It was just the distraction she needed in order to redirect the topic of conversation without it seeming strange.
‘So how long have you lived on this street?’ she asked, waving her hands around expansively. ‘It’s a lovely area.’
As they walked out onto his street, with him telling her he’d been here for the last four years and how he came to find it, it suddenly struck her how businesslike the area was. The apartments were large and expensive-looking, but didn’t give the impression of being held together by a cohesive community. It was a district for people who liked to live alone within a bustling major city.
It made her spirits sink to think of Caleb like that. But then he’d always been fiercely independent and protective of his personal space and she guessed this was just a grown-up extension of that, she reminded herself.
As soon as they walked into his apartment she excused herself, saying she needed a rest before they went out for dinner, in desperate need of some space away from him in order to regroup before their meeting tonight.
Shutting her bedroom door firmly behind her, she took the opportunity to check her email. Her stomach lurched as she saw a message from her Sales Director asking her how it was going with Caleb and checking whether there was any news about being able to use his battery in their car yet.
Closing the laptop with a snap, she resolved not to look at her messages again until after the meal this evening. She was going to need her wits about her tonight, not only for the sake of Caleb’s business but also in order to keep her cool whilst looking as though she was intimately acquainted with the man. He already turned her insides to goo every time he so much as looked at her and if he was going to be touching her all night too she was going to need every ounce of strength she had to remain unflustered and in control. The last thing she wanted was for Caleb to suspect she was enjoying his company as more than a friend.
That was a complication neither of them needed at the moment.
CALEB TOOK A long shower, feeling energised by the time he’d spent getting to know a bit more about Elena today.
The intense moment they’d shared in the hotel room, where the air had positively crackled between them, had convinced him that there had to have been more between them than just friendship during their time at university.
Judging by her jumpiness around him afterwards, she’d definitely felt the same weight of possibility that had hummed between them as they stood gazing at each other with her hand pressed against his heart.
Having the space to think about it now, he realised he’d been aware of an odd kind of tension between them all day, as if she was trying to suppress something—or hide something, maybe. Had they not taken their relationship further because she’d been seeing that Jimmy guy? Had he, Caleb, been the blip she’d mentioned?
Perhaps this connection he felt had always been there, but even though they were both single now Elena didn’t think it appropriate to act on it when he was just out of hospital after the accident.
Well, to hell with that. Why should a bang on the head stop them from exploring this thing between them? He wasn’t an invalid. He knew his own mind.
Pulling on a smart shirt and trousers for dinner with a determination to find out whether he was right later, he walked out into the living area to discover Elena was also dressed for their meeting and was waiting for him.
The pale pink dress she had on was beautifully understated but entirely beguiling at the same time. It had a halter top, which tied behind her long, elegant neck and showcased her pale, slender shoulders. He couldn’t help but notice how the bodice of the dress dipped in under her full breasts then gently curved against her slender waist, perfectly emphasising her hourglass figure.
Feeling her watching him, he dropped his gaze to look at the skirt instead, which was slim-fitting and narrowed at the knee, making her legs look as if they went on for miles.
Forcing himself to snap his mouth shut and pull his gaze up to her face, he gave her a nod of hello and went into the kitchen to get himself a very cold drink of water.
Right now wasn’t the time to explore his theory. He had more immediate things to deal with, in the shape of persuading Jonathan Carter to take his business.
‘Will you be ready to go in five minutes?’ he asked, placing the glass carefully into the sink with an unsteady hand.
‘I’m ready when you are,’ she replied, but he could have sworn he saw a flash of concern on her face. Perhaps she was nervous about the charade they were about to embark on. It suddenly occurred to him that every time Elena saw him after a break she seemed a little more tense, as if she was expecting him to do or say something she was afraid of. But why?
He remembered with a jolt that she’d mentioned at the hospital that they’d had a row right before his accident, but in his befuddled state he’d not asked her what it had been about.
‘Elena?’
She looked round at him as she went to grab her handbag from the table by the door.
‘What did we argue about before my accident?’
Her face seemed to blanch a little.
‘Er...’ Wrapping her arms around her body, she fixed him with an awkward smile. ‘It was an old argument from when we were at university. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to talk about it now though. We need to be totally focused on the meeting.’ She looked so stricken he decided not to push it any further. Especially when she was doing him such a favour by attending this meeting with him.
But why was she so tense? Perhaps she was still feeling responsible for him being hit by that bike. He wished, not for the first time, that he could remember it.
‘Fair enough,’ he said, ‘but, whatever it was, stop worrying that I’m going to bite your head off every time I see you. We’re friends after all.’
‘Uh-huh,’ she mumbled, not looking at him now.
Walking slowly over to where she stood, he put his hand on her bare arm and felt her quiver under his touch.
She took a quick step away, breaking their contact and folding her arms across her chest.
‘We should go. We don’t want to be late.’
‘Of course,’ he said, forcing himself to remain where he was and not touch her again, just to see what she’d do. The urge to provoke more of a reaction was intoxicating.
Grabbing his warm weather overcoat, he slid his arms carefully into the sleeves. He was going to have to be careful not to let Carter see he’d been in an accident or it might serve as another mark against him, especially if the man thought he was in any way mentally incapacitated as well at the moment.
It was funny but refusing to show any physical weakness felt like something he was well acquainted with, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. It eluded him, like something flittering on the edge of his vision. He knew something important was there, but he couldn’t fully grasp what he was looking at.
Damn memory—it was playing havoc with his self-assurance.
But it would all be okay; he’d make sure it was.
As for Elena, he’d get the full story from her eventually, but for now she was right—he needed to keep his head in the game.
* * *
The restaurant that Benita had booked them into was on a small, winding side street off the famous grand La Rambla, a tree-lined pedestrian mall in the oldest