Thief .(28)

Sidney wanted a boyfriend. I wanted a friend with benefits. My fifteen-year-old self tried to explain this to her, but she started crying and then I made out with her just to quell the tears. Then we had sex, and then I had to explain the whole no-dating thing to her again. She slapped me across the face and swore that she was never going to talk to me again.

Not true. She wouldn’t stop talking to me. Fifteen-year-old girls are intense — especially when they think they’re in love. When she caught me at a popular ice cream place on a date with another girl, she went postal, dumping an entire bowl of dripping chocolate ice cream on my lap.

Sidney Orrico.

Fortunately, for me, she backed off after the ice cream incident. She dated my brother for a while, and then broke up with him for a quarterback. We saw each other randomly after that — holiday parties, prom, the mall. By the time I was dating Olivia, I hadn’t seen her in at least a year. She had bypassed college and had gone to real estate school. My mother told me she was working for her father’s development company. That’s when things got sticky.

I was building Olivia a house. Our house. It was a decision I’d made as soon as I realized I wanted to marry her. I hired an architect to draw up the plans weeks before I bought the ring and contacted Greg Orrico, Sidney’s father.

“The project will take about a year, Caleb. Especially with all of the additional inspections we’ll need to pass a widow’s walk.”

I tapped my pen on the desk. That was fine, as long as the foundation was laid by the time I asked Olivia to marry me. I wanted to be able to take her to see something. The foundation of what we were going to be.

We made plans to meet and sign off on all the paperwork. Before I hung up, Greg told me that Sidney would be my project manager.

“Shit,” I said, cradling the phone. If Sidney was anything like I remembered…





Sidney hugged me and pulled a sheaf of papers from her bag. “Are you nervous?”

“Not at all, I propose to the love of my life every day.”

She smirked and tapped me on the head with the papers. “Well, let’s get to it then.”

We spread everything across my desk, and Sidney talked me through each form. I’d just about signed half of them, when Steve wandered into my office in his tux.

“Sidney!” I watched as he hugged her. “You lost all of your freckles, and what happened to all of that metal you used to wear on your teeth?” Sidney and Steve saw each other on a regular basis, but this was their game. I read through my paperwork and waited for it to be over.

“Is that your way of calling me pretty?”

Steve laughed. “Will you stay for the party?”

For the first time I noticed that Sidney was wearing a dress. It looked to me like she had every intention of staying for the party. My mother must have given her a heads up.

“I am staying,” she said. “I was hoping I could get Caleb to have a drink with me before he speeds off on his steed.”

“Can’t,” I said, without looking up. “Olivia is waiting for me.”

“Caleb,” Steve said. “I need you to make some rounds before you leave. Some of these people are your clients.”

“Steve!”

I slammed my laptop closed and stared at him. “I’m proposing to my girlfriend tonight. You can’t be serious.”

“A few minutes are all I need. Just call Olivia and tell her you’re going to be late.”

“No.” I stood up and grabbed my keys.

Sidney’s head bobbed up from where she was reviewing my paperwork. “You’re going to hate me.”

I sighed. “What did you forget?”

She flushed. “I can just run back to the office and grab it. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

“What is it, Sidney? Can’t it wait until Tuesday?”

She cleared her throat. “The gate keys to the property. You won’t be able to get in.”

I folded both of my lips in and blinked at her in frustration. Calm, keep calm.

“All right. Go! Hurry!” She nodded and jumped up. I turned to Steve. “Thirty minutes, while Sidney is gone. That’s it.” He patted me on the back. I called my secretary who was already wearing her dress for the night.

“Can you call Olivia, tell her I was held up, but I’ll be there as fast as I can?”

She nodded and I went to the small closet in my office where I kept my suit jacket.

I slid my arms into the sleeves, swearing under my breath. This was a bad start to what was supposed to be a huge night. Thirty minutes, that was it. Then I’d be out of here.



By the time she came back, another hour and a half had passed. I’d given up socializing and retreated to my office to wait. I called Olivia twice with no answer. She was probably furious with me.