I was starting to get worried. Caleb had called a while ago, hanging up the second I answered the phone. But every time I tried to call him back since, all I got was voice mail.

I couldn’t explain why, but my gut was telling me that something was seriously wrong.

“What’s up with you? That’s like the seventh time you’ve checked your phone.”

My head jerked up from the screen at the sound of Lola’s voice. Girls’ night had taken place at my house that week, and we were all currently gathered around my kitchen island, drinking wine and munching on the yummy little appetizers I’d made.

I set it facedown on my refurbished butcher-block countertop. “Sorry. Just trolling Facebook. I’ll stop.” Fiona gave me a curious look while Lola and Sophia seemed to buy my answer easily enough. I took a large sip of my wine. “So, what were we talking about?”

Sophia looked over at Fiona with a wicked smile. “We were talking about the fact that half the women in this room right now have slept with Grayson Lockhart.”

“We were not talking about that!” Lola shouted while the rest of us burst into laughter.

“Oh god,” Fiona cried dramatically, dropping her head onto the counter. “When you say it like that, you make it sound so gross.”

I fell into the spirit of the evening, letting myself forget about the stress over Caleb, and teased, “When you think about it, it kind of is.”

Lola threw a wonton across the counter at me. “Stop it. Don’t make it weirder than it already is.”

“Ohmigod!” Sophia squealed. “You’ve both totally seen Grayson’s O face! Aw, it’s like a special bond between you guys.”

Lola clapped her hands over her ears and chanted, “I’m not listening! I’m not listening.”

The laughter was still ringing loudly from the others as I lifted my phone as discreetly as possible and checked the screen once more. Still nothing. I couldn’t take it any longer. “Hey, guys, I’ll be right back. I need to go to the bathroom.”

I hurried into the powder-blue half bath on the first floor and quickly dialed Caleb’s number again.

“Hey, you’ve reached Caleb. I’m either in a meeting or screening my calls, so leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”

Damn it. “Hey, Caleb. It’s me. Again. I… well, I don’t really know. I just… will you call me back when you get a chance? I saw you called earlier and I’m starting to get a little worried.”

God, I sounded like an obsessed stalker or something. I disconnected the call and pretended to wash my hands in the bathroom sink, stuffing my phone in my back jeans pocket.

I went back out and tried my best to act like everything was business as usual, that I was just a normal woman having a typical girls’ night. But by the time my friends headed home a while later, I still didn’t feel any better.

Luckily I hadn’t had much wine, so I was fine to drive. I rushed out of my house only five minutes after they all left.

I was a ball of nerves by the time I got to his door, second-guessing my decision to show up at his apartment unannounced. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave until I made absolutely sure he was okay. It was like there was a sixth sense that just wouldn’t let me.

I knocked on his door and waited for an answer. And waited. And waited. I lifted my hand to knock again when the sound of the elevator dinging behind me made me turn around.

Caleb stepped out of the car, his head down with his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Caleb?”

His head shot up at my voice. “Daphne? What are you doing here?”

I tangled my fingers together and chewed on my bottom lip. “I… um… I’m sorry. This is weird. I shouldn’t have just shown up like this.”

He came closer, placing his hands on my shoulders in a soothing gesture. “Hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just….” I chewed my lip so hard I actually tasted blood. “It’ll sound stupid, but I just had a feeling something was wrong, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

His head tilted to the side while he studied me in complete silence for several agonizing seconds. “You were worried about me?”

“Yeah,” I admitted hesitantly. “But now that I’ve said it out loud, I realize it sounds a lot creepy, so I’m just going to go. You’re obviously okay, and I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one ni—”

I sidestepped him in an attempt to get to the elevator, but my words and movements were cut off when he grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Threading his fingers in my hair, his lips came down in a hungry kiss that I was all too happy to return. I hadn’t realized until right then that I’d felt like something was missing these past several days.

I’d purposefully ignored the tiny black hole that had formed in my chest when Caleb wasn’t around. After three months of nearly constant companionship, it was like I was missing a limb. The moment he kissed me, I was whole again. The concept was worrisome, but I was so consumed with him that I couldn’t bring myself to care. Not about the fact that I was starting to feel more for him than I should, or that I had put Caleb McMannus in a place in my heart he had no business being.

