Dirty Little Secrets (Dirty Little #1)(31)

“What a terrible thing for me to let slip,” she replies, looking absolutely stricken. With some other people, I might suspect a hidden agenda was at play, but Felicity looks genuinely upset that she said anything at all.

“It’s okay, I won’t say anything. If he wanted me to know, he would’ve said something. Clearly he’s not there yet.”

“You should definitely hear it from him instead of a bigmouth like me, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to bring it up if he hasn’t done it already.”

I put my hand on her forearm and give her an understanding smile. “It’s okay, honestly. I won’t say anything, and I’ll let him tell me in his own time. Don’t feel bad; you’re not used to censoring yourself about him, and things between Caleb and me are still kind of new. We’ve just been enjoying each other, and haven’t really gotten to the part where we tell each other our deepest and darkest secrets yet.”

I am the last person to judge Caleb for the things he hasn’t told me, considering I have a laundry list of things I need to confess to him at some point, and I guarantee that my list? It’s worse than his. All of this makes me realize that as far as we’ve come over the past month of knowing each other, we’ve still got a long way to go.

“I’m glad that he has someone who will keep his secrets,” I tell Felicity, playfully bumping her shoulder to help lighten the mood. “It must be difficult to find that kind of loyalty living the life that he does.”

“He’s like my brother, but marginally less of a pain in the ass than Ben is,” she says, laughing.

“Ben seems like a good guy.” There aren’t many people who would race to make the kind of machine he made for me on a few days’ notice.

“He is,” Felicity says, moving on to the next dress. She looks at the fabric thoughtfully, biting her lip in deep concentration. “It’s funny, Ben had a tendency to be a little…let’s call it fickle, when it came to his personal relationships. Caleb, he had a history of keeping people at arm’s length. I’m glad he decided to be different with you.”

With everything that’s still unknown between Caleb and me, it’s nice to know that my presence in his life has made a noticeable difference to the people who know and love him.

“I’m glad he decided to be different with me, too,” I reply with a smile.

Felicity’s phone buzzes. She pulls it out of her purse, and starts typing furiously. “I’m sorry, I know this is rude, but I’ve got an assignment due on Friday, and my partners and I have been trying to schedule time to get together to work on it.”

I’m sure my mouth drops open in surprise, because I assumed she was out of college already, even though I hadn’t ever asked.

“Don’t look so surprised,” she says, grinning.

“I…you just seem so…together. Not that college students aren’t together—I didn’t mean that at all—but you have your own business and all of these connections. I wouldn’t have ever thought you were still in school.”

Felicity laughs as she puts her phone back in her pocket. “I understand. Doing what I do requires a good eye and some taste, but you don’t need a degree for it. My career choice has been a bone of contention between my father and me, and I’m getting my degree to prove that I’m serious. I’m learning more about the business side of things so I can expand and grow. I’m going to be a brand someday.”


I grin at her. “Good for you. I think you’ll be amazing at it, if today is any indication.”

“It’s such a spoiled little rich girl thing, you know? A personal shopper? Getting paid to buy things? I mean, it even makes me want to roll my eyes. I’m pretty sure I’ll never hear the end of it from my family, but I don’t want to be a joke. Not with them, not with anyone.”

“I don’t think anything about this is a joke,” I tell her.

“You know that old adage, ‘do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life?’?”

I nod. That’s why I got into software development. I love it, and it doesn’t ever feel like work. Earning a living doing what you love is the greatest gift a person can give themselves. I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do that, but I’m glad that Felicity is able to.

“I love doing this. I have a knack for it, and people want to work with me. Styling people, searching for the right outfit for an occasion, I don’t know…I know it’s frivolous, but it makes me want…more.”

“It’s not frivolous to the people who hire you,” I tell her.

“Yeah,” she replies with a smile. “That’s true. My dad thinks that sitting at a desk and cultivating a family legacy is the only way a person’s professional life has any worth. But I’m going to cultivate my own legacy.”

“I have no doubt that you will.”

Felicity sighs, like some great burden is off her chest, and I get the feeling that she doesn’t have very many people to talk to. I’m glad I could be that person today.

“Enough about me,” she says, as she reaches forward and pulls a black gown off of its rack. “What do you think about this?”

The dress is almost too beautiful to touch, but I do it anyway. It’s sleek with a flowing skirt, and a halter top with a neckline that scoops low enough to be revealing without revealing too much. The back is almost nonexistent, but still somehow manages to be tasteful. It’s a dress that I wouldn’t have picked out for myself in a million years, but it’s gorgeous. I haven’t even tried it on yet, and I want it.