38. Caleb
THIRTY-EIGHT
Caleb
S he surprised me. I had started to learn that’s what Margot did daily. Whether it was how the corners of her mouth turned when she was about to kiss me or the storminess that would fill her eyes when she needed to be alone—I had learned to read the signs. This morning’s surprise? She slept all night. When the alarm went off for me to go to work, I noticed how peacefully she slept.
There had been nights when I’d find her curled up on the couch or swinging on the screen porch. It didn’t matter how easily she fell asleep, something kept waking her up. Whenever I asked, she said she was too hot, or restless.
I hated to leave her now. I hit snooze. I could try to squeeze another seven minutes out of the morning. She nuzzled against my chest and kissed my neck.
“Bye,” she whispered. “Have a good day at work, honey.” I liked how she made honey sound sassy and cute when she said it each morning.
She was warm. Her naked body draped around mine. Margot had announced weeks ago it was too damn hot in the South to sleep with clothes on. I hadn’t disagreed with her on that point. I liked how she climbed into bed each night bare and silky. She cranked the AC high and shivered when she slid under the covers.
I rubbed my palm along her hip and down her thigh.
“You have to go, don’t you?” Her eyes fluttered open.
“Not yet. I hit snooze. You aren’t getting rid of me yet. Honey,” I added.
I ducked under the covers, kissing her breasts, and played with her nipples. I swirled gently over each one, admiring how they perked against my tongue.
“I’m not awake, Caleb,” she whispered.
“It’s a dream,” I teased. “Go back to sleep.”
“I want a fantasy dream,” she purred. She pressed on the top of my head, guiding me along her stomach. I stopped to kiss her skin before I reached my destination.
“You can have your fantasy. Go back to sleep, baby.”
She nodded, opening her legs wide for me, as I settled between them. With one lick of my tongue against her folds, her hips began to rock.
“Ohh,” she cooed.
I smiled, tasting her again. This would wake her up. It would wake us both.
I sucked and lapped at her, widening her folds. Her clit was hard and responsive to every tiny movement I made with my mouth. I blew a whisper of breath over it, then made a zigzag pattern with the tip of my tongue.
I slipped a finger inside her, smiling when I heard her whimper. Fuck. I loved this. I loved kissing her. Tasting her. Loving her in the morning or at night. I began to work it in and out, alternating with twists of my tongue. Coaxing her body to respond. Urging her to come in my mouth. I wanted to drink from her. Savor her. I pressed her thighs wider, exposing her. I looked along the curves of her body, watching in awe as she rubbed her nipples. She was cresting, riding the wave, waiting for me to push her over the edge.
I eased another finger against her entrance and sucked relentlessly on her clit. Margot exploded in bursts of cries and please. I immediately thrashed my tongue back and forth, experiencing the pleasure with her.
“Fuck,” she moaned.
I laughed, kissing her entrance over again. I could do this all fucking morning.
“You woke me up,” she whined.
“Sorry?” I winced playfully.
“You are not sorry.”
I shook my head. “Not at all. I want you again.” I kissed the inside of her thigh and the top of her knee. Her skin had tanned over the summer. She no longer looked like the city girl who showed up here.
She leaned forward, taking my cock in her hand, stroking it. I was already hard and needed little convincing.
“How much time do you have?” she asked, not trying to hide what she wanted.
“Enough to fuck you breathless, baby.” The alarm went off. I hit a second snooze setting.
She leaned back on the bed as I nudged my cock to her swollen, warm entrance. Damn, she was hot and sexy.
I pushed inside her as we both saw stars and early morning sunrises radiating around us. I groaned. She felt so fucking good. I pumped slowly until I felt my need growing and my resistance fading. I knew the snooze alarm was counting down, working against us. I pumped inside her with urgency. I wanted to feel every part of her. All her warmth and her grip.
I kissed her as I flipped her on top of me. Her hair fell around my face. I looked into her green eyes, sparkling like emeralds in the morning light. Her hips moved with as much fierceness as mine did. I took her nipple between my fingers, and she cried out. I rolled us onto our side, dragging her thigh over my hip. I angled deep in this position. Her lips dragged across mine. But we’d already lost our breath and our minds.
I orgasmed hard and fast. Margot’s heel, encouraging me to go deeper and harder, wrapped against my ass.
She whimpered through another orgasm. We clung to each other until our bodies stilled.
I released her onto the pillow, and we fell onto our backs. She looked at me. “Stay a little longer,” she pleaded.
I kissed her forehead. “I really have to get to work. You know I can’t be late at the gate.”
Her lips twisted together. “Caleb?”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing. No. Nevermind.” She pulled the sheet to her chest. “Have a good day.” She blushed. “Honey.”
I knelt beside her, sliding my hand against her cheek. I held her gaze with mine. “I love you, too, Margot.” I kissed her, pulling her lower lip between my teeth. She purred with a low growl. I then rose to my feet.
