Cold feet (17 page)

His eyes lingered on her mouth, and it took him a moment to get back to his story. "And then the frogs got loose and when my mother came home, she stepped on one in the laundry room."

"Ick," Madison said with a shudder. "But I don't see how Tamara had anything to do with that."

"Oh, she was right there, saying, 'I told him not to do it, Mother, I told him you wouldn't like it.'"

Madison chuckled at his imitation of his tattletale sister and tried her steamed vegetables. They were as delicious as the rest of the food. "You must have been a little hellion."

"I don't think I was a hellion. Trouble just followed me around."

"What about your father?" she asked, taking a bite of her garlic mashed potatoes. "Didn't he ever stick up for you?"

"My mother's pretty formidable. He generally doesn't go against her, even for me."

"So she wears the pants in the family?"

"Not really. The power play between my parents isn't too out of whack. My mother's just so...organized and sure of herself, everyone naturally falls in line behind her. Sometimes I call her the Oracle."

"Because she's the font of all wisdom?"

"Exactly. She's always right, no matter what."

Madison couldn't help wishing her own mother was more "organized," more confident, so she wouldn't have to worry about her as much. But then, Caleb's mom hadn't been forced to deal with what Annette had.

"What do you think about that woman they found?" she asked, suddenly changing the subject.

"What woman?"

"The strangled woman."

He stopped eating for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Have you been following the story?"

"A little."

"Do you think it's a copycat?"

He offered her another bite of lobster, but she waved it away. "I guess anything's possible," he said.

She nodded, thinking about the box waiting for her at her mother's house. She had to do something about it tonight. Tomorrow was Saturday morning--a likely time to have Toby start work.

But for now she was going to forget that her father had ever been involved in a murder investigation, and continue to enjoy herself.

"You're slowing down," Caleb said, nodding toward her plate. "Don't tell me you're full."

"I can't fit anything else inside this dress."

His eyes flicked over her. "It's worth it."

Madison felt a liquid warmth swirl through her. "I'm glad I finally had the chance to wear it. I bought it two years ago, but it's been buried at the back of my closet ever since."

"Sort of like carrying a concealed weapon, huh?"

"What?"

"Never mind," he said, chuckling. He paused for a minute, then tipped his wineglass toward her. "You're sending me mixed signals. You know that, don't you?"

She leaned back, crossed her legs and took another sip of wine. "Mixed signals?" she repeated, as though she didn't already know perfectly well what he meant.

"You tell me you don't want a relationship, but you wear something that's--" he hesitated, then whistled softly "--guaranteed to stop me dead in my tracks."

"I didn't know this dress came with guarantees like that," she teased.

"It should have. Are you going to tell me what's up?"

She drank the last of her wine. "Okay, I admit to wanting to turn your head," she said. "I like the way you make me feel when you look at me, as though..."

"As though what?"

His voice was a little deeper, rougher than usual, and Madison had to work hard not to think about that kiss he'd given her at her door.

"Just 'as though,'" she said, slightly embarrassed. "But a little flirting is harmless, right? I mean, you're not interested in a relationship any more than I am. You're moving to San Francisco at the end of your lease. This is just a temporary...friendship."

He ate the last bite of his lobster. "I should probably tell you that this isn't feeling very much like friends to me."

"I'm not sure what it's feeling like to me," she said. "I was more or less robbed of the past twelve years. Maybe I'm trying to recapture some of the carefree fun I missed, some of the fun other people generally enjoy in their early twenties."

He held her gaze. "I guess I can understand that."

"Great." She smiled, eager to talk about something else. She didn't want to categorize their relationship or commit herself to any one mode of behavior. She liked looking at the night as an empty canvas, and refused to let the prudence that governed all her actions intercede at this juncture. "Then you won't mind taking me dancing."

He considered her for a few seconds. "Dancing."

"I want to have a night on the town, take a walk on the wild side for a change."

His eyebrows lifted. "How wild are you talking?"

Madison felt a sudden heady rush of excitement. "How wild are you willing to get?"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

S
HE WANTED TO GET
WILD
?

Caleb sat at the table he'd been lucky enough to snag as a small group left the crowded bar, which was pulsing with music and movement, and watched Madison walk away from him toward the ladies' room. He admired her legs for probably the millionth time, noticed a few other guys doing it, too, and knew there wasn't any way he'd be able to live up to his mother's standard of decency tonight. Ever since he'd seen Madison in that dress, he'd been interested in only one thing.

The waitress came by, but he waved her away because he was going to end the evening right now. If he allowed himself to show Madison Lieberman the meaning of wild as he saw it, he'd be taking misrepresentation to a whole new level. And when she eventually found out who he was, she wouldn't thank him. To say the least...

She emerged from the bathroom, and he stood up, planning to guide her out and drive her home. It was the right thing to do. If she wanted to go dancing, she could go with someone else. But when she reached him, she slipped her hand in his and said, "They're playing John Mayer's 'Wonderland.' I love that song. Can we dance?"

Caleb hesitated. He really didn't want to make the situation any more complicated than it already was. But she was looking up at him with those wide eyes, wearing an expression of such hopeful expectation that he couldn't bring himself to deny her.

Knowing he'd probably pay a high price for the next few minutes, he nodded and led her out onto the dance floor, where she put her arms around his neck and snuggled up to him. He could feel her breasts against his chest as John sang about the wonder of discovering a woman, and at that point he couldn't even
think
about leaving.

There was unethical...and then there was irresistible.

