm around her waist. “How are you, Mary?” he asked, even as he pulled Cali in closer. It took everything in her to appear natural and relaxed in his arms so she wouldn’t give away just how strange this whole thing was to Mary.
“I’m just flashing back to the first time I saw Stewart waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. You two just look picture-perfect.”
Cali could feel the blood rush to her face at the praise. “It’s just a date,” she murmured.
“Pshhh.” Mary gave a wave of her hand. “You two have something special. I knew it the moment Rourke and you showed up last night. But don’t let me keep you any longer. You two have a fun night.”
“Thanks again for everything, Mary,” said Rourke, once again showing that chivalrous side that he kept so hidden from her.
Cali echoed his thanks before Rourke escorted her outside. But instead of dropping the lovey-dovey act as soon as the cool fall air hit them, he kept his arm around her waist as he led her to his truck. “Those shoes look dangerous,” he said as she made her way carefully over the aged concrete of the driveway to his truck.
“Trust me,” she said. “I can handle a pair of heels.” They reached the truck and Rourke, still acting the gentleman, reached over to open the door for her. “Besides,” she added. “They make my legs look fantastic.”
Cali started to climb into the big truck as gracefully as possible in her skirt, but suddenly Rourke’s hands were on her waist and lifted her into the truck. She let out a tiny squeak of surprise as she settled into the seat and Rourke’s gaze fell to her now exposed thigh.
“Oh, I noticed,” he said in a deep, husky tone before he pushed the door shut.
A warm heat pooled in her stomach and it took a second for Cali to figure out what it was. Arousal. This caveman Neanderthal was turning her on. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to push all those warm fuzzies away. This made no sense. Sure, he was attractive, but she’d worked with Luke and Michael for years without ever once being tempted to throw away her career for an affair.
So what made Rourke so different? She knew that a part of her was happy that he wasn’t using her in the same way Easson had. Was that throwing off her entire libido?
Rourke climbed in the truck and started it up, backing out of the driveway without a word. Cali searched her mind for small talk options. No need to start the night out with her reasons he should reunite with Luke and Michael. She aimed for lighter fare. “So does this place remind you of Georgia?”
He seemed a bit taken aback by the question. “Um...the climate is a bit different.”
“It has the small-town thing. You came from a small town, right?”
“Is this you trying to get me to reminisce about the good old days so I’ll decide to go back with you to New York?”
Okay, so he had part of the reason. “Maybe I’m nervous and didn’t know what to talk about.”
He let out a little chuckle. “You don’t mince words, do you?”
“I don’t have the time to be a delicate flower. Besides, your brother likes that about me.” It was risky to bring up Luke around him, but if she wanted to have any type of normal conversation with him, Luke was going to come up.
“So you two never dated?”
She scoffed. “Except for Evelyn, Luke really never dated.” Slept around, sure. But no dating. “I never slept with him, if that’s what you mean. He was getting enough action that he never felt the need to mix work and play, you know?” He snorted and she continued, “I like to think that even if he did make a move on me, I’d have enough self-control to not mess up the best job I’ve ever had.” Not that Rourke probably thought she was the best example of self-control, but he would have to take her word on this one.
“Bringing coffee to Luke was the best job you’d ever had?”
Ahh, he had to bring up the damn assistant title that had haunted her for the past few years. “It started off like that. But over the years, the job expanded. I would do whatever I could. Running accounting spreadsheets, meeting with clients. Being a liaison between the clients and the engineers making the software programs.”
“So you actually do use your master’s degree?”
She wasn’t surprised that he knew so much about her. “In all honesty, the master’s is just a piece of paper. I learned much more with DevX Tech than in school. But those pieces of paper can be pretty valuable.”
“So I hear.”
Cali wondered whether Rourke ever got a degree. He probably earned enough from interest and dividends on his trust fund that he’d never need a job, let alone a degree, but she didn’t want to bring up his trust fund. Instead, she asked, “So what do you for a living?”
“What makes you think I don’t just live off my inheritance?” It was as if he’d read her mind.
“The last few times I saw you, your jeans were always well worn. You don’t look like a trust fund baby.”
He nodded as though he approved of her powers of observation. “When I first left the family, I had a lot of anger. I bought this old rundown place as far away from Georgia as I could and worked on restoring it. All the hard work helped take my mind off everything. If I was installing hardwood, I’d zone out for hours and by the time I was done for the day, I’d be too tired to be angry any more. After that first job, I became addicted.”
“So you flip houses?”
“All except the first one. I could never give her up after all the work and baggage I’d put into that girl.”
Cali laughed. “Your house is a girl?”
He shrugged. “I always figured I’d sell it to someone like Mary. The Victorians tend to have all those girly finishing touches and I went with the style. Then, when I decided to keep her, I couldn’t undo any of it. You saw the house. Did that read butch to you?”
“I actually thought you’d have a wife opening the door when I walked up.”
“I had to turn in my man card when I decided to keep her.”
Cali eyed the way his broad shoulders filled out the black shirt. “I think your man card is safe,” she murmured. “So you were never tempted to bring in a girl to legitimize your decorating choices?”
“That’s the most diplomatic way of asking why I’m not married I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, I am good at what I do.” And she’d had to pry much more sensitive information from people before.
“I don’t have a wife because I don’t date. I’m never with the same woman for longer than a month.”
“A genuine manwhore. Love it.”
