Caleb's Mate (Canyon Springs Book 1)

by Becca Jameson

  He held her down with a hand spread across her inner thigh. “Not gonna have sex with you right here, Elena.”

  “What?” She jerked her gaze up to meet his, confused. Needy.

  He shook his head. “Not now. Now in the back of my SUV on a dirt road.” He leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on one nipple. “Not while your mind is clouded with lust and I can’t trust you would make the same choice sober and clothed.”

  Her lip trembled. She thought she might cry or scream from the frustration.

  Caleb held her thigh wider, the fingers of his other hand trailing toward her swollen sex. He dragged a finger between her labia.

  She moaned, her head rolling back. She wasn’t too proud to beg. “Please. Caleb. My God. Please. I need you inside me.” Again, who was that woman?

  “Okay, baby. Take a breath.” His finger inched into her. “Let me make you feel good.”

  It had been so long since anyone or anything had been inside her, she’d completely forgotten how filling it was. As Caleb pushed that finger in to the hilt, she realized it wouldn’t matter how long it had been. No man had ever made her feel like this. No man ever would. This was a Caleb thing. A shifter thing. Some kind of wizardry.

  “More,” she breathed out, not giving a single shit that her voice was laced with desperation.

  Caleb added a second finger and thrust them in deep.

  She gasped, falling further under his spell, not caring if he had somehow used magic to convince her she couldn’t survive without him. If he could make her feel this good every day for the rest of her life, she didn’t care if he dragged her into his den and kept her there naked and aroused for eternity.

  Forget Chicago. Forget her unrealized career. She could live in bliss for the rest of her life with his mouth and his fingers. And preferably his erection.

  He eased his fingers out, curling the tips forward and hitting a mythical spot inside her that made her arch her head back and moan. Holy. Shit.

  When he thrust again, harder and deeper, her mouth fell open. No sound came out. “You want more, baby?”

  “Yes. God, Caleb. Yes.”

  He added another finger. That wasn’t what she’d had in mind, but it was an improvement. Three fingers, thrusting in and out. Not stopping now. Filling her. Stretching her. Making her aware of every nerve ending.

  All the sudden, he dropped his thumb onto her clit and pressed down hard.

  Elena came without warning, a second wave of intense pleasure making her entire body tremble uncontrollably. This orgasm was different. Deeper? She had no idea, but it felt so good. She’d never come twice before. Hell, she’d never come once in front of anyone. This was a first in so many ways.

  Caleb continued to stroke her while her vision returned to sort of normal and her body relaxed into the floor of his trunk. When he finally removed his fingers, he brought them to his lips and licked them clean.

  She couldn’t find the strength to be embarrassed by that action. Her emotions were all over the map. Self-consciousness wasn’t among them. For some reason, she didn’t care that she was lying naked in the back of a car with a man she met less than twenty-four hours ago. After all, he was naked too. And she’d had him in her mouth also.

  Caleb eased her knees slightly together and threaded his fingers with hers, lifting them to plant their combined hands alongside her head. He leaned over her, his gaze intense. “You’re mine.”

  She swallowed.

  “I never should have brought you here. It was a bad idea. It meant that I got naked, and then things escalated, and now I’ve been inside your mouth and tasted you.”

  She nodded slightly, as if in agreement.

  “I’ll never erase that from my mind. I’ll never be able to let you go. It makes me very nervous.”

  She cleared her throat, but she wasn’t sure what to say. Part of her wanted to agree. He was right. He was so right. And even though he’d just fingered her, she still wanted more. All of him. She wasn’t sure she’d be satisfied even if they had sex. Then what? What more was there? It seemed like she might demand to crawl inside his body.

  Caleb didn’t seem to need a response, however. He simply leaned lower, kissed her breasts reverently, and then trailed those kisses toward her ear. He flicked his tongue over the lobe, making her shiver, before whispering, “I’m in so much trouble.”

