Page 86 of The Deals We Make

“Shakespeare?”

“Exactly. That’s how Rae and King bonded. Her telling him he reminded her of Shakespeare’s tragic kings, and him freaking the fuck out because she was so much smarter than him.”

“Oh, like you and me then?”

I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it. “Touché.” I take a lock of her hair and twirl it around my finger and use it to tug her closer to brush my lips over hers. “What else are we?”

Calista’s face softens. “I think after all this time and all the hurt, we’re actually friends.”

“We’re that and more,” I say.

Calista shrugs. “I’m not sure I need a label for it. We’re friends. We’ve had great sex. It’s hard to deny we’re attracted to each other, at this point. But in some ways, we’re still strangers.”

I know what she means.

“Then let’s go back to the beginning and get to know each other.”

“What do you want to know?” she asks.

I close my laptop and put it on the table. “The fun stuff. Do you still collect vinyl? What’s your favorite drink? What do you like to do when you’re not working?”

Calista closes her own laptop. “Yes. Champagne. And I’m always working.”

Champagne. I make a note of that. “You know what I mean.”

“Let me see then…yes, I still collect vinyl. So much so that when I had my house remodeled, I added a listening room.”

“Shit. How big’s your house?”

“It’s a seven-thousand-square-foot home in Santa Monica. Pool. Five-minute walk to the ocean. The listening room is my favorite. It’s set up with all the right acoustics to really bring out the sound of the vinyl.”

“You sound like one of those wine snobs who eat strawberries to bring out the flavor of the champagne.”

Calista laughs. “I do that. And I suppose I shouldn’t mention that I have a hundred-and-fifty-bottle wine cellar.”

I glance out the window. The sky is gray. The shoveled snowbanks are turning gray and slushy. Matt, my neighbor, hurries out of the car and tugs his beanie low over his ears. “You missing it?”

She sighs. “The sunshine, yes. My own bed, absolutely. My first work coffee of the day with Becca, my right hand. What about you? Fill in the gaps for me too. Do you still read fiction?”

I tip my head in the direction of the bookshelf. “Occasionally. But I prefer to be doing something physical with my free time these days, as what I do for the club is sedentary. Switch and I go running in the summer, camping, fishing, hiking. That might change this summer now that he’s got a wife. We bought this place probably four house flips ago. Was going to be a property we’d flip and sell, but I kinda grew to love the place. Switch helped me fix it up, so I bought him out and kept it.”

Calista rests her elbow on the back of the sofa. “How did Switch become your best friend?”

“Same vibe. Love long rides. The brotherhood. Our moms.”

Calista laughs at that. “Hard to imagine big bad bikers missing their moms. But I kind of get it. You and your mom were always close.”

“Yeah. And Switch and I… we’re less…chaotic, than some of my brothers in the Outlaws.”

I notice Calista bristle at the mention of the club, but today isn’t the day to push that. Today, I want to get to know her more.

“You think you’ll ever come back here to live?” I ask.

“Is that a loaded question?”

I shake my head. “Not at all.”

She sighs and bites down on the side of her thumb. “If I’m honest, I’m really torn. I used the trip to see the banking client as an excuse to break my routine, making it hard for my stalker while we tried to find out who they were. I wasn’t even going to come and see Mom. I’m glad I did, but…”