Chapter 5
“Daddy.” The word softly slipped past my lips the moment he pulled back slightly.
Embarrassment was just about to flood through me when Caleb made a sound.
It was dark and almost animalistic, and I clung tighter to him.
I wanted him more than I wanted to breathe.
Maybe he didn’t hear? I had no idea why I’d accidentally called him the slightly taboo nickname I enjoyed reading about.
Caleb pulled me back in and kissed me harder.
Time stopped at that moment. The two of us ignored everything but one another.
Rain didn’t matter. The dropping temperatures didn’t affect us.
He pulled me in and picked me up, and my legs naturally wrapped around his waist before I felt the rough bark of a tree trunk behind me.
Kissing him was incredible.
His tongue swiped my lower lip before our teeth scraped. Tongues dueled as I clung to the man who somehow got under my skin despite me not even knowing his favorite color or food.
The sky cracked again with thunder before it lit up with lighting. Caleb made my world spin on its axis so much I forgot that even though I loved the rain, I hated thunder and lightning. It terrified me and usually kept me up all night. Lightning struck again, this time way too close for comfort.
“You’re shivering,” he noted roughly. “It’s too cold for you, baby girl. I gotta get you somewhere safe.” When his thumb brushed my face, skimming close to my lip, something came over me. I leaned into the tip and pulled it between my lips and sucked. His nose flared, and his gaze heated darkly.
“Fuck,” he growled. I opened my mouth and let his thumb slip from between my lips.
His thumb held my chin. “You’re poking a bear, beautiful.
” I bit down on my bottom lip. Countless people had called me beautiful, but hearing Caleb call me that, I felt it.
Before I could say anything, thunder struck again.
He looked up at the sky. His brows bunched with concern.
“We need to find shelter before we get zapped. We have enough sparks between us as it is.”
“Th-the ca-cabin.” I pointed behind me. Caleb looked, and I knew the moment he spotted the hidden cabin when his brow rose.
“How did you know—“
“Tru-trust me?” I stuttered because the cold was really starting to get to me.
“You have no idea how much I already do, baby girl,” he shared with absolute confidence.
His tone and words made my knees a little wobbly before he kissed my forehead and, without missing a beat, carried me through the slightly unmaintained woods and straight to the small cabin I remembered so fondly.
I’d noticed this past summer that it hadn’t been torn down.
The door opened without issue, like I knew it would, and he shut it behind him.
I was surprised how clean the place was, almost like someone had refreshed everything.
The bedding, pillows; even the old couch seemed to be clean and not dusty.
Caleb set me down carefully, slowly letting me slide down along his front, making sure I felt just how hard his body was before he leaned forward and kissed my forehead.
“Rosie…” His chest rose and fell heavily. His magnificent hands stroked my back, reminding me of the sodden material of my pink hoodie. We were both drenched through.
“You’re soaked.” He swallowed, and I nodded.
“You are, too,” I whispered back.
“There’s a lot we need to talk about.“ Shit, was this about me calling him daddy? He probably thought I was a freak and couldn’t wait for the rain to stop so he could get the hell away from me.
“But first, I need to make sure you’re okay.
Let me take care of you.” I blinked as my brain slowly processed his words.
“What?”
“Let me take care of you, baby girl.” The term of endearment caused my brain to buffer. Baby girl. No one had ever called me that. Sometimes, in the books I read, it was hot or sweet, but I figured if I was ever called that in real life, I’d cringe.
I was wrong. I didn’t cringe. I melted.
“Baby…” I licked my lips and didn’t miss the way his eyes skated down to my mouth, making it tingle for more of his kisses.
“Please?” he asked sweetly. I shook my head, trying to ignore the way my body trembled.
I wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold, wet clothes I wore or nerves.
Liar, a little voice inside my head snickered.
It’s all him. Caleb’s jaw clenched, and his eyes skated over my face, studying me for a moment before he quickly got to work.
Walking me to the edge of the bed, he kissed me again before he looked around the small old cabin.
He opened and shut each door, slowly discovering the small layout of the one-bedroom, one-bathroom, open-floorplan tiny cabin.
I watched his back stretch and reach for the top shelf of the small closet next to the bathroom door.
I’d never been more grateful for extra sheets than when he came back with them and tossed them on the bed next to me.
“May I?” he asked, and even though I had an idea about what he was asking for, I wasn’t positive. Yet I nodded, giving him permission to do whatever he wanted with my body because I didn’t trust my own voice. Not when it felt like I was ready to self-combust and freeze all at the same time.
Caleb’s cool fingertips slid under my hoodie and pulled it up and over my head.
His blue gaze stayed fixated on my green one while he undressed me.
Piece by piece, the heavily-soaked fabric fell onto the ground with plop.
But he didn’t leer at my body like so many other men had in the past. Whether behind closed doors or on set or on location at a shoot, men had always seen me as an object.
One to covet and think they owned for one reason or the other.
But not Caleb.
Which was crazy. I’d just met the man, but I knew deep down to the marrow of my bones that he was different. The way his stare locked with mine, never looking anywhere else, made me feel special. Seen. I am his.
“Here, let me,” he said, slowly wrapping me up in one of the white sheets he’d found. “It’s a little stiff, but it’s dry.”
