Page 42 of Dial L for Lawyer
It takes an agonizing two minutes for the next text to appear.
Caleb:
Do you want to try again?
He doesn't clarify. Doesn't push. Just gives me the opening.
My hands shake as I type, thighs pressed tight under the table, heat curling low in my belly at the thought of going through with it this time.
Me:
Yes.
My whole body goes hot.
Caleb:
Tonight then. Seven-thirty. Wear whatever you want, but if you show up in a cat sweatshirt I reserve the right to post photographic evidence on Instagram.
The sound I make is mostly air.
Audrey's face lights up. "You're going, right? Say you're going."
My mouth opens, but all I manage is a nod. For the first time in ages, I don't feel like I need to rehearse what to say next.
I just want to see him.
Me:
Just so you know, the cat sweatshirt comment was an act of war.
Caleb:
Consider yourself warned.
See you at 7:30. You know where.
Heat floods through me as I set the phone down with shaking hands.
Audrey grins. "Look at you being all brave and forward."
"I think I'm going to throw up," I say, but I'm smiling.
"That's just the wine and adrenaline," Layla says, raising her glass. "To finally going after what you want."
"To do-overs," Audrey adds.
I pick up my wine with trembling fingers and toast with them, my phone screen still glowing with Caleb's message.
Oh fuck. What the hell did I just do?
CHAPTER 13
Caleb
"You look like someone hit you with a tire iron." Bennett leans back in his desk chair, scotch in hand. "Twice. In the feelings."
Logan glances up from his laptop where he's still sorting through Luminous's security data. "He's been like this for the last twenty minutes. I've explained the same bypass vulnerability three times and he just kept staring at his phone like it holds the nuclear codes."
