Under the Mistletoe Collection Read online

  “Okay.” Caleb smiled and slipped his hands in his pockets. “I need to pick up a few things so I’ll meet you at the register.”

  Before her eyes lingered on his mouth again, Madison quickly left him alone and made her way to the front of the store. Her heart thumped wildly, and she mentally chastised herself for being stupid enough to want to kiss him.

  There was only one register open and a line of three other people ahead of her. It would give her plenty of time to peruse the assortment of magazines and tabloids on the endcap, looking for pictures of Caleb and Elizabeth. Even if what he said was true, their bet was still on. She might have to work with him, but spending alone time with him was out of the question.

  Madison searched each cover and wasn’t surprised to find Derrick on nearly every issue pictured with the seventeen-year-old girl that didn’t look the least bit innocent. There were also pictures of Caleb on a few of them, announcing his role as the new Sir Lancelot. Elizabeth wasn’t in one photo. She wasn’t even mentioned in any of them.

  Crap. Now she would have to spend an entire evening with Caleb Matthews.

  Feeling more stressed than ever, she picked up a couple of candy bars to add to her purchase. While the cashier slowly scanned the contents of the cart from the person in front of her, another lane opened up. Madison wanted to switch over, but two other people behind her got there first.

  The new cashier was twice as fast as the one Madison had. By the time it was her turn, Caleb had apparently made it to the other register.

  “Oh my gosh,” the cashier there said in a high-pitched voice. “You’re Caleb Matthews!”

  “Hello,” Caleb said.

  Madison rolled her eyes at the girl’s tittering laugh. Just because the guy’s accent made everything he said sound sexy was no excuse to act like an idiot. It would only feed his already-high ego.

  “Will you please do a selfie with me? I want to Snapchat my roommates to make them jealous.”

  Madison’s cashier had stopped scanning her items and stared at Caleb with hungry eyes. She looked like she might jump the counter to get to him.

  “Excuse me,” Madison said. “Could you please scan my things?”

  “But that’s Caleb Matthews.” She fanned her face with the partially empty pacifier package. “He’s even hotter in person.”

  “Yes, well, the sooner you finish with me the sooner you can go talk to him.”

  Without even scanning the items, the cashier shoved the package into a sack, along with the candy bars. “Here you go, ma’am.”

  “Don’t I need to pay for these?” Madison asked, taking the sack from the girl.

  “It’s on me.” She took off her red apron and smoothed her hair with her fingers. Then she left her post and made a beeline for the next lane over.

  Madison glanced behind her and saw it was empty. The person behind her had abandoned her cart and jumped in line to see the British star. Caleb drew everyone to him, making each individual feel like a personal friend. He took selfie after selfie and signed whatever piece of paper was handed to him.

  Hoping this didn’t last too much longer, Madison took a seat on a bench. At least Charlotte was asleep. Digging her phone out of her purse, she snapped a picture of Charlotte in pacifier heaven and posted it to her private Instagram account, tagging the picture as “Nirvana.” Then she sent a Snapchat of the same picture to Jenny to open when she awoke.

  After ten more minutes of mindless social media surfing, Madison glanced up at Caleb. She wanted to catch his attention and remind him she and Charlotte were waiting on him.

  Finally, Caleb said his goodbyes. “It’s been lovely meeting you all,” he said in his crisp accent. “Thank you for your kind welcome.”

  Madison expected Caleb to walk out ahead of her to avoid any rumors, but he stopped in front of her and held out his hand. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Love.”

  She eyed him warily. He’d been in the business long enough to know the rumors about them could be hitting the worldwide web within minutes of them leaving.

  She took his hand for only a second to stand up, but in that brief moment several people captured the chivalrous move with their cell phone cameras.

  Chapter Six

  Madison snatched her hand out of Caleb’s. “It’s fine.” Her eyes darted to the onlookers. They watched them closely, and Madison could read the speculation in their eyes. “Um, we’re only friends, not lovers.” She cringed. “I mean, he only called me ‘love’ because he’s British.”

  Caleb lifted a questioning brow. Madison twisted her hands, hearing the whispers about who she was to Caleb and whether or not the baby belonged to him.

  Panicking, she blurted out, “Oh, he’s not the father.”

  Shooting her an annoyed look, Caleb took the cart and said under his breath, “Let’s go before you say anything more damaging.”

  Madison hurried beside him.

  “Mr. Matthews!” the cashier said, handing Caleb a plastic grocery sack. “Don’t forget these. You can never have enough pacifiers, right?”

  “Quite right.” He took the bag. “Thank you.”

  They rushed outside, and Madison didn’t dare look to see if they still had an audience. All she could envision were the tweets going out right now about Caleb Matthews’ girlfriend and his questionable paternity to the baby he’d just purchased pacifiers for.

  Caleb unlocked the car and opened the back door. Madison avoided looking at him as she loaded Charlotte into the car. She slid in beside the car seat and caught the sack Caleb tossed at her before he closed the door.

  Caleb returned the cart before getting into the car. Without saying anything, he put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

  They drove in complete silence. She was forced to speak up when Caleb took the wrong turn.

