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The back door led onto a small landing. There was a bench and coat hooks on the right before a small set of stairs that led up. To the left, another set of stairs led to a cellar. Soft light filtered down from the upper level, and I followed Cal up the short flight. The stairway opened into the kitchen, and down the hall, I could see the living room at the front of the house off the street.
A fruit bowl full of green apples sat on a butcher-block kitchen island, and stainless-steel appliances gleamed under the soft glow of the light that had been left on over the six-burner range. Cal grabbed an apple from the bowl, buffed it on his shirt, and took a bite, all without stopping his trek toward the living room. Off the hallway, there was a powder room with a toilet and a pedestal sink, and opposite the bathroom was a small study. At the front of the house, the living room stretched almost the full width, giving up only the necessary amount of space for a small entryway from the front door and the main staircase leadingto the upper floors. The furnishings were vaguely reminiscent of Reuben’s, if slightly more ornate than the ultra-modern furnishings at his compound. The colors were muted and neutral with the art on the walls and a handful of throw pillows and accent rugs the only splashes of bright color.
“I assume this is Reuben’s?” Cal asked, plucking the thought right from my head.
“I guess so. If you really want to know, a quick internet search would probably turn up the answer.”
Cal shrugged and took another bite of his apple, talking around it. “Doesn’t really matter to me.”
“Me either.”
“Should we go upstairs, or did you want to look at the footage first?”
“I’m starving, so let’s put our stuff down and see what we can find in the kitchen.”
“Good plan.” Cal punctuated the statement with another big bite of apple.
This time, I led, and Cal followed me up the stairs. At the top, there was a door and a hallway off the landing. Cal turned the doorknob and revealed a bedroom with a queen-sized bed against the wall in the middle of the space. He raised an eyebrow in my direction.
“I’m guessing there’s another bedroom in the back.”
“Thank God.” His words were flippant, but he didn’t meet my eyes, and he didn’t make a move to make himself at home in the room. I wondered if not having to share a space was making him as uncomfortable as it was making me after we’d spent our time in Italy practically on top of each other.
“I want to see the other room before I commit to one.”
I nodded. It didn’t matter to me where I slept. It was going to kill me to not be sleeping next to Cal, even if there had been a pillow wall between us.
Except for last night.
Then I’d felt Cal’s body against mine, his heat seeping into me and filling all the empty spaces in my heart.
I’d stayed completely still while he cuddled up to me in sleep, his stubble-rough jaw against my chest.
I’d dreamed of the night we’d first met and how pliant and perfect he’d been under my hands before I’d had to betray him, despite it being for his own good.
And I’d woken up so hard, even though Cal had rolled away at some point, that I’d needed to jerk off twice before I could leave the hotel room to get breakfast and the pastries I wanted to take to Azzura Scivolo. Luckily, Cal had slept through it all.
Here, Cal would be on the other side of the house, and I hated it.
“Another bathroom.” Cal had opened one of the two doors off the hallway. He flipped the light on and looked around. “Oh, this one has a huge tub.”
Peeking my head around the door, I saw the tub he was talking about. It was the centerpiece of the room, a large soaking tub that looked vintage until I spotted the jets along the inside.
“Nice.”
Cal pushed past me and walked to the last door. Behind it was another large bedroom, this one with a king-sized bed in the middle. An open door off the main room showed an en suite bathroom, and in true Cal style, he went to investigate. “No tub here, but a very nice shower.”
He stood in the center of the bedroom and considered the space. “You can have the en suite. I want the tub.”
“Whatever. The sleeping arrangements don’t matter to me.”Unless you’re sleeping with me, but I left that unsaid.
Cal walked out of the room and down the hall, and I tossed my duffel on the bench at the foot of the bed. The silence was deafening, and the space felt cold and lonely without Cal. Iwasn’t sure what that meant, but it felt like my heart was calling out to him from the other side of the house.
“Get yourself together, Jack. Head in the game. Remember why you’re here.” The pep talk did little to change the way my heart and my body pined for Cal, but it was enough to remind me we had a date in the kitchen to go over the files Reuben had sent me.
I beat him downstairs and set my laptop on the counter before opening the fridge and rummaging around. Reuben had the kitchen stocked, and I found some fresh chicken on a shelf in the refrigerator. I wasn’t in the mood to make anything fancy, and a quick look in the pantry provided everything I needed to make some quick baked chicken and a simple pasta.
When Cal finally made it down to the kitchen, I had the chicken in the oven and the pasta water boiling.
