Along Came Trouble(129)
He opened the door. “My room.”
“I want you,” she whispered. “The whole you, Caleb. I was lying when I said I didn’t.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I want to ask you questions. Find out . . . find out your stories. The good ones and the bad ones.”
“I’ve got some pretty bad stories.”
She reached out and rested her palm against the side of his head, brushing her thumb over his temple. His hair was prickly beneath her palm. “But you’re a good man.”
Caleb closed his eyes for a second, but not before she saw his relief. As though he’d been waiting for her to tell him that.
When he opened them, he smiled. The rake’s grin again. He closed the door behind him and spun her around against it. “I’m not all that good.”
He dropped to his knees and lifted her skirt. “Tell me I can touch you.”
“Please.” He stroked her with two fingers through the cotton, and when the moisture of her body soaked them, he moaned with pleasure and moved in with his tongue. The sensation of the hot, wet fabric rasping over her clit made her cry out. “You taste amazing.”
“Caleb,” she pleaded.
“Tell me what you need.”
“You. I want you inside me. I need to feel you close.”
He undressed her and led her to the bed, where she helped him out of his clothes. Then it was just the two of them, naked and needy, kissing and touching, and she wanted to tell him everything she’d been holding back so there’d be nothing left to keep them apart.
As he reached for a condom, she said, “I don’t want to be your lover.”
He hesitated, and she clarified, “I want to be your girlfriend.” She plucked the condom out of his hand and began rolling it onto him. “Only nobody says ‘girlfriend’ anymore. You’ll have to call me your ‘significant other’ or your ‘partner’ or something.”
Caleb smiled. “We have a problem, then. I don’t want a significant other.”
“You don’t?” It didn’t seem as though he meant it. He had the fingers of one hand in her hair while the other hand urged her knees up and positioned his cock at her entrance. “What do you want?”
His response was to move inside her, one slow, shallow stroke after another, deeper and deeper until he was all the way in.
“Christ, you feel amazing.” He let out a ragged breath against her neck and propped himself up on his elbows. His eyes were hot and shiny, sparkling with pleasure and something that might have been mischief. “I want you, Ellen. I want you to be my wife.”
She let out a weak laugh, so overwhelmed she couldn’t begin to absorb such an absurd statement. “What is it with you and the big revelations right in the middle of sex? Like I’m not knocked flat enough as it is?”
He withdrew nearly all the way, then sank back inside her with a groan that she matched with an extremely unladylike oath. Caleb kissed her, deep and hot, and said against her lips, “I’m playing to my strengths. You don’t have so many defenses up right now. It’s kind of a sneak attack.”
“Very clever.”
“Thank you.”
He withdrew again, slid a hand beneath her to tilt her hips up, and plunged, harder and deeper. This time, the noise she made wasn’t even a word. But her lips found their way to his name, so she latched onto it, saying “Caleb” as he began to move faster, “Caleb” as he took possession of her in his own bed, passionate and intense. “Caleb,” watching his face as her climax approached, fingers interlaced with his on either side of her head. They came together, one blindingly sweet, hot flash, and she didn’t look away this time, because there was nothing to be afraid of. This was the man she wanted to be with.
As their breathing slowed, she stroked his back and kissed him everywhere she could reach. His mouth, his face, his neck and shoulders. He held his weight on his elbows and looked down at her.
“I’m pretty sure I love you,” she said. It was easy to tell him. Astonishingly, ridiculously easy.
Caleb grinned. “What?”
“I love you.”
He cupped one hand to his ear. “Come again?”
She smacked his shoulder. “I love you, you big goof.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Tell me some more. I’m not tired of it yet.”
“You first.”