Читать книгу Romantic Getaways Collection - Liz Fielding, Christy McKellen - Страница 16
ОглавлениеCALEB TOOK A long shower, feeling energised by the time he’d spent getting to know a bit more about Elena today.
The intense moment they’d shared in the hotel room, where the air had positively crackled between them, had convinced him that there had to have been more between them than just friendship during their time at university.
Judging by her jumpiness around him afterwards, she’d definitely felt the same weight of possibility that had hummed between them as they stood gazing at each other with her hand pressed against his heart.
Having the space to think about it now, he realised he’d been aware of an odd kind of tension between them all day, as if she was trying to suppress something—or hide something, maybe. Had they not taken their relationship further because she’d been seeing that Jimmy guy? Had he, Caleb, been the blip she’d mentioned?
Perhaps this connection he felt had always been there, but even though they were both single now Elena didn’t think it appropriate to act on it when he was just out of hospital after the accident.
Well, to hell with that. Why should a bang on the head stop them from exploring this thing between them? He wasn’t an invalid. He knew his own mind.
Pulling on a smart shirt and trousers for dinner with a determination to find out whether he was right later, he walked out into the living area to discover Elena was also dressed for their meeting and was waiting for him.
The pale pink dress she had on was beautifully understated but entirely beguiling at the same time. It had a halter top, which tied behind her long, elegant neck and showcased her pale, slender shoulders. He couldn’t help but notice how the bodice of the dress dipped in under her full breasts then gently curved against her slender waist, perfectly emphasising her hourglass figure.
Feeling her watching him, he dropped his gaze to look at the skirt instead, which was slim-fitting and narrowed at the knee, making her legs look as if they went on for miles.
Forcing himself to snap his mouth shut and pull his gaze up to her face, he gave her a nod of hello and went into the kitchen to get himself a very cold drink of water.
Right now wasn’t the time to explore his theory. He had more immediate things to deal with, in the shape of persuading Jonathan Carter to take his business.
‘Will you be ready to go in five minutes?’ he asked, placing the glass carefully into the sink with an unsteady hand.
‘I’m ready when you are,’ she replied, but he could have sworn he saw a flash of concern on her face. Perhaps she was nervous about the charade they were about to embark on. It suddenly occurred to him that every time Elena saw him after a break she seemed a little more tense, as if she was expecting him to do or say something she was afraid of. But why?
He remembered with a jolt that she’d mentioned at the hospital that they’d had a row right before his accident, but in his befuddled state he’d not asked her what it had been about.
‘Elena?’
She looked round at him as she went to grab her handbag from the table by the door.
‘What did we argue about before my accident?’
Her face seemed to blanch a little.
‘Er...’ Wrapping her arms around her body, she fixed him with an awkward smile. ‘It was an old argument from when we were at university. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to talk about it now though. We need to be totally focused on the meeting.’ She looked so stricken he decided not to push it any further. Especially when she was doing him such a favour by attending this meeting with him.
But why was she so tense? Perhaps she was still feeling responsible for him being hit by that bike. He wished, not for the first time, that he could remember it.
‘Fair enough,’ he said, ‘but, whatever it was, stop worrying that I’m going to bite your head off every time I see you. We’re friends after all.’
‘Uh-huh,’ she mumbled, not looking at him now.
Walking slowly over to where she stood, he put his hand on her bare arm and felt her quiver under his touch.
She took a quick step away, breaking their contact and folding her arms across her chest.
‘We should go. We don’t want to be late.’
‘Of course,’ he said, forcing himself to remain where he was and not touch her again, just to see what she’d do. The urge to provoke more of a reaction was intoxicating.
Grabbing his warm weather overcoat, he slid his arms carefully into the sleeves. He was going to have to be careful not to let Carter see he’d been in an accident or it might serve as another mark against him, especially if the man thought he was in any way mentally incapacitated as well at the moment.
