Page 40 of Quake
“The more I look at it, the more I think it was an omen.”
Caleb snorted, stabbing his latke with his fork. “Do you really believe in that stuff? Omens, horoscopes, tarot cards…”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.”
“I don’t,” Caleb said. “I believe people choose their own path, not some mystical crystal.”
“Maybe it’s just comforting,” I murmured. “Some people are afraid of the unknown. Maybe they just need to be shown the way…”
I didn’t realize how true it rang for me until I’d said it. Perhaps that was what I’d been waiting for all these years, but I’d become too impatient with hoping. That was why I’d turned up at Beat. Was it me who’d changed the course of my future? Or was it the universe conspiring with fate and destiny? Who knew how these things worked.
After we’d eaten, we lingered outside on the footpath as a tram rumbled by, already full of commuters on their way to the city.
“When can I see you again?” Caleb asked, lacing his fingers through mine.
My eyes widened slightly, and I couldn’t shake the zap his question had stunned me with. He wanted more? Was that what this was? Did he really mean it when he asked me to stay? Not just a night but longer? I couldn’t help it when I felt myself slipping, my grip on my heart loosening until Caleb held it in his palm. I was such a goner.
“Saturday?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. I was too shy to ask if he wanted to do something tonight or tomorrow for that matter.
“Training?” His eyes sparkled, and I nodded.
“I need to work on my general fitness,” I murmured, squirming under his gaze.
“You’re sore, huh?” His voice lowered, rasping as his thoughts turned just as dirty as mine.
I nodded as his lips caught mine. Caleb kissed me softly, his free hand grasping my waist. Before I was entirely satisfied, he drew back with a sigh.
“I had better work out a fitness plan for you, then,” he said wickedly.
I smiled, nodding enthusiastically. “I think you’d better.”
* * *
Just as he’d promised, Caleb walked me home.
I was giddy, my body aching in all the right places, my head swimming with devious memories of last night.
Where had that woman come from? The one who’d melted and transformed the moment his lips touched mine? I never knew she existed.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t been with other men before—in the months after Mel’s death, random strangers had certainly been a temporary fix for what ailed me—but I’d never been so…free. Among the turmoil that was my life, it had to mean something.
And he hadn’t looked like he regretted it.Yet.
By the time I walked into the office, I was on a high. Immediately, I fished out a can of energy drink and popped the tab, waiting for my computer to power up.
“Hey!”
I glanced up as Hayley came to a halt beside my desk.
“Hey,” I said.
“I think you’re missing this,” she went on, wiggling the brown cardboard box in her arms. “It came to acquisitions by mistake.”
“Thanks,” I said, unable to wipe the shit-eating grin off my face.
“What’s with you today?” she asked, setting the box on my desk. “You’ve got too much pep for this hour. You’re exhausting me.”
I shrugged and turned the box around so I could read the label. Yep, it was for marketing and likely had the last of the expo swag that was missing from the order downstairs.
