And then he was there, on stage with the crowd, the media, the cheers, the applause. Some part of him wanted to start the show, smile the smile, put on the Abs of Steele charm. Yet he didn’t, because all he could see was Judith, her face pale, her eyes dark. Staring at him.
The MC stood aside as he approached the podium so he could make his speech. His publicist had wanted a speech writer to do it and Mike had certainly agreed with her. But he’d decided to do it himself tonight. He had it all prepared, a little spiel about the charity, a few jokes about the photo shoots, a word of thanks to all the people who’d helped, big props to his friends Joseph and Luke. Major thanks to Judith Ashton for her brilliant photography.
Yet, now he was here, he couldn’t remember a word of it. Because Judith was all there was.
She sat at the table, her chin lifted. Defiant and proud. Her face pale and set. Still, he could see the shadows under her eyes. Joseph hadn’t been lying; she looked miserable.
It made his heart feel full of rusty razor blades, every beat painful.
Caleb curled his fingers around the necklace in his pocket. He’d give her the world if she asked for it but he knew she wouldn’t. She’d never wanted the world. Or his fame, his money, all the things he’d so carefully accumulated to prove how much of a success he was. To prove that he didn’t care. No, all she’d asked for was him.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but there’s been a change of plan.” His voice sounded weird, all thick and rough.
Murmuring broke out. He should calm them down, tell some jokes, smile. But he just kept looking at Judith. “The auction is for a date with Caleb Steele. I’m sorry to say that’s not going to happen.” More mutterings. His fingers curled harder around the necklace. “Because Abs of Steele isn’t available anymore.”
Silence. Deadly, deathly silence.
He stared out across the shocked crowd, straight into Judith’s wide blue eyes.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I know you have lots of money to give away. And I know this charity needs all that cash. However, Abs of Steele is retiring as of now and he won’t be coming back.”
No one moved. No one spoke. And Caleb could only see her.
“A woman I know once told me it wasn’t too late to care and I hope to God she’s right, because that’s what I want to do. I want to make people’s lives better and I can’t do that by being Abs of Steele. I can only do that by being myself.” He tried to take a breath and it came out sounding ragged. “So what I’m offering is a date with me, with plain old Caleb. But before I offer it to the rest of the room, I’d like to offer it first to the woman who showed me that my heart wasn’t as dead or as selfish as I wanted it to be.”
Gently he took out the necklace from his pocket, held it tight in his fist. “Judith Ashton, I’ve been an idiot and a fool and all kinds of stupid. I pushed you away because I couldn’t face the fact that I was falling in love with you and I was too scared to care.” He looked right into her eyes as if all the people in the room didn’t exist. She stared back, her expression taut with shock.
“Please don’t let me be too late. If you forgive me for what I said to you, if you think that perhaps you might still want a date with just Caleb, name your price and I’ll pay any amount you care to name for the chance to prove how much I love you.”
The silence couldn’t have been more complete if the room had been empty.
Judith’s mouth had opened, her cheeks flushed. Marisa’s chair beside her was now empty but Christie sat on her other side, also staring at him. Christie, though, was grinning like a madwoman.
Caleb held tight to the necklace and stood back from the microphone.
He couldn’t tear his eyes from Judith’s. Couldn’t seem to breathe.
She said nothing, the flush staining her cheekbones deepening into red.
Please don’t let this be too late.
He’d said his piece. The next play was hers.
…
Judith sat riveted in her seat, staring at the man on the stage. Her heart slammed against her chest, the napkin she’d been twisting in her hands now a crumpled mess.
Everyone was staring at her but she was barely conscious of it.
She still couldn’t believe that Caleb had told her he loved her in front of everyone. Bared himself utterly. It was the last thing on earth she’d ever expected him to do and the shock of it rooted her to the spot.
The silence deepened, lengthened. Caleb stood on the stage, one hand clenched in a fist staring at her. And she knew she should say something, do something but she couldn’t seem to get her voice to work.