No Love Allowed (Dodge Cove Trilogy #1) (13 page)

“What’s wrong with making an average living? As long as I get by, I’m good.”

“Yes, but besides food, shelter, and basic necessities, you need insurance and money for retirement. Didn’t you consider these things when thinking about your future?”

“Well, good thing I can’t see the future.”

Her unwavering honesty against the disapproving scowl of his father ignited a protectiveness in Caleb he had never experienced before. He was done subjecting Didi to whatever else the lawyer
wanted to ask her. She was none of his business. When the music changed to something slower, he interrupted what JJ was about to say by telling Didi, “I believe I still owe you a
dance.”

The brilliance of Didi’s smile undid him completely. Taking his hand in hers, she turned toward the dance floor. He let her lead the way.

“We’re not done here, Caleb,” his father said, recovering from the blatant insult.

The crowd parted for them. When they reached the center, he placed one of her hands on his shoulder and held the other against his heart. She moved with him willingly, swaying to the pace he had
set.

“This is nice,” she said. “I’ve never slow danced with anyone before.”

Her admission burned through him. “That’s a shame. You are really good at it.”

He twirled her around, then pulled her back in one smooth move. She giggled as she settled closer to him, hooking her free hand behind his shoulder. The skirt of her dress brushed against his
legs. He nuzzled the top of her head, her hair smelling faintly of turpentine.

“So that’s your dad.”

“Yeah.”

“We didn’t talk long, but I get an asshole vibe from him.”

Caleb threw his head back and laughed.

EARLY THE NEXT
morning, Caleb walked into his father’s office with coffee in hand. JJ liked his morning brew black,
piping hot, and fresh from the pot. Not even half past eight and already the man was elbow deep in files and scribbling furiously on a yellow legal pad when Caleb placed the cup on the last corner
of his desk left uncluttered.

Without looking up from the brief he was putting together, JJ picked up the cup and took a sip.

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked without lifting his gaze from the thick file. “Surely Michael has something better for you to do than stand there all day.”

Caleb shifted his weight from his heels to his toes then back again, hands in his pockets. “I guess . . . um . . . I was just . . .”

JJ sighed, dropping the pen on top of his notes. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his seat. “I did not pay for private school only to have you eat your words when
speaking. My time is precious. Either spit it out or leave.”

Swallowing, Caleb said, “About what happened with Didi yesterday . . .”

“Didi?” JJ intertwined his fingers, elbows on the armrests. “What about her?”

A kernel of relief sprouted in his gut. “If she overstepped her bounds—”

His father interrupted him by raising a hand. “If this is your attempt at apologizing for the girl, you are failing miserably.” Then he lowered his hand and regarded Caleb with that
frigid gaze of his. It could have frozen the entire office. “I can’t say I approve of her rudeness, but that would make me a hypocrite. My job requires me to be direct when I need to
be. She was merely answering my questions. I say that girl has backbone. Certainly more than you are showing me right now. If you think yesterday will affect our agreement, it
doesn’t.”

He held in the breath he had been about to exhale at his father’s silent “but” and waited. It didn’t take JJ long to continue.

“I understand why you feel the need to bring her to the events. I even understand why you feel the need to flit from one girl to the next—”

“Let me stop you there,” Caleb said, finally regaining some of that backbone his father had been talking about. “Don’t ever presume to think you understand me. As far as
I’m concerned, you checked out as soon as Mother was lowered into the ground. Now, if you don’t mind. Michael knows where I am if you need anything.”

He left his father’s office without looking back.

If loving someone meant becoming like JJ, he would have none of it, thank you very much. He had his cousins and his friends. At the end of the summer he would have a year of freedom. What more
could he ask for?

Didi’s smile popped into his mind. Unexpected warmth spread across his face when he thought of her. The way she laughed, so light and open. The way the corners of her bright eyes crinkled
when she became animated about something she was explaining. Especially anything that had to do with art. And the way she smelled . . . like everything good in the summer.

“Shit!” Caleb jerked as steamy liquid hit his hand.