M
ADISON WAS EXHAUSTED
when Caleb brought her home, but she'd had a wonderful time. She hadn't laughed so much since before she'd married Danny, and she didn't want the evening to end. Not yet. After Caleb went home she'd have to revert to her old life--become Ellis Purcell's daughter again and deal with the contents of the box beneath her mother's house. She still wasn't sure what to do with it. But she couldn't leave it where it was.

"Would you like to come in for a nightcap?" she asked as he walked her to the door, hoping to hold reality at bay a little longer.

He shook his head. "Not tonight."

"Why not?"

"It's late."

"You're going to be home by midnight, and you drank nothing but soda at the club," she said with a laugh. "I guess your idea of wild is about as tame as mine."

"I doubt it," he said dryly.

She raised her eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means if I'd had anything stronger, or the situation was different, I wouldn't be going home right now. At least not by
my
choice."

She studied his handsome face, wondering at the thoughts behind the dark eyes that had watched her so closely all night. "So you
do
want to stay?"

He didn't answer but extended his hand to her.

Butterflies filled Madison's stomach as she accepted it--a sensation that only grew more pronounced when he pulled her against him. "What do
you
think?" he breathed. Then he kissed her, much more powerfully than he had the first time.

Madison liked the barely leashed tension she felt in Caleb. She also liked the taste and smell of him. She immediately began to imagine his bare chest as she'd seen it that day in her yard, and couldn't resist slipping a hand beneath his shirt to feel the smooth skin at his waist.

As the wet warmth of his tongue moved against her own, her knees went weak and the butterflies in her stomach spread throughout her body. But before she could decide whether or not to let things go any further, he pushed her gently away from him.

"I want to stay, but not because I'm interested in a nightcap," he said, and walked toward his cottage.

Madison stared after him, too surprised to respond. She liked Caleb. She enjoyed his company and found him incredibly attractive. But she didn't know him very well, and her own life was...complicated.

"Caleb?" she called, torn between letting him go and asking him to stay.

He stopped a few feet away and turned.

"I--you're leaving at the end of your lease."

"I know," he said, and started moving again.

"If we were to make love, it would probably be a mistake."

He reached the cottage, opened his door and flipped on the light. "I know."

"That doesn't mean I'm not tempted."

It was difficult to tell from a distance, but she thought she saw him grin. "I know," he said and stepped inside.

"You could have acted a
little
more excited," Madison mumbled, chuckling as he closed the door. He hadn't pressed her or indicated in any way that being with her tonight was important to him. He'd only admitted that he wanted something significantly more intimate than meals and laundry, and it was probably a sad commentary on the state of her psyche that such nominal interest tempted her as much as it did.

"He's too disruptive to my peace of mind," she murmured to herself. She needed to be thinking about other things--like the women's shoes and underwear, and the locket, lurking beneath her mother's house. She'd decided she'd take care of that problem tonight, while Brianna was at Danny's. But the thought of driving there in the dark and sneaking into the damp crawl space while her mother slept and Johnny camped out in the garage chilled her blood.

The telephone rang. Madison glanced at it, surprised that anyone would call her so late, then hurried to pick up for fear it was something to do with Brianna.

"Hello?"

"Everything okay over there?"

Caleb. Madison smiled in spite of herself. "Everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Just checking."

"I should've let old Mr. Sanderson move in. You know that, don't you?" She peeked outside to see him standing at his window again. The light in his living room provided a backdrop.

"You're probably right."

"Except that you've shown me a few things he never could have," she said.

"Like?"

"That I'm not dead from the neck down."

His chuckle was soft and stirring. "You seem perfectly vital and healthy to me."

"So tell me why you want to go back to San Francisco," she said. "What's there?"

"A whole other life."

"What does that entail? Friends? A job? A woman?"

"A view of the bay."

"That's it?"

"Pretty much."

"We have a good view of the water here, if you just walk across the street to the beach."

"I've noticed that," he said. "But to be honest, I'm partial to the view from this window."

Madison smiled. "What can you see?"

"Whatever you're willing to show me."

With his flirting, the feeling of weak knees and liquid warmth she'd experienced earlier, while he was kissing her, returned. Madison would never have thought herself bold enough to play along with him. But he was in his house and she was in hers and loosening up a bit seemed almost...safe. At least it was safer than having him any closer.

"So, if I were to unzip my dress and let it slip down a little, like this--" she lowered her zipper and let her dress fall to just above her breasts "--you could probably see that?"

"I could definitely see that." His voice had grown deeper, his expression--or what she could see of it--more intense. Somehow guessing at his reaction made what she was doing that much more titillating.

"And...if I were to lower it a little more, say to here--" she dropped her dress several inches more, to just
below
her breasts "--you could tell what kind of bra I'm wearing?"

"Black lace," he breathed. "My favorite."

The depth of his attention, which she could feel despite the distance, made her giddy. "And if I were to go a little farther..." she heard him suck air between his teeth as she followed suit "...you'd be able to tell if my panties match my bra?"

He groaned. "It's a thong. What are you doing wearing a thong?"

She laughed. "It sort of went with the dress."

"Oh, yeah? Turn around for me," he said. "Let me get a better look."

Taking a deep breath, she let the dress fall to the floor, stepped out of it and turned slowly in a circle.

"You're killing me," he said.

"Are you sure you don't want that nightcap?" she asked, scarcely able to get the words out for the pounding of her heart.

He didn't answer right away. Pressing his forehead to the glass, he closed his eyes. After a few seconds he finally said, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because..."

"Caleb?"

When he looked up, she took hold of the front clasp that fastened her lacy bra. She didn't know if she had the nerve to do what she wanted to. She'd never done a striptease in her life. But neither had she ever experienced such wanton desire. "Are you sure?" she asked. Before he could answer, she unsnapped the clasp and let her bra drop onto the floor with her dress.