Parental Guidance (Ice Knights #1)(57)

Something came over him and he swept her up, pulling the door closed behind her to block Anchovy inside, and gave in to the overwhelming need to kiss her until she forgot everything else but him. He cupped her ass as she wrapped her legs around his waist and he was lost in the feel of her. Damn. He was so screwed, but as long as he was kissing her, he didn’t give two shits. Unfortunately, though, he’d acted before his brain had caught up, and they were definitely on the wrong side of her front door for him to get to do all the things he wanted to.

He broke the kiss but didn’t let her down.

“I was in the neighborhood for a meeting and thought you might have some time to go grab coffee,” he said at the same time as the dog let out a sad wail on the other side of the door. “We could take Anchovy.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Let me grab his leash.”

He didn’t want to let her go but did anyway, staying out in the hall because he didn’t trust himself not to strip her down the second they were alone. So he watched as she hurried around the apartment, slipping on her shoes and then putting her tools away. The dollhouse she’d been working on for weeks with all the authors reading one another’s books looked finished, and it was amazing. He wanted to take a closer look but again, he’d get her naked and have her coming on his lips instead of making his can’t-miss appointment with Lucy.

Zara grabbed her keys while Anchovy went to a basket by the door and pulled out a leash. He snapped it onto the dog’s collar, and the three of them walked down the stairs. If anyone had asked if he’d taken Zara’s hand or if she’d grabbed his, he couldn’t have answered. All he knew was that by the time they walked out into the afternoon sunshine, their feet crunching on the first fallen leaves of the season, they were holding hands.

They went to a walk-through coffee joint a few blocks down from her place and a few blocks up from the Carlyle Building. He told her about the extra-hot hot sauce they’d gotten a rookie to drink in Atlanta, and she told him about the rush order she’d gotten for thirty-six miniature antelopes. They were laughing trying to come up with the most ridiculous miniature scene they could think up that would require that many antelopes when they turned the corner to the Carlyle Building and nearly ran right into Lucy.

“Oh, just look at this good boy! You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Lucy asked, turning into a nearly unrecognizable softie in the presence of Anchovy, squatting down and giving the dog the kind of attention he clearly thought he deserved. “I don’t know what you did this time, Stuckey, but if you always bring this boy over to my office, I will find a way to fix it.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “We had an appointment.”

Lucy turned her attention from him to Zara, giving her an assessing once-over. “Are you going to introduce me to the woman who saved your ass?”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Zara, meet Lucy Kavanagh, the most sought-after crisis management public relations person in Harbor City. Lucy, meet Zara, who not only saved my ass but happens to own Anchovy.”

“Nice to meet you. Have you worked in this building long?” Zara asked. “It’s my favorite one in the city.”

“A few years,” Lucy said, looking at the skyscraper that seemed to reach up and touch the sky. “The Carlyles are big Ice Knights fans, and when the office came open, I was able to sweet-talk my way into a lease.

“But I’m guessing you two aren’t here to talk buildings,” Lucy said. “We have Bramble business. Zara, are you coming up, too?”

“No, Caleb just rescued me from my workaholic ways long enough to grab a walk and some coffee,” Zara said with a laugh. “And this is probably presumptuous, but have you ever met Helen Carlyle?”

Lucy shook her head and gave Anchovy a scratch under the chin. “Usually people want to know about her sons, Hudson and Sawyer, but no, I haven’t met her.”

“Too bad. I was hoping for some insight.” Zara looked up at him, an embarrassed flush making her cheeks pink. “She’ll be at the charity ball I’m going to next week and she’s a huge miniatures collector. I was hoping to be able to make a connection so I wouldn’t make a bunch of conversational fumbles like I did at the barbecue.”

He squeezed her hand and ran his thumb across her knuckles to reassure her, but there was no missing the worry in the tightness around her mouth. With the ball coming up, he knew her stress level had to be at a peak. She wasn’t one who ever seemed to want to let herself dream—and he couldn’t blame her after she’d told him about all of her dad’s schemes.

“Sorry I couldn’t be of help.” Lucy gave Anchovy one last pat on his head and stood.

“No worries,” Zara said. “Well, I know you two have a lot to talk about and I have a piece to finish.” She turned to Caleb. “Talk to you later?”

Their schedules had been at odds lately, and he was hitting the road tonight for a four-day west coast trip, but he’d always have time for her. Lifting her hand, he kissed the trio of freckles on the inside of her wrist. “Without a doubt.”

…

“So what happened after that?” Gemma asked the next morning as she ate a bite of double-caffeinated, triple-chocolate doughnut with rainbow sprinkles. “He just went up into the building? He didn’t carry you away on his horse into the sunset? He didn’t even kiss you properly, only on your wrist like a rakish Regency duke?”