Page 7

He stopped, and I reached for the notes I was supposed to give him yesterday.

“These are the minutes, and the additional notes from yesterday’s meeting that you asked for.”

Without another word, he took the papers from my hands, and his suit jacket, and walked away.

In spite of how my morning started, I felt worse now than I had fifteen minutes ago. I would have gladly taken the humiliation a thousand times over than feel the sharp sting of such a brusque dismissal.

I scurried to the restroom on the other end of the office, and snuck inside with my wounded pride in tow. Looking in the mirror, I was relieved to find that I didn’t look as bad as I initially expected, but it was still inappropriate for the office. I started cleaning myself up, and couldn’t help but replay the morning in my mind. More specifically, the way Caleb had indirectly censured my appearance. His eyes were harder than I remembered, his tone far more clipped. Gone was the young, carefree twenty-five-year-old that starred in my favorite memory from yesteryear, and in his place was a beautiful man who emanated a presence so rife with power it was enough to knock the wind from your lungs.

And just like that I was thrown into the past…

Kadence

5 Years Earlier

The party inside was in full swing, and I watched from the balcony as my parents drifted among their friends. They looked happy, but I knew it was a façade, a senseless charade they put on in front of New York’s elite. It made me sad, but I was helpless to change it so I stood next to them, smiled politely, and did exactly what was expected of me. Unlike my sister, who defied them at every step without consequence. She was the oldest though, so I guess it meant that the rules set for me weren’t applicable to her. I stopped fighting that a long time ago, and accepted my role as ‘the good daughter’. I was about to graduate high school anyway, and then I would be off to college where I would finally have a little freedom.

A noise on the left startled me, and I spun around to find a shadowed figure walking closer. I held my breath, ready to scream if I had to, but when the figure stepped into the bright moonlight I held my breath for an entirely different reason.

I’d had a crush on Caleb Callahan since I was fourteen years old. Our parents were close friends, but it wasn’t until recently that I saw him at the events I attended with my parents. Our age difference meant we didn’t run in the same circles – he was eight years my senior – but I knew more about him than I did my closest friends at school. He was a favorite in the tabloids, always cavorting with a new socialite or model (incredibly sad, and clichéd) and causing mayhem along the way. He was just another spoiled rich kid, and while I knew everything about him screamed ‘trouble’, he intrigued me nonetheless. So much so that every time he was in the same room my heart did this strange flip-flop thing in my chest, making it feel like a hummingbird had taken up residence in my belly.

Someone giggled behind him, and I stepped into the darkness just as my sister Katrina appeared. Seeing them together, seeing her brush her hands up his chest as she smiled up at him made me clench my fists. Anger bloomed in my chest, as irrational it may have been, and I scowled, grateful that they hadn’t seen me. Caleb whispered something to Katrina, and she murmured her response before slipping through the balcony doors, and back into the party. I hated her then, wishing it was me that Caleb had been with. I could understand why he was attracted to her though. She was beautiful in that sexy and seductive kind of way men found alluring, and mysterious. Her hair was darker than mine, taking after our father where I took after our mother, and she had the blue eyes I wished I had. She’d grown into her curves, and at twenty-one she had the body of a woman, rather than that of a girl. I on the other hand was all girl, and my sister constantly teased me because I was a ‘late bloomer’. It only made me dislike her more.

“You can come out of hiding now, Kadence.”

An audible gasp escaped my mouth at the sound of my name. Caleb was looking right at me, even with me partly hidden in the shadows. He smiled, and tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks. He looked devilishly handsome in his fitted Armani suit.

I swallowed, and bravely stepped into the light.

“I wasn’t hiding,” I said quietly, not sure if he even heard me. His rough chuckle told me he had in fact heard me, and I bristled slightly at the teasing lilt.

“Of course you were. You want some company?”

Rather than show my surprise, I straightened and pretended to be unaffected, even when I was anything but.

“Shouldn’t you get back to Katrina?” My haughty tone made the side of Caleb’s mouth tilt up and for the first time ever I had the urge to slap it off his face. I wasn’t a fan of violence of any kind, but something about Caleb had me feeling on edge, and the strange, new feeling confused me.

“Careful now,” warned Caleb, “Or you might start sounding jealous.”

I rolled my eyes, and walked over to the edge of the balcony that overlooked the city. My parent’s penthouse was in Fifth Avenue, and had one of the most coveted views of Manhattan. I liked coming out here at night, when the buildings lit up, and made the place look magical.

“Please,” I snorted. “I’d rather be with someone who hasn’t bedded half of New York.” My eyes widened at the word vomit falling from my lips, and I started to apologize when Caleb lifted his hand, and shook his head.

“You’re right,” he said, regarding me with his arctic blue eyes. “Someone with your ‘inexperience’ should be off-limits to someone like me.”

For some reason his comment annoyed me, and I couldn’t help but think he saw me as a child. Too young, and too ignorant.

“What makes you think I’m inexperienced?” I huffed. “I’m seventeen, not seven you know.”

Caleb stepped closer until only an arm’s length separated us. “Trust me sweet Kadence, I’m well-aware of how old you are, and just how very innocent.”

The gleam in his eye made me wonder what exactly he was thinking, and if maybe, just maybe, I was misinterpreting what he meant.

Don’t get your hopes up, I told myself. There was no way someone like Caleb would ever be interested in someone like me. Age aside, I was exactly as he’d said, inexperienced, and I was sure he would find me lacking in every way that mattered to him. I doubted that he thought me worth the trouble anyway, given that he wouldn’t want to be caught with a minor.

“I wish you’d stop looking at me like that.” It came out as a whisper, but the distinct rasp in his voice made sure I heard it.

“Like what?” I asked, feigning indifference. The lights dancing around us, combined with the moonlight beaming from high up in the night sky accentuated every feature of Caleb’s face that I found most attractive, starting with the curvature of his cheekbones, the sharpness of his nose, and the perfect bow of his lips. He had that angular jaw women loved, and while he looked very debonair without his signature stubble, I much preferred him with it.