Caleb didn’t know what woke him up the next morning, but as he reached out and felt the cold sheets around him, he knew he was alone. He sat up and listened. The house was silent.

Even Lollipop was gone.

What the hell? He thought they’d gotten past this, past Sadie running scared. Just last night, they’d shared more of themselves than they ever had, and when they’d gone to bed . . . Well, the sensual, erotic memories would be fueling his dreams for a long time to come.

So why had she left without a word? And, he realized as he rose from the bed and saw her discarded outfit scattered across his floor, without her clothes? What the hell? Had she gotten a call? Was there an emergency? Grabbing his phone from the nightstand, he activated the screen. Nothing from her, not a call, text, or e-mail. Nothing but work, a text from Kel, and an e-mail from Naoki’s night nurse that there’d been no change in his condition.

Caleb strode through his house, but his gut was right. Sadie was gone. Moving quickly back to his bedroom, he pulled on the sweatpants from the night before and a T-shirt. He jammed his feet into his running shoes, grabbed his keys, and took off after her.

It was too early for her to have gone to the day spa for her shift, so he went to her place. He stood on the porch and knocked.

From inside, Lollipop went apeshit. She knew it was him.

But Sadie didn’t open the door. Most likely because she too knew it was him.

What the actual fuck?

He knocked again, knowing the barking would drive Sadie nuts.

Finally, the door whipped open and there she stood, the mystery of how she’d gotten home without clothes solved. She was wearing his overcoat belted tight around her waist, bare legs, and bare feet. Her hair was morning wild, just the way he loved it because it reminded him of how he’d had his hands fisted in it only a few hours before. He was pretty sure there was a beard burn on her throat, but when she caught his eyes going there, she yanked the collar of the coat closed. “How can anyone sleep with this racket?” she demanded.

“They can, after they answer the door.”

She slammed it shut.

Okay. Call him a little slow, but he was starting to realize there hadn’t been any sort of emergency, and she hadn’t just gotten anxious because they’d gotten too close last night. Nope. She was pissed off at him for something else, but hell if he knew what. She rocked his world in ways he hadn’t known were possible, but she also aggravated him to the ends of the earth. Tired of this game, he pulled his keys from his pocket and unlocked her door, only to come up against the chain. “Sadie. Let me in.”

“I’m sorry, but hell hasn’t frozen over, so no.”

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Like you don’t know.”

“Arf!”

He looked down to find Lollipop staring up at him with bright happy eyes, tail wagging. At least there was one female happy to see him.

But then the dog was scooped up and vanished from view. “Sadie—”

“Go away.”

“Wait.” He put his foot in the door just as she tried to shut it. Grateful he was wearing the trainers that he’d actually designed for astronauts because this meant she couldn’t squish his foot, he held firm. “Talk to me,” he said. “What’s going on? A few hours ago you were in my bed panting my name and—”

“—I most definitely did not pant your name.”

“Yeah, you did. And you begged too, very sweetly.”

The one eye he could see through the chained door narrowed. “Hey,” she said. “You did some of your own begging too, you know!”

“I did,” he agreed. “And afterward, we fell asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms. But then I woke up alone, which is odd because you never wake up before me, much less functioning enough to get up and out of the house—without your clothes, no less. Which means you basically ran out of there like your ass was on fire. So I’m going to ask you again, what is going on?”

“I saw what you did.” She undid the chain and opened the door to stare at him in his coat, and, he could see now, wearing one of his T-shirts which fell to her mid-thigh. Her eyes were filled with so much emotion it took his breath. Temper, most definitely, but hurt too, and it was that that killed him.

“Sadie,” he said softly. “Tell me what you saw, what did I do?”

“You have an e-mail. The subject line says, Mercedes Lane, please read .”

He stilled. He had no idea how she could have seen his unopened e-mail—until he remembered his laptop on his kitchen table.

She was watching his face. “So it’s true.”

“It’s not what you think,” he said. “I—”

“No. Don’t you dare try to explain this away. Now move your damn foot before I call the police.”

It wasn’t the threat that had him moving his foot. He did it because her eyes had gone suspiciously bright and her breath hitched, and he knew she was nearing meltdown status and didn’t need to feel bullied while that was happening. “Okay,” he said, lifting his hands as he pulled his foot back. “But—”

But nothing because the door once again slammed in his face.

Before he could decide what to do, the door opened again and his coat and his T-shirt hit him in the face. Then, with a flash of sweet bare-ass naked curves, she once again slammed the door.

Sadie headed straight to her bedroom for clothes. It was damn hard to maintain control when one’s bits were out in the breeze. She pulled on the first things she came to, a pair of black and gray camo leggings and a camisole, and then added a denim jacket because she was suddenly cold all the way to the bone.

Lollipop came running for her and at the sound of the little pitter-patter of her paws scrambling on the floor to get to her, Sadie’s eyes stung. Her precious little dog sat at her feet and stared up at her solemnly, her huge doggy eyes filled with concern.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Just because I broke up with him doesn’t mean you did. Nothing will change for you, I promise.”

The knock at her door made her grimace. “Gee, wonder who that could be.” She peered through the peephole and sighed.

“I never opened the file,” he said through the wood.

“But you have the file. You didn’t trust me enough to believe whatever I told you about myself.” She opened the door. “You didn’t take me at face value.”

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Are you going to tell me that you’ve always taken me at face value?”

“Yes.”

He gave her a long look. “You called me Suits for the entire first year you knew me.”

And though he was right, this only made her all the more mad because she’d never been able to handle someone shoving her own shit in her face. He was the one in the wrong here, dammit.

“Sadie,” he said quietly, seriously. “You know my sisters have been running background checks on the new people in my life for a very long time. This was a matter of course, and I stopped it soon as I realized, which was when you came to me with the pics of Kayla stalking you. We’ve already argued about this. I never saw the contents of the file. I never wanted to.”

“But you have the file. You didn’t even tell me.”

“And I should have,” he said. “I’m very sorry I didn’t. I won’t make that mistake again. But I never read it, Sadie.” He looked into her eyes and a grim set came to his mouth. “I need you to believe me.”

No, that was asking way too much. “You swore to me you weren’t having me followed,” she said. “And I believed you.”

And wasn’t that the kicker. She’d been stupid enough to trust when she knew better. Shocked to find that she was suddenly feeling not good enough for him, a sensation she hadn’t experienced in a long time, she slipped into her boots, slung her purse over her shoulder, and handed Lollipop’s leash over to Caleb. “It’s your day and I won’t rob you of that,” she said. Bending low, she cuddled the dog and whispered, “See you tomorrow, baby.” Then she stood. “Goodbye, Caleb.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.”

“But this is your place.”

“Yes, so if you’d please lock up when you leave, I’d appreciate it. Don’t be here when I get back.”