Chapter 30 Caleb
Caleb
Rational thought left me. It always did when I had Emma in my arms. I tumbled us down to my bed, then restrained her there while I licked, nibbled, and sucked every inch of her, until she was a panting, gasping, hot, beautiful mess.
And then started over again.
And again.
“Show-off,” she managed to say breathlessly when I finally sat back on my heels.
I smiled at how beautiful she looked—tousled, sated, wrecked—until she wriggled out of my clutches and jumped at me, taking me down to the mattress.
“I know you let me do that,” she said, straddling me, staring down into my face. “But it’s my turn.”
That was the only warning I got before she put my hands on my headboard, said, “Don’t let go,” and then proceeded to use her hands, her lips, her teeth, her every damn thing to torment, torture, and tease me until I was quivering and, fuck, begging.
She had me deep in her throat when I ripped my hands from the headboard and slid them into her hair, using my grip to pull her off.
“If you keep that up,” I said hoarsely, “It’s going to be over—”
She took my hands out of her hair, put them back on the headboard, and looking gorgeously smug, smiled down at me. The look in her eyes made me want to sign over everything I owned if she’d just stay right here, looking at me like I was the best thing to ever happen to her.
Forever.
It sent my mind spinning even as something inside me unpinched. I didn’t deserve her, I truly didn’t, but I wanted her more than reason. I was free-falling, my emotions a tangled, agonizing mess as I held her gaze, trying to convince myself that I could have this, her, and not mess it up.
“Tell me you have a condom,” she said.
I slapped a hand out to my nightstand drawer and came up with a box.
She smiled. “Unopened.”
“I bought it after the river, just in case—” Words escaped me when she tore open a packet and began to roll it down my length. “I—Fuck, Em—”
“You bought it after the river just in case what?” she asked sweetly, nudging me to finish my sentence like she didn’t have me double-fisted in her hands, stroking me in the exact way I liked.
“In case I—Shit. I…”
Finished rolling the condom on, she bent low and kissed the very tip before sitting up and smiling at me. “In case…”
She was going to be the death of me. “In case I ever got lucky enough to have you in my bed.” I’d barely gotten the rest of the sentence out before she lifted up, then sank back down, taking me deep inside her. “Fuck—Em…” Words defied me as she began to move.
I slid my hands to her hips, adding my strength to hers, and when she trembled, I sat up, both of us gasping as it sent me even deeper inside her. I slid my hands to her sweet ass and guided her into a rhythm that had her crying out. “Just like that, Em. God, you’re perfect.”
Her fingers tangled in my hair, her nails scratching lightly at my skull while we moved in sync.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her; she was incredible, sexy…
mine. I kissed her desperately, groaning into her mouth as I held her sweet, warm curves so tight to me, I couldn’t have said where I ended and she began.
She was no longer the only one trembling.
The angle, the rhythm, it was all so good, so fucking good, I knew I wouldn’t last long.
I slid a hand between us to stroke her center.
Her head fell back, eyes closed, mouth open as she spiraled up and up, sweeter and sweeter, until a press of my thumb had her shattering around me, shoving me off the edge with her, my release hitting hard and bright and hot, convulsing my belly, stopping my breath.
I couldn’t have spoken to save my life. I didn’t know my own name.
Only hers.
***
Normally, I was awoken before dawn by Calvin and Klein when they jumped on the bed to run circles around and over me until either I got up or one of them fell off the bed and got embarrassed enough to “woo woo” about it.
Their inner clock was set to 5:00 a.m., and if I was even a minute late, they rioted.
But this morning, there were no dogs jumping me. And the light was different. More. Turning my head to eye the time, I blinked in shock—7:12 a.m. I sat straight up, dazed and confused.
The bed was empty of both dogs and Emma.
Where were they? And how long had they been gone?
I knew for a fact that Emma had still been in bed a few hours ago when she rolled over in her sleep and snuggled up to me, pressing her icy hands against my stomach.
I’d wrapped her up close and shared my body heat, until comfort had turned sensual and we’d had round two before drifting back to sleep together.
I slid out of bed and followed an enticing scent to the kitchen. On the stovetop sat a sourdough grilled-cheese sandwich cooked to perfection. Its twin was in Emma’s hand.
Emma sat on the floor in my sweats and the shirt I’d been wearing yesterday—the one we’d left on the floor somewhere—her feet bare, hair adorably wild, eating while chatting to my two goofy hounds like they were all best friends. And why was that the cutest, sexiest thing I’d ever seen?
