Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-six
Alice
Caleb opened the passenger door of his truck, slipped his arm under me, and lifted me out. He carried me into my house, closing the door behind us and flipping the lock. Then he pressed me against the door, cupped my jaw, and stared down at me.
We hadn’t planned on coming to my house after Joy’s, but I’d gotten the sense he wasn’t in the mood for the long drive back to the ranch. That was fine with me. After spinning in his arms all night, I didn’t want to spend more time than I had to out of them.
His nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath. “I’m feeling a whole hell of a lot.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t.” He leaned in, dragging his mouth along my neck then nipping my ear. “I need to keep feelin’ it with you. Can I do that?”
“Of course you can.” I dug my fingers into his hair, tugging on the ends. “Give it to me, Caleb. I want to feel it too.”
His answering growl vibrated against my skin, then his mouth claimed mine, hot and insistent. My legs locked around him as his hands skimmed down my sides, charting my body. I gasped against his lips when he palmed my hip and hauled me into him, my heated core flush with his middle.
“Caleb—” Whatever I’d meant to say burned away the second his tongue slid against mine.
He lashed at my mouth, battering it down with an onslaught of emotion he couldn’t express with words but wanted to share with me, nonetheless.
I understood exactly what he was communicating, answering with my own kisses and caresses, arching my hips into him, on an endless mission to get closer and closer.
When he finally tore his mouth from mine, his breathing was ragged, his forehead resting against mine. “Bedroom,” he breathed. “Gotta get you into the bedroom.”
I nodded my consent, though we both knew I was going wherever he was. I didn’t plan on unwrapping myself from him until it was necessary. He stumbled down the hall with me in his arms, knocking into furniture and walls, stopping every few steps to kiss me before continuing.
My bedroom was barely lit, the glow of the lamp I’d left on casting everything in muted gold.
Caleb fumbled with the hem of my dress, gathering it at my waist in one hand.
I leaned back enough for him to yank the fabric free from where it was stuck between us, and he pulled it the rest of the way over my head, leaving me in nothing but my bra and panties.
I slid my palms beneath his T-shirt, feeling the dichotomy of hard and soft.
There was no part of him I liked best. Made of iron strength and pillowy comfort, I could have studied his body and face for the rest of my life and still not have had enough.
I always wanted him over me, inside me, around me.
If it were possible, I would have curled up inside him too.
Instead, I worked on melding myself to his skin, kissing and touching him with every ounce of impatience and reverence he stirred within me.
When I pressed my mouth to his chest, he shuddered. His hand threaded into my hair and held me there, above his thudding heart.
“Christ, do I need you.” He walked to my bed and lowered me onto the mattress. “Get naked for me, darlin’. I want to look at you for a minute—see what’s mine.”
He stood there, his broad shoulders rising and falling with each labored breath he took, eyes dark and intent on me. I reached behind me, unclasping my bra, then slid the straps down my arms. The cool air kissed my skin as the fabric fell away, and Caleb’s chest heaved like he’d been punched.
He always looked at me that way. No matter how many times I bared myself to him, he reacted like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen and couldn’t quite believe his eyes.
Under his gaze, I gained confidence. I wanted him to see me, to show me how much he wanted me, and he never failed to deliver.
His gaze tracked every movement as I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my underwear and slipped them down my thighs, kicking them free at the end of the bed. I leaned back on my elbows, bare and open, the heat of his stare burning hotter than anything else.
Caleb dragged a rough palm down his face then dropped it to press against the heavy bulge in his jeans. Rubbed once, hard, like he couldn’t help it. Then he stared at me, unmoving, as if the sight of me had ripped him raw.
He shook his head, still pressing on his erection. “This is it. You’re going to kill me, Allie-girl.”
Without warning, he dropped to his knees, gripped my thighs, and dragged me forward until my hips perched at the edge of the mattress.
Before I could draw in a full breath, his mouth was on me.
