Joseph was looking back and forth between them, blue eyes sharpening as his focus narrowed in on them. “Have you two been arguing again?”
“Yeah, and it’s my fault,” Caleb said before Judith could open her mouth. “I’m sorry, Jude.” He didn’t bother to elaborate, just hoped she’d understand. Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned, lifted a hand to his friend. He had a meeting with Mike scheduled anyway. “I gotta go. Catch you ’round, bro.”
Chapter Eight
“Something you need to tell me?”
“No.” Judith turned away, blinked hard to get rid of the moisture in her eyes, and busied herself with her camera so he wouldn’t notice her shaking hands. “You want to pose a little more for me?”
Crying? Why the hell was she crying? God, what was wrong with her?
Okay, so she hadn’t expected to see Caleb lounging on her brother’s desk. Or wanted her heart to race and her mouth to go dry as soon as she’d locked eyes with him. Certainly not with Joseph in the room. And perhaps ignoring him, since she hadn’t known what else to do, hadn’t been the best move. Why would that make her cry, though?
Because he was angry. And that hurt.
She swallowed, flicking unseeing through the pictures on her camera.
So he was angry. What did he expect? She could hardly do anything with Joseph in the room. And since their lunch, where that reporter had set off every single one of her doubts, she’d been trying to figure out whether she and Caleb could even be together anyway.
Because it seemed impossible. Trust was too hard when there were so many reminders of all the things he’d left her for.
“Jude?”
She blinked, realizing she’d just been standing there staring at her camera like a fool. “What?”
Joseph tossed the ball up into the air again, a meditative look on his face. “You and Cal. Seemed like more than just another one of your little spats.”
“Well, it’s not. He was just being a pill about his knee in the shot.”
“Oh. Sure.”
Judith bit her lip, her heart aching. “Look, he apologized, okay? Can we drop it?”
Her brother just stared at her and she could feel her blush deepening. “He’s not trying anything funny with you, is he?”
Great. Bloody wonderful. “No,” she said as firmly as she could. “As if I’d even let him. And even if he was, it’s none of your damn business.”
“Of course it’s my business. You’re my sister.”
“I’m sorry, I could have sworn this was the twenty-first century. You know women have the vote, right? We’re even allowed to own property and everything.”
“Okay, okay.” Joseph blew out a breath. “Fine. Whatever. Don’t tell me. You still want me to pretend to be talking on the phone?”
Relieved he’d dropped the subject, Judith spent another fifteen minutes taking pictures —which was pretty much all the patience Joe had—then packed up her gear.
She was rather pleased with the shots she’d taken. Not being in the studio had made her antsy, but once she’d settled into the actual process of taking the pictures, she’d gotten right into it. And actually, it had been rather freeing not being limited by space or props.
Once Caleb had gone, she’d started to enjoy it more. She’d snapped some good ones of Joseph, capturing his brilliant, kinetic energy, while at the same time the focus he brought to all the things he was interested in. It had helped when Christie had called and talked to him on the phone. His voice had changed, his posture becoming more relaxed. She liked listening to him talk to his new wife, liked the tenderness in his voice.
Even if it brought a small lump to her throat. No one had ever talked to her like that, not even her brother.
Caleb did.
The lump in her throat grew larger.
After she’d finished with Joseph, she rode the elevator down from his office and as she stepped into Ashton Tech’s lobby, a man sitting in one of the couches in the waiting area slowly rose to his feet. She stopped, her heartbeat going into overdrive as she saw who it was.
Tall, dark, and dangerous. Speak of the devil.
“What are you doing here?” she said, trying to sound like her usual cool self. “I thought you had to leave?”
Caleb shoved his hands in his pockets. “I want to talk to you.”
“What about?” She gripped the strap of her bag.
“Among other things probably not sniping at each other around Joe. He’s going to wonder what’s up and I don’t know about you but I don’t see any need for him to find out what’s going on between us.”