  Chapter 14

  July 14, 1995

  Dear Mabel,

  I just got the most precious gift. I can’t believe it. Your sweet Sara came to visit me. I’m still so over the moon. She is a dear girl, a woman really. I can’t believe how much I missed out on. I will cherish my time with her for the rest of my life.

  I promised Sara I would never tell you she was here, but there’s no risk of that since you’ve never opened a single letter or answered a single phone call, so I’ll continue to share my best and worst days with you as if you’re a fictitious diary.

  You raised her so well. I’m so proud of you. And her. She’s going to have a wonderful life.

  Love, Marge

  It was growing dark when Caleb pulled his SUV into his garage. He was still holding Elena’s hand. The only time he’d released her was to pay for their drive-through fast food. The inside of the Wrangler smelled like burgers and fries.

  Fast food would never have been on his short list of places he would take any date, let alone the woman he knew to be his life partner. She deserved a nice meal, sitting in chairs, sharing a bottle of wine.

  But they’d been ravenous when they drove back into town, and though Caleb had made several suggestions, Elena had insisted she didn’t want to sit politely in a public place with everyone staring at her. She also didn’t want him to cook tonight. She was hungry. Now. And burgers sounded perfect to her.

  So, he’d gotten her burgers. He’d do anything for her. Did she have any idea how tightly he was wrapped around her finger?

  She was smiling at him as he turned off the car, neither of them making a move to exit the vehicle. Finally, she squeezed his hand and released it to unbuckle her seatbelt and jump down from the SUV.

  Elena grabbed their food. Caleb grabbed the box of letters from the back seat.

  He led her to the door that opened into the kitchen, reaching over to close the garage door with the touch of a button.

  The moment they stepped inside, his house turned into a home. Her scent had been missing from his space, and he couldn’t wait until it permeated every corner, especially his sheets.

  She glanced around his kitchen as he flipped on the lights and set the box on the counter. He watched her intently, wondering what she thought of his space. He would change anything for her. Or sell it if she hated it.

  Her expression was warm, a slight smile spreading before she stepped farther into the kitchen and turned around slowly.

  He wished he could know what her thoughts were, but he waited, following her gaze to his stainless-steel appliances to his gray and black granite counters to his white cabinets to his gray tiled floors. He didn’t own many small appliances, so his counters were mostly clear. Luckily, he’d started the dishwasher that morning.

  Who was he kidding? He’d left his house earlier that day praying he might come home with her.

  Her smile grew too wide. Too bright. Her eyes were dancing when she looked at him. It seemed as though she was on the verge of laughter. “This is not what I pictured your lair to be like. I imagined something underground, dirt floors, maybe a cave.”

  He laughed. “Then I guess it won’t take much to impress you.” He set their bag of food on the island as she stepped into his arms.

  “I love it.”

  “You haven’t seen much yet.”

  “Don’t need to. It smells like you.”

  He lifted a brow. “Since when are you so in tune with my scent? That’s supposed to be my thing.” He winced as he spoke, reminding himself Elena was not entirely without powers. Did she realize that? He wrapped an arm around her, and she p
ressed her cheek against his chest, giving him a moment to pull himself together.

  He’d had an amazing day with his mate, everything about her beyond his wildest expectations. Thirty years of wondering if he would find her and what she might be like. Now he had her, and he was keeping a fucking secret from her. One he’d only let slide into his consciousness a few times so far.

  He had to tell her. Sooner rather than later. Why the fuck hadn’t he done so yet? Right… Because he was greedy, and he wanted her to realize she was meant to be his so badly that he refused to face any other inconvenient fact.

  Her stomach growled. “I’m starving.”

  He released her slowly. “You grab the food. I’ll grab drinks. Soda?” he asked as he stuck his head in the refrigerator.

  “Sounds good.” She padded across his kitchen to the breakfast area and unpacked their food onto the table.