Hot, hungry, unrelenting. He buried his face between my thighs, tongue sliding against me in long, devastating strokes that had my fingers tangling in his hair so I didn’t hit the roof.
He held me open, devouring me like I was the only thing he’d ever wanted—the only thing he would ever want.
He licked and sucked in a rhythm that made my hips buck helplessly, each stroke dragging me higher, closer, until I was trembling against his mouth.
“Caleb…you…I…” My fingers fisted in his hair, pulling, but he only growled and doubled down, sliding one thick finger inside me as his tongue circled and pressed. The stretch of him, the steady rhythm, the heat of his mouth—it was too much. I couldn’t stand it for another second.
The world went white hot as I broke apart, gasping his name, my thighs clamping around his head as pleasure tore through me. He didn’t stop. He licked me through it, swallowing every tremor, holding my thighs wide while my body shook and shook.
When I finally started to come down, he kissed the inside of one thigh then the other. I opened my eyes in time to see him reach for my nightstand drawer and pull it open.
My breath stuttered. “What are you doing?”
He held up the slim, familiar shape of my vibrator. “I told you I was nosy,” he rumbled, flicking the switch with his thumb until it buzzed to life. The sound alone made me whimper, but him holding it over me, like a threat and promise, had my legs shaking and my hips rising off the bed.
“Caleb,” I sighed, reaching for him.
He pressed on my abdomen, holding me down. “Do you like how this feels? Do you slip it inside yourself or rub it on your clit?”
“Both.” I licked my parched lips. “I like to do both.”
He dipped his head to bite the inside of my knee. “Both, hmmm? You like to play with yourself?”
“Sometimes,” I rasped.
He dragged the vibrator along my inner thigh, never taking his eyes off my face. “Do you think of me?”
“Yes.” There was no use trying to deny it. This man was the center of all my fantasies. “Real life is so much better.”
“I believe you.” His thumb stretched to rub the top of my cleft. “I’d like to see anyway. Wanna know what you look like when you come against this and think of me.”
He rose, scooped me up, and placed me at the top of the mattress. Then he kicked off his pants and climbed onto the bed beside me, his cock thick and angry. He paid it no mind. His attention was locked on me.
It was a heady, devastating feeling.
He lay on his back and patted his thighs. “Sit on me. Let me see you.”
As boneless as I was, I managed to crawl over him and straddle his legs. When I reached for his length, he caught my wrist and lowered my hand to my side.
“Not yet.” He slipped the vibrator along my folds, back and forth, back and forth. “Should I turn it back on?”
“Yes.” I rocked against the hard silicone, wishing it was him. “Please, Caleb.”
He flicked the switch and slid the toy up to my clit. All it took was one touch for me to rocket forward, catching myself on his chest.
He chuckled. “You like that, don’t you?”
“I like it better with you controlling it.”
“Everything’s better when we’re doing it together,” he murmured, pressing the vibrator more firmly against me. He watched me react, listened to my breathing, moved when I shifted, circled when I mewled, giving me what I needed without my having to ask.
My body went tight, hips rocking against the steady pressure he had absolute control over. He held me in place with one big hand on my hip, not allowing me to escape the rhythm or chase it faster, giving me exactly what he wanted me to have.
“Right here, Allie-girl,” he coaxed. “Let me see you fall apart for me.”
I did.
I shattered with a high, keening cry, my body quaking as another release burst out of me.
I collapsed on his chest, and he flicked the toy off, tossing it aside.
Then his hands were on me, cupping my face.
His mouth claimed mine, and he kissed me like he was trying to breathe me in.
I clung to his shoulders, frantic even though I’d just broken into a million little pieces.
“Please,” I panted against his lips. “I need you. Inside me. Now.”
He guided me forward, directly above his thick, dripping cock. Together, we lined him up, then he pressed inside, stretching me slowly, until I was fully seated, our bodies locked tight.
I gasped from how full I was, blindly reaching for his hands, and they were there, wrapping around mine. Neither of us moved, not really. His chest rose and fell beneath me, his eyes locked on mine with a heat so fierce, it was almost unbearable.