Calvin and Klein were actually sitting politely for once, heads tilted in perfect unison as she told them the story of the time their “daddy” had come to the cafeteria where she was serving food, acting like a big old jackass jock, so much so that she wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d pounded my own chest with my fists.
“Funny,” I said.
She smirked up at me, and I wanted to toss her over my shoulder and haul her sweet ass back to bed, where she could smirk at me while I—
“Since you made me breakfast in the middle of the night,” she said, “I thought it only fair that I make you lunch this morning.” She paused, grimaced. “I hope it’s okay that I made myself at home in your fridge. Being in a fully stocked kitchen was a luxury I couldn’t pass up.”
I thought of how she’d been living, and my heart pinched. “It’s very okay. I want you to make yourself at home here.”
She smiled with a gratitude that made me want to give her the fucking world, not just a place to sleep and access to a damn kitchen.
“I’m a master at grilled cheese, but that’s about the extent of my skills,” she admitted.
I took a bite of the sandwich she’d left me. She’d combined two different cheeses from the fridge and hadn’t been afraid of butter. It was heaven. “Just like last night, one isn’t going to be enough,” I said around a mouthful.
A blush stained her cheeks, and I wondered what the fuck was wrong with the people who’d been in her life that they hadn’t treasured this loving, warm, smart woman with every ounce of their being.
“Thanks for not minding the intrusion,” she said softly, hugging Calvin while Klein, almost bigger than her, tried to get into her lap. “It won’t be long; in two weeks I’ll have enough to sign a lease on an apartment.”
I nudged the dogs over—getting dirty looks from each of them—so I could sit on the floor in front of Emma, mimicking her crossed-legs position.
While she feigned interest in the last bite of her sandwich.
“Hey,” I said, lowering my head, tilting it to the side so I could see her eyes. “I don’t care how long you stay.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do.” Our gazes locked.
She drew a deep breath. “You have questions.”
“I do.”
She nodded. “I’m ready. Hit me.”
“What happened that you ended up living in your car?”
She broke the last bite of her sandwich in two, spent a few seconds pretending to be engrossed in watching the heated cheese stretch.
“I told you about losing the room I was subletting when the building burned down. And because I wasn’t on the lease, I hadn’t been required to get rental insurance. Not my smartest financial decision.”
She could’ve been killed. I didn’t usually allow myself retroactive worry, but it hit me now, just how bad things had been for her. She’d lost everything. “Em. I—”
“Please don’t say you’re sorry. I don’t need your sympathy. And it’s not as hard to get by as you might think. I dressed from thrift stores, showered at campgrounds…my car is perfectly comfortable, and it’s only temporary.”
My chest felt like it had caved in. “Emma.”
“It’s not that I’m bad with money either. It was just a perfect storm. The fire, school debt, trying to save for a new place…”
And she’d been alone, utterly alone. It was hard for me to even fathom. My whole life, I’d been part of a team. A team of siblings. A hockey team. A work team. Even if I didn’t have a penny to my name, I’d never worry about having a roof over my head or where my next meal would come from.
She put a hand over mine, trying to comfort me. She was trying to comfort me.
“It was my choice,” she said quickly. “I had to move fast when I got the temp job at Henderson and Hall, and the housing market here is more expensive than Santa Rosa. But I’m close, just one more paycheck.”
“What about Suzie?” I asked. What kind of a best friend doesn’t step up to help—
“She doesn’t know. She’s got a preteen and a baby due any second, plus a brand-new and very worried husband. I couldn’t give her one more thing to stress over.”
“Emma, she cares about you. She’d want to help.”
“Exactly why I can’t let her. Besides, it wasn’t supposed to take me this long to get into a place, but it was hard to find one in my price range, not to mention first and last month’s rent, plus a security deposit.
But I really am close now, and I even have the exact apartment I want picked out and everything. ”
I vowed to make sure it happened for her, whatever I had to do.
She lifted her eyes to mine, and I felt sucker punched by the strength in them.
“I’ve got no regrets,” she said. “Even losing that scholarship to you. It was hard to see in the moment, or in the many, many hard moments that came after, but I know that things happened the way they had to for me to land here.”
I reached for her hand and tugged her into my lap. Cupping her jaw, I tipped her face up and brushed a kiss over her temple, then her mouth, before pulling back just enough to whisper, “Do you have any idea how glad I am that you landed here?” I pressed my forehead to hers. “With me?”
She started to say something that I desperately wanted to hear, but just then my front door flew open, and a ticker-tape parade strolled in.
My entire fucking family.