“If you don’t mind my asking, sir,” Linda asked hesitantly, pausing in the process of turning to leave.

Caleb raised his eyebrows and waited.

“Is everything all right? Is there anything I can help you with?”

Damn. He must be in bad shape if Linda was willing to break her normal professionalism to ask him a question like that.

“No, but thank you. I’ve just been—distracted lately. It’s personal stuff.”

Linda nodded with a sympathetic smile. “You’re welcome. I believe it’s not uncommon with a new relationship. I do hope everything works out.”

Having said that, she made a quick exit, as if afraid she’d overstepped. Caleb stared at the door she’d closed behind her.

She obviously thought he was in a new relationship. Maybe that was what everyone thought.

There was no reason for people not to think so. He hadn’t taken Kelly out in public—on any sort of date—but she was living with him, and he’d been going home most evenings far earlier than he usually did.

He hadn’t even gone into the office for the last couple of Sundays.

He supposed he was in a new relationship, although he and Kelly had both been running in circles to avoid using that language.

There was no reason not to use it, though. He was with Kelly in a way he hadn’t been with any woman—maybe ever. He wasn’t about to give her the send-off any time soon, and he would be very unhappy if she decided she wanted to leave him.

Over and over for the last few weeks, he’d been on the verge of running—aware that he’d gotten in so deep with her that he’d have a hard time coming out of it. When she was crying in the middle of the night. When she walked into his office with cords in her hand, offering herself to his hands. When they’d made love on the couch and she’d felt as real to him as she ever had before. Each time, he’d been torn between the fear of her getting too close and the fear of her never being close enough.

His instinct for self-preservation was strong, but his need for her was stronger.

And his strongest need at the moment was to keep her safe from whoever was threatening her.

She wouldn’t tell him who it was because she wanted to protect him, but she didn’t understand.

Other people needed to protect themselves from him.

He needed to get working again. He needed to stop brooding about all these unanswered questions. And he needed to stop picturing her face when she came, when she cried, when she laughed.

How was he ever supposed to work if he couldn’t stop thinking about her?

He couldn’t, though. For one of the few times in his life, he simply couldn’t focus on work. Not when there was something more important to do.

He stood up, feeling compelled to go find Kelly and talk to her now. He wanted things to move forward. He didn’t like this weird emotional limbo he was in.

Just because he’d never done something before didn’t mean he shouldn’t do it now.

He wanted to do it now. With Kelly.

Linda looked startled when he asked her to call down for his car, saying he was heading home. It was just after five, but he usually stayed later than that.

He called out good-byes to the staff he passed as he left the executive suite, and he was feeling determined and inspired as he rode down the elevator.

He would talk to Kelly. He would get a few things settled. She would know that she could trust him to do whatever she needed him to do, that she could fully depend on him.

As he was passing through the lobby, a feminine voice stopped him.

“Mr. Marshall.”

He turned to see the cute blonde who had been temporarily working security for several weeks. She was wearing the coat that went with the uniform, so she must have been doing something outside. “Yes?”

“I have something to show you, if you have a minute.”

The woman wasn’t smiling, and she was doing security in his building, so he suppressed his impatience as he nodded and followed her into a back room.

“What is it?” he asked, trying not to sound like he wanted to get through with this conversation, although he definitely did.

The woman smiled. “Today was my last day here. I’m not working for Vendella anymore.” She opened her coat, revealing that she was completely naked beneath it.

Caleb stared at the woman’s body—small, firm breasts, flat belly, long legs, nicely curved hips.

His body tightened just a little—the reflexive response to seeing an attractive naked female body—but that was it.

That was it.

Several weeks ago, he would have had her turned over the table and be rutting her hard with no prelude or hesitation. He’d had her in mind for a fuck from the beginning, and she’d obviously picked up on the signals.

But something had changed. Something really important had changed.

Caleb didn’t want her anymore.

He didn’t want anyone but Kelly.

He stood frozen, trying to process this revelation, which was even more disorienting than his reflections on being in a relationship up in his office just now. Somehow, it drove the reality home a lot more fully.

It was one thing to admit to being in a relationship. It was something entirely else to admit that he wanted only one woman.

Never in his life had he experienced something like that.

He shook his head, finding his voice at last. “Close your coat and go home,” he said, as mildly as he could manage. Without waiting for a response, he turned to leave the room, heading back through the lobby to where his car was waiting.

He’d been using a car service for the last week, instead of driving himself, so he could get more work done during the longer commute. He got into the back of the car that was pulled up to the curb.

Without thinking, he pulled out his phone and dialed Kelly. He didn’t have anything particular to say. He just wanted to talk to her.

The phone rang until voice mail picked up, so he ended the call, wondering what she was doing.

Maybe she was still with that client she was seeing this afternoon. It could have run long.

He tried futilely to do some work on the drive home, but he couldn’t focus on anything. He spent twenty minutes trying to compose a response to an email that should have taken him about three.

When his phone rang, he grabbed for it in an embarrassingly eager gesture, but it wasn’t Kelly. It was Wes.

Caleb let out a breath, telling himself not to be a heartless ass. Two years had passed without any conversations with Wes, and now it was three conversations in a month. And not easy conversations.

“Hey. Did you make it to town?” he asked, after connecting the call.

“Yeah. I got in yesterday.”

“How’s your mom?”

“She’s hanging in there.” Maybe he was tired, or maybe his mom was worse than he implied, but Wes didn’t sound good at all. “Thanks again for—”

“Don’t thank me again. It was fine.” Mostly, Caleb didn’t want to be reminded of that afternoon. It left him feeling too vulnerable in every way, including the aftermath when he’d seen Kelly with that other man and been consumed by that fierce, irrational jealousy.

“How’ve you been?” Wes asked, his tone changing, obviously trying to move back into a more natural conversation. “I’ve been hearing rumors.”

Caleb stiffened. “About what?”

“All kinds of shit. Did you get married?”

“Of course not.”

“Do you have a beautiful convict on the run from the authorities hidden away in your house?”

Caleb couldn’t suppress a huff of dry amusement. “Uh, no.”

“Oh well. Guess the rumors aren’t all true. You’re seeing someone, though?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Caleb admitted, “Yeah.”

“And you’ve got nothing more to say about that?”

“What am I supposed to say? It’s not exactly big news.” He was brushing it off on purpose, but anyone who knew him would understand that it was, in fact, big news.