Page 64 of Playing Pretend

I threw my coffee down the drain, no longer craving the caffeine fix, and walked down the hallway to Caleb’s office. The door was open, but the moment I stepped in, Caleb grabbed my arm, and shut the door before pushing me against the wall.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. “We’re at the office, and I’m pissed with you.”

That last part wasn’t supposed to come out, and I cursed my inability to keep my mouth shut.

“I’m the boss,” replied Caleb, “And I’ve been thinking about your mouth since I left yesterday morning.”

He leaned in, and as much as I wanted to kiss him – because let’s face it, I liked kissing him – I chose to take the high road for once. I turned my head to the side, and Caleb’s mouth landed on my cheek. He pulled away, and the poor man looked genuinely perplexed.

Really?

He’s going to play dumb now?

“What did I do now?” He exhaled the question as if he was exasperated with me.

Like hell.

“Nothing,” I lied, pushing at his chest. “We’re at the office, and no one’s here to see it. We should save it for the cameras.”

Caleb stepped back, and brought his hands to his hips. With narrowed eyes, and pursed lips, he stared at me, and then said, “I think I know what’s going on here.”

“Please, enlighten me.”

Caleb leaned closer, caging me in with his outstretched arms, his palms on the wall beside my head. “You’re upset because we had sex again, and I left, and now you’re wondering where we stand.”

For a moment I was engrossed by how close Caleb was, how his breath fanned my face, how his eyes looked over every feature of my face. I sucked in an uneven gulp of air.

“I know where we stand.”

Caleb’s mouth twisted up to the side, drawing my attention to his lush lips. God, why was I so weak-willed when it came to him? Why could I not just screw him and leave it there? Was that too much to ask?

“I don’t think you do,” challenged Caleb. “So I’ll catch you up-to-speed. I fucked you because I wanted to, I kissed you because I wanted to, not because we’re ‘pretending’ for everyone else.”

I wanted to be surprised by Caleb’s ability to read me, before I could get a read on myself, but it was hard when he put all my crazy thoughts and insecurities into words. He’d hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately.

“You don’t have to believe me,” he continued, picking up on my skepticism. “I was a complete asshole, and you’re still deciding whether or not to trust me.”

I pinched my lips between my teeth, and allowed my body to sag against the wall. “I think we need to focus on why you asked me to help you in the first place, and just remove sex from the equation altogether.”

“Not happening,” retorted Caleb, shaking his head with determination.

“I’m not asking you, Caleb.” I exhaled, and found enough courage to draw a line that should’ve been there from the moment I agreed to this ludicrous arrangement. “I refuse to be nothing more than a fuck to you.”

Caleb’s features softened. “Sweet Kadence, you’ve never been just a ‘fuck’ to me, and I realize now that I’ve done a really shitty job of proving that to you.”

His words made my tummy flip, and my heart skip a beat. But I still didn’t want to believe him. “It doesn’t matter,” I replied, aware that it was a lie. It so mattered. “I’m not sleeping with you again.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” whispered Caleb. “The only difference is the next time I have you in my bed, you’ll know, without a shadow of a doubt that it’s because I —”

My mouth opened, a witty cut-off on the tip of my tongue, but a knock on the door made me shove him away. The door opened, and Aaliyah stuck her head in.

“Am I interrupting?” she asked, a smug smile on her face.

I said ‘no’ the same time that Caleb said ‘yes’.

“Okay then,” said Aaliyah. “I’ll come back.”

“No!” I straightened out my shirt, and rubbed my hands down my navy pencil skirt. “I was just on my way out.”