“Yes, and the delivery guy is at the back door, insisting that he give it to you personally.”
This could be a trick. What if it was some police ploy? But why a pizza delivery man when they could come in with badges flashing and guns blazing, then just arrest her? Yeah, that was a more likely scenario. Which meant the pizza had probably been sent by someone who couldn’t readily talk to her.
Sean?
“Sure. Let me get my wallet.”
Lance sighed. “It’s paid for. I tried, but he said you’d given him a credit card over the phone.”
Probably Sean.
“Right,” she agreed readily. “I’m so hungry that I totally forgot. Food. Let me get that.”
Shaking his head, Lance walked away.
Callie ran to the back door. Sure enough, a gangly, pimple-faced teenager stood there with a pizza box in hand. The smells of basil and oregano wafted from the cardboard as he shot her a smile.
“Callie Ward?” He looked her up and down with a leer.
“Yes,” she said cautiously, self-consciously drawing the edges of her robe closer together, making damn sure everything was covered.
“For you. From a ‘friend.’” He winked.
Definitely Sean.
With a stupid grin, she took the box from the boy, noting that one side was a bit heavier than the other. He turned away without another word, so she shut the back door, then headed to her room.
Locking herself inside her private domain, she lifted the lid. Inside, half a warm pizza lay, brimming with cheese, pepperoni, pineapple, and mushrooms. Her favorite. Sean had remembered. Despite the dim day, that made her smile.
The other half of the box was another story. Partitioned away from the pizza by a piece of cardboard lay a white rectangle shrink-wrapped in plastic. She stared at it, blinking a few times. A yellow sticky note on top had almost blended in with its background, but as soon as she flipped on a light, she saw that the left half said Eat Me with an arrow pointing to the pizza. The other half said Open Me.
What was this, Alice in Wonderland?
Callie lifted a piece of the pie to her mouth and took a bite, surprised to find that she was hungrier than she’d imagined. She moaned as the flavor burst on her tongue. So good . . .
But curiosity was killing her.
She plucked the plastic-wrapped bundle out of the other half of the pizza box. Immediately, the size and weight told her it was a computer. Why would he send her one? She owned a laptop. It was old, but it worked.
She pulled the device from the industrial plastic protecting it. A brand-new shiny silver unit with a familiar piece of half-eaten fruit on the front. Over that was another note that read Turn Me On.
Was this his roundabout way of sending her a message, despite Thorpe throwing him out of the club?
With a careful nudge of the unit’s top lid, she opened it, taking just a moment to revel in how gorgeous it was. This had to have cost him a small fortune.
Peering intently at the machine, she hit the button to power it on. Someone had already gone through the setup and registration process for her. It came up with a desktop picture of a flower. The profile name matched her own.
Another sticky note across the keyboard read Three Guesses . . .
She’d never seen Sean’s playful side and she liked it.
With a smile, she bit her lip and pondered. What would Sean have used as a password. She tried his name. The operating system didn’t recognize that. Then another idea came to mind, and she typed it in.
L-O-V-E-L-Y.
That did it. Seconds later, she was in. A familiar Internet video chat program tried to load. Quickly, she tapped in the club’s Wi-Fi password. A second later, the software began calling Sean. He answered immediately, looking wrung out and worried, his tie loose, his hair messy as if he’d dragged his fingers through it a million times.
“Callie, are you all right?”
She swallowed down her nervousness. “Yes. Of course. I . . .” Have no idea what to say.
“Have you eaten the pizza? I know you, and I’m betting you haven’t taken the time tonight to fill your belly.”
Even when she’d handled everything wrong and hurt his feelings, Sean still put her needs first. Tears pricked at her eyes. What was she ever going to do without him?
“Not much, but I will. It smells heavenly. I’ve just been . . . worried about you. I saw Axel’s black eye and—”
Sean laughed, his grainy image grinning on the screen. “He looks far worse than me, lovely. Of that, I assure you.”
His assertion surprised her. No one ever got the best of Thorpe’s security director. He’d been bouncing heads for years. How had one man who wasn’t as big as Mount Axel managed to damage him and come out without a scratch? Luck, maybe.
“I’m so relieved to hear it. I’ve seen Axel really mess guys up before.” She drew in a deep breath, her mind racing. “I don’t understand why Thorpe threw you out. If anyone is at fault, it’s me. You said something beautiful, and I panicked.”
“You must know exactly how jealous Thorpe is.”
Sean had the situation so wrong. “No, he’s just concerned.”
“Because he wants you. But I don’t care about Thorpe now. He can’t keep us apart for long. I’ll find a way to you, lovely. I always will.” He paused, looking at her intently. “I wish I could touch you now and show you how much I meant those words I said earlier.”
Callie’s heart stuttered. Sean actually loved her. He hadn’t simply blurted it in the heat of passion. After nearly seven months, most of them as his submissive, it still stunned her. But hadn’t she worried that she was falling in love with him herself just a few hours ago?
“I’m really sorry I ran,” she murmured. “You startled me.”
“Don’t you care for me even a bit?” He frowned, that furrow between his blue eyes deep and troubled.
Even if she couldn’t stay and fulfill the promise of the burgeoning love between them, she wouldn’t be dishonest with Sean. She couldn’t stand the thought of hurting him more than she was already going to. “I care about you very much. So much that it scares me sometimes.”
“Ah, lovely. I won’t hurt you. You can let go and fall into my arms. I’ll catch you.”
How wonderful that sounded. Callie pressed a hand over her trembling lips. She wished she could stay and do exactly what he wanted. But that was a stupid fantasy. The reality was that she’d already way overstayed her time at Dominion.
Her heart railed, and she wanted to scream at the uselessness of her feelings. What would Sean do if she stayed and the law caught up to her? Or, heaven forbid, if he ever figured out who she was?
So she had to remain strong and do what was best for both Sean and Thorpe. If they knew the danger that lurked around her every corner, they’d want to help. They might even insist on protecting her. Callie refused to let them risk themselves. It was her problem, her cross to bear. Her shit to deal with.
“I’m trying,” she told him.
But after today, it had to stop. By tomorrow, she had to slip out of his life, away from Dominion, Thorpe, and Dallas—everything meaningful to her. Maybe she’d go to Seattle, instead. The frequent rain would match her mood.
“I know you are.” He sent her a reassuring smile. “Tell me, what did the bastard do when he had you alone in your room.”
Callie froze, sure that her face looked awfully deer-in-the-headlights. If she told him the truth, there’d be trouble. “N-nothing much.”
“Don’t you lie to me, lovely. I’ll paddle you but good. I heard your cries of passion wailing down the halls.”