Stolen Course (Wrecked and Ruined #2)(15)

“Wow, you’re just getting home? Did you hit the strip club on the way? Get a little Friday night eye candy before heading home?” I laugh at the silly joke, but Caleb is silent. “You still there?” I say, pulling the phone away from my ear to make sure the call didn’t get dropped.

“Yeah, I’m here,” he says before letting out a loud sigh. “I stopped at Manda’s grave. It’s on my way home from gym, and I can’t pass by without stopping.”

“Shit.” I bite my lip, feeling like a total *. “I’m sorry. I was just being funny. My jokes obviously need a lot of work these days.”

“It’s okay,” he says dryly.

“Fuck. I just… I’ll let you go.”

“Does it bother you?” he asks, catching me just before I hang up.

“What? You going to Manda’s grave?”

“Yeah,” he says sadly, and it makes my heart ache for him.

“No, it doesn’t bother me at all. You lost someone you loved. I’d be a bitch if it bothered me. I just didn’t know, and I made a stupid joke. I’m sorry.”

“I go about three times a week,” he oddly announces.

“Okay…” I trail off, not sure how to respond.

“I just thought you should know. I wasn’t sure if it would bother you or not. You know, now that we are kind of talking, I guess. I don’t know. I just wanted you to know.”

“Caleb, does it bother you that I know? Because you don’t have to share stuff like that with me if you don’t want to. But just so you know, I will never in a million years have a problem with any part of Manda or your past together. She’s gone, but I don’t expect you to forget about her just because we have started…talking.” I repeat his term from earlier.

It’s true. Caleb and I really aren’t doing anything but talking, and we have only done that once. Yet, it still seems like this is more, and we both know it.

“Emma, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing.” He lets out a loud sigh. “I haven’t dated anyone since Manda.”

“What?” I yell across the line. “Never?”

“Nope. Never.”

“Damn, it’s been five years! You must jerk off like twelve times a day!”

What the f*ck is wrong with me? Why I would say that to him in the middle of a serious conversation? However, acting like a raving lunatic, for once, works in my favor. Caleb actually starts chuckling.

“I said I haven’t dated anyone, not that I haven’t had sex. But thank you for worrying about how many times I jerk off. It makes me feel a lot less pervy about where my mind has been when thinking about you.”

“Oh, okay. That makes more sense! Wait, what exactly have you been thinking about me?”

“Nothing you haven’t been thinking about me, obviously.”

“Well, I don’t masturbate twelve times a day.”

“Stop ruining my daydreams, woman!” He laughs into the phone.

I play along. “Actually, I do it thirteen times.”

“That’s my girl,” he rumbles over the line, ensuring that today’s real count will be at least one. “Go back to sleep, Em. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Hey, Caleb? Before you go… I’m serious about Manda. I don’t have any issues with you having a past. I’m not an insecure girl who is trying to compete with her memory. So if you ever want to talk about her or anything…I’m here, okay?

“You really are an amazing woman, Emmy,” he says in a joking tone, but I know he means it.

“Yeah. I know. And I get a new nickname? What, Emma wasn’t short enough for you? What happened to sweetheart?” I try to keep the end of this conversation lighter than the beginning.

“I was just trying something a little different.”

“Oh good. I like sweetheart. It makes me feel all warm inside.”

“I like the idea of you feeling warm. Wet is preferred, but warm is good too.”

Okay, make that two times tonight.

“Oh yeah? I took a shower earlier. I was wet then. Is that the kind you’re talking about?”

“Not exactly, but I’m going to assume you were naked in the shower, so I guess that will work.”

“Definitely naked…and wet.” I take a deep breath, hoping this crosses into full-fledged phone sex, but Caleb cuts it off.

“When are you coming back?”

“Hopefully soon.”

“Well hurry up. I want to see you again.”

“I probably won’t be naked or wet when I get off the plane,” I say, attempting to take it back to sexy.

“Probably not, but I’ll make sure you are both very shortly after.” His words cause me to let out a quiet moan. “Goodnight, Emmy.”

“That was mean, Caleb,” I whisper into the phone.

“Go make it fourteen, and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

I let out a frustrated groan as he begins to laugh. “Night, Caleb.”

“Night, sweetheart.”





JUST STEPPING out of the shower, I hear my phone ringing across the room. I don’t recognize the number, but I immediately recognize it to be yet another Chicago area code.