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Cal groaned and her attention went back to him. “She’s part time. It’s a family business. Everyone here is a Sherwood except Rory who is an Archer. And yes, Rory and I were together,” he looked from Fin to Rory, “but we’re colleagues now.”
Gah, that was the most awkward thing to happen yet, because it didn’t look like Rory was convinced of the colleagues thing and even without lie detection training Fin could see that. Lie detection. Cal wasn’t being flippant. This was some seriously strategic business shit.
“Why don’t we start with the formal briefing,” said Sherin. “You can re-group later with Tres and Rory.”
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“Cal has asked me to teach you cueing,” Rory said. “The best way to do that is to demonstrate. Take a seat.” She motioned for Fin to sit. “Caleb,” and for Cal to come to her side, which he did.
The effect of the two of them standing side by side, Cal’s elegant ease and Rory’s fiery glamour, was another reminder things that looked too good to be true probably were.
“We use signals and touch to cue each other on activity in the room,” said Rory. She walked half a room away from Cal. “If we’re separated but have line of sight, like at a dinner party where we’re not seated together it goes like this.” She put her hand to her face, cupping her check. “This means I need help. If my little finger is against my lip,” she demonstrated, “it means urgently. If I put one hand behind my back, it means I’m doing fine. If I touch my shoulder it means beware.” She tipped her head to the side and rolled her eyes.
Cal laughed. “That means she’s bored and would like to go home. I make similar gestures they mean the same things.” He put his hand to his face. “Help,” touched his lip, “right now,” put a hand behind his back, “everything is fine” touched his shoulder, “beware,” and tipped his head to the side making Rory walk toward him and stand slightly in front of Cal, her body grazing his.
“We have touch cues for when we’re together,” sh
e said.
Cal put his hand to her elbow. “All going well,” said Rory. He slipped his hand up to her shoulder. “Are you okay?” she said. He touched her hip and she said, “Walk away.” He put the back of his hand to her thigh and she said, “Time to go.”
There were other touches, and other meanings, move in, stop, start, listen, take note, but Fin lost them because it looked like Cal and Rory were dancing moving around each other to demonstrate, familiar and practiced and fitting together with subtle touches and flowing gestures that she was mesmerized, but her focus snapped back into place when Rory’s voice broke.
“When he touches the back of my neck it means I want you, and when he trails that touch down my back it means I love you.” She stepped away from Cal, her shoulders high, her face contorted. “We didn’t have a gesture for I’m a faithless liar. I recommend you get one.”
“Rory,” Cal reached for her, but she thrust a hand out to hold him off and went to stride past him. “Aurora,” he said, that don’t fuck with me tone, but it was laced with love and longing and finality.
Rory stopped and covered her face. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I put everything at risk.”
He stepped in to her, close, hands in his pockets, giving her the chance to escape around him. She collapsed against his chest.
Fin stood, she needed to get out, give them this moment of privacy, but it was hard to wrench her eyes away. Zeke arriving in the doorway was the distraction she needed. He wore a worried frown but didn’t come into the room, jamming up the exit and making it harder for Fin to leave.
Rory chose for all of them, breaking away from Cal, her face streaked with tears. “I know you love me in your way. I know you forgive me. I need to let you go, stop punishing you.”
Cal’s head shake was slight but it was there. He still held one of Rory’s hands, reluctantly letting her take it back.
Rory wiped her face and turned to Fin. “He’ll take good care of you. You don’t need to be afraid of that. Good luck.” She went to Zeke who put his arm around her and they left together, and in a terrifying moment, Fin saw Cal stripped of everything that made him commanding.
He wasn’t skin and bone and supreme confidence worn so lightly he let his family give him grief; he was anguish and dismay. He dripped with it, from the slant of his shoulders to the slight hunch of his body and the ruined look on his face and then as if that was an act, he straightened. The weight of emotion cleared from his body and lifted from his expression.
“So that was Rory.” He closed his eyes on a long blink. “My apologies. I should never have asked her to do that. You and I should start over, make a new cueing language together. What do you say?”
She had to clear her throat to get her voice working. “We can do this another time.” He must surely want to take a break, because what she’d seen was too real for acting.
“Finley.” He put his hand across his forehead. The cue for I’ve got this. “You would be doing me an immense favor if you’d keep me busy. Nothing I hate more than making a strong woman cry.”
Because what she’d witnessed made her break with Win look like nothing worse than a horror commute. Because Cal wasn’t a robot with a reset button, just a man on the edge of a bad break up, in need of a distraction, she went to him, and they put together a new dance that was all their own.
The Confidence Game
Book 1
One Night Wife
Finley Cartwright is the queen of lost causes. That's why she's standing on a barstool trying to convince Friday night drinkers to donate money to her failing charity. Hitting on the guy on the next stool wasn't part of her plan. Still, hot but grumpy venture capitalist Caleb Sherwood might just be her ticket to success.
Professional grifter and modern-day Robin Hood, Cal Sherwood is looking for a partner for a long con. Sexy Fin, doing her best Marilyn Monroe act for her cause, has the necessary qualifications. By the time he cuts her free, her charity would be thriving, and she'd have helped him charm billions out of arrogant, gullible marks to fund his social justice causes.
