Dirty Little Secrets (Dirty Little #1)(5)

I’m sure that crease appears between my brows again, because what does that mean?

“I’m crazy for this,” he says, letting out a little breath as he looks down. He almost seems…bashful. “I know this is probably confusing, and I don’t want to confuse you. I didn’t go into that bar tonight for a one-night stand, or a quick f*ck in a hotel room. I used to be that guy, and I’ve worked incredibly hard not to be him anymore. I’m trying to do things differently now, and-”

“So you don’t want-”

“No,” he says firmly. “I very, very much do.”

“I don’t understand,” I tell him, honestly. “Is this it?”

“No. No,” he says, sliding his fingertips along the shoulder of my dress, making me shiver. “This is far from it.” He licks his lips as he waits for my reaction.

“Then what…I thought that if a man was interested, he didn’t, you know, let you get away or whatever.”

Caleb wraps his arm around my waist, and pulls me flush against him. His erection is hard against my belly, and he’s been such a confusing jackass the past couple of minutes that I move a little, just to torture him.

“I’m interested,” he says, his voice choked. “And I’m not letting you get away.”

“I can feel that. So what are you proposing?”

Caleb leans forward, and licks his full, pink lips.

“You and me. Dinner tomorrow.”

A spark of panic works its way through my lust-filled brain. This guy has money, and dinner with him most likely means going to a nice restaurant. Going to a nice restaurant requires a dress, and I’m wearing the only one that I brought with me. I don’t exactly have room in my budget for a new one, especially when I would have to go shopping for it in Manhattan, of all places.


“Um…”

“Something casual,” he says quickly. “Just the two of us?”

“Casual?” I ask hopefully.

“Yes. Just you and me spending some time together.”

Okay, sure. Yes. I can do that. “I’d like that.”

“So,” he says, letting his gaze drift down to my lips, and further down towards my neckline. “It’s a date?”

I bite my lip to keep myself from grinning like an idiot, but it’s too late. “Yeah, it’s a date.”

“I’ll pick you up here?”

“At the bar,” I say quickly. I’ve got to check out of this room tomorrow because I can’t afford it anymore, but I don’t want to tell him that right now.

His eyebrows draw together, but he doesn’t question me. “Okay. Same time?”

I nod, running my hand down his lapel again. Seriously, his muscles. The suit. It’s such a good combination. “Same time.”

“Goodnight, Mia,” he says, as he pulls away. I manage to catch his wrist before he gets too far.

When he turns around, he quirks his eyebrow at me, totally amused. He was expecting me to stop him, and he knows what I’m going to ask.

“You aren’t going to kiss me?”

He leans in, until his lips are so close to mine, and all I can see, smell, and hear is him. He slides the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip.

“Oh, I’m going to kiss you. You’ll be begging me to kiss you.” For a second, I think he’s going to brush his lips against mine. I feel maybe the smallest hint of them. “Soon. But not tonight.”

I groan, and let the back of my head thump against the door. This man is going to be the death of me. “Soon,” I repeat.

With a wicked grin, Caleb says, “I’ll make it worth the wait.”





CHAPTER FOUR





My grandmother always told me that a watched pot never boils, which is true in my experience.

I can also attest to the fact that watched location searches never complete. Anxiously waiting on the edge of your seat to hear a dreadful ‘ping’ doesn’t make anything move any faster, no matter how much I wish it was so.

My laptop is sitting on the desk in the corner of my hotel room, cycling through the program that I’ve written to detect Andre Privya’s movement. It’s not entirely on the up and up, but this desperate woman is willing to employ desperate measures. It searches hits on credit cards with his name, and the location of the cell phone numbers that I managed to find for him. It’s not a foolproof method of figuring out whether or not he’s successfully tracking me down, but it’s better than nothing. If he goes anywhere while his cell phone is on, and uses a credit card to get there, I’ll know about it.

I try desperately not to think about what would happen if he uses cash and travels with a burner phone. Like I did.

On the middle of the bed, sitting with my legs crossed, I take in the lush surroundings of this hotel room. It was a splurge, one that I absolutely cannot afford. When I got to the city, I was scared out of my mind, and too nervous to go to one of the hotels that I could actually afford, which would include thin walls and a shared bathroom, and me jumping at every single noise outside of my room. I walked into this establishment and offered to pay cash just to rest for a few nights. I feel safe here, and don’t want to think about leaving. The only good thing is that when I leave tonight, it will be with Caleb, not alone.