“Yes. But for the moment, the final choices are mine. I might eventually be able to forgive, but it might take longer to forget.” Because some things, like betrayal, haunted a girl forever—and the remembrance of a kiss never went away.
She would have expected maybe an explosion about now. Frustration that she wouldn’t just fall into his arms and obey without question.
Instead, Caleb chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that tickled her senses.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“You. Us fighting. The girl I remembered would have never yelled at me.”
“The girl you remembered learned to toughen up.” Best he knew that now before things went further.
“I like it.”
Well, that wasn’t the answer she’d expected, and her surprise might have been what led to her being pulled without a protest into his arms.
Oh, just admit it. She wanted to be in his arms. Wanted his lips on hers caressing with that sensual languor only he provided.
His hands spanned her waist, and he lifted her with ease, giving her better and deeper access to his mouth.
Delicious.
The sensual slide of his tongue over hers sent shivers up and down her body.
She slid her arms around his shoulders, digging her fingers into his short hair, keeping him close.
One of his hands slid from her waist to cup a buttock. He might have made small growling sound against her lips. She nipped him in the hopes he’d do it again.
A small voice asked, “Why is Daddy grabbing Mommy’s bum?”
Why indeed?
How about because she liked it?
Problem was, there wasn’t any privacy to pursue it.
Ugh.
Chapter Fifteen
We really need a place of our own.
The thought started when Luke caught them making out in the front yard that resulted in Renny pulling away—with reluctance.
Noooo. I don’t want to stop.
But he had to. Now wasn’t the time to drag her off to bed or to grope her in the front yard. He was a father now, and while he might not have had one for long, he did know proper parents didn’t make out in front of their kid—unless he wanted to scar them for life. Caleb still remembered his horror when his mom got pregnant with Constantine and he realized it meant his mother had—ugh—sex.
But Luke wasn’t the only reason he couldn’t just toss his woman over his shoulder and indulge in an afternoon of fun between the sheets. His mother and brother were also in the house, and while sneaking around as teenagers to have nookie was fun—and almost a sport—he was a man now. And this man wanted a bed and some privacy.
We need to get a place of our own. This mantra persistently repeated itself throughout the afternoon, hours spent learning how to properly play cars in the dirt—while making vroom noises. An educational day for someone who’d never been around children much.
The first thing he learned was they were bloody inexhaustible. When Luke began to ask questions, they never ended, and after the seventh “Why?” in a row, he shot Renny a rescue-me look, only to have her giggle and walk away.
“I’ll get you for that,” he mock-threatened.
“I can’t wait,” was her saucy reply.
When his son ran off at one point to find some juice—Caleb having sent Luke to his mom—Caleb stalked Renny down. He found her lounging in a chair at the back of the house, protected from insects by the screened porch, reading a paperback.
“You’d make an awful soldier,” he said as he cast a shadow over her.
She grinned up at him. “Why?”
“You left me behind under fire,” he growled. “I barely made it through the barrage of questions.”
“Just teaching you how to swim the same way my daddy did. Lucky for you, you didn’t sink.”
“So you think I did okay?” Shoot me now. He sounded like such a wuss for even asking. Given he needed to reassert his manliness, he sat on the end of her lounge chair, resulting in the other end flipping up and sending her tumbling into him.
“Caleb!” she squealed.
“That’s what I like to hear,” he said, shifting his weight so that the chair balanced out. He also kept her on his lap, where she belonged. “Although, if you’re going to scream my name like that, the least you could do is get naked first.”
“We can’t get naked. Someone—”
“Might see,” he finished with a sigh. “Being an adult blows.”
“And so do I,” she said with a wink. “What a shame you’ll have to wait for a sample.”
Mind blown. The increased heart rate and heat flushing his skin? Pure fucking arousal. “You are being intentionally cruel. You do realize that, right?”
The smile on her lips turned, if possible, even naughtier. “Who, me? Would I punish you?”
“I hope so.” He cupped the back of her head, his fingers digging into the soft mass of her hair. “Because I need to be punished. So I can kiss you for forgiveness.”
She inhaled sharply a moment before his lips covered hers, sliding slow and sensually over them, hushing any retort she might have had.