It was funny but refusing to show any physical weakness felt like something he was well acquainted with, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. It eluded him, like something flittering on the edge of his vision. He knew something important was there, but he couldn’t fully grasp what he was looking at.
Damn memory—it was playing havoc with his self-assurance.
But it would all be okay; he’d make sure it was.
As for Elena, he’d get the full story from her eventually, but for now she was right—he needed to keep his head in the game.
* * *
The restaurant that Benita had booked them into was on a small, winding side street off the famous grand La Rambla, a tree-lined pedestrian mall in the oldest part of the city.
On Elena’s request, the car that Caleb had ordered dropped them in the Plaça de Catalunya, next to the magnificent fountain and the looming Francesc Macià monument—that looked to Elena a bit like an upside-down staircase—so they could soak up the buzzy atmosphere on their way to the restaurant.
They walked together, close but not touching, along the busy street bustling with tourists and locals alike, then detoured down one of the small side streets and through a labyrinth of roads crowded on both sides with a mixture of brightly lit pavement cafés, designer clothes shops and trinket stalls, until they reached the Gothic Quarter, where their final destination was located.
According to Caleb, El Gótico had served its famous fusion of Spanish and Mediterranean fare for the past ten years and was a favourite with Barcelonans, as well as the handful of tourists that occasionally stumbled across it.
The décor was a mixture of warm, earthy colours with rustic wooden furniture and a tiled terracotta floor which contrasted sharply with the angular metal and glass of the staircase and bar. Bright splashes of primary colours were picked out on the back wall, which were also reflected in the small lamps and glass water carafes on each table, giving the place the impression of chic modernism. The whole effect was both comforting and uplifting.
The delicious smell of the place wrapped around Elena’s senses, making her mouth water as they made their way to the bar, where the greeter stood waiting to welcome them.
Caleb spoke to the woman in rapid Spanish and a moment later they were whisked towards the staircase leading to the upper mezzanine of the restaurant, which had a long glass balcony affording diners views of the lamplit tables below.
Just as he was about to mount the stairs, Elena put her hand on Caleb’s arm to stop him. She wanted to make sure they made the most of this opportunity to charm the Americans and for that to happen Caleb was going to have to rein in his more dominating side for a while.
‘I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but go easy on the man tonight, okay? Just until everyone’s had a chance to find their feet here.’
Caleb’s eyebrow shot up. ‘You think I’m going to dangle him from the balcony if he doesn’t agree to a partnership?’
She batted a hand at him, suppressing a smile. ‘No, of course not. But I know you; you’ll want to go in all guns blazing. I recommend a lighter touch. If he’s here with his wife he’s not going to take too kindly to being bullied and harangued.’
‘I wouldn’t—’
She put up a hand to pre-empt his angry rebuttal. ‘Not intentionally, I know, but you can come across as a little bit abrasive and intimidating until someone gets to know you. Show him a bit of your soft side too, that’s my advice.’
Caleb blinked at her, his brows drawn into a tight frown as he appeared to consider what she’d said. After a moment he nodded slowly, his frustrated expression clearing and being replaced with a wolfish grin. There was something else in his eyes too that made her tummy flip and her blood begin to race. She stared at his mouth, wondering erratically how she would react if he leant forwards and kissed her right now.
‘Okay, I’ll be nice,’ he murmured.
Shoving away her lustful urges, she nodded. ‘Good.’ She let out a gasp of surprise as he suddenly slipped his hand around her back and drew her closer to him.
‘Just relax, cariño. You seem tense and that’s going to look strange to our guests.’
Swallowing hard, she gave him a jerky nod, her heart banging hard against her chest and her nerves jangling due to their intimate proximity.
‘Perhaps I should practice my soft side on you before they get here,’ he murmured, his dark eyes boring into hers.
‘How are you going to do that?’ she asked, but before she could draw breath he leant in towards her and brushed his mouth against hers.
Fireworks seemed to go off deep inside her body and she wondered wildly for a second how the other diners would react if she suddenly burst into flames in front of them.