He had been so caught up in his daydream of her that he missed the cup when pouring the next coffee. Dropping everything, he stormed off toward the bathroom to get cleaned up. He couldn’t
wait to get on a plane out of there.

About an hour before lunch, Caleb dropped off the latest copies he had been asked to make at Michael’s desk. The often surly assistant was on the phone. Michael raised a
finger for him to wait. Caleb did so by stepping back and stuffing his hands in his pockets, managing to keep the sarcasm he so wanted to share inside. Then familiar feminine laughter coming from
inside his father’s office caught his attention.

“Oh, Uncle JJ, what am I to do with you?”

The question drew him forward. That voice. That carefully chosen response. He would have recognized it anywhere. Before he knew it he was entering the lion’s den of his own accord,
ignoring Michael’s protests. His father’s visitor wouldn’t mind.

JJ looked up from the woman seated on one of the chairs across from his desk and said, “Ah, there you are.”

The lightness in his tone didn’t deceive Caleb. His father pretended to be amiable for the sake of his favorite niece. But they all knew better.

“How was the south of France?” Caleb asked, pausing a yard away.

The chair’s occupant stood and turned. She was a whirlwind of lovely scents and female charm. But pity those who would mistake her ladylike demeanor for weakness. Natasha Parker was the
strongest woman he knew. She could deliver a punch like nobody’s business.

Her light blue eyes shone at the sight of him. “When Nathan told me that you were interning at JJ’s firm I had to come here to see for myself. Is the world ending? Should I be
prepared for an asteroid?”

A smirk pulled at his lips. “I missed you too, Tash.”

Laughing, she ran into his arms full tilt. He barely had time to brace himself. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off the ground as she secured hers around his neck. Her
giggles filled his ears when he spun them around.

“Caleb, this is my place of work.”

In spite of the lightness in JJ’s admonition the threat was still there. He returned Natasha to her feet and placed a kiss on her cheek, then stepped back, taking a good look at her. She
was much too pale.

“Shouldn’t you be a golden-skinned goddess by now?” he asked.

Instead of replying to his question, she looked over her shoulder at his father and said, “Can I steal him away for lunch, Uncle JJ? Surely he’s allowed an hour away from his
sentence.”

“Consider yourself paroled,” his father said, playing along. Then his eyes hardened. “But have him back here in the afternoon. We’re prepping for a major case.”

Natasha didn’t wait for JJ to change his mind. She entwined her fingers with her cousin’s and towed him out of the office. He went willingly, taking great satisfaction in the fact
that Michael would be left to fetch the lunch orders himself.

Considering their lack of time, Caleb took Natasha to a café a block away from Grant Tower. He was pretty sure JJ expected him back at the firm exactly an hour after
they had left. He wouldn’t even have been surprised if the man timed it. But he would gladly suffer the consequences for lunch with his favorite cousin.

He pulled back the wicker chair for her at a corner table. She thanked him and picked up the menu sandwiched between the salt and pepper shakers. It was a simple tea shop tastefully decorated
with a yellow-and-white color scheme, which he knew Natasha would appreciate.

“What’s good here?” she asked as he took his own seat.

“I don’t know,” he said, glancing at his own menu. “This is my first time here.”

She raised an eyebrow, so very much like the way Nathan did. “Figures. This place is way too girly for you. How do you know about it?”

He shrugged. “I pass it on the way to work. It’s the closest place that isn’t a deli or fast food. I do know how to treat my ladies right.”

“Of course. I did teach you.”

“And I am forever grateful for your mercy.” He touched his chest in mock adoration.

Natasha’s reply was to pluck one of the flowers out of the tiny vase in front of them and chuck it at him. He caught it and tucked the stem behind his ear. This garnered another giggle. He
had missed her. They all did. Tash being back returned some semblance of order to their world.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” he said without hesitation. “We regressed to complete cavemen while you were gone.”

Natasha lowered her menu and stared straight at him. “I heard you went and got yourself a fake girlfriend.” Her eyes widened. “I’m astonished the idea came from Preston,
of all places.”

