Unravelled (Revealed #2) (21 page)

‘Jesus, Ice, calm down. I was just messing with you.’ His use of the term ‘Ice’ made me realise how close I was to losing my control – it was the nickname he’d given me during my army training, because no matter how crazy the situation, I had always kept my cool. Not now. In fact, I felt distinctly unhinged and close to the edge, which was crazy because I barely knew the girl I was getting so wound up about. I couldn’t help it though, the very idea of him even thinking about Caitlin sexually was enough to set me on edge.

Holding up his hands in a placating gesture, Flynn wiped the smug grin off his face and raised his eyebrows until I shoved back, let go of his collar, and retook my seat. Back in my TA days, grabbing a superior officer like that would have landed me with a week’s worth of shitty punishments, but thankfully these days the tables were turned and Flynn answered to me.

My entire frame was still bristling with tension as he picked up his glass and took a sip. ‘You seriously need to get laid.’ he muttered, straightening out his suit jacket and sending a frown my way.

He was probably right, but I ignored Flynn’s remark and stared straight ahead and tried to steady my breathing. Regardless of how much of a gentleman I might like to think myself, Flynn’s comments had sparked several questions that now filtered into my mind. Was Caitlin as slender and sexy under those clothes as I imagined? What would it be like to take her to my bed? A shudder of pleasure ran through my body and I only just contained the moan that rose in my throat as vibrant images sprang my mind. Caitlin’s gorgeous chestnut hair splayed across a snowy white pillow like a halo as she lay naked and waiting for me, her wide, hazel eyes staring up at me as I nudged myself between her soft thighs and bent to kiss her parted mouth …

Fuck. I was no better than bloody Flynn letting my thoughts run wild, and as a consequence I was now sporting an impressively speedy hard on, which was thankfully hidden by my seated position and the dim light in the bar.

Shaking my head, I pushed down my lustful thoughts and ground my teeth together in frustration, acknowledging the fact that it was a feeling I probably needed to get used to, because after her adamant refusal of my advances it was clear that Caitlin had no interest in me.

Not that I’d be seeing her again anyway; our two meetings thus far had been completely coincidental, and seeing as she was leaving to continue her travels it looked like she would not be featuring in my future.

That thought disturbed me far more than it should have, and so throwing back the last of the whisky, I abruptly stood up.

‘I’m going to walk home, the compound is perfectly safe so take the rest of the night off, Flynn.’ I wanted to drown my sorrows a little, but I’d rather do it in the privacy of my own home. With one more look at my bodyguard, I turned and headed out into the warm evening with thoughts of wide, hazel eyes still at the forefront of my mind.

Chapter Nineteen

Cait

Thank goodness I’d gotten away from Jack when I had. My body had been seriously attempting to go against my own rules and say yes to a lunch date with him, which was just insane. I didn’t date, and had barely any experience with the opposite sex, and yet I had nearly said yes to an older, more experienced man who was completely out of my league. Letting out a dry laugh I shook my head at my crazy behaviour, and then drew in a breath of the cool night air, hoping to reset my usually sensible brain. It began to work, and I slowed to a walk as I wound through the tranquil gardens of the hotel, feeling calmer now that I was away from his magnetic presence. After a few more lungfuls I felt much more like my usual self and decided that it had probably just been the alcohol that had made me feel so reckless.

No sooner had my foot touched the bottom step of the decking outside our garden bungalow, than I heard a frantic scrabbling from a dark corner of the balcony that caused me to practically jump out of my skin. The dim, automatic porch light clicked on at that second and my eyes flew towards the noise to see a figure struggling to stand up from one of the bean bag chairs.

Confusion swept over me when I registered that the figure was Julie from the hostel. What the heck was Julie doing here? Just as I was about to ask, her thunderous expression caught my attention and stopped me in my tracks.

‘I’ve been calling you all night!’ she squawked, appearing from the shadows with her mobile phone clutched in her outstretched hand. ‘The girls got back to the hostel after shopping and said you just disappeared from the street! What the hell were you thinking?’ Flicking open the front door behind her she stuck her head in. ‘Allie? Cait’s back!’