Caleb’s lips were warm and firm, his mouth fitting perfectly with hers. She stood frozen to the spot, too befuddled to react, as a crazy surge of desire unfolded deep inside her, spiralling out to the very ends of her fingers and toes.
His hands slid into her hair and instinctively she sank against him, her body craving the hard press of his against it.
A moment later she was left gasping for air when he drew away from her, giving her a strange knowing kind of smile and nodding towards the upper mezzanine, his arm pressing into her back as he encouraged her to mount the staircase with him.
‘Let’s go and find our seats, ready for the show,’ he murmured into her ear, his breath tickling the sensitive skin on her exposed neck and making her shiver with longing.
Oh, goodness, it was going to be impossible to keep her cool if he was going to be this physically attentive all evening.
Somehow she managed to make it up the stairs on rather wobbly legs and had just settled herself into a chair that Caleb held out for her when Carter and his wife arrived and she had to stand up again to greet them.
In a fit of continued nerves at Caleb’s proximity, Elena managed to knock her knife onto the floor, which then skidded under the table, causing a flurry of amused response as they all tried to locate it so she could retrieve it, apologising profusely as she did so, which fortuitously broke what could have been an icy start to the meeting.
There was something so healthy and vibrant about the couple, Elena thought dazedly as she smiled a more composed hello to them once she’d straightened up after her little mishap. She guessed that was what people who had incredible wealth and an inclination to take care of themselves looked like—polished and dauntingly self-assured. They put Elena in mind of a high-powered couple from the eighties’ American soap operas she used to watch for guilty pleasure late at night during her university days.
Mrs Carter, who must have been in her early fifties, wore a flattering shift dress with wide shoulders and her hair was so coiffed it looked as though every strand had been sprayed separately into place. Mr Carter, who looked to be of a similar age, was just as polished in a dark grey double-breasted suit and blindingly white shirt to match his blindingly white teeth.
Caleb took the lead by holding out his hand for them to shake and introducing Elena as his girlfriend—which only added to the fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach—then gesturing for them all to take a seat.
The atmosphere was a little awkward at first; Mr Carter appeared to be on the defensive, as if waiting for Caleb to become angry about the fact he was considering walking away from the partnership they’d been discussing, but after a few minutes of attentive questions from Caleb about how he and his wife liked Barcelona and being given a few pointers on the places they must visit whilst here, he appeared to relax a little.
The waiter came over and they ordered a bottle of local wine and a selection of food for the table on Caleb’s recommendation and the conversation turned to business.
At first Elena sat back, drinking her wine a little too fast and watching Caleb lead the discussion with something close to awe. She found his clear handle on the market and technical, as well as fiscal, knowledge truly breathtaking and he seemed to be impressing Carter too, because the man was actually sitting back in his seat now and had taken his hand off his wife’s lap, where they’d been holding hands.
Putting down her glass, Elena gave the woman a smile and was rewarded with a genuinely warm grin back.
‘So how long have you two been together?’ Brie Carter asked her with an inquisitive glint in her eye as the two men expounded on the state of the rechargeable battery market in the States.
Elena’s stomach lurched. ‘Er...well, we’ve known each other since we met at Cambridge. Caleb was doing an Erasmus exchange year and we became good friends.’
‘And that turned into more, I see,’ Brie said with a hint of a plea for some juicy gossip to break up the work talk.
Elena glanced at Caleb to check whether he was listening, but he seemed to be deep in conversation with Jonathan Carter. Taking another large gulp of her wine and feeling its warming effect steady her nerves, she leant forward in her chair and said, ‘To be honest, it was a love-hate relationship for a long while, but we met again recently and worked things out and we’re a strong couple now.’
‘I guess that’s what makes powerful men so exciting to be with,’ Brie said with a glimmer of recognition in her eyes. ‘The unpredictability of them.’
Elena smiled. ‘Yes, I’ve always had trouble working Caleb out. He keeps his emotions close to his chest and can come across as a bit of a prickly character, but he’s actually an intensely kind, passionate and caring man.’