“Thank you,” I answered softly. Too many emotions were bubbling up to the surface.
“Let’s get you warm.” Caleb stepped away, but not before taking my hand in his.
The gesture was simple but meant so much more than he could ever imagine.
When was the last time anyone had taken care of me like this?
Worried about me being warm and cozy? I quickly blinked away the tears that threatened as he led me towards the bed. “Get under the covers, babe.”
“What? What about you?” My teeth chattered, and I saw how it worried him.
“Trust me?” he asked, and I couldn’t help myself.
“More than you could ever know,” I repeated the words he’d given me outside and really meant them.
“Good girl.” He kissed my forehead again, and if any of walls I had erected were still up, that small yet ridiculously tender feat would have torn them all down.
He tucked me in and bent to pick up my wet discarded clothes.
“I can—“ I started to offer, but he shot me a look that made me think better of saying anything. Daddy doesn’t like that, I thought and had to press my lips together.
He headed to the kitchen and tossed them over the counter.
I watched as he took his own clothes off, and it wasn’t a hardship.
Checking out the most alluring man I’d ever seen undress was like foreplay to every single one of my senses.
The scent of the cabin mingled with the rain from outside and Caleb.
My hands ached to take his jacket as it came off and then help him unbutton the soaked dress shirt beneath that was now plastered to his hard, muscled body.
It clung to him like a second skin, hardly leaving much to the imagination, and I couldn’t stop staring at him.
I should have given the man some privacy, showed him the same decorum he’d shown me, but I couldn’t stop staring.
His body was a work of art. Men his age usually lived in the gym to look that way.
He was a lot more ripped than I could have guessed.
When he was shirtless, he worked on kicking his shoes off then tugging his socks off, making each of his muscled biceps and abs flex and contort.
Every part of his body he revealed looked sexier than the last.
And that included his tanned bare feet.
When he was left in nothing but black boxer briefs and he’d picked up his clothes off the ground, placing both of our things flat against different surfaces so they’d have a chance to dry, he wrapped the sheet around his waist and worked his boxer briefs right off, only to step away and pick them up to place them on the counter.
My heart thundered with the knowledge we were both naked now.
He walked towards the bed. When Caleb’s eyes met mine, it felt like all the air in the cabin had been sucked out.
It was so heavy and thick, I felt like I couldn’t breathe a full breath into my lungs.
I licked my suddenly dry lips, wondering when my tongue started to feel bigger than my mouth.
My heart galloped against my rib cage as he neared.
We were both naked under our own old, scratchy white sheet.
“Warmer?” I nodded. He sat down next to me.
“You should get under the covers,” I offered, lifting the blanket, but he stopped me by grabbing my wrist. The warmth of his hand felt good against my skin.
“Rosie, I go under that blanket knowing you’re—“ His voice was rough as his Adam’s apple rose and fell.
“—you don’t have anything on underneath, I don’t think I’m strong enough to keep my hands off you.
Especially after what you called me.” I felt like my face matched my hair with how my skin burned with embarrassment.
He’d heard me. Shit!
“I don’t know why I did that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” The apology stumbled out.
“Baby girl, the only place I’m uncomfortable is…” His hand gently took mine to the front of him, letting me brush against his cock. He was hard and thick. And oh god, long. My breathing changed as the ache between my legs grew. Scalding wet heat pooled between my thighs.
“It’s okay.” He let go of my hand while his eyes searched mine. Caleb’s hand rose between us and stroked my face. “I don’t know why, but… fuck me, I want you to call me that again.”
“Is that something you’re, umm, into?” I asked, not sure of why I was suddenly shy. I wasn’t the quiet scaredy cat Tabitha had been. Or the never-touched virgin Abby had been.
Nudity didn’t faze me. Sex and kinks didn’t, either.
I might not have had a partner in over a year, but that was by choice.
Yet with Caleb, everything felt different.
Special. Scary almost. New. I wasn’t sure if it was all the daddy books I’d read in the last twelve months and fallen in love with messing with my head or if it was the man who was so sweet and real that I could almost swear I’d fallen in love with him in less than a handful of hours.
There was an overwhelming need to call him daddy.
To let my guard completely down and take a chance on him and see what happened.
“Not until you,” he shared, gravely honest.
“Oh.” My eyes widened at his admission. My belly felt warm as soft, light flutters stirred to life.
“You bring something out of me.” My lips twitched because I liked that.
“You do, too,” I admitted.
“Is the daddy/little-girl dynamic something you’ve explored in the past, beautiful?” I shook my head. I felt a little dizzy, drunk off lust. This is more than lust, a little voice inside my head said, and I blinked.
Is this what falling in love at first sight feels like?
Lightning struck outside. Loud and bright, one after another. Three in a row, illuminating the inside of the cabin more than the dim light Caleb had found. Love at first spark was more like it.
“No. But I’ve read a lot about the dynamic.”
“Romance reader, Rosie?” he asked with gentleness in his blue eyes.
“Big time.” I smiled. “But, umm…” I pressed my lips together. “I’ve never tried it out. I’ve never been in a relationship or situation to try it,” I shared. His features were intense as he stared at me.
“I’ll be the one,” he rumbled, and it felt like more than a promise of a wild night. It felt like an oath for a lifetime.