As I stood there it suddenly occurred to me just how worried everyone must have been when I had vanished. It hadn’t even occurred to me at the time. Oops. Turning back to me and slamming both hands on her hips, Julie glowered at me. Taking in the full extent of her furious posture I began to fidget guiltily on the spot as my forefinger immediately commenced plucking at my elastic bands. At this rate, I’d have an ingrained ring of red skin by the morning.

A second later, Allie burst out to join us, her eyes wide as they settled on me. ‘Thank God,’ she muttered, giving me a rueful look as she purposefully glanced at her watch and then stepped forward to engulf me in a whole body hug. ‘I’ve been so bloody worried. It’s not like you to just disappear Cait.’

I couldn’t have felt guiltier if I’d tried. Stepping back, I attempted to give them a placating smile, but it bounced right off Julie as she continued her rant. ‘When the girls said they’d lost you I started to think all sorts of awful things …’ Her arms were gesticulating so wildly that Allie had to duck and dodge on several occasions, which on top of my nerves very nearly caused me burst into hysterical laughter. ‘Do you know how worried I’ve been? Sending you off shopping and then losing you? I was on the verge of calling the cops!’ she yelled. Except all the words were ground out between her clenched teeth, so it was almost as if each one was a separate statement of its own.

‘Luckily Julie remembered my name and knew we were staying together so got my mobile number from the hostel records,’ Allie said. Ah, so that was how Julie had come to be here. ‘Where
were
you?’

‘Uh … I …’ I gave a weak smile and hesitated, quickly running all possible answers through my mind. ‘I was sharing a bottle of wine with a film star, actually’, or ‘well, Jack Felton and I just spent the last three hours drinking wine and flirting outrageously’, or perhaps ‘I nearly let a man kiss me for the first time in four years but chickened out at the last minute …’ Hmm, perhaps not. I think I was still slightly in shock, but there was no way I was going to announce to Julie that I’d had drinks with Jack Felton. She’d think I’d gone totally nuts.

Julie was now tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for my answer. Deciding a small lie was easier, I mounted the steps to face Julie’s furious gaze and plastered my most dazzling and apologetic smile onto my lips. ‘On our way back there were some celebrities at one of the theatres, the girls wanted to watch for a while but I wasn’t bothered so I waited off to the side.’ Pausing, I licked my lips. So far so good; Julie looked convinced, presumably because this matched with what Jen and the girls must have told her earlier. ‘As I was waiting I bumped into a friend from back home. It was completely bizarre, but she’s travelling too so I went for a few drinks with her. I totally lost track of time. Sorry.’

I was a terrible liar, and the words sounded flimsy, causing me to flick my glance to Allie. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched me picking away at my elastic bands and I flushed with guilt. She was on to me – she’d seen straight through that lie, which wasn’t surprising, really, because it had been totally unconvincing. Praying she didn’t push me with Julie there I gave her an intense look accompanied by a tiny raise of my eyebrows, trying to acknowledge that there was more to the story but that I would tell her later. Thankfully, Allie seemed to understand my signal and just gave me a minute nod while staying quiet.

Oblivious to the fact that there was more going on than she realised, Julie’s expression didn’t lighten at all, so I decided it was time to lay it on thick with a grovelling apology. ‘I should have called to let you know where I was, but the time just flew by. We had no idea how late it was, I’m really sorry, Julie.’

‘I know I’m not your mother, Cait, but I take on a guardian role at the hostel. You scared the life out of me tonight, the least you could have done was to answer your phone.’

My phone hadn’t rung, had it? Digging it out of my bag I realised guiltily that the battery had gone flat. Oops. ‘The battery’s dead.’ Looking back to Julie’s irate expression, I prepared to beg forgiveness. ‘I’m really, really sorry.’

After another extended pause she tutted, but finally smiled thinly. Thankfully, my grovelling seemed to have worked, because Julie’s tone then grew softer. ‘You’re OK, that’s the main thing.’ With that, Julie pulled me to her for a tight hug, but leant back after a few moments. ‘I need to call the hostel and tell them you’re OK,’ she murmured, dialling a number on her phone and walking towards the far side of the balcony.

Plonking myself into a bean bag chair, Allie followed suit and then leant in towards me keenly. ‘What the heck is going on?’ she hissed as soon as Julie was out of earshot. Wasn’t that just the question? Chewing on my lip I looked at her expectant face, completely clueless about what to say. Tonight had been so crazy I didn’t even know where to start, but shrugging, I blew out a breath. ‘Too much to tell you now. Later, OK?’