It wasn’t just the alcohol warming her veins now, but also the recognition of the truth in her words. She’d never met anyone else like Caleb and she suspected she never would again. He was one of a kind.
‘That’s good to hear,’ Brie said with a thoughtful nod.
Sensing an advantage in convincing Carter’s wife about Caleb’s suitability for a working relationship with her husband, she took the opportunity to endorse him some more.
‘He’s the most brilliant, focused and hard-working person I’ve ever met and he’ll be the best business partner your husband’s ever had,’ she said, throwing the older woman a conspiratorial smile. ‘He never fails to excite and inspire me, both in a business sense and on a personal level. Always has.’
She felt Caleb shift next to her as he slid his arm across her back to rest gently on her shoulders. She nearly jumped out of her seat as she felt his fingers brush against the exposed skin of her upper arm, sending little electric currents rushing across her nerve endings. Turning her head, she saw he was looking at her with that dark intensity in his gaze again and her cheeks flooded with heat as panic rose in her chest. Had he heard what she’d just said about him?
If so, did he realise she was telling the truth and not just putting on an act for the Americans?
But his expression gave nothing away, his attention seemingly focused on the complex business discussion he was involved in as he asked her to qualify an answer to something about the market for rechargeable batteries in the UK. She forced herself to relax her rigid posture and answer as clearly and succinctly as possible while her pulse raced and her palms grew hot with worry that he’d overheard her gushing admiration of him.
But when she’d finished he nodded his thanks, removed his arm and turned back to Carter, as if he’d not noticed a thing.
It seemed he hadn’t heard what she’d said about him and he was just playing the part of attentive boyfriend.
Thank goodness.
It could put them both in a really difficult position if he knew how she really felt about him, especially as their relationship was such a tangled mess. Her stomach lurched as she allowed herself to consider how it might feel to pursue a real relationship with him. It was a disconcerting yet also unnervingly exciting idea, but she’d be a fool to even entertain it. She’d come to Barcelona in the hopes of being his partner in business only—which, of course, she’d thoroughly messed up—and to hope, even for a second, that anything of a romantic nature might develop with Caleb now, when he couldn’t remember what had happened between them, was completely reprehensible.
Pushing the notion to the back of her mind, she made sure to keep the conversation focused on Brie after that and they spent the rest of the meal chatting happily about her daughters and the wedding that she was helping to plan, which was taking place in Boston that August.
Elena tried her best to concentrate on what Brie was saying but she couldn’t help but tune in to what Caleb and Jonathan were discussing, especially when their voices became more animated. Thankfully, it seemed it was just friendly rivalry, and the two men became more and more relaxed with each other as more wine was consumed and the evening wore on.
Despite her worry about Caleb struggling due to his head injury, he’d coped admirably with the questions that Carter fired at him. It seemed he’d done it; he’d kept his cool and turned the American’s opinion of him around. In fact, to Elena’s delight and relief, he appeared to have returned to the man she remembered knowing all those years ago at university.
The idea of it made her heart flutter.
She’d become increasingly aware of him sitting only inches away from her throughout the end of the meal, his heady, clean scent in her nose and the heat from his body warming her side, so it was something of a relief to her addled senses when Jonathan pronounced it time for them to go back to their hotel.
The four of them stood and the two men shook hands firmly, Carter’s initial wariness nowhere to be seen now as he clapped Caleb jovially on the back.
‘Good to meet you, Caleb. I’ll get my team to contact you about moving forward with this partnership as soon as we get back to the States.’
Brie leaned in to give Elena an elegant air-kiss near each cheek, then drew her close on the pretext of giving her a hug to whisper in her ear. ‘It’s wonderful to see how Caleb inspires such genuine loyalty in you. I can tell by the way you look at him how much you care about him.’
