35. Caleb
Chapter 35
Caleb
I don’t know why I need her to say it. It annoys me she hasn’t yet, and it pisses me off that I need the reassurance.
I lean forward, bracing on my arm, while I tug at her hair again. “Who do you belong to?”
It’s like I’m a man possessed, and her answer is the holy land I need to conquer. As if she didn’t show me with her actions, her support, her presence.
“Just fuck me, would you?” she pants.
Turning her head, she snakes her hand around my neck and pulls my face closer. While her other arm holds the headboard, she manages to meet my lips in a sloppy kiss.
I drop her hair and straighten behind her. Gripping her hips, I pound into her like I can punish her for not saying the words. For being fucking stubborn and defiant. While I’ve known all along those are the qualities I love about her.
The room fills with our moans, our sweat, our bodies connecting. The sight of my cock disappearing into her awakens something primal in me.
“Fuck, Celeste, you should see how well you take me. Such a beautiful greedy pussy.”
I’m channeling my frustration and my adoration into every thrust. Never have I invested this much into chasing someone else’s pleasure.
Never have I had a woman in my bed.
Never have I imagined it might feel this natural with anyone.
But this is not just anyone. This is Celeste. The only woman that made it this far.
To my bed. To my heart. To my fucking soul.
The tingling builds at the base of my spine, but fuck, I need her to get there first. I snake my hand around and pinch her clit.
Her arms slide from the headboard, her head dropping into the pillow as she tenses and squeezes around me.
“Oh my God, Cal-Cal-Caleb.”
Her chanting sends me over the edge and I roar as I spill inside her.
Claiming her.
Marking her .
Making her mine, finally.
My wife.
The evening sunlight streams through the windows, casting a warm, golden hue over my bedroom. Our bedroom.
Celeste nestles her head on my chest, and I hold Celeste in a tight embrace. Like my body is on board with her intrusion into my private space, but my mind still needs more proof she is really here. That I really let her this close.
We’ve stayed in bed today. Fucking. Laughing. Talking. Eating. The day has been floating in a lazy, but very satisfying way.
I don’t think I’ve spent an entire day in bed since I was a teenager, and definitely never with a woman. My encounters have always been quick and selfish. Today, I’m doting on my wife, and the result is a new level of satisfaction.
I glance down at her, marveling at how peaceful she looks. There’s a slight curve to her lips, a hint of a smile that hasn’t quite faded all day.
Her eyes are filled with a warmth that makes my chest ache in the best way possible.
Is this really my new reality? This easy companionship, this effortless joy? It feels almost too good to be true.
Celeste catches my reverie. “What’s that look for?” Her eyebrows quirk.
I shrug, giving her a lopsided grin. “Just thinking about how lucky I am.”
She rolls her eyes, but her smile widens. “You sap.”
I pinch her and she squeals, elbowing me. We roll around in a half-hearted fight, both of us laughing.
My laugh is the kind that comes from deep in my chest, the kind that only she can pull from me.
I settle on top of her, pinning her arms above her head. “I’ve never thought spending a day with someone doing nothing could be this satisfying.”
“Obviously I’m great company.” She grins, but then grows serious, our eyes locked in a passionate gaze, full of want and need and adoration.
The L word is on the tip of my tongue, but she speaks again. “I think we should plan a trip with Mia, take her out of the city for a weekend. Or maybe just the two of you should go away together.”
That’s not where I thought her mind went, but the fact that in this intimate moment, she thinks about my relationship with Mia… that she’s never looked at my daughter like she’s a burden, hits me like a potent drug. Unraveling me with the rightness of it. Of this .
I roll on to my back, taking her with me. “I’d need to talk to Reese about that.”
“When was the last time you tried that?”
“Only back then, when Mia showed up. Her texts were short and aloof. Mia doesn’t know the details of why I didn’t know about her, and I’m grateful Reese protected her from that story, but she still doesn’t trust me.”
“Maybe you should try again. She must know from Mia that the two of you formed a relationship that is growing deeper. She might see it all differently.”
She’s right, but I’ve just forged a fragile bond with Mia, and if I’m honest, I’m scared Reese won’t allow more, or worse, she’d curb the time we have now. “Frankly, sometimes it feels Mia is coming behind Reese’s back.”
Celeste jerks her head, her eyes widening. “Caleb, if that’s true, you might lose her if Reese finds out. She’s still young, and shouldn’t traipse around the city like this. Where does Reese think she is?”
“I’m not sure. I’m not even sure if it’s true. I tried to ask Mia a few questions to probe about the chances of meeting her mom, but she became all uncomfortable and I dropped it.”
“Merde.” She strokes my cheek, her eyes soft. “I’m sorry this has been so hard.”
“It’s gotten significantly easier since you became part of the picture. We’d be still sulking at each other if it wasn’t for you. Thank you.”
She fidgets and slides down from me, pulling me with her, so we now lie on our sides facing each other. “Sometimes I worry I’ve been interfering too much. That you need some time alone with her.”
“Don’t worry, black swan, despite everything, there is no competition, I’ll still buy you that airplane.” I don’t want any more serious, life-changing conversations today.
She rolls her eyes, but she understands my need to move back to the lazy and inconsequential. “You better.”
I pull her closer. “Shit is happening too fast, catching me unprepared, but I have you to keep me level.”
“And on your toes.” She claims my lips. But when we come up for air, she dives back into another loaded topic.
“When was the first time you saw me?”
The question tightens my muscles. Out of all the topics she could have chosen, this one I’m sure will taint our current harmony. But we might as well clear the air.
I asked her the same question at her apartment before we got married, and she ignored it. I thought it was because she didn’t remember, or just wanted to piss me off with her ignorance. But now she asked the question of me, so she must remember.
I remember very well.
“May ninth, ten years ago.”
Her eyes widen and she sits up so quickly I almost roll off the bed. “You remember the date?”
I shrug instead of the answer, because this little detail is the least of my worries. The question is why she gave me a wrong number then. The only woman who has ever done that.
“It’s not even your birthday and you remember…” She shakes her head.
“Why is the date important?” I sit up. Why are we even delving into something in the past that has no bearing on now?
“Because you remember it, and if it’s not your birthday, or something else significant, why would you—”
“Because meeting you isn’t something one forgets,” I growl, suddenly annoyed.
At her for disturbing the easy flow from earlier. At myself for still remembering. At the memory that should have faded a long time ago. At my hurt ego that still resents her for giving me a made-up phone number.
She gapes at me for seconds that feel like several lifetimes. “Why didn’t you call me then? ”
I frown, afraid to ask my next question. Could it have all been a misunderstanding? “Why did you give me a wrong number?”
She opens her mouth and closes it. Again. And again, before she croaks, “I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. I saved it, and had it for ten years, and unless you changed it, it’s definitely not the number you’re using now. I had to reprogram it when we got married.”
She shakes her head and blinks a few times, her shoulders sagging. “Merde. I always thought you asked for my number and never called.”
The realization that the wrong number had always been an accident gives me such a jolt of resolution, I pounce.
Celeste yelps when I pin her back against the mattress, covering her with my body. “Don’t worry, black swan, now I have your number, so you can’t escape me ever again.”
Heat flashes across her face, her breaths coming in shallow bursts. “You remember the exact date you first saw me?”
“Yes, we established that. No need to repeat it,” I growl.
She grins at me. “In case it wasn’t clear earlier, I’m yours. Only yours. ”
“In case it wasn’t clear, I love you.” I lower my lips to hers.
She hasn’t said it yet, but that doesn’t matter. I know she feels the same.
It fucking sucks that the joy will only last for another week.