Chapter 9 #2
I trembled as pleasure spiked throughout my entire body. From the way Caleb’s lips parted and his thumb stilled over my nipple, I knew he knew what was happening to me.
“Caleb,” I breathed, though I wasn’t sure what I wanted to tell him.
I knew what I was supposed to tell him – that he needed to stop.
But my traitorous brain just had me repeating his name in a voice I barely recognized as my own.
Caleb’s hand slid down my body and settled on my waist as his gaze stayed on my nipple, which had tightened under his touch. I knew what he was going to do, but I didn’t even try to stop him.
His moves were slow and deliberate, but held a hint of uncertainty in them.
As his lips landed in a gentle kiss just to the right of my nipple, his hand slid around to my back.
His other was resting on my hip. I told myself not to do it, but I dropped my hand to the back of his head anyway.
Caleb chose that moment to lift his eyes.
But he left his mouth where it was.
I was caught in the snare of his gaze. My dick was straining against the fabric of my jeans and it took everything in me not to just grab him and toss him down on the small table we’d just been sitting at.
Neither of us spoke in the few seconds that passed. I held my breath when Caleb moved his mouth, but it was impossible to look away .
Because he never stopped looking at me.
Not as he licked my skin.
Or when he closed his mouth over my nipple.
“Fuck,” I muttered as I tightened my grip in his hair.
“Yes,” I whispered. Caleb’s sinful tongue flattened over my nipple as he licked me, then continued up my chest. I wrapped my free arm around his waist and pulled him flush against my body as he began placing kisses along my collarbone.
I still had my hand in his hair, but I refrained from forcing his head back so I could take the kiss that I really wanted.
My ringing phone split the silence of the air around us and Caleb jerked out of my hold. He looked at me with wide eyes, then at the burner phone, which was sitting on the kitchen counter. I wanted to ignore the damn thing, but I knew I couldn’t.
“It’s Dalton,” I said. “He might have an update.”
Caleb nodded shakily. “I, uh, should go make sure we didn’t leave the bait above deck… it’ll spoil.”
I’d brought the bait down and put it in the refrigerator myself, but I didn’t say that. I merely nodded and watched Caleb flee. My body was tight with lust as I snatched up the phone.
“What?” I practically barked.
There was a beat, then Dalton said, “Dude, if you’re suffering from cabin fever after only six days—”
“Sorry,” I cut in. “It’s not that.”
It’s the fact that if you’d have waited five more goddamn minutes, I would have had Caleb beneath me on your bed and I wouldn’t have given two shits about answering your call .
“Just tired,” I lied.
Dalton didn’t respond at first, probably because he knew I was lying.
“Any updates?” I asked.
“No. But there’s a storm coming up fast from the south. You might want to head further inland if you aren’t already.”
“We’re by Barren Island. I’ll put us north of the island and that will hopefully shelter us from the worst of it. We’ll be close enough to shore that we can head in if things get bad. ”
“Should be all clear by tomorrow.”
“Good,” I murmured. “There’s a general store on Hooper’s Island, right?”
“Yeah. You going to stock up there?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Call me in the morning to let me know you’re good,” Dalton said. I could hear the worry in his voice.
“I will. We’ll be okay, Dalton.”
I sensed I was no longer alone and turned to see Caleb sitting on the steps leading into the cabin from above deck. His expression was unreadable. I said my goodbyes and hung up the phone.
“Dalton said there’s a storm coming.”
Caleb nodded. “I saw some lightning.”
“You okay?” I asked.
“Don’t like storms,” he murmured.
“Why don’t you stay down here while I get the boat moved to the northern side of the island?”
“I’ll do the dishes,” Caleb offered. We were forced to pass one another as I headed above deck. The close proximity as we nearly brushed chests was akin to torture. It was all I could do not to grab him.
It took just a few minutes to get the boat moved and anchored in the small inlet at the northernmost part of the little island, but in those minutes, several peals of thunder rattled the air around us.
The heavens opened up just as I stepped below deck and closed the door.
Darkness had already fallen so the lightning lit up the interior of the boat with every flash.
The wind had kicked up the waves enough so the boat was swaying back and forth, but nothing bad enough to warrant seeking shelter closer to the shore.
Caleb wasn’t in the kitchen and the dishes, while now in the sink, weren’t done.
Concern had me hurrying to the bedroom. I found him sitting on the edge of the bed, his knees drawn up so that his feet were resting on the lip of the platform.
His arms were around his legs and he was rocking back and forth slightly.
It took everything in me not to automatically look at his arm.
He was wearing short sleeves, so it would have been easy to check to see if he’d cut himself in the few minutes I’d been above deck, but I didn’t want to do that to him.
I wanted to build trust with Caleb and I couldn’t do that if his condition was always at the forefront of my mind.
Caleb had turned on all the lights in the bedroom and had drawn the curtain on the one window that had one, but the flashes of lightning through the other windows were impossible to miss. Not to mention the cracks of thunder that followed just moments later.
“You okay?” I asked, more to start the conversation than anything, since I could tell he wasn’t.
“Stupid, huh,” he said. “Someone my age afraid of storms.”
“Nope,” I said as I sat down next to him. “Everybody’s afraid of something.”
He didn’t need to speak for me to know what was on his mind. “Clowns, for starters,” I said. “And those troll doll things… with the hair… my sister had a whole bunch of those and they creeped me the fuck out. Not a fan of geese, either. Those fuckers are just mean.”
Caleb laughed and buried his face in his knees. “What did I do to deserve you?” He turned so he could look at me, but kept his cheek resting on his knees. “Why did you do it? Why did you get me out of the hospital that day?”
I lifted my own legs so my position was mirroring his and then rested my arms on my knees. “I just knew,” I said. “I could see it in your eyes.”
“See what?”
“That you didn’t belong there. That you weren’t broken like the others. At least not in any kind of way that those doctors could put you back together again.”
Caleb jumped when more thunder rumbled above us. I shifted closer to him and he automatically leaned into me.
“And this is why I keep coming back,” I murmured.
He looked up at me in confusion.
“The trust you show me, Caleb. After all you’ve been through, you’re still willing to trust. I wish I had that kind of strength. ”
“I’m not strong. I’m so fucking scared, Jace. I know I made a big deal about me just going off on my own and disappearing, but the me who still feels shit knows I wouldn’t last five minutes.”
I put my arm around him.
“Being scared doesn’t make you weak. Neither does asking for help. Leaning on people again, even after everything that was done to you, that takes a kind of courage most of us could only dream of having.”
Caleb pressed his head against my shoulder. “Why did you stop talking to me, Jace? It wasn’t really to protect me, was it?”
“It was,” I murmured.
“I don’t understand. What were you protecting me from?”
“Not what,” I said. “Who.”
“Okay, who were you protecting me from?” Caleb asked.
“Me.”