She drew back to look Elena in the eye. ‘It’s heartening to see, especially after the rumours we’ve heard about what a hard character he is to get on with,’ she murmured. ‘But, after meeting the two of you tonight, I sincerely think my husband’s going to find working with him a positive experience.’
Jonathan Carter turned from listening to Caleb’s assurances he’d be primed for the next point of contact to give Elena a dazzling smile. ‘It was wonderful to meet you too, Elena. Caleb here’s a lucky man.’ He slapped Caleb on the back again and Elena had to hide her frown of concern when she noticed him wincing in pain from his injured rib.
‘Thank you for preventing my wife from dying of boredom with all our business talk,’ Carter went on, not seeming to notice Caleb’s physical discomfort. ‘It looked like the two of you had a lot in common, no doubt swapping tales about the two of us!’ he boomed, gesturing between himself and Caleb, then sliding his arm around his wife’s waist and giving her a hard squeeze which made her gasp and slap him gently on the chest in retaliation.
Elena’s breath caught in her throat as she felt Caleb slide his arm around her waist and pull her closer to him, as if wanting to mirror the American’s loving behaviour.
As part of the act, Elena reminded herself fuzzily.
Heart thumping in her throat, she watched the couple as they weaved away through the tables towards the stairs leading to the ground floor, then carefully extricated herself from Caleb’s hold on the pretence of grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair.
‘Well, that went well, I think,’ she said, looking up into Caleb’s face to find him frowning, as if perplexed about something.
Because she’d moved away from him so deliberately?
Probably.
She felt pretty sure he wasn’t used to women rejecting his touch.
It made her wonder again whether he’d heard her gushing praise of him.
‘You did a great job, Caleb; it sounds like a partnership is in the bag,’ she said, shrugging her jacket on awkwardly. She couldn’t quite look him in the eye now. Not after she’d seen the way he was looking at her a moment ago.
As much as she wanted him to know she was sorry for the way she’d treated him in the past and wanted to make amends, she also didn’t want to give him the wrong impression here tonight.
She needed to be more careful.
‘Yes, he seemed to be on board,’ Caleb said, his voice a low, seductive rumble that sent a shiver of unwelcome longing down her spine.
‘Shall we go?’ she asked, her voice sounding prim and strained as she overcompensated for her body’s inappropriate reaction.
‘Sure. Lead the way,’ he said, gesturing for her to leave first, with a somewhat unnerving glint in his eyes.
* * *
As they walked away from the Gothic quarter, Caleb finally allowed himself to think about what he’d overheard Elena saying to Carter’s wife about him.
She could have just been playing the game of being his lover, of course, but there had been something in the way she’d said it that had made his breath catch in his throat. Clearly she’d thought he wasn’t listening because when he’d turned to catch her eye she’d looked almost—shifty.
So there was something more than friendship between them, just as he’d suspected. But if that was the case, why was she pretending that there wasn’t?
He had no idea.
What he did know was that he was going to make sure to find out before she left for England and do everything in his power to smooth things over with her.
The kiss they’d shared before Carter and his wife had arrived had made his body hum with tension all evening. When he’d seen the look of concern on her face he’d wanted to do something to reassure her he was going to do whatever it took to win the Americans over, but as soon as his mouth had met hers he’d been lost in a great surge of hunger for her. The sounds and sights of the restaurant had faded away until all he was aware of was the gentle sway and press of Elena’s body against his and the sweet, exotic fragrance of her. Her mouth had felt so good against his it had taken a monumental effort to drag himself away from her and not grab her hand and run with her out of the restaurant and jump into the next cab to take them home.
After that, watching her charming Carter’s wife and dazzling the couple with her wit, intelligence and profound beauty—he’d found it almost impossible to keep his mind solely on the business conversation.
Throughout the entire evening he’d been intensely aware of the connection between them, taut and alive, as if it was a tangible thing drawing them ever closer together.
He wanted to know more about what was going on between them—had to know, for the sake of his sanity.
Yes, he assured himself, he wasn’t going to let her go until he’d got the full measure of Elena Jones.
