Chapter 14 Caleb
CALEB
I’m up in the study completing paperwork. There’s a never-ending amount, but I’m determined to finish tonight.
It doesn’t help that Piper’s bedroom is opposite the study. The only way I can effectively get her out of my head is if I’m cutting someone out of a car. And that isn’t happening very often around here.
I’m three case files away from finishing when the door finally opens, and like a moth to a flame, I turn around and see her.
She’s in borrowed clothes. I gave her a handful of sweats when she first moved in, but she prefers to wear clothes given to her by Jess.
“You’re working,” she states. “It’s late.”
“It’s hardly work.” I swivel around in the chair and regard her.
Tired face—still just as beautiful. Long brown hair cascades down her shoulders.
I like it best when she wears it natural, and when her eyes have a hint of tiredness to them.
It reminds me that she feels comfortable enough to walk around my house unguarded.
Physically, of course.
Emotionally, those walls are up. Perhaps even higher than mine tonight.
“Any news from James Taylor?” I ask her.
She shakes her head. “Not since his last unprovoked visit.”
I wheel the spare office chair forward and tell her to sit.
She does, hesitatingly.
“I know we’re not on the best terms, but I’ll still look out for you,” I say.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“I don’t want to see you prosecuted, Piper. You have Sonny to raise.”
“But I did what I did.”
“If it’s any consolation, James Taylor is going to have a fucking hard time trying to piece together the evidence.”
“I don’t know about that.” Piper rolls her eyes.
“He’ll dig through every speck of ash until he finds his evidence.
” Her eyes zero in on mine, illuminated from the computer monitor.
“I was just trying to pull some extra cash together for Sonny. He was outgrowing his clothes. Most of them had holes in them.”
“There are other ways to—”
“Get clothes. Yes, but that only occurred to me after the fire when Jess lent me some. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You’ve only ever known how to rely on yourself.” I watch her closely. “That’s why it never occurred to you to reach out for help before.”
Her eyebrows bunch together in confusion, like she never considered this before.
“Your father. It sounded like he never wanted to help you out much. You’ve grown resilience. Perhaps too much.”
Piper tenses up. “The fire got way out of control.” She glances over her shoulder and makes sure that the kids aren’t behind her.
I shoot off the chair and close the door. But as soon as I shut it, I’m stalled by the intimacy. My study isn’t exactly very big.
I flick on a lamp and try to act normal before Piper catches on.
Of course it has to shine right across her face.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was searching the web…” she says.
Never a good start.
“I came across some shady consulting site, giving advice about how to get money through insurance fraud. Everything the man was telling me sounded reasonable, like it would be quick and easy. Safe. So I went ahead with it, boiled some sunflower oil… It was meant to be just the stove—you have to know that I never meant for it to get out of hand.”
“That’s usually how it goes.”
“I would never deliberately burn down my whole house, and destroy Sonny’s home.”
“No, of course not.” I stare at my hands because I can’t bear to look into her eyes.
They’re too mesmerizing tonight. “But fires tend to get out of control.” I clench my jaw, unsure about this next part.
Us being alone in this room is the reason why my morals are slipping.
“It’s okay. You didn’t mean for it to happen.
I don’t think you’re a bad person.” I feel inclined to find her eyes so she knows I mean that.
She holds my gaze, but her eyes are watery.
“Sonny and I had just come back from vacation when I did it.” She tilts her head, evaluating her own thoughts.
“I was sad. Every time I come back from a vacation, or every time someone I know leaves town, I get this same sad feeling in my stomach. There’s an entire world out there waiting to be explored, only I can’t afford to explore it.
” She grimaces. “God, I sound like such a victim. But Sonny deserves the world, and I want us both to go and see it. There’s more to life than just Maple Crossing. ”
“I can assure you,” I say, taking a seat again, “the world is not as wide as you think it is. And Maple Crossing is the best place I’ve ever visited.
” I’m careful with my words. Accidentally telling her that she was the best thing about this town will turn this conversation complicated.
“I was living in what newspapers like to refer to as ‘the greatest city in the world,’ and I still chose to bring my daughter here. Trust me when I tell you this—the world sucks. Maple Crossing does not.”
