Dirty Little Secrets (Dirty Little #1)(29)

“Oh,” he replies. He’s clearly shellshocked - that wasn’t the response he was expecting to hear from me.


“You make me want to stay.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I press my lips together as I figure out how I’m going to explain this to him. “How would that have looked to you? You have all this.” I wave my hand at his…everything. “I didn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of your kindness. I would never take advantage of you like that.”

“Asking for help isn’t taking advantage, Mia,” he says. “Trust me, people have taken advantage of me a lot in my lifetime. I know what it looks like. And I’ve had to lean on people, too. I would never judge you for that.”

“You don’t even know me.” I look up at him with watery eyes, because…how is this man even real? “We were practically strangers.”

Caleb crooks his fingers under my chin, and tilts my head up, but I refuse to meet his eyes. “Hey. Mia.” He waits patiently for me to look at him, and when I finally do, he says, “We’re not strangers anymore. I don’t do the things we’ve done with strangers.”

I reluctantly smile, and okay. He wins. “I don’t either.”

Caleb is smiling too, and all the heaviness that was in the air a few moments ago dissipates. “Since we’re not strangers, and we established yesterday that I am, in fact, your boyfriend, I’d like you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“Felicity called to check up on you and see how you’re doing.”

“That was nice of her,” I reply. “But that doesn’t sound at all like a favor.”

Caleb lets out a short breath of a laugh. “She wanted me to ask you if you’d feel up to getting out of the house tomorrow.”

“O…kay.” I’m confused about where this is going, but it would be nice to get some fresh air and take a walk.

“Since I know you have a limited wardrobe right now, I asked her if she wanted to go shopping with you. She’s a pro. Literally. She’s been doing my shopping for years, and she’s had my credit card numbers memorized for even longer than that,” he explains with a fond look on his face. He must really care about her.

“Caleb-”

“I know you’re going to tell me you can’t, but you can,” he says softly. “All you have to do is say yes.”

I’m still not convinced. I do need clothes, but…

“It’s not a completely selfless proposition,” he admits. “I’m going to need you to find a replacement for that dress of yours I liked so much.”

That makes me smile.

Sensing a weakness like the businessman that he is, he asks, “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.”





CHAPTER EIGHTEEN





“No,” I say adamantly. I feel like this is an incredibly polite response since what I really want to say is hell no.

Caleb just crosses his arms over his chest and gives me a look that I’m sure has made countless strong-willed businessmen cower in the shadows of their corner offices. That look won’t work on me. Not when it comes to this. “It’s non-negotiable.”

“I said no, Caleb. Remember that conversation we had just the other day about how you don’t get to control me?”

“Mia,” he replies imploringly. He takes a step forward, and takes my hands in his. “Remember the other part of that conversation, where I asked you not to make me listen on the other end of the line while somebody robbed and beat you?”

Damn it. “You can’t keep using that argument whenever you’re not getting your way.”

“I’ll only use it when it comes to keeping you safe, which is all I’m trying to do.”

I take a deep breath, and give the man who Caleb hired to be my bodyguard for the day a once over. My dad would say that he’s built like a brick shit house, and there isn’t any doubt in my mind that he’d be able to keep me from harm. He kind of looks like he could stop a bullet without much effort or injury. Nevertheless, I don’t want him following me and Felicity around all day, no matter how huge or handsome or friendly looking he is.

“People get robbed here every day,” I tell Caleb. “They weren’t after me, they were just after my things.” I’m fully aware that might not always be the case, though. Someday soon—today, even—someone could be after me, but when that happens, I don’t want Caleb or some security person he’s hired to be dragged into it. “The chances of it happening again are slim.”

Caleb kisses me on the forehead. “I’m not taking any chances, no matter how slim they are. You won’t even know he’s there. Right, Stone?”


I look over at the man who is most likely going to be a close friend for the next few hours.

“Your name is Stone?” It’s very soap opera, and it reminds me that I’m now living in some kind of surreal reality where I have a boyfriend who hires men named Stone to come shopping with me and keep me safe. It’s absurd and adorable at the same time.

“It’s my last name, ma’am.”

“I’ll make a deal with you,” I say, as my gaze swings from Caleb to Stone. “I’ll let you follow me around all day, as long as you call me by my first name, and I’ll call you by yours.”