Wrapped Up in You (Heartbreaker Bay, #8)(55)

The next day Kel was doing a walk-through of the new condo building. Caleb was with him and they were checking the plans to the actual build. Or at least that’s what Kel was doing.

Caleb was fishing. “So. You and Ivy . . . ?”

Kel ignored this. They were on the fifth floor and Kel was taking notes on his iPad.

His silence apparently amused Caleb. “You’re just not going to answer?”

“I wasn’t aware that you’d asked a question.” He stopped to do a radio check with his security team. Arlo was on the ground floor, Stretch in the basement.

Kel put away his radio while Caleb did a very impressive eye roll, which Kel had no doubt his cousin had learned from being raised by a mom and three sisters he lovingly referred to as The Coven.

“Your avoidance tendencies are top-of-the-line,” Caleb said. “You and Ivy?”

Honestly? Kel wasn’t sure what was going on, except that whatever it was, it was good. Very good.

“Okay, let me reword,” Caleb said. “What do you want to be going on with Ivy?”

When Kel shook his head because he honestly didn’t know how to answer, his cousin met his gaze. “Look, I know you’ve been burned, but it only takes one good one. You know that, right?”

“Ivy’s got enough going on in her life, I don’t intend to complicate it, or risk hurting her. Plus, I’m temporary, so . . .”

Caleb “coughed” and said “bullshit” at the same time. “You want to know what I think?”

“No.”

“I think that you think you’re a risk in the love game.”

“I am a risk.”

Caleb shook his head. “Just because you’ve had a few bad experiences doesn’t make you a risk. And trust me, women are tougher than us. They can handle our shit. And if you don’t think so, think about this—they take showers with the water temperature set to the exploding sun, by choice. She can handle your shit, man. Unless you’re not interested anymore.”

Kel knew two things with certainty. One, he was shockingly interested. And two, from the moment he woke up until the moment he went to sleep, he thought of her. And yeah, okay, much of that was actually daydreaming about how it’d felt to be buried deep inside her, her warm body wrapped around his, panting his name like maybe no one had ever made her feel as good as he had.

But the majority of it involved more than just their physical attraction. Ivy had presented as a closed book, a tough front against the world. But from the night he’d found her after the truck break-in, after those long dark hours they’d spent in the close quarters of her working space cleaning up the mess and talking, things had changed.

He’d seen a side of her, a vulnerable side that he was getting loud and clear that she hadn’t allowed anyone else to see. It worried him, how she was surrounded by a close-knit group of wonderful people, and yet she still held herself apart. And she did it in such a way that none of them had seemed to even realize it.

What would happen when he left? Would she go back to being an island? Hell, who was he kidding, she was still an island. Although . . . she’d trusted him to help her. She’d trusted him in bed . . . and in her shower. And on her counter . . .

But the way she tended to almost accidentally reveal some of her hard-knock past . . . it never failed to grab him by the heart and soul. The fact that she’d never had any sort of authority figure in her life, and that her brother seemed to screw with her life at every turn, and yet she’d still turned out as amazing as she had was nothing short of a miracle and a true testament to her strength and tenacity.

Growing up, he’d had his dad early on, as well as his grandpa, and he and Caleb had always been a team. He’d had people who had his back, who’d help him bury the bodies if he needed. Anything.

But Ivy had never had that.

He and Caleb were on the top floor now and Kel stepped forward. “That,” he said, pointing to a closed door before thumbing through his iPad. “That’s not on the plans. Why is it here?”

Caleb was on his phone scrolling through the stock market, probably making more money today alone than Kel would see all year. “Caleb.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize we were supposed to answer questions to each other, since you’re avoiding mine.”

“We’re working,” Kel said. “The talk should be about work. The door. What’s up with that unmarked, undocumented door?”

Caleb sighed like he was greatly put out. “I added a roof access during the build. At the moment, I’m the only one with access. It requires a code to get through.”

“I see the code pad,” Kel said. “But you still haven’t answered my question.”

Caleb lifted a shoulder. “You know Spence.”

Spence Baldwin was Caleb’s occasional business partner and a good friend.

“He owns the Pacific Pier Building,” Caleb said. “And one of his favorite things about it is the roof access. Only a select few have access to it, it’s like a secret haven.”

Kel took in Caleb’s expression. “So . . . because Spence has a secret roof rendezvous spot, you need one too?”

“Of course.”

Of course. Kel had to laugh. Caleb had grown up poor as dirt. But he now had more money than . . . well, possibly God, and though it hadn’t changed who he was at the core, neither had he lost his competitive spirit. “If you truly want this space to remain private, we’ll need to create individual codes for the people you allow access to. I’ll need a list.”