Page 135 of Untouchable
Dinner wasn’t as bad as Kelly had been fearing.
Discussion was mostly light. About old school friends of Wes and Caleb, about their jobs, about the play that Micaela was going to be acting in at a community theater, about Paris. Wes seemed friendly enough with her, and Micaela was very nice.
As they were eating dessert, Kelly finally relaxed, convinced she was going to make it through the evening without any sort of catastrophe.
She glanced over at Caleb and saw he was watching her with a smile in his eyes, like he was thinking soft, fond thoughts about her.
Ridiculously, the expression made her blush, but she gave him a laughing, ironic look in response.
His smile broadened, and they just gazed at each other, sharing a moment that didn’t need any words.
“I never thought I’d see it,” Wes said, interrupting their look.
Caleb gave his friend a cool glance, but Kelly thought he looked a little self-conscious. “The list of things you’ve never thought of could fill a freight train.”
“That’s probably true. But it makes me wonder about all the things that you don’t know.” Wes shifted his eyes over to Kelly with a speculative expression that made her gut clench.
It was some sort of hint. To her. That he suspected she was hiding things from Caleb.
It didn’t matter that he was returning to Paris tomorrow. This man was still a danger to her.
She managed to give him an innocent smile. “Well, one thing Caleb doesn’t know is how to send a girl flowers.”
“Hey,” Caleb said, giving her a mock offended look. Micaela laughed, and even Wes relaxed into a smile. “I never knew you wanted any.”
“I don’t. I’m just saying it wouldn’t kill you to be more romantic.” She made sure her expression conveyed that she was just teasing and not really complaining. If she’d been in a real relationship with Caleb, she wouldn’t have wanted flowers. She wouldn’t have needed anything more than he’d given her.
Anyone with their eyes open could see that his feelings for her were real.
Micaela giggled and gave Wes a little punch on the arm. “I think romance is a lost art. The most we can hope for is that they silence their phones.”
“I’ll always silence my phone for you,” Wes told his date in mock adoration. “But I’d never send you flowers. Flowers are for hospitals.”
For some reason, the thought evidently made him think of something because his eyes shifted over to Caleb.
Caleb met his gaze without flinching, without revealing anything.
Then he turned to look at Kelly. “I’ll give you all the flowers you want.”
He probably would. She’d probably get some tomorrow, when all she’d wanted to do was change the subject from what was dangerous.
She couldn’t help but be touched by the sincerity she saw in Caleb’s eyes. She’d managed the tricky moment just fine, but it didn’t mean everything was okay. The longer she stretched this out, the more time she was giving Wes to uncover something about her.
She needed to hurry this up, to find out the truth before it was too late. Staring at a last uneaten bite of her cheesecake, she was overwhelmed with a kind of panic.
Maybe it wasn’t rational. Maybe she wasn’t really in more danger now than she’d been before.
But she had the sudden, irresistible urge to get this finished. Now.
She excused herself to go to the bathroom, and while she was in the stall, she texted a message to Jack.Any plans made yet?
After a minute there was a reply.One more week. Sit tight.
She didn’t want to sit tight. Things could come unraveled at any moment.
She needed to do something now. As soon as possible. She needed to get into those corporate records and get the personnel files they needed.
Another week might be too long, and she couldn’t take that risk.