  Shaking unwanted thoughts from his mind, he joined her. He couldn’t help but feel the rise of contentment that swelled inside him. She belonged here. In his home. In his life. Seeing her making herself at home in his kitchen was a dream come true.

  They devoured the food in no time, and Caleb was pleased that his sexy little mate didn’t pretend she wasn’t hungry, pick at her food, or any other ridiculous antic many women seemed inclined to on a date.

  Not Elena. She kicked off her flip flops, curled one leg up under her, and dug in.

  He almost forgot to eat a few times while he watched her. Everything about her intrigued him, including the messy curls that had gotten more tussled as the day wore on, especially when he flattened her into the back of his SUV.

  “Will you stay?” he asked as he wadded up his sandwich wrapper and tossed it back in the bag.

  She swallowed her bite. “That’s a loaded question.”

  He smiled. “True. I meant tonight. Stay here. With me. Explore my house. Sleep in my bed. Shower in my bathroom. Please.” He wasn’t sure what he would do if she said no. Plan B would be to go back to her aunt’s with her and spend the night there. There was no Plan C. He wouldn’t be able to sleep at all if she wanted to separate from him.

  “Are we going to have sex?” she asked, matter-of-factly.

  “No.” He drew in a breath. “I won’t do that to either of us.”

  “And you think what we did earlier didn’t count as sex?” She dropped her foot to the floor and leaned on her elbows.

  He sighed. “Like you said earlier, semantics.”

  “Hmm. I’m sort of perplexed by this desire of yours to keep your erection out of me.”

  He reached for her hand and wrapped it in his again. “Humor me. I want your body in my bed because it belongs there, and I’ll never be able to rest if I have to do so alone.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  He blew out a long breath. Thank God.

  “You think I should call Layla? She might be worried.”

  He tipped his head to one side. “Worried? You’re a grown woman.”

  “Not one who sneaks off with a strange man and doesn’t return.”

  He couldn’t keep from chuckling. “Well, I hope I’m less strange now that you’ve spent the day with me. And trust me, if Layla grows concerned, Hunter will soothe her.”

  She nodded. “You’re right.”

  Caleb stood and reached out a hand. The moment she set her palm in his, their connection took over once again.

  “That’s so weird,” she whispered. “I don’t think I could ever get used to the strange zing I get when you touch me. It’s like I stop being just me and become part of something else.”

  He pulled her into his embrace. He would never get used to it either, but he hoped to God she wouldn’t take it away from him. “It’s normal.”

  She lifted a brow. “There’s nothing normal about anything that has happened to me in the last thirty hours.” She flinched. “In fact, that sounds like such an incredibly short amount of time now that I say it out loud. It seems like I’ve known you for far longer. You’ve already made me come several times, and you’ve seen me naked.” She tucked her top lip between her lips and bit into it adorably, her face flushing as if it embarrassed her to have said that out loud.

  He cupped her face, his fingers threading in her hair at the sides of her head. “For shifters, this timeframe is perfectly normal. Well, that’s not true. If we both had a full understanding of how Fate worked, we would have had sex about a dozen times by now.” Hopefully that wouldn’t freak her out.

  She smirked. “If I recall, even though I’m not familiar with your weird luring abilities, I’ve made it clear on more than one occasion today that I would not hesitate to have sex with you. I’m not the one putting up walls.”

  He groaned. “Don’t remind me.” Damn, she was far more ready to seal their relationship than he’d expected by the end of this day. But there were still some obstacles. For one, he needed a commitment from her. That was non-negotiable. For two, he needed to fill in a few holes in her understanding. To claim her body before both of those things occurred would be unfair and possibly detrimental.

  Elena deserved to know everything. And he would tell her. Tomorrow. Not tonight. Today had been a long day. Especially for her. She needed sleep, and he was greedy enough to want to hold her body in his bed all night. What if this was the only night he ever got to spend with her?