Piper looks down at her hands and starts to pick at the skin around her nails.
“You never felt this way before about this town,” I state.
“No…” She catches my eyes, and the telltale signs are there.
She never felt this way before, until I left.
God knows how many people she has watched walk out of her life.
I bite my lip before I almost blurt out the truth of why I left.
My priority is Ellie. I can’t let my attention waver from her. That girl is my everything.
But nine years ago, so was this one sitting in front of me. A girl then. A woman now who has walls and boundaries in place that she’s scared of letting slip.
“Your father handed you the short straw,” I tell her. “That’s why it feels as though you’re not getting anywhere.”
Another beat of silence passes before she says, “You’re right. When you were around, I didn’t want to leave.” She pauses. “All I wanted was for you to stay. And I trusted that you would.”
Trust is a big thing to Hart. I know that. She didn’t have much of it to give when we first met, but my honesty caught on to her.
Because I was honest about everything. My feelings toward her felt like I could take on the whole world.
And then the whole world came to a standstill when I was given the chance to be a father.
A tear rolls down her cheek, and it takes everything in me to not dab it away for her. “For a second there I thought you were different and actually kept to your word. But you proved to be exactly the same.” She shoots up from the chair and rushes over to the door.
“Hart.”
The door handle is tricky. I haven’t got around to renovating the study just yet.
“Hart!”
She tries the door more aggressively, tugging like she’s trapped in a room with a murderer. I take off after her, and my hand accidently locks around her wrist.
I feel the breath leave her body.
Feel the way she both tenses and relaxes around my touch. The familiarity is both nostalgic and dangerous, and it’s like she doesn’t quite know which feeling to lean into.
She tries to pull away.
I yank her right back to me—we’re not finished talking yet.
Her body flush against mine shatters everything, and before I know it, my mouth is colliding with hers.
I slip my tongue into her mouth. Hers is already there to meet me, welcoming me with warm strokes that send bolts of electricity fizzling through me.
One taste makes it impossible to stop.
So, we keep going.
I throw her up against the door and cage her against it, trailing kisses down the neck and collarbone I have missed so dearly. Fuck, her scent is everywhere, that same fresh floral scent I remember being obsessed with long ago.
“Fuck,” she pants between breaths she’s unable to get under control. “Why does this feel better than before?”
“Contrary to popular belief—age enhances everything.” I silence her with another kiss, slipping my tongue back into her hot mouth.
Everything roars to life, including my cock, which is already painfully hard.
I decide I don’t want her pressed up against my furniture anymore, but on it. And since the chair is the first thing in sight, I rip her away from the wall and set her down on it.
She’s eye level with my cock, staring at the hard length through my pants. Is that saliva drooling down one corner of her mouth? I bring her back into a kiss to check, and feel her mouth even hotter than before.
“I’ve been dreaming of the day you would get your pretty little mouth back around my cock.
” I draw my hips into her while playing with her hair.
“You always knew how to please me, didn’t you, princess?
” I hear her breath hitch and take this as an indication that she wants to keep going.
“What else do you want, besides me inside of you?” I sweep a finger down her torso and land it at the top of her pussy.
Her breathing accelerates even more. “Remember that time in the tent when I first ate you out?” A grunt falls out of me.
“I could do that every day for the rest of my life.”
Unable to contain myself much longer, I get her out of her sweatpants and reveal her naked pussy to me. The wetness shines in the half-light of the room, as do her eyes when she realizes what I’m about to do.
I dive in for my meal and completely devour her. She was always my favorite thing to eat. Nothing compares to the taste of Piper when she’s aroused and begging for me.
Her moans drift through the room, growing in pitch as I lick her where she most wants me. I butter her in her own wetness and make sure she’s as wet as possible for me, though she has done ninety-nine percent of the work herself.
“How long have you been wet?” I catch her eye from between her legs. “You’ve been suffering for quite some time, haven’t you?”
“We both have,” she gasps, spreading her legs wider. She clutches the back of the chair and presses her back firm into it.
I remain kneeling between her legs and go in for seconds, sweeping my tongue up her center. She calls out my name; I’ll have to put a hand over her mouth if these moans get any louder in case we wake the kids.