I was content to love in the moment. So when he finally broke the kiss, leaving me breathless and weak kneed, and softly spoke, “Stay with me tonight,” I was more than happy to oblige.

* * *

I slowly woke, my limbs deliciously languid from a night of sex that was more intense and demanding than I’d ever experienced.

I stretched my naked body and reached across the bed only to discover that I was all alone.

I climbed off the mattress and grabbed one of Caleb’s T-shirts from the bedroom floor, slipping it over me before following the sound of running water into the bathroom. I peered through the glass of the shower, finding him standing beneath the showerhead letting the spray rush over him. I licked my lips at the sight of the water trickling around each rippled muscle.

“Hey.”

He spun around at the sound of my voice, and an odd sense of foreboding twisted my stomach at the look on his face. It was almost as if he’d forgotten I was even there. My smile fell as I asked, “You okay?”

He swiped the water off his face with one hand as he twisted the knob to shut off the shower with the other. “Yeah. Everything’s fine,” he answered as he stepped out of the glass-and-tile enclosure. I had to step back quickly to get out of his way as he pulled a towel off the rod and slung it around his hips. “What makes you ask that?”

There was something about his demeanor that was just… off. I couldn’t explain it or put my finger on it, but I felt it to my bones. “I don’t know. You just seem a little different, I guess.” I slipped my arms over his damp shoulders, not caring that pressing against him made the shirt wet. “If you’d woken me up, I could’ve showered with you,” I said in a low, sultry voice.

Caleb’s smile looked forced, not meeting his eyes as he placed his hands on my hips and nudged me back. “Sorry. I just remembered I have some stuff at the office I need to finish up before Monday.”

I watched his reflection in the mirror as he squeezed a bit of toothpaste on his toothbrush and went to work. That knot in my gut tightened to an almost painful point. “Oh. Okay. Well, if you have time, how about I bring you some lunch? Or maybe you could come by when you’re done and help me finish stripping the wallpaper in the guest room.”

He spit and rinsed, turning to face me once again. “I’ll just order something to be delivered. It’s probably going to be a pretty late night for me.”

I got the distinct impression that he was blowing me off, but I didn’t want to be one of those women who made a big deal out of something that was all in her head. “Did something happen last night?”

His face softened a bit at my question, and he leaned in to place a quick kiss on my lips. “Nope, I’m all good. Just busy.”

He left me standing in the bathroom by myself. I waited for a few seconds, trying to get my bearings before following him into the bedroom. He already had a pair of jeans on and was working on the buttons of his shirt.

I could have reverted back to the unsure, insecure woman I’d been back when I was with Stefan, letting my anxieties fester until I finally exploded in a mess of accusations. Or I could be the woman I’d turned into afterward who was self-assured and confident. One who refused to be a doormat for anyone and demanded answers. I chose the latter, knowing full well what the former had led to in the past.

“You’re avoiding me,” I said with a confidence I most certainly wasn’t feeling. That nagging doubt in the back of my head began to grow into anger. Anger at myself for becoming too attached to Caleb. Anger at him for rehashing old feelings within me that I’d buried years before.

“Sweetheart, I’m not. I swear. I just have a lot of shit going on at work. If I don’t take care of it this weekend, it’s going to bury me come next week.” He moved into me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he gave me that lazy, carefree smile I’d seen him wear countless times in all the gossip magazines. It wasn’t a smile that had been directed at me, at least not since our relationship had changed.

I hated that smile and the cocky confidence it held.

“Besides,” he continued, “there’s nothing to avoid, right? I mean, we’re just having fun. No strings. It’s not like we’re really together or anything.”

It was like a knife had been plunged straight into my gut. And I had no one to blame for the searing pain I was experiencing right then but myself. He was only echoing the very words I’d said four months before. It was my own damn fault that I’d gotten carried away and complicated things with useless emotions.

I swallowed down the golf ball–sized lump that had suddenly formed in my throat and did my best not to let my sorrow seep into my words. “Y-yeah. Sure. Exactly. Just fun.”

That black hole in my chest grew until it took up every inch of space.

He winked at me. The jerk actually winked. “Then we’re all good. I have to go, but feel free to hang around here as long as you want. Just be sure to lock the doorknob before you leave.”

And just like that, with a peck on the tip of my nose, he left, taking a piece of me with him.