Chapter 7

Elias

The hottest hookup of my life is followed by a whole week of Caleb avoiding me. He isn’t obligated to make an appearance wherever I am, but he’s actively trying to stay away and I wish I knew why. He made himself clear, he can’t do another tryst in the woods. Does he think I’ll jump him the next time I get close?

No… does he think he’ll jump me?

That has to be it because I’ve made myself very clear. I would never try to seduce him if he wasn’t interested. I may be extremely bummed that he doesn’t want anything more than a hot and heavy hookup one time, but I’m not pushy. Well, not sexually anyway.

I think a lot of people would consider me to be pushy or overbearing, maybe that’s why everyone I’ve been interested in has never wanted more than to keep it casual. Though, there have been the occasional overly interested off-the-jump guys who I was certain were more interested in my finances than me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to spend some money on Caleb. Hell, he can have half of everything I have if our dates go well—if he’d let me take him out. But the difference is in intent, I suppose. I want to spoil my partner, not spoil someone into becoming my partner. I want them to want to be with me and think of the money as a bonus.

“Where’s the hunk you were shamelessly flirting with last week?” Erin asks, sipping a margarita as her tube floats closer to mine.

“Don’t call him a hunk,” Abel grunts from the deck, shaking his head as he sips his beer.

“Don’t be a downer,” she shoots back. “You know you’re the only hunk I want.”

“Better be,” he replies, shaking his head but smiling at her.

“So?” she asks, wiggling her brows. “Any updates on that front?”

I shrug, tipping my head back to see the fading sun instead of looking at her. “I asked him out and we hooked up, but I don’t think he’s interested.”

She squeals, splashing me lightly with water. “You hooked up?”

“On the hike,” I explain, keeping my voice low. The last thing I need is Caleb around overhearing and thinking that I’m gossiping about him. Erin is my friend, I wouldn’t indulge just anyone about this. “But he didn’t say yes to a date.”

She hums like she’s trying to gather her thoughts. “Maybe he didn’t want to start a long-distance thing? I mean, he lives here and we don’t.”

My lips draw down. “Maybe.”

“Maybe you should try harder,” she suggests lightly. “Let him know that you like traveling and you wouldn’t mind taking trips to see him.”

“You can only try so hard before you’re a creep, Erin.” Sighing, I shake my head. “I don’t want to go overboard and scare him off. I think he has a lot going on personally, you know?”

Erin nods, giving me a sympathetic look. “I think you should just lay it all out there. Tell him what you want and what you’re willing to do to get it.”

“Oh, so I should be vulnerable and have it thrown in my face when he turns me down again? No thanks, your advice sucks.”

Before she can protest, her husband speaks up. “Just fuck him.”

“That’s terrible advice,” Erin rebuttals, looking at him with shock.

“It’s how I got you.” He shrugs.

She blushes hard. “That’s not entirely true.”

“I’m going to go shower off and start prepping dinner,” I announce, sliding out of my blow-up tube and into the waist-high water.

“Nooo, don’t go,” Erin protests. “We’ll stop meddling.”

“It wasn’t your meddling,” I fib. “I’m just hungry.”

Hungry for Caleb, mostly.

“See you in an hour?” Abel asks, making no effort to get me to stay. He knows when I need alone time, I’m not persuaded easily.

“An hour works,” I agree. “I’ll meet you guys at your place, we can grill on the back deck.” I have been craving kebabs all day, so at least I have those to look forward to.

Toweling off as I walk back to my rental, I can’t believe the odds when I run into Caleb. He’s watering the flowers in front of my porch, old jeans hanging low on his hips. His cut-off T-shirt is damp from the water he’s using and likely sweat because of the heat.

He stops short when he sees me.

“Hey,” he greets, tone even and hard to read.

“Hey,” I say in return, forcing a smile. “Haven’t seen you around in a bit.”

“Had to go into town this week,” he replies, looking guilty.

So he wasn’t avoiding me and had work to do, or he went to do the work so he could avoid me. Great.

“Well, I won’t bother you longer,” I tell him, pointing a thumb over my shoulder at the house. I’m just going to take a freezing cold shower and start cutting vegetables, pretending that I’m not daydreaming about our hike the whole time.

“You don’t bother me,” he utters quietly.

“You sure about that?”

He hesitates and I nod, making a move to walk away when he speaks up again.

“It’s just tempting,” he admits, rubbing the back of his neck and turning off the hose so that he doesn’t drown the plants. “To be around you, it’s tempting.”

I try not to frown. “And you want to ignore the temptation?”

“I have to,” he croaks. “I don’t… we live very different lives, Elias. Why should we torture ourselves by getting close and then having to pull away?”

My jaw ticks. “Who the hell said we have to pull away?”

“Come on,” he groans, rubbing the back of his neck like it aches. “Don’t pretend like a relationship between us is somehow feasible. My life is here, even if I wanted it to be where you are, I can’t afford that. I don’t have the ability to go wherever I want like you do. I’m stuck here.”

Oh, baby, you’re far from stuck here.

“Is this why you didn’t say yes to a date? Why you wanted no strings but only once?”

He shrugs, shaking his head. “Does there have to be more than that?”

Yes, because I can fix all of that.

“Do you want to come inside?” I ask boldly, refusing to feel ashamed. Caleb may think that giving in to temptation will lead to pain, but I’m already hurting without him. If he thinks money is an issue for me, he’s out of his mind.

I’ll give him my Amex right now if it means he’d let me take him out.

He blinks at me. “Elias?—”

“When’s the last time you felt an attraction like this?” I question, invading his space with a few steps forward. “When’s the last time you wanted someone as badly as you want me?”

His breathing picks up and his eyes flash under the sun. “It shouldn’t matter.”

“If it shouldn’t matter then you shouldn’t mind answering the question,” I challenge.

“Never, okay?” he replies, frustratingly spilling the words from his lips.

“Neither have I,” I swear. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going to feel tortured without you, even if you never take me up on that date. I’m already hooked on you, Caleb Burke.”

He shutters, absorbing the declaration. “You’re going to leave.”

“I’ll come back,” I vow. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t snatch you up and take you with me.”

“You wouldn’t,” he whispers, but his voice… oh he sounds hopeful. Caleb doesn’t want to be here and he’d love for me to steal him away. Fuck, I’d love it too.

“If I thought you’d say yes, I’d have already offered. I’m a man that knows what he wants when he sees it, baby. Come inside with me, and come with me when I go home. Say the word and I’ll send you right back here, as hard as it would be. I want to see where this goes, and when it comes to how you make me feel, money is the most insignificant obstacle.”

The most wonderful hope pools into his expression and I hold my breath.

“I won’t be a sugar baby,” he warns.

Laughing lightly, I cup his face. “You’d be my boyfriend, Caleb. I’m not in the market for a sugar baby. I’m in the market for you.”

“This is… this is a lot,” he admits nervously. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything,” I suggest, giving him a filthy smirk. “Just come inside, we’ll both think more clearly after we’ve got our hands on each other again.”

This time, he doesn’t protest.

“Okay.”

Time to show this handsome cowboy how good for him I am.

I’m already wondering how he’d feel about going on my next business trip with me.

And if Caleb wants to go on one, he’d probably be up for going on all of them…

Too much?

No, not enough.