  “You’re going the wrong way.”

  “I know. I’m trying to lose the car following us.”

  Madison glanced behind her. “How do you know they’re following us?”

  “Because as they climbed into their vehicle I heard them talk about tailing me to see where I live.”

  “In that case I’m sure it’ll throw them off when you drive through my neighborhood.”

  “Perhaps, but if they’re persistent then they’ll discover where you live. Do you want me to chance that?”

  “No.” Madison glanced at the time. It was nearly nine. Jenny would be getting up in an hour. “But I need to get back soon so I can work on getting the car started for Jenny.”

  “And how do you propose to do that?”

  “There’s a portable battery booster in the trunk. It usually works.”

  Caleb made a right turn and then accelerated down the long stretch of road. He grinned, and Madison glanced out the back window to see the car following them stopped at the red light.

  “Turn left up here,” Madison said turning back around. “It’ll wind through a neighborhood and come out by the park near my house.”

  “Excellent.” He made the turn and pressed a button on the steering wheel to bring up the map display. He pressed another button and gave the voice command to navigate to Madison’s home.

  She watched the screen display the route to her house. It shouldn’t make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside that he’d already programmed her home address into his navigational system, but it did.

  With another touch of a button, he made the command to call someone named Franco.

  “Hey, boss, what’s up?” a man said in an obvious New York accent.

  “I need you to bring the Land Rover to me.” Caleb then rattled off Madison’s address.

  “Sure thing. Will you need a tow truck for the Audi?”

  “That’s not necessary. I’ll be loaning it to a friend for a few days.”

  Madison scowled. “I’d better not be the friend you’re talking about.”

  Caleb ended the call, and his eyes flickered up to the mirror. “Would you have rather I said you were my love
r?”

  “Ha ha.” She leaned forward. “I’m not driving your car.”

  “Madison, your sister needs a car to get to work and back.”

  “I’m sure we can jumpstart it.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?”

  “Then we’ll call a cab.”

  He sighed. “And what about when she needs to come home or you need to get to work tomorrow? Cabs are expensive.”

  Biting her lip, Madison sat back and closed her eyes. He was right. She and Jenny didn’t get paid for another week, and there wasn’t enough money to cover cab fare for the two of them to get to work and back.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked irritably. “It’s not like you’re some knight in shining armor.”

  His eyes met hers in the mirror again, and she could tell he was smiling. “Actually, I kind of am. You know, Sir Lancelot?”

  Madison rolled her eyes, and he laughed. She wanted to insist he go home and take his beautiful car with him, but she really didn’t know what to do. She needed the car, at least until she could scour YouTube for videos about how to fix hers.

  She stayed quiet for the remainder of the ride home. Finally, Caleb pulled up behind her car. He cut the engine and came around to open her door.

  “Don’t forget her new dummies,” Caleb said, taking the infant carrier out of her hands.

  “Speaking of dummies,” she said, retrieving the grocery sacks. “Why did you have to make such a spectacle of yourself by buying more pacifiers?”

  “Are you seriously saying I’m the one who made a spectacle?”

  Madison felt her cheeks flame, and she wondered if the rumors were already flying about Caleb’s possible love child.

  “Sorry about that.” She reached out and took back the baby seat, careful not to awaken Charlotte. “But, really, why did you buy more pacifiers?”

  “Truly?” He narrowed his beautiful eyes. “I assure you I didn’t have an ulterior motive. When you purchased one package I only thought to buy a few more since the baby is so attached to them, and they are evidently easily lost.”

  It really was sweet of him to think of Charlotte. “Thank… you. That was very thoughtful of you.” The words were easier to say than she’d thought.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Madison held his gaze for a moment longer before turning and heading toward the carport. A surge of panic spread through her when she passed by her beat-up car. She hoped it was an easy fix.

  Somehow Caleb ended up in front of her. His fingers brushed against hers as he took the keys and opened the door. She murmured her thanks and slipped past him, trying to ignore the tantalizing scent of his cologne.

  Caleb came in behind her and followed her across the kitchen floor. When she got to the hall, Madison turned and found him so near she had to tip her head back to look at him. “I’m just going to put her in the crib.”

  “Need any help?” he asked softly.

  “No, thank you.” She turned and made her way toward the baby’s room. Charlotte squirmed a little when Madison settled her onto the mattress but remained asleep.

  She lingered by the crib for a few more moments before tiptoeing out the door. Caleb stood by the pathetic-looking Christmas tree. He turned when he heard her enter the room.

  “Hello,” he said, watching her closely.

  “Hi.”

  His warm gaze held her captive, and the room seemed to shrink. Madison needed space, or at least something to do other than stare at this gorgeous man. Spying the baby monitor on the coffee table, she picked it up. “I’m going to see if I can jumpstart the car.”

  “I thought we’d already settled this?” Caleb said.

  “As much as I appreciate it, we can’t keep your car forever, Caleb.”

