No Love Allowed(33)

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.”