Page 59 of Caesar DeLuca
Occasionally, Caesar tried to make good on his promise. He sent over a private security company that wanted to redo my entire camera system. Another company showed up to discuss providing me with firearm training. I turned them all away.
If I was ever going to be able to move on, I needed time and space. I didn’t need reminders of him. I didn’t need trouble knowing what would happen if the truth got out.
But tonight’s about Mrs. Bev. I can make an exception.
“Tell us what you’ve been up to,” says Ms. Erica. “Have you started that vegetable garden?”
I smile. “Not yet. I hope to get to it soon.”
“What you need to get to is finding yourself a man,” cuts in Mrs. Stevens. Both of her thinly penciled brows raise as she points her fork at me like it’s a finger. “You’re at that age. Now’s the time. I can introduce you to my nephew?—”
“Don’t go siccing your musty little nephew on the girl. She deserves better.” Mrs. Bev turns to me and drops her voice an octave or two. “Trust me when I say you want nothing to do with him and his BO.”
I let the rest of the table erupt into bickering matches over eligible men they know that would be most suitable for me. It isn’t the first time this topic has come up around Mrs. Bev and her small group of friends. In the past I used to laugh along and entertain their hypotheticals.
Tonight I can’t bring myself to.
An hour of more conversation passes with plenty of food being served to the table. I excuse myself to start making my way home. I’m waved off and given a few hugs. I step out of the restaurant doors and then stop short.
A sick feeling pools inside my stomach, and I have to suck in air or risk spitting up what I’ve eaten.
Fast forward a half hour later, Mrs. Bev’s birthday dinner has turned into an ordeal about my safety.
Mr. Craig offers to drive me home and tow my RAV4. Along the way I endure the most frustrating circular conversation imaginable—he won’t stop speculating about who could’ve done it.
I rest my forehead against the glass window and pray for the moment I can get out and walk.
As soon as we pulled into the driveway of my home and I saw the padlock, I knew who was in the area. Caesar is the only one who would leave the padlock hanging halfway off its metal hook. He’d fussed at me about it several times when he stayed with me, claiming it was not a secure enough lock.
When I call out to him the second Mr. Craig leaves and we’re alone, he doesn’t answer me at first. He remains lurking in the dark as though he’s waiting to see if I’m truly aware of his presence.
“Caesar, what are you doing here?”
Another second goes by and then…
“I was in the area.” He steps out of the shadows and appears at the top of the staircase.
My next breath stalls in my lungs. I’m stuck staring up at the man who has been on my mind too many times over the last few months. He looks as I remember him—the hallway light carves him out of the shadows, accentuating his solid frame and the natural scowl clenched on his handsome face.
“You were in the area,” I choke out, blinking. “What about that makes you think… you’ve broken into my house!”
“Is it really breaking in if I know how to open the lock?”
Caesar comes down the staircase a step at a time, his dark and probing gaze trained on me. A shiver tracks its way down my spine, though you’d never know by looking at me. I’m trying my hardest to keep it together.
“It’s breaking in because this isn’t your home and you weren’t invited.”
“I seem to remember I was.” He reaches the bottom stair, stepping off it, crossing the few feet that’s between us. His energy dominates the space, warm and masculine in a way that makes me lightheaded. He comes too close, his stare too intense. “What were you doing out so late, Ariana?”
“It’s none of your business?—”
“You told me you never go out after dark. You told me the night you found me was a fluke.”
“It was.”
“And yet tonight you were out with some man named Craig.”
My right brow ticks up on its own. “So that’s what this is about? You happened to be in the neighborhood, which is code for taking it upon yourself to intrude on my privacy, and you saw I was out. You didn’t like not knowing where I was and the fact that I came back with a man makes it even worse. Is that what’s going on?”
