Claiming Callie: Part one (5 page)

“Damnit. You screwed us, man. I told you he wasn’t buying now.” Emmett rests his hands on his hips and stares after Jason’s retreating form with longing. “I only have five bucks left until payday, and I was all amped up for a couple brewskis.”

Dean’s eyes light up as he lifts the hand holding the cash Jason gave him. “Who needs free beer from that douche?” He backs away, his mood lifting slightly. “Tonight at eight. I’ll meet your sorry ass at Hemingway’s. I’ll buy.”

Emmett lifts his chin. “Hey, what about the girl?”

Dean’s smile fades and his mood darkens again at the reminder of Callie. “It’s not about Maya. It’s someone else.” Then, without another word, he spins and leaves the gym.

*        *        *

Dean takes his time in the shower, then changes into something warmer before leaving the gym and heading outside toward his dorm. Two inches has accumulated while he whittled away the day playing ball, and the last thing he needs is a cold in the middle of the season. Not with play-offs coming up. The Panthers need him. He and Jason are the strongest players on the team. Without them, they don’t stand a chance.

Dean picks his way across the parking lot, his gaze on the ground as he walks. He thought a little ball today would take his mind off Callie, but he had been wrong. He couldn’t stop the incessant thoughts. And now that he’s done playing and has nothing to do, his mind can run wild.

“She’s your sister’s best friend,” he murmurs into the frigid air.

It’s the same thing he’s told himself a million times over the past seven years, but it never matters. No matter how many times he tries to think of her as just a friend—a friend of his sister—the feelings he’s had for her since junior high won’t go away. The moment Dean hit puberty and noticed girls, his sights set directly on Callie. And he couldn’t help it any more when he was thirteen than he can now. But Callie thinks of him as a friend, at best. A brother at worst.

What did she call him last night?
The overprotective brother she never had?

Dean winces at the memory.
Close enough
. God, talk about a dagger to the heart.
Brother
was way worse than
friend
. How does a guy recover from that? He probably can’t.

Dean knows how hard she’s worked over the last two years at her internship, and he knows how badly she wants this job, but the solution to lowering her debt that she has cooked up is preposterous. And what’s worse is that his sister is going along with it. Maybe he should talk to Jinny alone, get her to see reason—that this scheme is ridiculous and will wind up getting Callie hurt.

Who knows why some loser needs to pay for a date.

Probably because they’re deranged, or they have ulterior motives, just like she does.

The question is, what are their motives? They could be dangerous.
What if they’re controlling or abusive? What if she goes on a date with a serial rapist? Or some asshole who wants nothing but sex? Or one who takes advantage of her?

Dean clenches his teeth at the thought and shifts the gym bag on his shoulder. He can’t have that.

But what can I do? How can I stop her?

He has no answers. He’s not even sure she can be stopped. All he knows is that he must stop her. She deserves someone who will treat her like a lady. She needs someone who will understand that she uses shopping and fashion as a form of therapy. Someone who knows how rough the last five years have been, with her parents gone. Someone who knows how many months after their deaths she spent doing nothing but crying, never leaving her room. Someone who knows how incredibly smart she is. How talented. How goofy she can be when she lets loose and it’s just her and Jinny. How her nose crinkles when she laughs or eats something gross. How it only takes one drink to get her tipsy. She needs someone who knows she likes only flavored coffee, with two scoops of sugar, no cream. Someone who knows every line of her face, every contour. The curve of her jaw, every freckle…

Dean swallows, feeling the swell in his chest at the thought of Callie going out on date after date with a bunch of men she doesn’t know. Rich men. Possibly older men. Men willing to pay her.

Men who could probably provide her with a lot more than you could.

He fists his hands and switches direction, veering off the sidewalk and heading toward Buzz—the local coffee shop off the corner of campus—knowing Jinny is working so that’s where Callie would be.

Callie Cartwright is his. She’s the girl of his dreams. And he’s the man of hers. She just doesn’t know it yet. All he has to do is make her see that.

CHAPTER THREE

CALLIE

Callie nods at the spreadsheet on her laptop. “I officially have my first few dates.” A grin spreads across her face as Jinny—who’s supposed to be working—peers over her shoulder.

The door jingles as another customer enters. “Hang on…” Jinny says, turning to greet whoever it is. “Oh, never mind. It’s just my brother.” She moves back to Callie and the computer, calling over her shoulder, “Hey, loser.”

“Hey,” Dean says. “I’ll take an iced coffee.”

“I don’t remember asking.”

Dean grins. “Would you like me to consult the manager?”

Callie laughs when Jinny sticks her tongue out and moves back behind the counter. Dean has worked at Buzz since he was in high school, and due to his great rapport with the customers and the owner, he was promoted to manager two years ago. And every day since, he’s relished reminding Jinny that her younger brother is now her boss. Callie would never admit it to Jinny, but it’s pretty amusing.

