“Oh, Caleb, I am so sorry for your loss. It happened right before I came back to Boston to help Nan. She thought the world of your father and was heartbroken to hear that he’d passed away.”
“Thank you. I miss him every day.” I took some comfort in knowing his passing had been relatively peaceful with all of us right beside him when he died.
She studied me thoughtfully for a moment, focusing on my eyes mostly. “Caleb, I assume you’ve figured out my nan was housekeeper at Blackwater. Why—why then did you hire me for your renovation after those terrible things I said to you and the hideously disrespectful way I spoke about your family?”
She blinked several times as if she was trying to hold back tears. So tenderhearted.
“Brooke, please let it go.”
“But I don’t understand. I don’t know what you’re doing here, Caleb. With me. The flowers, the job offer, the fifty thousand dollars of damages you paid on my behalf for destroyed suits.” She turned toward the window and stared out at the rain. “My old boss stopped in to deliver my final pay and to thank me in person for having my boyfriend pay for the extensive damages.”
She turned back from the window to hit me with her blazing amber eyes. Sensuous eyes I fantasized about at night when I was alone in my bed—how it would be, having them locked on me while I was buried balls-deep inside her. And I had no doubt it would be fucking spectacular.
“You didn’t even know me that night, Caleb, so why did you do all that for a stranger?”
I reached across the table and took both of her hands in mine. I caressed the back of each one with my thumbs, admiring the delicate bone structure. You’re a banquet for my starving soul. My brother believes I love you. You’ve completely owned me since I first laid eyes on you. “I don’t know why. That is the honest-to-God truth, Brooke. I do not know why I offered to pay the damages, or why I followed you outside to see if you were okay, or why I listened in on where you told your cab driver to go, or why I sent you flowers the next day, and then purposefully gave you my number. I don’t know why I did any of it, except for the fact I wanted to help you . . . when you so obviously needed some kindness from another person. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and needed to know you were all right the following day. You intrigue me, Brooke. I feel like it was fate meeting you, especially now with Herman and your grandmother getting married. We will be connected by their marriage from now on anyway. What are the odds of that happening? I don’t want to think too hard about it; I just want to give fate a fighting chance here.”
“But after I was so horrible to you on the phone?”
“You know what? You were right about everything you said to me. It took me a bit of time to find out the truth. I had no idea Blackwater had been shut down and all employees terminated. No one told me, and possibly even went out of their way to keep me ignorant of that fact.” I didn’t want to say it was my own mother who’d done it, but once Brooke met Mom, she’d understand much better. “But please know I am working on fixing it. Your grandmother and everyone else will be compensated for absent wages and benefits since they lost their jobs. That is a promise.”
“Oh . . .” She trailed off uncertainly. “But you don’t have to do that because of me. Ah, I get it now. You must’ve thought I had figured out who you were when I called to apologize, hmm?”
“Actually I didn’t. Brooke, you surprised me with your phone call, yes, but don’t forget I had already retained y
ou for my renovation before you reached out to me, so I would have hired you for the job anyway. I only found out last Friday who you really were and how our families are linked. I haven’t visited the island in nearly a decade, until just this past weekend. My brother Lucas filled me in on a lot of what’s been going on. I wanted to keep Blackwater out of . . . us,” I waved my fingers back and forth between our bodies, “until I could assess how best to move forward, reclaiming the property and fixing the giant mess made by my own family.”
“I did not know who you were, Caleb.” She brought her hands up to curl beneath her chin. “I never dreamed it was your family who owned Blackwater. I am so horrified right now, just so you know.”
“Well, you look beautiful even when you’re horrified, Brooke. You keep surprising me at every turn. I didn’t want to tell you that it was my family who owned Blackwater until I’d had a chance to right the wrongs.” I really hoped she believed me.
“I want you to remember what I said to you about how it’s not how much money you have, but how you choose to use it. I meant it. You are trying to fix something you had no knowledge of, and I admire your integrity for doing so, but I really hope you aren’t doing it for me, or for the promise of something you might want from me.”
Like having you in bed with me every night? We were speaking the same language at least.
“I’m doing it for me, Brooke.” But I do want you in my bed.
She blushed. I saw her color darken as the blood traveled up her neck and face. I wanted to see that happen when she was naked and in my arms.
“It would have been one big surprise if you showed up at the wedding with neither of us knowing all of this,” she said.
“Like I said before, it feels more like a twist of fate to me.”
“My nan has known you since you were born, Caleb. I just can’t believe it.”
Seeing Brooke so animated in conversation, I wanted to kiss her breathless. “Ask her if she remembers the tomato launchers I made at Boy Scouts when I was twelve. I’m betting it will be a yes.”
She laughed. “I am envisioning an epic tale of squashed tomatoes and the terrifying scolding from my nan that came along with it.”
EVEN watching her eat was entertainment. She’d ordered pasta with a giant goddamn meatball that she then proceeded to cut into tiny pieces and savor one by one. I liked the fact she seemed to enjoy normal food and didn’t care if a lettuce wedge with half a cherry tomato for garnish and a slice of lemon for taste was only thirty calories. Christ, or how filling that crap was to eat. It was all bullshit, and I’d had enough of those types of dinner dates to last me a lifetime.
“Can I ask you a question, Caleb?”
“You just did, but yes.”
“Do you even need your Back Bay penthouse renovated?”
Yes indeed, she was a smart one. Made me hard every time she reminded me of that fact, too. “I’ll let you be the judge once you see it.”