“I’m as stunned as you are.” He chuckled.

“You have to tell me what she’s like.”

“Didn’t Nathan fill you in? He’s been spending time with her too.”

“I heard about the white dress she was going to wear to the garden party,” she said, folding her hands over her lap. “She sounds like a riot. But I want to hear what
you
think of her.”

“There’s nothing much to tell.” He dropped his gaze, drawing circles over the fleur-de-lis design of the menu. “She’s playing her part.”

“Yet you can’t seem to look at me when you’re saying all this. You like her.”

His eyes flicked up to catch her grin. “I like her well enough. She’s interesting.”

“
Interesting.
Is that what you boys are calling it now?”

“Don’t go there, Tash.”

“If she’s able to put that uncomfortable expression on your face I
have
to meet her.”

Caleb shifted in his seat. “She’ll be at the picnic next week. You can meet her then.”

“I think I will.” She nodded, then reopened her menu. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

SITTING BENEATH THE
shade of a tree on a thick blanket with a pretty rose pattern, Didi brought a grape to her mouth and
appreciated its tart sweetness with a moan while she studied the sketch of Caleb she had started. She just wasn’t feeling it for some reason, having woken up on the heavier side this morning.
She had almost begged off on coming today so she could stay in bed, but she had made a deal.

Noticing that she wasn’t in the mood, Caleb had excused her from making the rounds and was off speaking to someone important. She couldn’t remember the person’s name, even
though they had been introduced once before. She didn’t dwell since she wouldn’t be seeing any of them again after all this anyway.

Not quite getting what she wanted out of the pencil, she flipped to a fresh page and picked up the charcoal stick from her case. A short distance away, Caleb joined a circle of guys she had
dubbed the Lacoste models. They all wore polo shirts and a mix between Bermuda shorts and chinos. Would it have killed them to wear jeans outside of a Western-themed party? She rolled her eyes.

Among the group stood Nathan, looking absolutely delicious in red and white. Beside him was Preston in stripes and a light blazer. Both of them together looked lethal—a contrast of dark
and light. Her charcoal flew across the white page, quickly filling it up with lines that slowly became figures and forms and faces.

It surprised her that with all the handsome walking around, Dodge Cove didn’t have some sort of annual calendar. She bit her knuckle and stared at Caleb, Mr. December. Of all the guys, he
was the cool to Nathan’s warmth. She imagined him in a gray suit with an ice-blue tie that went with his eyes, and she practically melted on the spot.

“Keep looking at me like that and I’ll be forced to kiss you.”

She blinked back to the present. Caleb was sprawled by her feet on his side, popping an apple slice into his mouth. How long had she spaced out? She dropped her gaze to the sketch, then at the
guys, who were no longer there.

“Well, crap,” she said, her shoulders slumping.

Concern on his face, Caleb leaned closer. “What is it?”

She scratched her cheek. “I was sketching you guys and got caught in a daydream. Now you’ve scattered, and I’m not even close to done.”

Shifting up to his knees, Caleb brushed his thumb across her cheek.

“What are you doing?” She would have flinched if her back hadn’t been pressed against the tree.

“You have charcoal on your cheek.” He chuckled, then tapped the tip of her nose, which made her scrunch it. “There, done.” Then he studied her sketch. “That’s
really good. You got Nathan and Preston smiling at each other just right. Want me to gather everyone again?”

From the earnestness in his tone she knew he would do it too. All she had to do was say the word and he would call the group over to stand at the exact same spot she had been drawing them from.
Heart somersaulting, she picked up a grape and pressed it against his lips. He opened his mouth and nipped at her finger playfully when he bit down on the fruit. Heat gathered in her cheeks. As if
he couldn’t help himself, Caleb leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, just missing her lips. He might have promised not to initiate any kissing, but from the wicked
look he gave her, he knew what he was doing.

Smirking, she moved to push to her feet with the excuse of being thirsty. Just then, Nathan and Preston ambled over. On Nathan’s arm walked the prettiest girl she had ever seen. This gave
her pause, staring blatantly.