He shot her a grin over his arm. “I’m clean, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“I, wh—um, I wasn’t wondering,” she stuttered out. Though considering how close she’d been to sleeping with him on Friday, maybe she should’ve wondered.
“I was tested two weeks ago at my yearly physical. I can show you the paperwork later if you want.”
Cali paled as she thought of the paperwork she had at her apartment. She’d run to the emergency clinic the day after she found out the truth about Easson. The one thing the son of a bitch hadn’t lied about was the fact that he was clear of disease. But for a few moments, she’d been filled with the fear that somehow, even when he was gone from her life for good, he’d managed to taint the rest of her life.
And she’d always been so careful. She’d dated a few different guys in college, but the second she started to work for Luke and Michael, she’d had a laser focus on her success.
She’d thought Easson was different, though. They’d had so much in common, how could it be anything other than fate that brought them together? So her guard had come crumbling down, to disastrous effect.
“I won’t need to be looking at any paperwork,” she said quietly as she looked out the window, glimpses of water visible through the tree line speeding past. But then the trees were gone, replaced by a spattering of historical homes before they reached Main Street.
Rourke had said he was taking her for Italian, so she already knew where they were going. The town of West Bath had about three restaurants that weren’t fast-food joints: a mom-and-pop family style place, a Coney Island, and the Italian restaurant at the edge of town.
After parking, Rourke walked around the truck to open her door for her. He reached out a hand to her, and she tentatively took his as she eyed the distance between the truck and the ground and tried to think of a way to do this without flashing him everything.
“Really?” asked Rourke with a smirk.
“This is a delicate process,” she defended as she started to stand.
“Hold on,” muttered Rourke as he stepped closer and wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her tight against his body before he lowered her slowly until her feet touched the ground.
Cali held her breath and closed her eyes as the sensations overtook her. Rourke was warm and solid against her, and it took all her self-control to keep from reaching out to stroke those hard muscles. Good grief, she was in over her head here. “You have to stop doing that,” she said breathlessly.
“Stop doing what?” he whispered. He bent his head down and the soft scrape of his beard touched her cheek.
“Stop touching me.” Was that her hand moving up his arm and resting on his shoulder? Damn it.
“I know you want me. Why would I stop touching you?” His lips drew closer to hers and she knew she was in trouble.
She forced her eyes to open and looked into his. If she moved forward even a millimeter, their lips would touch. She felt as though every nerve ending was on high alert, just begging her to activate them with the pleasure she knew Rourke could give her. “Because I don’t want you to think that because I’m attracted to you that I’ll leave you alone.”
“Is that right?”
She nodded. Her nose brushed his, they were so close. There wasn’t any reason to pretend she wasn’t completely tempted by him. Her body was obviously a shitty actress. But no matter how fast her heart pounded in her chest, she had a goal, and she wasn’t some hormonal teen who’d drop everything when a pretty boy looked her way.
“I think I can break you.” He punctuated the threat while he rested a hand at the small of her back and pulled her tighter against him.
“That’s my trick. I’m not strong because I don’t break. I’m strong because every time I break, I put myself back together.”
Rourke pressed his lips against hers finally and gave her a soft, gentle kiss that belied the desire evident by the bulge in his jeans. “Game on.” With that, he pulled away and pushed her door shut. “Now, we should probably actually eat instead of getting sidetracked.”
Yeah, because it was totally her fault for the sidetracking. She held a hand out toward the restaurant. “Lead the way.”
Cali proved to be a harder nut to crack than Rourke had anticipated. Ever since she’d faltered in the parking lot, she’d managed to pull up whatever facade she was so used to wearing around him. The real woman was gone, and she was right back to the corporate drone who’d showed up at his doorstep. She hadn’t mentioned Luke at all though, and he’d expected her to come at him hard and fast to go to New York with her.
But instead she’d been polite and perfectly pleasant and damned annoying. He’d rather have her fighti
ng him all the way than this whitewashed version of her. She’d asked lots of questions about his home and the renovating process before moving on to the town.
She obviously didn’t want to talk about herself because every time he tried to turn the conversation around, she’d maneuver it back to him. The only silver lining to this was that anyone looking on would only see two people having a perfectly charming date. He’d already seen at least three of the town’s matrons smile over at the table approvingly.
He liked to imagine other people’s judgments didn’t matter to him, but when there was only a population of three thousand, one person’s opinion held a lot more weight. So at least his idea of taking her out in public was working to reverse the damage she’d done to his reputation. But the whole night just felt...off.
And everything he really wanted to ask her he didn’t want to ask in public like this. So he played Cali’s game. Smiling. Acting the attentive date. Laughing at all her little jokes, just like she laughed at his. And then the check was there and he felt the anticipation shoot through him.
Once they were out of the restaurant, he’d have to break the news that he wasn’t taking her back to Mary’s. He really shouldn’t look forward to upsetting her as much as he was, but he’d prefer her anger over whatever the hell she was doing.
He had to smile to himself when she didn’t even pretend to reach for the check. It was nice to not have to deal with pretenses for at least one second during this dinner. And he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that it was nice to be around someone who knew who he was.
Until finally he stood and held his hand out to Cali. She smiled up at him in that adoring way he knew was fake as she wrapped her fingers in his and pushed out of her chair. He was filled with the urge to make her smile genuinely. She was so damn beautiful when her joy reached her blue eyes. He went hard at the very idea of having that directed at him. Under him.
Devereaux Billionaires Complete Series: Books 1-4 Page 57