I walked to the shower without turning back once. I wanted to see the look on her face, but I kept going.
Holy shit.
She surprised me again. The girl got me to tell her I loved her without saying a single word. I turned on the hot water and stepped into the shower.
It just happened. I said the words. They were there, ready to be spoken. I couldn’t take I love you back. I didn’t want to. I don’t know that’s how I expected to tell her.
I washed up. I had to get to the base. I turned off the water and wrapped a towel around my waist. I was trying to get my bearings. I needed coffee and food.
I opened the door. Margot was standing there wrapped in the sheet. “You told me you love me.”
“I did.”
She threw her arms around my neck. The sheet fell to her feet.
“I love you.”
I lifted her in my arms, kissing her roughly. I wanted to take her back to bed and never leave.
I lowered her on the bed. “I have to go.”
She looked up at me with seductive eyes. “You sure?”
I nodded. “Can’t be late. Not with this kind of job.” The consequences were too harsh. A day in bed with Margot wasn’t something I wanted to trade for work punishment. It was a shitty decision to have to make.
I ran my thumb over her lips. “I’ll call you later. We can pick this back up tonight.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“And good luck with Ethan,” I called as I jogged down the stairs. I ducked quickly before I hit my head on the ceiling.
Maybe by the end of the morning, I’d know why he had traveled a thousand miles to see the woman I was so fucking in love with, I couldn’t see straight.
G abe walked up behind me just as I clocked in. He clicked his tongue.
“Almost missed it, huh.”
“Shut up, man,” I growled. “I’m on time.”
“Barely.” He pointed to the clock. “By about two seconds. You aren’t staying in your room anymore. Why don’t you give it up to one of the other guys?”
I glared at him. “Because it’s a prime spot. I’m not giving it up.”
“She’s leaving? She’s not staying? You really have to keep the room? After all this, she’s going to.”
I thought about the conversation Margot and I had at dinner last night. Margot wasn’t leaving Marshoak Island. She wanted to stay. She wanted to try and build a life here with the Blue Heron if she could. So much had happened we hadn’t gotten far enough to come up with a plan that didn’t wipe her out financially. Ethan had wrecked the end of the night.
“No,” I answered Gabe. “She’s going to stay.”
He’s eyes widened. “No shit.”
I laughed. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
“What is it you always tell me? Don’t fall for the summer girls—they never stick around.”
“I do say that, don’t I?” I smirked, feeling damn good about everything happening between Margot and me.
“I dropped something by your room. I let myself in. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
I turned to Gabe. “What was it?”
“You had a visitor last night.”
We walked from the busy hallway and out into an open courtyard near the docks. My patrol didn’t start for another hour.
“A visitor? Can you be more specific?” I pressed. I hadn’t missed any visits with my parents. They would have called.
Gabe shoved his hands in his pockets. “She was hot. But older. Told me she had something for you.”
I closed my eyes. Shit. Carrie.
“And you took it?”
“It’s sitting on your bed.”
I rushed past him and headed straight for my room. I opened the door and spotted a small duffle bag on the bed. I unzipped it and stared directly at a pile of cash. I lifted the folded note from the top of the stacks of money.
C aleb,
You won’t take my check, but maybe you’ll accept this instead. You’ll never know what you mean to me now. I had to find a way to repay you. Keep it. I’m not taking it back.
Carrie
I rifled through the piles of cash. I couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen this much money before. It was exactly the amount she had written on the check. I sat on the bed. The mattress bounced. I heard the siren sound. I didn’t have much time. I zipped up the bag and shoved it under my bed.
Gabe must have followed behind. He was standing outside the door waiting for me.
“Everything okay?” he asked. He sounded concerned.
“Did you open that bag?”
“No. That’s between you and the hot chick. Why what did she leave you?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. She’s just strange.” I tried to think of a better word to describe Carrie. If anyone found out I had that kind of money from someone who was part of a rescue, I would be court-martialed on the spot. I wasn’t about to put Gabe in that position to know what he had handed over to me.
“All right, but does Margot know about her?”
I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes. “Yes. She does. That’s the mom. Remember the little boy who capsized in his sailboat?”
“That’s his mom? Holy shit. And she’s single.”
“How did you know that?”
He shrugged. “Didn’t see a ring.”
“She has a one-track mind right now. I want to steer clear of her. Let me know if you see her on base again. Will you?”
“You know I will.”
I needed to get out on the water. The money felt toxic. The farther I could get away from it, maybe I’d be able to think. I could fucking breathe for a second on the boat without worrying Carrie was going to show up with another way to throw a grenade into my life. That money could ruin my career. Why didn’t she understand? Why was the money the only thing that mattered to her? I would think of a way to handle it later. I walked to the docks with Gabe, ready to head offshore.