Page 82 of Untouchable

“What’s wrong, Caleb?” she asked, coming over to him instead. “You look all stressed about something.” She leaned against him and stroked his chest softly. “Did something happen?”

Something had happened. Kelly Watson had happened. And his life would never be the same.

“Did you do anything after you met with your client?” he asked, his voice slightly hoarse now.

He wanted to see if she would lie.

“No,” she said, slightly haltingly. “What’s the matter with you?”

So she lied after all. Right to his face. Convincingly too. She looked nothing but concerned and bewildered.

She was a master, and he’d fallen for her like a boy.

He took a quick step backward, pulling himself away from her hands, since despite everything, he relished the feel of them. It was time to go on the offensive anyway.

“Did you fuck him?” he bit out.

She jerked visibly, the pretty bewilderment transforming to real confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Did you fuck him?”

She frowned, hurt and offended now. “You know I fucked him, Caleb. That’s how I got into this mess to begin with. Did you think I’d somehow gotten involved with this guy but didn’t actually?—”

“No,” he cut in, realizing what she’d thought. It was such a natural and innocent misunderstanding that it broke into his angry momentum temporarily. “I wasn’t talking about before. I was talking about today. When you had the little hookup with the guy in the workout room after you left your client. The same one you met in the dressing room and pretended not to know. Did you fuck him?”

It took a moment for her to process the question, and he saw the whole succession of emotions cross over her face. Confusion. Recognition. Understanding. Fear. Anger. Anger.Anger.

“Are you spying on me?” she demanded at last, her cheeks flushing as she took several steps backward, away from him.

“You know I have the bodyguard following you for your own protection.”

“If you know about my meeting that guy today, then he’s doing more than protecting me. You’re spying on me! Havingyour people observe my every move and report back to you! How dare you do that to me?”

Caleb almost choked on his outrage that she’d somehow managed to make him look like the bad guy in this when she was the one who’d just lied to him, who’d betrayed him. “You probably do think you’re that irresistible,” he said, stepping forward, his whole body tense with suppressed rage. “You think I’m so obsessed with you that I’ve turned into some sort of stalker because of you? My man did his job—nothing more. And don’t think you can turn the topic away from the real issue. Which is the way you’ve been sneaking around behind my back, pretending to be into me when all this time you’re spreading your legs for some?—”

His words cut off when she reached up to push him away from her. He caught her wrist before she could, and he held it when she tried to pull free.

“Don’t act like an outraged virgin,” he snapped, grabbing her other wrist too when she used it instead. “You’re the one who has been using me.”

“Fuck you, Caleb,” she choked out, giving up her attempt to free herself. “I didn’t fuck that guy. I’ve never fucked that guy. But even if I had, you have no right to act this way. There’s never been any commitment between us.”

He couldn’t believe she was trying to justify what she’d done, once again making him look in the wrong—like he was an obsessive, jealous bully. “Don’t try that argument on me. We’ve never spoken of a commitment, but we both know we’re in something deep here. I haven’t fucked another woman since I met you. I haven’t even wanted another woman since I met you.”

He shouldn’t be admitting that. It exposed too much about his heart. But he couldn’t seem to help it. His lifetime of control had snapped, and it drove something else home to him. “I’ve broken myself for you,” he continued hoarsely, still holding herin front of him by both her wrists. She was so beautiful and vulnerable and everything he wanted that his body began to respond to her, despite everything. He felt his groin tighten and his skin heat up. “I’ve sacrificed the man I was before. Foryou. Because ofyou. I’ve lost him because of you. And all this time you’ve been screwing?—”

She let out a wordless scream that sounded like absolute frustration, desperation. She yanked her arms out of his grip and pushed him backward, away from her. “You thinkyou’vebroken yourself? You have no idea what broken feels like! You think you sacrificed something because you’ve decided it might be nice to fuck one woman for longer than a night? Because you’re bothered when you think she hasn’t fallen in a besotted heap at your feet? You knownothing. I’ve sacrificed everything. I’ve lost everything. There is nothing of me left worth having. And it’s all because ofyou.”

Something about her words broke through the furious haze in his mind. Her anger and outrage was genuine. He could feel the truth of it in his bones. She wasn’t lying or playing a part now. She felt more real than he’d ever felt her.

It was like shehatedhim.

If her meeting with the guy hadn’t been as bad as it looked, then she might have a reason to be angry with him now. But hate him? Why would she hate him?

The puzzle broke through his irrational fury and calmed him down just enough to begin to think.

There was more going on here than he knew.

She had turned her back to him, obviously trying to get control of herself. She wouldn’t want to cry in front of him, even in anger. She would think it made her weak.