He closed his eyes for a moment as he took in my words. I heard a rush of breath come out of him and realized he’d been waiting to hear me say it. But now, finally faced with hearing those three important words from me, he was stirred up. I could feel him trembling beneath my hands as I touched him. As clear as day for me to see—telling Caleb I loved him was profoundly meaningful to him.
Loving him had made me realize something. It wasn’t about one’s station in life. I love him—every beautiful, generous, thoughtful part of him. And it was so easy to do so, as if he’d been made for me. I was now seeing it must be the same for him. He loves me completely. It hadn’t made sense to me before, but loving him had opened my eyes to the startling fact. Love simply was.
Caleb didn’t say a word when he swept me up into his arms and kissed me. He kissed me the whole distance as he carried me up the stairs. He didn’t stop kissing me while he stripped me out of my robe, nor while slipping out of his jeans, which he’d donned after our bath. He kept on kissing me once we were naked on my bed together, and he’d put himself inside me.
When we were as close as two people could possibly be, he said it back to me.
“I love you, Brooke. Only you.”
He didn’t hold back after that with any of the words he spoke to me.
Neither did I.
Brooke
Monday morning came all too quickly for both of us, I think. Resurfacing back to reality after our emotionally binding weekend was like coming down from floating in the clouds to walking barefoot in the desert. But since we were doing it together as a couple, it was okay.
As I was settling the cottage for my days and nights away in Boston, Caleb’s phone started blowing up. He took call after call, growing more agitated with each one in a way I’d never witnessed coming from him before.
“No response is the best way to handle it, Calvin, and if you want the funds for your subsidiaries to continue flowing from BGE to your press, then shut this whole mess the fuck down as quietly as possible. Make it go away and you will be rewarded.” He tapped into his phone.
“What? Hell, no! Those shithead parasites aren’t getting a statement from me. Seriously, Georgie, you know me better than that by now. Fucking figure it out. Use the full resources of the company that you have at your disposal, and don’t give me a reason to find someone else to head up the department. Hanging up now.” More taps into his phone.
“I don’t care. Why should I, exactly? It’s private information they are not entitled to know. Todd, I shouldn’t even have to say this, you are the head of fucking PR—do your job and relate to the public, for fuck’s sake! I already told you what to do, but you didn’t like my suggestion.” He ended the call abruptly, and on to the next.
“Hey. Yeah, I am done with these goddamn paparazzi circus performers. I need you to reach out to LeRoy in security for setting up a plan for round-the-clock surveillance. Two, with one on call should be sufficient. Twenty-four seven, when out of my sight—at least until this all cools down, or some new sensation pops up in the world to distract the vipers away from her.”
I glanced up from watering Nan’s potted fern to find him tracking me. He mouthed “Love you” to me as he listened to whoever was speaking to him. He held out his hand, beckoning me to come to him. He took hold of my hand when I came into his reach. “I’ll be in around eight thirty. Thank you.” His call ended, he pulled me down to sit beside him on the living room couch. He took hold of my chin and gave me such an intense look, I knew something was wrong.
“Who was that on the phone?”
“Just now? Victoria. Before her, it was a series of crybabies in need of some slaps upside the head, unfortunately.”
“Caleb, what has happened?”
He still had hold of my chin, which he maneuvered toward his lips for a soft kiss before pulling back again and delivering the same intense blaze from his eyes as before. “I need you to remember all of the things we said to each other this weekend. Those were real words, real feelings, real emotions—the real fucking truth about us. Okay?”
I felt myself break out in a sweat. “You’re scaring me. What is this all about? Caleb—I don’t know what—”
“Shh . . . it’s going to be fine,” he soothed, “don’t be scared, baby. I’m handling it. All I need from you right now is to trust me to take care of everything to keep you protected. Because I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you or take from what we have together.”
Protected from what? “Please tell me,” I begged, feeling like I might be suddenly sick. Oh God. My first thought was Marcus’s family. Could they have found me via my connection to Caleb? Probably yes.
“I love you, Brooke,” he reminded me, his voice roughly insistent.
“I know you do. I love you, too.” Caleb loves me—don’t forget that.