From Temptation to Twins(54)

“I didn’t tell anyone else,” Caleb whispered back as Matt’s footfalls grew closer.

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“Morning, Caleb,” Matt said as he entered the room. “Oh, morning, Jules.”

“I...” she started, but came up blank and ended up blinking.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Caleb said.

Matt held up his palms. “None of my business.”

She took another stab at it. “We have a...”

“Love-hate relationship,” Caleb finished for her.

“Lust-hate relationship.” She couldn’t see any point in pretending.

“I really don’t need to know,” Matt said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“You’re the only one who does,” Jules said. “Not Melissa, not anyone.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Matt said, stopping the pour to look affronted.

“Matt’s not going to tell anyone,” Caleb said.

Jules realized that who Matt did or didn’t tell wasn’t the problem. The problem was her conflicted feelings for Caleb and how she was going to get them under control. The other, bigger problem was how she was going to get the Crab Shack up and running.

“Do I need a lawyer?” she asked Caleb.

It was clear from his expression that he’d followed her change of topic. “My lawyer is rescinding the easement this morning.”

“Seriously?” Matt asked from the other side of the kitchen.

Caleb shot him a look of annoyance.

“I thought it was just a threat,” Matt said.

“I never thought it was just a threat,” Jules said. The words felt heavy as she uttered them. “I’ve known all along he was serious.”

“You left me no choice,” Caleb said.

“You always had a choice. You could live with seventeen Neo locations and however many tens of millions that pulls in.”

“It’s not about money.”

“If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

“What about you?” he asked. “You had a choice, too. Neo and the Crab Shack could live amicably side by side.”

“That’s not a choice. That’s a Watford trying to con a Parker. That’s history repeating itself. It’s the very thing I came here to fix.”

“You are so misguided.”

“You just hate it when we don’t roll over and play dead.”

Caleb’s eyes darkened. “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

“I’m wrong a lot.” She rose to her feet, reminding herself all over again how stupidly wrong she’d been to come here last night. “But not about this.”

She took two steps back, trying desperately to see the distant Caleb, the one she despised, the one out to harm her. She backed into the wall, but she quickly recovered. She concentrated with all her might, but it didn’t work.

She couldn’t separate him into halves anymore. She couldn’t see her enemy. She saw only Caleb.

* * *

“Thanks for doing this,” Caleb said to Matt a week later as they watched Noah climb the stairs to the marina deck.

It was nearly ten o’clock, and things had been dark at the Crab Shack for over an hour.

“Are you sure he’s an ally?” asked Matt.

“I think so. I hope so. I’m running pretty short on moves, so I better be able to make this happen.”

“Jules still not talking to you?”

“I can’t get anywhere near her.” And Caleb had certainly tried.

Since his lawyer had filed the papers, she was refusing to have anything to do with Caleb. He’d tried three different carrots, and none of them had worked. Now the stick had been an even more colossal failure. If he didn’t come up with something new, Jules was going to lose all her money, and he was never going to have a chance at exploring their feelings for each other.

“Hey, Noah,” he greeted the man, stepping forward to shake his hand. “Thanks for coming.”

“You said it was about work?” Noah asked.

Matt gestured to the cluster of deck chairs.

“Melissa told me what you suggested,” Caleb opened as the three of them sat down.

It was a clear night, but breezy waves crested higher than usual as the tide rolled out. The yachts creaked against their mooring ropes, while the flag over the dock snapped in the wind.

“What did I suggest?” Noah asked, his expression becoming guarded.

“That they sell to me. It’s a good idea. And she listened.”

“It had nothing to do with what’s best for you,” Noah told Caleb.

“I get that.” Caleb guessed Noah had Melissa’s best interests at heart when he made the suggestion. “But Jules won’t go for it.”