He came closer, and the smell of his cologne mixed with sweat was…interesting. Couldn’t say it was a bad thing, that’s for sure.
“You didn’t have to write me a snooty email, Teagan. You can come talk to me if I do something to piss you off. If you write me emails like that when I’m right upstairs, that’s the kind of response you’re going to get, each and every time.”
He had a point. The email was a bit cowardly of me. Yet I’d still managed to convince myself it was a good idea. He was right. Anything I needed to say to him, I should be able to say to his face. Quite honestly, the benefit of that was also his face—getting to look at it, I mean. It turned out, looking at him was a lot more fun than avoiding eye contact had been. Thank goodness he can’t read my mind right now.
Seeing that he actually seemed angry as opposed to amused caused me to change my tune—that and perhaps his scent going straight to my head as it followed my mind right into the gutter.
He held out his hand. “Give it to me.”
I looked down at my empty hands. “Give you what?”
“The stick in your arse. Take it out and give it to me.”
I crinkled my forehead. “What?”
He wiggled his fingers. “Come on. Hand it over.”
Genuinely curious as to where he was going with this, I motioned with my hand, pretending to remove the imaginary stick from my derriere and throwing it over to him.
He pretended to catch it, then let it weigh him down. “It’s bigger than I thought.” Looking around he said, “I’m gonna find a space for it. Hang on.”
I laughed, against my better judgment. He shoved the imaginary stick under his bed and wiped fake dust off his hands.
“Now that that’s out of the way, why don’t we start fresh?”
Do I really have a choice? This guy was going to be living with us for a year. It would be easier to get along than continue on the rocky path we’d started down—the rocky path I’d carved. As annoying as Caleb was, he’d managed to charm me just enough. I decided to try to let my anger go.
“Okay, Caleb.”
He was all too amused by my change in attitude. “Wow. Didn’t think it was going to be that easy.”
“Well, it just hit me that you’re not going anywhere.”
“Ah. So I’m like an incurable disease.”
“Or an allergy.” I laughed.
“Quick. Someone tell that chap Bo Cheng to stay far away from me.”
“Good ol’ Bo Cheng. He doesn’t realize he dodged a bullet with the cranky girl in the basement,” I cracked.
Am I actually playing along here? What kind of a spell had this guy placed on me?
“Why are you down in the basement?” he asked. “This is such a beautiful house. And seeing as though I’m now in your old bedroom and can personally attest to how nice it is, I can’t imagine why you’d give up this space for that little room down there.”
His comment set off an alarm in me. “You’ve seen my room in the basement?”
“Yes. I ransacked it when you were out. And what I found explains a lot.”
His smothered laughter gave him away.
“No, you didn’t!”
“Relax. Your father gave me a proper tour of the property while you were gone to the store earlier. He took me down to the basement and showed me where the washing machine is. I happened to see your room while I was there.”
“I see.”
“I found it very strange, by the way.”
“My room?”
“No. The washing machine in the basement. In England, we do laundry in the kitchen.”
“Oh, that’s weird. What about the dryer?”
“We don’t have one. My mum just lines the clothes up outside.”
“I can’t imagine that.”
“What, you can’t imagine your knickers flying in the wind for all the world to see?”
I chuckled. “Pretty much.”
He scratched his chin. “You’re very conservative, aren’t you?”
I probably should’ve responded to his question. Instead, I let my eyes travel down his chest, noticing the way his shirt clung to the sweaty muscles. I felt far from conservative right now.
I shook my head. “Why do you say that?”
“The way you dress—always covered up quite well from head to toe. Also, the way you reacted when we met in the men’s room at the university. You were mortified at the prospect of me thinking you were responsible for that smell.”
“Let’s not bring that up, please. We’re doing so well.”
He chuckled and wandered over to the bookshelves, which housed dozens of my old books. I hadn’t bothered to move them downstairs because I didn’t have as much space.
Brushing his index finger along some of the spines, he said, “Nice collection, by the way.”
My brow furrowed. “Is that sarcasm? I can’t tell.”
“No. You have some interesting books here. Eckhart Tolle. Deepak Chopra. It’s like self-help central. I take it you’re all…helped? Totally zen? No issues at all?”
“Not quite.”
He picked one out of the lineup. “Ten Secrets. What’s this one about?”
“It’s a self-help book,” I deadpanned.
“You don’t say.”
“The gist is that everyone is hiding at least ten secrets that keep them from truly progressing in life.”
“Ten? Is that right?”
“Yeah. Sometimes we’re not even aware we’re suppressing them.”
He looked down at the cover, then over at me. “I’ve got at least one, but I’m not sure about ten. You?”
“Of course. We all have secrets, things that fester.”
He flipped through the book. “Tell me one of yours.”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret.”
He pointed to the pages. “Yes, but according to this book, your secrets are holding you back.”
“I’ll live with the risk.”
Caleb snickered. “I have a secret you’d be interested in knowing, one that pertains to you.”
My heart fluttered. “Really?”
“Yup.” He raised his chin. “Want to know what it is?”
“Yes, I would, if it pertains to me.”
Caleb put the book back on the shelf and rubbed his hands together. “My secret is…”
He paused.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I said, “What is it?”
“You’re definitely gonna want to hear this,” he murmured.
I laughed. “Okay…then tell me.”
He took a few steps toward me and leaned close to my ear. Chills ran through me as he said, “I know for a fact it wasn’t you who made that smell in the loo.”
I looked him in the eyes. “How?”
“Because I’d been in the men’s room earlier that morning, and it smelled exactly the same.”
“Why didn’t you say that at the time?”
“Because it was too much fun watching you squirm.” He winked. “It’s a good thing I’m living here. I’ll have a lot more chances to do that.”