Page 48 of The Fallen Man

“Truant officer?” he asked, leaning in the door of the bathroom.

“I only had to do it once,” she said. “So he’d know I was serious. Otherwise, he gets into trouble.”

He looked amused but didn’t say anything. Caitlin applied some make-up and mentally tried to pick an outfit. It didn’t matter what she wore to a fit gig. They were only going to strip her down and pin clothes on her anyway, but she wanted to pick something sexy for Jackson. But not so sexy that he would know she was doing it because of him.

She ended up going with her most model-esque look: a black T-shirt, jeans, and a pair of heels. She topped it with a chunky scarf and sunglasses. She thought he liked it because he watched her as he ate leftovers out of one of the white boxes from the fridge. Or maybe he just enjoyed watching her get dressed.

The car was in the same place he’d parked it and Caitlin felt relieved. He’d seemed confident that Jamal would prove an effective guard dog, but she hadn’t been so sure.

“Do you always feed Jamal?” he asked as they drove.

“I get a lot of leftovers from work. It’s one of the perks of working for Vince and Angela. And I can’t eat them all. Not if I want to keep doing fit modeling anyway.”

“Who are Vince and Angela?”

“Vince Ramano. He and his wife Angela run VAR Events. She does the food, and he does the security.”

“I like their events!”

“You seem overly enthusiastic,” said Caitlin, as they stopped at a red light.

“Sorry. I’ve just noticed that VAR always have their security wired. Their shit’s tight. I worry less when it’s one of their events.”

“That’s right. You do security?”

“More or less,” he said.

Caitlin pondered that. His knowledge of how much Jamal should get for a Civic said maybe the answer was less. She tried to decide if she cared. Probably not. It was a one-night stand after all.

“Anyway,” he said, smiling as if recognizing that his statement was odd, “Vince and Angela? It’s a good job?”

“Yeah,” she said. She could have said that Vince was the only person who had picked up her call when she’d gone through her contact list begging for a job. He’d also loaned her the deposit for her apartment and helped her move when she was left destitute. But she didn’t think it was any of his business. “It’s a good job. Vince really looks out for his employees.”

“That’s rare.”

“Tell me about it.”

They drove in comfortable silence, while Jackson fiddled with the radio. She thought she probably ought to start some sort of conversation, but other than giving him directions or talking about last night, she couldn’t think of anything to say. What was he expecting from her? What was she expecting from him? Wasshe expecting anything? Giving her a ride was actually exceeding her expectations already.

“It’s the building up here on the left,” she said as they reached their destination.

He parked and got out to open her door, which she hadn’t had anyone do in forever.

“I don’t want you to trip and kill yourself in those shoes,” he said as she eyed him over her sunglasses.

“You want to feel my ass when I get out of the car,” she said accepting his hand and allowing him to help her out.

“I can’t have multiple goals?” he asked, sliding his hands around her and putting one distinctly on her ass.

She kissed him and realized that this was her moment. She needed to tell him to call her or keep her mouth shut. He’d been amazing, but amazing turned crappy in a heartbeat. Did she really have room for him in her life? Did he even want the space? Before she could make up her mind, Roggario’s assistant ran out the door.

“Oh my God, you’re so late. Can you hurry?”

“I’m five minutes early,” muttered Caitlin.

“Go get ‘em tiger,” he said and slapped her on the ass.

She blew him a kiss and went inside.