  She hurried outside, flustered when he followed close behind her. She went through the usual ritual to open the driver’s side door and found the lever to pop the hood. After propping the hood open, she went around to the trunk and retrieved the battery booster.

  Caleb hovered nearby, watching her every move. Her fingers shook as she connected the red and black clamps to the correct battery terminals and then plugged in the booster. Unfortunately, she needed to let the battery charge for a few minutes. Ignoring Caleb was no longer an option.

  She turned toward him. The moment their eyes met a current of awareness surged between them. It was so powerful she could probably start the car with a touch of her pinkie finger.

  Caleb took a step forward. “Madison, we need to talk.”

  “Okay.” She edged back, stopping when she bumped into the car. “What would you like to talk about?”

  “Us.”

  Chapter Seven

  Stunned, Madison said the first thing that entered her mind. “There is no us.”

  A frown marred his handsome face. “Madison, when are you going to believe me that there was nothing going on between Ava and me?”

  She wasn’t sure what to believe. A flashback of the pictures of him and Ava kissing passionately appeared in her mind. “She went to London with you, and you tried to hide it from me.”

  “She was on my flight, but we weren’t together.” He ran a hand through his hair. “And it was stupid of me not to tell you, but I knew you’d be upset we were doing a screen test together. I didn’t want to distract you from your studies.”

  “Yeah, well waking up and finding pictures plastered all over Instagram of my fiancé kissing Ava Sterling kind of screwed up my finals. I had to grovel to my professor to let me take another test.”

  “I’m sorry.” He took a step toward her. “But you do remember the pictures were captured during one of the takes, right?”

  That’s what he’d said before. At first she’d been too upset to even care. Later, after they’d stopped talking, she’d accepted it as the truth since there weren’t any other pictures of them. Ava was devious enough if she had other photographs she would have posted them. In Ava’s world there was no such thing as bad press. It was a slight consolation to Madison that her nemesis’s efforts had been in vain. Ava’s character was killed off after the fourth episode.

  Still, because of her parents’ struggles, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to try and make things right with him.

  “Yes. I do realize that.” Feeling guilty for not even giving Caleb a chance back then, she shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. It’s in the past.”

  Caleb’s eyes looked troubled. Before he could say anything more, she twisted around and opened the car door. “I’ve already inconvenienced you enough for one night. I’m going to at least check to see if this will work.” She climbed in behind the wheel and tried to start the car. It still made a clicking sound.

  “Oh, come on,” she said, trying a few more times.

  Suddenly the passenger door squealed as Caleb opened it and slid onto the seat.

  “I haven’t been inconvenienced, and I don’t care if I have to stay here all night, but we are going to talk about us.”

  Madison groaned and pressed her forehead against the steering wheel. Why was he being so persistent now? Two years ago he hadn’t come home and tried to work things out. Now, too much had been said, or rather, left unsaid, and they had both moved on.

  “I should’ve come after you when you broke off the engagement, but I was angry and immature,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “I was going to give us a few days to cool off, but then filming started and you ignored all my calls and wouldn’t answer any of my messages. I finally stopped trying when you returned your engagement ring.”

  Listening to him recall the events made her feel like the immature one. She remembered sending him her ring, all the while thinking in the back of her mind if he really loved her and wanted her he would come after her.

  Sitting back against the seat, she turned and met his gaze. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you and that I blamed you for everything.”

  “Madison, I was never with Ava.” He shifted in his seat. “I know n
ow it would have been better to tell you about the audition, but truly I only had your best interest at heart.”

  Her throat felt too thick to speak. She nodded her head in acknowledgement before she dropped her eyes to look at her lap. Sitting here with him, it was clear she’d allowed her fears that Caleb would turn out to be just like her father taint her judgment.

  He leaned forward and lifted her chin with his finger, raising her face. “Do you forgive me?”

  With those four words she felt all her anger vanish in a matter of seconds. “Yes,” she said, knowing it was true.

  Slowly his lips curved up, and it took a great deal of self-control not to press her mouth to his like she’d done so many times in the past when either of them had made an apology. They hadn’t argued much when they’d been together, but making up had always been the best part.

  “Do you forgive me?” she asked, shifting her gaze to his eyes.

  “Always.”

  His soft answer was familiar and made her long for what always followed— a kiss that wiped away all the hurt feelings. Her heart nearly stopped when he lowered his head. He was going to kiss her, and she felt frozen with both fear and desire.

  Her breath quickened and she caught the scent of cinnamon as his lips lightly brushed hers. The kiss was so quick she didn’t have time to give him a response. And boy did her body want her to respond.

  She waited for him to kiss her again, her heart pounding with anticipation. But Caleb remained motionless, his mouth lingering so close to hers their breath mingled. Was he waiting for her to make the next move? Did she want to make the next move?

  She curled her fingers into her palms, resisting the urge to grab the front of his shirt. It was obvious he was leaving it up to her to decide if there would be another kiss, but part of her was afraid once she started kissing him she wouldn’t be able to stop. Suddenly car lights illuminated the inside of the car.

  Caleb sighed and pressed his forehead against hers. “That’s my ride.”