Dirty Little Secrets (Dirty Little #1)(53)

“I’m not going to pressure you, Mia. I told you we could make this work.”

“I know,” I say softly. “I just never thought I’d get to this point, you know? Where I was safe here, where you were here with me.”

“I want to be wherever you are,” he replies, kissing the underside of my jaw. “Wherever that is.”

I run my fingers through his thick hair, loving Caleb’s hum of satisfaction. “You’re being so supportive, but I know you must have an opinion.”

He presses his lips together, then looks down at the floor. “I do, of course I do. But I don’t want to give it to you.”

“What if I asked you for it?”

I see just the hint of a smile, before Caleb answers. “I still don’t want to give it to you.”

“You know that makes me want it even more, right?”

“So,” he replies, twining our fingers together. “Say I give this opinion to you. What happens in the future if things don’t work out the way you hoped or expected them to, and you resent me because you feel like my opinion swayed you one way or the other?”

“Caleb,” I sigh. “I could never resent you.”

“You know who has said that before?”

“Who?”

“A person who resents another person.” He brings my hand up to his lips, and gives me a kiss. But he’s grinning at me, and that’s a good sign. “I want you to come back to New York, Mia. I want you to live with me, and I want us to have a home and a life together, and that’s what I can promise you right now. But that’s what I want. If that’s not what you want…I realize this involves uprooting your life.”

“I already uprooted my life.” The fact is, I’ve already moved to New York, I’ve already changed everything. I just have the option of undoing that now if I want to.

“That was because you didn’t have a choice. If you’re going to do it this time, willingly, I want you to do it because that’s what you want to do, not because it’s what I want you to do.”

“Thank you for that. And thank you for telling me.”

Caleb leans in and kisses me. “Thank you for asking my opinion.”

“Do you want to stay here tonight?” I ask. “Or we could find a hotel, if you want to.”

“I want to stay here tonight.”

That’s the answer I was hoping to get, so I can’t help but beam at him. “Good.”

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

“I’d like to go see Marcus and Amelia,” I tell him.

“I think that’s a great idea.”

“Would you like to come with me?” I ask hopefully.

I can tell from the look on his face that he’s struggling with an answer. At least, struggling to figure out a way to tell me his answer.

“I think you should spend some time with your friend and his mother. I don’t want you to feel like you have to invite me because of everything that happened. I think I’d probably be a third wheel.”


Sliding my fingertip along the placket of Caleb’s shirt, I say, “Marcus is going to want to thank you, you know. I told him about everything you did for us. He hates Jack Kemp as much as I do.”

The corner of Caleb’s mouth quirks up. “I like him already.”

“You’re going to like him a lot,” I promise.

“You go alone. How about we have a late lunch with Marcus?”

I nod, smiling. “Yeah. I’d like that.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT





I didn’t cry when Caleb and I walked down my street, and I didn’t cry when we walked into my apartment, but when Marcus wraps his arms around me for the first time in what feels like forever, that’s when the tears finally break free. He holds on tight, like he has since we were younger, and whatever awkwardness there is between us for what I’ve done for him and his mother, it’s gone for the time being. It’s just the two of us, without the weight of responsibility between us.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” he says, as I reach up to wipe a tear from his cheek. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m glad I’m back, too. I didn’t think…I didn’t think I’d ever be able to show my face here again.” I didn’t think I’d ever talk to Marcus on anything other than an untraceable cell phone again, either.

“So…that’s it?” he asks, leading me to a quiet corner at the end of the hallway in his mother’s care facility. “It’s all over now?”

I told him the details of the deal Caleb made with Jack Kemp over the phone, but it’s still hard to believe. I understand why he wants me to say the words again. He’ll probably ask me again at some point; I know I had to ask Caleb more than once if it was true.

“It’s over. Your mom’s going to be taken care of, and this isn’t going to happen again. Not to anyone who lives in any of his other buildings.”

Marcus grins as he lets out a breath of relief. “I’m going to need you to tell me that again sometime.”

I laugh. “I know.”

“I’ve got to meet the guy who pulled this one off. Is he here?”