Jinny pours coffee over ice, then gives it an angry stir and hands it to Dean, who is already adding two bucks to the cash register for his drink. When she returns to Callie’s side, Callie glances back over her shoulder to see Dean staring at her. Frowning, Callie’s about to ask him what his problem is when Jinny says, “So you have your first dates already? It’s only been a week. That’s insane!”

Dean chokes on his drink, sending a spray of coffee shooting across the counter.

Callie flinches. “Ew.”

“Yeah, I’m not cleaning that up,” Jinny says.

“How’d you get dates so fast? I thought for sure it would take you at least a month.” Dean closes the gap between them and narrows his eyes at the computer screen as if they’re making it up.

Callie shrugs. “It must’ve been the pic I posted.”

“What picture?”

“Her profile pic,” Jinny answers. “She used that hot bikini pic from our spring break to Cancun last year.”

Dean closes his eyes and mutters something unintelligible under his breath.

Callie scrunches up her nose and eyes him over the computer screen. “What’s your problem?” she asks. Then, returning to her spreadsheet, she clicks on the calculator minimized in the corner.

“So, let’s see how much I’ll make. I have two dates that include dinner and a tentative third. So, I’ll save money on the dinners just from having the meals paid for. That’s twenty-five bucks right there. Plus, the money I stand to make, which is…” She trails off as she calculates the numbers in her head. “Holy crap!” She glances up, her eyes bright. “I stand to make four hundred bucks just this week,
plus
the twenty-five in meal savings! That’s four twenty-five! I can put all that on my cards. And if I can do two to three dates every week…” She pulls the calculator on her computer up this time and crunches the numbers again, then glances up to Jinny and Dean with a triumphant smile. “That’s over ninety-five hundred dollars!”

“My Lord, that’s a lot of money!” Jinny’s wide eyes stare at the calculator. “Maybe I should start doing this, too. We could go into business together. A lot of guys like petite girls, right?”

Dean stares at them in horror, his mouth rounding into a perfect “o.” “No. No way.”

Jinny sighs. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t think Todd would go for it. Then again, maybe for that kind of money, he’s expendable…”

Callie tips her head back and laughs.

“You. Are. Not. Doing. This,” Dean spits between his clenched teeth. If he grits his jaw any harder it might crack. “God, I’m the younger one of us, so why the hell am I being the most sensible?”

“Chill out,” Callie says. “Can’t you tell when your own sister’s joking? Yeesh.” She shakes her head and eyes him, wondering if he’s gone mad.

Maybe he has. He’s getting way too worked up over this whole escort thing.

Jinny winks at Callie, but Dean just continues to glare.

“What would really come in handy is if one of these guys likes me and becomes a regular. I’d probably make a killing.”

“I’ve heard of guys doing that!” Jinny points a finger at her. “These rich corporate guys who need to look like they have a girlfriend to bring to events and dinners and stuff.”

“Yes, exactly!” Callie bites her lip, considering. “I need someone who’s high up in business who needs a regular date for things when they come up. They’d view it purely as a business transaction, then. They contract out dates for events and business dinners. Period. That way, I wouldn’t have to worry about them expecting sex after a while, which is a giant no-no.”

“Ya think?” Dean rubs the back of his neck with his hand.

“Yeah. I mean, I can’t do that. That would be—”

“Prostitution?” Dean’s eyes glitter an ominous blue, and the word ricochets in Callie’s head. Ever since she came up with this scheme, she’s been determined to keep it as far away from that particular “profession” as possible.

“I will not have sex with any of the men. Even if I find one I’m attracted to. I’m not like that in the first place. If I’m simply dating them, it remains an escort service. Nothing more. There’s a huge difference, and escorts are completely legitimate.”

Dean runs a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah, sure. I’ve heard stories about ‘escorts,’” he says, making air quotes with his fingers.

A customer enters the shop and the bell chimes on the tail end of Dean’s words. Jinny gets up to wait on them, but Callie barely notices. She leans back in her chair and narrows her eyes at Dean. “Why are you here anyway? You’re not working, and Jinny’s handling the customers just fine.”

“I got done playing ball and wanted a drink.”

Callie raises a brow. “Coffee. You wanted coffee after a workout?”

“Iced coffee,” he says in challenge. “When’s your first date?”

Callie rolls her eyes. “This big brother routine is a little tired. I’m a big girl, Dean. I’m not a pigtailed ten-year-old anymore who needs your protection on the playground or a brokenhearted sixteen-year-old who needs you to beat up her cheating ex-boyfriend. I can take care of myself,” she says, taking a sip of her coffee.

The muscle in his jaw flicks. “I’m well aware that you’re all grown up. Too aware,” he mutters, before running a hand over his scruffy jaw.

What the hell’s that supposed to mean? “Too aware?”

“And I know you can take care of yourself. It’s just…” He pauses.

“Just what?” Jinny asks as she rejoins them.

“Don’t you see how this can be dangerous? If these men are so desperate that they need to pay for dates, who knows what they’d do if—”

“Despite what you might think, I’m not a complete moron. I’m not going to be alone with these guys. All dates will be in public places with tons of other people around. And I truly think the bulk of my clientele will be—”