The air went still.
The whole world went still.
Gone was the panicked desperation that had driven us together moments ago.
We just stared, connected in every way that mattered, neither daring to move.
Something inside me became rewritten. Thoughts and memories shifted aside to make room for this one.
Instinct told me this was important. The tenderness in his gaze, his hands around mine, his body planted in me so deep I could barely breathe…
it went beyond the physical. It was a story committed to paper in ink.
In my mind, I whispered, “It’s a love story.”
“Mine,” he rasped, his voice breaking on the word. “You’re my girl, Alice. You mean the world to me. You know that?”
I slipped my hands free of his to slide them along his chest. “Yes, Caleb. I do know that. You’ve shown me.”
His throat worked, like he wanted to say more. Instead, he gripped my hips, holding me steady. “Let me keep showing you.” He guided me, lifting me slowly before easing me back down, letting me feel every deliberate inch of him.
I gasped, bracing my palms against his chest. The motion was unhurried, almost achingly so, but it let me savor the stretch, the slide, the way my body molded around his. Caleb’s thumbs stroked slow circles against my skin, his gaze never breaking from mine as he set the pace.
“That’s it,” he whispered, moving me into another rise, another fall. “Just like that, darlin’. Love the way you take me. Can’t get enough of it—of you.”
Our rhythm synced like we’d been doing this for decades. Each roll of my hips drew a low groan from his throat. Each shift of his hands tightened the connection between us. I was drunk on him, on this moment, on the way we were together.
He’d already made me come twice, but pressure began to mount in my center. He lifted his hips to meet me, the friction driving me closer and closer to the jagged edge. His fingers dug into my waist, and a line formed between his brows as he struggled not to lose it.
“Caleb, honey, I’m getting there.” I cupped the sides of his neck, tendons rippling beneath my palm. “Take me there.”
His grip tightened, his jaw flexing as he drove into me in long, deliberate strokes. “Come with me,” he ordered, desperate and tender all at once. “I want to feel you when I let go.”
I wanted that too. I moved faster, chasing it, until my pleasure broke free, splitting me apart. My cry echoed into his chest, my body clenching around him. Caleb’s low roar followed, his hips surging, burying himself deep as he spilled inside me, holding me to him like he’d never let me go.
When it was over, we stayed where we were, me draped over his chest, his arms banded tight around me, keeping me right there, his heart pounding against my ear.
Neither of us moved. Neither of us wanted to.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered finally, his lips brushing my hair. “Always.”
“You do.”
I hummed against his chest, still trembling in the aftershocks, tracing lazy circles on his sweat-damp skin. “You know,” I said, smiling to myself, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at that vibrator the same again.”
Caleb’s chuckle shook me. “You’ve no real cause to look at it anymore. You want to use it, I’ll be the one holding it.”
“Oh? What if the mood strikes when you aren’t around?” I grinned.
“It might. But the fact is, even if you have the thing in your hand, it’ll be me holding it, won’t it?”
“Yes.” I reached up to touch his scruffy chin. From now on, I’d be able to picture nothing else but Caleb bringing me over, even if I was alone. “I’m glad you didn’t get weird about it. I’ve heard some men don’t like their women having toys. They feel like they’re competing with them.”
“Competing? Nah…” He arched a brow, deadly serious in that way only Caleb could be. “Darlin’, I know damn well I’m the winner in this situation. I’ve got you, don’t I?”
My heart kicked, making me breathless and giddy. “You do.”
His arms tightened, and he dipped his head to nuzzle my hair. “Besides, that piece of silicone can’t hold you like I can. It can’t tell you you’re gorgeous and my favorite sexy little librarian.”
I laughed as I tried to dig my face beneath his breastbone. Since that didn’t work, I settled on pressing my cheek over his thumping heart.
“You’re comfortable.”
“And you’re mine,” he said simply.
I was.
It was written in ink on the paper of my soul, and there was no erasing it.