I like this about him. Along with about a million other things.
“Is there anything you can eat?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says, moving his hand to my back and sliding it up underneath my T-shirt, as if he needs contact with my skin. “I can have the avocado toast with poached eggs. What do you want?”
The sensation of his rough, warm hand moving over my bare skin is very distracting.
And glorious.
I refocus my attention on his phone, reading the menu he has pulled up on his screen. “I think I’ll have the yogurt granola bowl.”
“And a hazelnut mocha latte?” he asks. “You’re not the only one who remembers things.”
My heart does a flip-flop inside my chest. “That sounds good. Thank you.”
Caleb nods. He removes his hand from my back and places an online order.
“What name do you use for your order?” I ask, curious.
He furrows his brow. “Usually Caleb for things that are delivered. Why?”
“I thought you might have a code name. Hadleigh and I had a code name when we talked about you in public.”
Caleb’s eyes sparkle at this. “What’s my code name?”
“Maxwell.”
Now he looks completely confused. “Erm … okay. But why Maxwell?”
“Well, Hadleigh suggested George, because Wikipedia said that’s your middle name. Is that right?”
“Yeah. It’s George.”
“Good to know. Anyway, I teased Hadleigh about the accuracy of Wikipedia, so I said your middle name was probably something like Maxwell, so we used that. I’ll let her know we can call you George.”
He shakes his head in a mixture of bewilderment and amusement.
“Come on. You’re intrigued because I’m different,” I say.
“I’m more than intrigued. I’m invested. Because you’reyou.”
My breath catches in my throat, but Caleb speaks again before I can say anything. “I need to think of how I’m going to leave after breakfast. It’s neck day, you know.” He winks at me.
And suddenly I have ideas about licking his neck again.
“It’s probably busiest downstairs now as people leave for work,” Caleb says, oblivious to the sexy thoughts rolling around in my head. “I can have Catherine come over and pick me up. Maybe we should have her come up so she and I can walk out together, like we were visiting the same person.”
I bite my lip. We’re going to have to be so planned and so careful. Especially on race weekends, when we’re surrounded by my coworkers, the media, and fans who know everything and everyone in the world of F1 racing.
A little bit of anxiety pools in my stomach. I’m not used to having to hide things or sneak around. For someone who is a rules follower, who did everything by the book to get the opportunities at Total Access Total Sports and the Miami Grand Prix, this is hard. I don’t like it.
But as I look at Caleb, and remember his thoughts on this, I know he’s right.
I have to be protected while we build this relationship. And he has to be protected, too.
“Shit. I’m going to have to give Catherine a pay raise,” he says, running his hand over his jaw. He glances over at me. “She didn’t exactly sign on to run interference for me and my new girlfriend.”
As much as I want to squeal that he just called me his girlfriend, my reporter instincts kick in and take over. “Not that you aren’t amazing and the best boss in the world, but why does Catherine work as your assistant? Did she ever mention wanting a different role with Collings Motors?”