“I’m obviously an idiot for letting you get away so easily.”
“Well, that goes without saying,” I reply with a smile. “We all make mistakes.”
“Yes. We do. You’re mine.” His face sobers. “I was wrong, about a lot of things.” He steps toward me, and just when I think I’m going to have to kick him in the neck for coming on to me after telling him no, he simply folds me into his arms and hugs me tightly, gently rocking back and forth. “I was so wrong to tell you I’d never fall in love with you. I did fall in love with you, Callie. And I’m sorry if I ever hurt you.”
With that, he kisses my forehead, and pulls back.
“Thank you for that,” I say, smiling up at him. “You were an important part of my life for a long time, and I won’t forget that.”
He smiles, brushes his lips over my cheek, and turns to leave. As he moves away, I see Declan standing in the doorway, his eyes hard and trained on me. His whole body, usually loose and calm, is tight, every muscle on high alert, as Keith brushes past him.
“Sorry, man, she’s all yours,” Keith says, having no idea who he’s talking to. He looks back at me, “Take care, sweetheart.”
And with that, he’s gone, and I’m left squaring off with the man I’m hopelessly in love with. I have nothing to feel guilty for. I’m not the one who was out at dinner with someone new.
Neither of us says anything. We simply look at each other, both of our faces completely impassive, not giving away what the other is thinking.
I’ll be fucking damned if I let him see me cry. Hell no.
I simply fold my arms over my chest and wait. And after what feels like forever, Declan simply shakes his head and walks away.
Chapter Seventeen
~Declan~
“So what’s your news?” I ask Beth. She’s sitting across from me at Café Amalie, decked out in a red dress that shows off her curves and her long blond hair. She smiles slyly and leans an elbow on the table.
“We’ll get to that. First, how are you?”
“Great.” I’m short with her on purpose. I don’t want to be here. I want to be with Callie. I haven’t seen her in days.
“Okay, I see how this is going to go,” she says with a sigh. “Look, Dec, I know you weren’t thrilled to be stuck with me when Laura retired and left the firm.”
“I’ve never made that a secret,” I reply, agreeing whole-heartedly.
“I’m a good agent,” she stresses.
“You’re a decent agent, and if I hadn’t been under contract to stay with the firm, I would have left immediately. That contract is up in six months.”
“I know.” She nods and sips her drink. “But I’ve managed to keep you busy with work—”
“I’ve kept me busy with work,” I reply coldly. “You’re too busy trying to get in my pants.”
She blushes and looks at the candle flickering on the table. “Okay, let’s talk about that. Why not me?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh come on, Declan, we all know your reputation.” She reaches out to touch me, but I catch her wrist in my fist.
“Don’t touch me.”
“I’ve made it clear that I’d like to sleep with you, and you never once took the bait. Why?”
“Two reasons. Because I’m not stupid enough to mix business with pleasure, Beth, and I’m not attracted to you.”
Shock, dismay, then indignation cross her face, but before she can speak, I continue.
“If you think I’m stupid enough to have a very brief affair with someone I do business with, you don’t know me very well. I am an artist, but I also come from an influential business family, and I’m a smart man, Beth. It’s your job to get me work, not get me off.”
She clears her throat. “I see.”
“Finally.”
“What in the bloody hell?” I glance up and see Kate stomping to our table, her furious face firmly in place.
“Oh, is this the flavor of the week?” Beth asks.
“Shut up,” Kate snaps at her. “I want to speak to you without the bimbo listening in.”
“Hey, who are you calling a bimbo, sister?” Beth demands, ready to go to war.
“Stop.” My voice is firm and clipped. “I’ll be back.”
I stand and escort Kate out of the restaurant and to the sidewalk outside. “What the hell, Kate?”
“Oh no, you don’t get to be mad at me,” she says, shaking her finger at me. “What are you doing out on a date with someone other than Callie?”
“I’m not on a date. Beth is my agent.”
Kate frowns, and then her shoulders deflate as she lets out a sigh. “Oh.”
“It’s okay. Say you’re sorry for biting my head off. Where’s Eli?”
“Eli isn’t here,” she says, worry suddenly settling over her. “I was here with Callie.”
And now dread settles over me. “Oh, God.”
“Yeah, I asked her out to dinner because Eli’s out of town tonight, and we were in the middle of talking about you being an idiot when she glanced over and saw you getting all cozy with Beth the agent.” She props her hands on her hips.
“This is a business meeting, Kate.”
“I know that now, but it didn’t look like that. Let me put it this way: remember when you picked me up to take me to the airport when it was time for me to return to Denver last year?”
“Yeah.”
“And we saw Cindy leaving Eli’s house, and I was devastated because I thought he’d spent the night with her?”
“I hate Cindy,” I mutter.
“Yeah, well, that’s what it looked like to Callie.”
I rub my hand over my mouth, dread settling in my belly. “Look, I have to finish this dinner, but I’ll talk to Callie tonight and clear it up.”
“You’d better,” she says. “And you’d also better explain to her why you’ve been a douche bag lately.”
“I’ve been a douche?” I ask, completely thrown. “I haven’t even seen her in days.”
“Exactly,” she says. “Fix it.” And with that she turns on her heel and walks away. Jesus, what a shit show. Women confuse the hell out of me. How could I have screwed up? I’ve barely spoken to Callie.
I walk back to the table and find a pouting Beth when I get there.
“Jealous?” she asks.
“Cut the bullshit, Beth, and tell me what you need to tell me. I don’t want to be here all night.”
“I’m leaving the firm,” she says, and my heart bursts with joy, but I keep my face and voice passive.
“Good luck to you, but you could have told me this via email. There was no reason to blow my phone up and demand a meeting.”
“Well, I was hoping that once I told you, you’d want to go home with me.”
She leans on the table, showing off her cleavage, and I just stare at her face. “If you don’t have any other business to talk about this evening, I’m leaving. Right now. I’ve told you I’m not interested. I can’t make that any more clear.”
“Fine. A girl can ask,” she says irritably. “I do have some business to talk about. There’s some recording work coming up in Memphis you might be interested in, and some song writing requests came in last week.”
It takes an hour to discuss all of the business details. Honestly, when Beth is in professional mode, I don’t hate her. But I take a deep breath when the meeting is over and I can head straight over to The Odyssey to see Callie and straighten all of this out.
When I walk through the door, the place is mostly empty. Adam is behind the bar.
“Hey,” I say as I approach. “Where’s Callie?”
“In the office, but—”
“Thanks,” I say, cutting him off and hurry to the back of the bar, then stop short when I open the door and find another fucking man with his hands on my girl.
He’s pulling away from her, as if he just kissed her. I can’t see Callie because the dude’s back is to me, completely concealing her.
When he does move to turn away, she’s smiling up at him in the special way that she smiles at me, and it sets my teeth on edge.