Along Came Trouble(79)
Ellen shook her head. “Oh, no. I am so not getting in the middle of this. If you want to talk to Carly, you go over and talk to Carly. I’m not playing messenger for you.”
Jamie sighed. “She won’t return my calls. Or my texts. I don’t think she’ll let me in.”
If Jamie was used to compliance, he’d fallen for the wrong woman. Maybe Carly would be good for him.
But would he be good for her? Carly was going to have a baby. She needed stability—a guy who would watch out for her and the kid, not make her life more complicated. Someone who could appreciate her charms, such as they were, and tamp down her more reckless impulses. Jamie Callahan had run at the first sign of trouble, and now that he was back, it seemed he was too spineless to even knock on her door.
“What do you expect, an engraved invitation? She’s pissed at you.”
Jamie glanced at him, surprised. “How well do you know Carly?”
“Better than you.”
“Nobody knows Carly better than me.” Jamie looked taller when he said it. Maybe the guy had a spine after all.
“You care about her?”
“I love her.”
Ellen beamed, but the declaration irritated Caleb. If Jamie loved Carly, he had a hell of a way of showing it. “Why’d you leave her here alone, then? She’s got nobody to take care of her, and you hurt her and yelled at her and abandoned her to the sharks.”
“I was trying to protect her.” Jamie put his hands on his hips. “I didn’t want her to have to deal with—” He broke off suddenly, glaring at Caleb exactly the way Ellen did when Caleb had made her angry. “You know what? It’s none of your business.”
“Carly’s my friend. You should’ve asked her what she wanted. She can make up her own mind.”
“Oh my God, would you both shut up?” Ellen said. “Seriously, you can have your pissing contest some other time. Nobody’s going over to Carly’s house tonight anyway. It’s way too late.”
Caleb cracked a sheepish smile. Maybe he’d gone a little overboard. It had been a long day, but Carly probably didn’t need him to be her white knight. He wouldn’t mind passing the lance along to Callahan, provided the guy showed himself capable of carrying it.
“Sorry,” Caleb said, and Ellen rewarded him by returning the smile.
“No problem,” Jamie said. “Ellen, you got anything to eat?”
They left the argument behind to sit at the kitchen table and watch Jamie eat what was left of the pizza while he turned the details of his escape from Houston into a funny story for their benefit. His heart didn’t seem to be in it, though. After he finished the tale, Ellen peppered him with questions, but he kept glancing over Caleb’s shoulder at Carly’s dark house, rubbing his jaw and brooding until Ellen got him talking again. After a while, she touched his arm and asked, “Are you okay, Jamie? Really?”
He gave her half a smile and rolled his shoulders, then tilted his head from side to side to stretch his neck. “I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll crash.” He rose and retrieved his bag from beside the door.
“We’ll figure it out in the morning,” Ellen said, but Jamie didn’t acknowledge the reassurance.
“Nice to meet you,” he said to Caleb. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.”
Ellen watched him go. “That’s Jamie,” she said when the guest-room door had closed behind him.
“Yep.” Even if he’d finished forming an opinion of Callahan, which he hadn’t, he knew better than to offer it to Ellen. She might find some things about her brother frustrating, but she obviously adored him.
“So, Clark.” Her eyes narrowed as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You’re my boyfriend?”
Damn. “You heard that?”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you don’t approve.”
She frowned, rubbing her thumb over her bicep. “I told you I don’t want a relationship.”
“Yeah, but that was before we negotiated.”
“So?”
He leaned forward. “That was before I painted you with chocolate syrup and licked it off every delicious inch of you.”
Her pupils dilated, and he could swear the pulse at the base of her throat picked up, but she stayed in the defensive posture and shook her head. “I don’t see how that changes anything.”