‘Your wrist is really red and your cheeks are flushed …’ Suddenly she squinted at me, as if trying to read my thoughts. ‘Were you … were you with a guy?’ she asked tentatively, her eyebrows drawing into a frown as she watched me frantically chewing on my lip as I tried desperately not to pick at my bloody elastic bands again.

Glancing across at Julie, I saw her still talking, her hands waving around as she spoke.

‘Sort of.’ In a split second Allie was sitting up, reaching out to touch my forearm supportively. Instead of the curiosity and eagerness for gossip that normal girls would have at news like this, Allie’s face was simply full of concern. Bless her, she knew full well what a big deal this would be to me.

‘Are you OK?’ she asked urgently, understanding how unlike me this was.

I thought back to my near kiss with Jack and found my skin warming at the memory, my lips tingling at what could have been, until I had to purse them to stop the tickly sensation. Swallowing hard, I nodded and gave her hand a squeeze. ‘I am.’ Before I could elaborate further and tell her about Jack, or the fact that he had been a complete gentleman, Julie had finished her call and was turning back to us with a wry grin on her face. ‘After the stress of tonight, this old gal needs a drink. Don’t suppose you have anything handy?’

Hiding a smirk I obediently got to my feet and fetched three small beers from the fridge before popping the caps off and handing them around.

Taking a long slug, Julie sat back in one of the bean bag chairs and finally began to look more like her usual, relaxed self.

‘There are some leftovers inside if you’re hungry?’ Allie suggested, but I didn’t need to answer verbally because a loud growl from my stomach did all the talking for me.

Chuckling, Julie tipped her bottle back and downed half of its contents before smiling. ‘I’ve got an early start tomorrow so I’m going to head off and leave you girls to it.’

‘OK. Again, I’m sorry for being so thoughtless tonight Julie.’

‘I’m just glad you’re safe.’ Giving me a brief hug she finished the rest of her beer, stepped back, and grinned at me. ‘See you both tomorrow. Cait, you’re on cupcake duty, so get there nice and early.’

Giving a grin, I pretended to salute as she waved us one final goodbye and left.

‘She’s really nice. I think this social event tomorrow could be quite fun,’ Allie commented as we headed back inside and she popped a bowl of food in the small microwave located under the bar.

I was just about to tell Allie about my run-in with Jack Felton, but as I took a seat at the bar I got distracted when I saw notepads, pencils, and Allie’s laptop strewn across the surface. Evidence of her evening of writing, which made me recall why she had stayed in. Sean, and his lack of contact.

As Allie placed a bowl of delicious-smelling pasta in front of me, thoughts of Jack faded away as concern for my best friend grew. ‘So … how did the writing go? Did you get much done?’ It was my discreet way of asking if she’d heard from Sean, and from the small, sad, knowing smile on her face, Allie knew it too.

Nodding, she gave a shrug, her face looking almost painfully unhappy. ‘I did a new chapter. A big fight scene between the two vampire clans, so there was lots of blood and gore.’ Flicking at a loose thread in her shorts, I saw a flicker of sorrow cross her eyes. ‘Violence was perfect for taking my mind off of Sean,’ she finished quietly.

My stomach plummeted at her look. ‘He hasn’t called?’ I enquired softly.

‘Nope. Arsehole,’ she mumbled before rolling her eyes dismissively. ‘Anyway, enough of my depressing day, I have some good news.’

Watching her carefully, I could see Allie was keen to avoid further discussions of Sean for the time being, so I turned my attention to the food before me. As soon as the first spoonful hit my tongue I realised that I was, in fact, ravenously hungry and I greedily wolfed down the meal as Allie fished in her back pocket and pulled out a leaflet.

‘So, when I got back to the hotel tonight there was this guy near the gates handing out these …’ Allie dropped a glossy leaflet on the table next to me, where I promptly splashed it with pasta sauce as I enthusiastically scooped up another spoonful.

With a chiding tut, Allie rescued the leaflet and wiped it clean with a tissue. ‘You can look at it later … anyway, he works for a television company that are doing some long-term filming at Dynamic Studios and was offering some temporary work as a runner. I knew you were looking for a job, so I grabbed a flyer. The pay’s pretty good for casual labour. Do you think you might be interested?’