Loveswept

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Chapter 1

Kelly Watson was getting annoyed because Caleb wouldn’t hang up the phone.

She’d come over to his big estate outside DC for the weekend. She wasn’t living with him all the time anymore—the way she had in the beginning—but she’d spent the last three weekends with him. Now, it was Friday at almost seven in the evening, and he was still on a work call.

He also was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

Caleb Marshall was the CEO of Vendella and Co., a high-powered pharmaceutical company. He didn’t have the luxury of only working on weekdays. She didn’t expect him not to work—or not to take calls on any day or at any hour they came in.

But still, they were scheduled to leave for a black-tie event in ten minutes. The cocktail party was his thing—since she was a pet portrait artist and wasn’t in the habit of attending formal events of any kind. It was because of him that she was going to this party at all. She’d gotten out of the shower, dried her hair, and done her makeup in the bathroom, and she’d expected him to be dressed when she reentered his bedroom.

But he was sitting in a leather chair near the window, talking on the phone, naked except for the towel.

And he didn’t even appear aware of her presence.

It worried her.

They were supposed to be in a real relationship. They’d never said the words “I love you.” Given both of their pasts as commitment-phobes, that would be far beyond the comfort zone for either of them. But they’d admitted that the feelings between them were real, and they’d agreed to try to make the relationship work.

He was supposed to care about her, be totally into her, feel for her more than he’d ever felt for anyone else. That was what he’d said, at least.

Which was why it was concerning that he didn’t notice that she’d walked into the bedroom wearing nothing but her underwear. He hadn’t even glanced over at her.

Caleb wasn’t just her boyfriend. He might have killed her father. And the only way she could ever find out the truth was to get him to trust her completely, let down his guard, allow her access to the information she needed, find concrete evidence about who arranged her father’s murder. And she only had a limited amount of time to accomplish all this in the month or so her mother had left to live.

If Caleb was losing his interest in her, if she wasn’t as attractive to him as she used to be, then she could never do what she needed to do.

So she felt distracted and out of sorts as she walked over to the dresser and looked in the mirror.

Her makeup was good—setting off her blue eyes, high cheekbones, fair skin, and full lips—and her long dark gold hair was pulled up into an elegant twist. Her bra and panties were a sexy black lace—much more expensive than she’d ever bought for herself before she’d met Caleb.

In the past, she’d only ever had one-night stands. There was no man in the world whom she’d known as deeply and intimately as Caleb. No man who could turn her on as much. No man she’d invested nearly as much in as him.

No man she’d hated as much.

It was the bitter irony of her life—to live torn apart like this until she could finally find the truth, finally find closure, finally heal. If such a thing was even possible.

But all of it would be futile if he was starting to lose interest.

He was talking about some sort of marketing campaign on the phone. She heard the words, but they were of no interest. It didn’t sound like an emergency, though, so it was definitely time for him to hang up the phone.

With that same flutter of anxiety and uncertainty, she grabbed a tube of lotion from the bag she’d brought over for the weekend and squeezed some out on her palm.

Then she walked over so she was directly in Caleb’s line of sight, sat down on the edge of the bed, and started to rub the lotion into one of her legs.

Her body was pretty decent, with long legs and good breasts. Caleb had always seemed to really like it before. Might as well use it to her advantage.

She massaged the lotion in slowly, extending her leg in a way she hoped was sexy.

With a clench of pleased satisfaction, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Caleb’s eyes had shifted over to her.

He was still talking, but at least now he was watching her.

She took her time with rubbing the lotion on her other leg as well, and then she stood up and started applying it to her arms and shoulders in turn.

He was definitely focused on her now. His brown eyes had taken on a familiar heat—albeit still distracted by his conversation—and his gaze didn’t leave her body.

Making sure to act unaware, she walked over to the closet to get a dress. She’d brought two possibilities with her for this evening, since she hadn’t been sure which she should wear. Inspired, she grabbed the one she’d already decided against.

She returned to his line of sight to slowly, sensually pull the dress on, letting the soft fabric cling to her body.

It was a blue that matched her eyes, and she studied herself in the mirror, turning around and pretending to be evaluating the effect. She slipped on her high heels and looked at herself again.

Then she unzipped it and let it fall slowly to the floor so she was standing in nothing but her underwear and heels.

Caleb stumbled over something he was saying.

Acting as though she wasn’t paying any attention to him and hiding her flush of pleasure at this clear evidence that he was so affected by her, she walked back to the closet to get her other dress.

This one was a deep red—a sleeveless column dress with well-tailored ruches and a slit on one side that came all the way up her thigh.

Caleb wasn’t talking much anymore—just occasionally saying “yeah.” She didn’t dare to look over at him fully, because he would suspect what she was trying to do.

But the brief glances she snuck proved that his body had grown tense and his skin was slightly flushed.

He was turned on. No doubt about it. It gave her a rush of pleasure and relief—and also a pride that left her a little uncomfortable.

She was so focused on looking sexy as she tried to zip up her dress that she was at a loss when the zipper snagged on the fabric.

She tugged on it gently, and then frowned, wondering how she was supposed to get it unsnagged and still look sexy.

She gasped and gave a little jump when she felt a hand over hers on the zipper.

Caleb had gotten up and moved behind her while she was distracted.

“Stuck?” he asked, his voice thick and textured the way it always was when he was turned on.

He was standing behind her, and his eyes were moving with a hungry heat from her face down her body in the mirror over the dresser.

“Try not to tear it,” she said, as he focused back down on her zipper. “This dress was expensive.”

“It was well worth the money.”

With a little work, he freed the zipper and pulled it all the way up.

“Did you finish with your call?” she asked, glancing back to where he’d left his phone on the table next to the chair.

“You made sure of that, didn’t you?”

She made her eyes wide and innocent. “What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. You think I’m so easy that I’ll be manipulated by the sexy little show you just gave me.”

She glanced over her shoulder and down at his groin, where he was visibly aroused beneath the towel. She just cleared her throat, trying to hide a smile.