Along Came Trouble(68)

“I think if you find a boy toy, he’s going to be after your money. If you want a rich one, you’ll have to settle for wrinkles.”

Nana sighed. “Story of my life. I can have hot or rich, but not both.”

Caleb winked at her. She walked up behind the couch and squeezed his bicep experimentally. “I think I’ll go with hot. You free, sweet cheeks?”

“Oh my God, shut up, both of you,” Carly said, flopping back onto a pillow.

Caleb laughed, and his phone chirped to tell him he had a text.

It was from Ellen. Done working soon. You like Bogart?

Another one came in immediately after the first. Come over. Bring chocolate sauce.

“Sorry, Nana. I have other plans for the night.”

Nana read over his shoulder and whistled. “I should say so. Is that from Ellen next door? Sweet, quiet, legs-up-to-here Ellen?”

“A gentleman never tells,” Caleb said, tucking his phone away and wishing he’d been discreet enough not to look at it within twenty feet of Nana.

“What’d she say?” Carly asked, sitting up straight again.

Nana ignored her. “You’re a lovely boy, Caleb, but you’re no gentleman.”

“No? I thought I had the whole officer-and-a-gentleman thing going.”

“C’mon, what’d she say?” Carly begged.

“Nah, you have the battle-scarred-soldier thing going. Don’t worry, though. It’s better.”

Caleb smiled. “Thanks. I think.”

“One of you has to tell me,” Carly said.

“Good night, ladies.” Caleb was already heading for the door.

He had to make another run to the grocery store, but this time, he didn’t mind.





Chapter Seventeen



Jamie would never have guessed it could be so hard to get on a plane.

He resettled his shoulders against the leather seat and looked out the window. Nothing but sun-baked tarmac and flat, parched fields beyond. Dullsville, USA.

Technically, he was sitting somewhere outside Houston. He’d had no idea what city he was in when he listened to the message from Ellen. Hadn’t even known he was in Texas. He lost track, got used to going where he was taken and not worrying too much about where he was until it was time to say, Hello, Cleveland! to the crowd.

Somewhere out there, somebody was fueling up the jet, performing whatever checks had to be performed to get him off the ground. He didn’t really know how it worked. Just lately, he’d been noticing he didn’t know how much of anything worked.

All he knew was he needed to get to Camelot. Ellen’s message saying Carly and the baby were in trouble had hit him like a mallet to the skull. He’d been an idiot to leave Carly and an even bigger idiot to think he could stay away from her.

It made him frenzied—knowing she might need him while he was so many states away, messing with trying to locate his bag, pack up his stuff, duck security, and get out of the hotel. He’d rushed through the anonymous hallways to the elevator, across the lobby, ignoring the guests elbowing each other and staring, the whispers. Is that Jamie Callahan? Out the main entrance, where he’d hoped to find his driver waiting but hadn’t.

Where did Ryan go when he wasn’t supposed to be driving Jamie somewhere? It had never occurred to him to ask. Further evidence that he was a selfish *.

The evidence had been piling up since he met Carly.

A clean getaway would have been ideal, but security was only a few steps behind him, accompanied by Christina, his manager. “What’s up, Jamie?” she asked as he peered around the side of the building. “Who was on the phone? Where are you going?”

He started walking across the vast parking lot, wanting simply to escape her, to escape this anonymous five-star hotel in—Dallas? Raleigh? It was f*cking hot, wherever it was.

In the end, he’d had to ask Christina how to call Ryan, which should have been no big deal. He asked her to do things for him all day long. But this time, he’d been embarrassed, because what he’d really been asking was How do I go somewhere without your permission?

“Can you close the door?” he asked the flight attendant.

“Of course.”

The temperature climbed inside the plane, so high that sweat began to bead at his temples, but he felt better once he was sealed inside his expensive tin box. Once he knew nobody could stop him from doing what he should have done days ago.