  He shook the distressful thought from his mind as he slid his hands down to hers and led her from the room, ignoring her reminder that her human brain was fully on board with having sex with him. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”

  He led her through his living room, moving slow enough that she could soak in his space.

  “Nice,” she murmured as she let her gaze wander around the room. He was a bachelor, and that was super obvious to him as he followed her line of sight. Brown leather couch and matching ottoman. Standard entertainment center. Book shelves flanking the television. It all looked kind of boring suddenly.

  Caleb felt like he needed to defend his lack of décor. “It’s not much. But it was waiting for you. You can do whatever you want to this room. To the entire house I mean.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You keep getting ahead of yourself. Remember, I have an apartment in Chicago. A job. A floundering career.”

  He pulled her against him. “I haven’t forgotten. I’m just saying. If you were to stay. If you were to move into this house. If you were to agree to be mine…”

  She lifted a brow. “Then you’d let me add pictures to the walls?” she teased.

  “Exactly. Or anything you want.”

  She stared at him for a long time, her lips lifted in a contented smile. “You realize how crazy this all sounds. No one brings a woman home after one day together and promises them the world.”

  He lifted a hand to play with one of her loose curls. “Shifters do. They often do it in less than an hour. The only exceptions are when we meet someone who isn’t familiar with shifters and needs to take some time to let it all sink in.”

  “An entire hour?” she joked. “Why wait that long?”

  He wiggled his brows. “That hour is spent fucking until neither party can lift a single limb. Then they promise each other the world when they finally come up for air.”

  She laughed, the sound making his dick hard all over again. He hoped to God it wouldn’t take too many days to convince her she was his. He wasn’t sure he could survive much longer. And he certainly didn’t think he could put off having sex with her for many days. Eventually he would cave.

  Yeah, they really needed to talk tomorrow morning. He needed to grow some balls and lay down all the cards. To wait any longer would only make things worse.

  Tonight he would steal for himself, holding her in his arms, breathing in her scent in his bed, against his pillows, filling his room with her essence. He needed this.

  Without breaking her gaze, he backed up, pulling her across the room toward the hallway. As he drew her toward his bedroom, he nodded in both directions
. “Guest bath. Office. Spare bedroom.” He reached the end of the hallway and tugged her through the doorway. “Master bedroom.”

  For a moment, he considered dragging her straight to bed, but it had been a long day. They’d worked several hours in Marge’s house, and then he’d gone for a run in wolf form. He needed a shower. And he wasn’t about to take one without her.

  She said nothing about his room as he passed straight through it and into the master bath. As soon as they were inside, he released her to turn on the shower. His bathroom was the best part of the house, in his opinion. The shower had two dark tile walls, but the other two walls were glass, and the enclosure was deep with no door.

  Elena was glancing around when he reached for the hem of her shirt and drew it over her head. “I guess we’re going to take a shower now,” she joked.

  “Seemed like a good idea.”

  “And then we’re going to sleep together in your bed.”

  “Yep.”

  “All that without having sex.”

  “Right.” He released the clasp of her bra next and slid it down her arms. “Not saying you won’t find the need to scream out my name several times, but I can make that happen without penetration.”

  “Do I need to point out again that we’ve practically already had sex. Just because you haven’t entered my vagina with your penis doesn’t mean you can claim some sort of virginity.”

  He chuckled, loving her sweet conservative proper terms for their sex organs. “I’m clear on that. Once again, let me point out how damn hard it would be on me if you left me after I’ve been inside you.” He popped the button on her shorts and then dragged them over her hips.

  She was trembling when he slid his hands up her amazing body and cupped her breasts. Her voice was soft when she spoke. “I hate to admit this out loud, especially while you’re touching me and I’m naked, but I’m starting to understand what you’re pounding into my head.”

  He exhaled slowly as if he’d been holding his breath for two days. In a way he had. It was unfortunate that he had to break contact to remove his own clothes, but he did so as quickly as possible and once again had his hands on her hips in moments. “It’s strong and powerful and out of our control.”