I slipped into the foggy glass doors, and I found myself stepping into a dense fog of steam. It wasn’t just any steam. It was a rich, heavenly steam, perfumed with eucalyptus and ylang-ylang and jasmine, a fragrance that immediately eased the tension in my shoulders and worked away the knots of stress that had wound themselves up in my head.
I stepped through the tile chamber and took a seat on the built-in bench, letting my head slump back against the wall. I pinched my eyes shut, taking in a deep breath of the soothing steam, and I wondered what Caleb is thinking.
I opened my eyes, glancing at the door, and then a terrible thought entered my head. What if he doesn’t come after me? What if he leaves me here?
I gulped, but before my mind had a chance to wander to the tiny, dark corners where my vulnerability and insecurity liked to hide, the door to the steam room opened, and Caleb stepped inside.
He was dripping wet from pulling himself out of the pool and everything in me wanted to run towards him. I wanted to throw my arms around him and do all the things he kept daring me to do. Feel his skin against mine, and learn once and for all if he was right about all those things he said.
For years, I’ve refused to let my virginity define me. While my close friends and confidants had viewed it as some sort an untapped potential, “like a passport full of unstamped pages,” Raven joked once, I’ve never felt any pressing need or urgent desire to shed my virgin status. In fact, in the last few years, I had grown to appreciate it. I’ve liked not belonging to anyone. I’ve liked that nobody knows me better than I know myself.
But now Caleb’s turned my world upside down, because with one flick of his tongue my body relinquished control. He knew me better than I knew myself. And I thought I’d be scared or hurt by that, but instead I was fascinated. I wanted him to know me more and for the first time in my life, I wanted him to take the piece of me that nobody else could have.
I wanted Caleb to take my virginity.
But as he crossed the steam room and sat on the tiled bench beside me, I sensed his sudden reluctance.
“You should have told me.”
“Why?”
“Why?” he scoffed, shaking his head. “You always ask such absurd questions.”
I heard a hint of flirtation in his voice, and hope inflated my heavy heart.
“Does it change anything?”
“Of course it does. If I had known that you were a virgin…”
His voice trailed off, and he shook his head again as he sighed heavily.
“What?” I demanded. “What would you have done differently, if you had known?”
He did not offer me an answer, so I tried again.
“What happened to all that stuff you said about sex?” I pressed. “About it not needing to mean anything to be fulfilling?”
“Your first time should mean something.”
“Why?” I demanded. “Why should it?”
“Because,” Caleb said, his fiery eyes met mine in an intense, pained gaze. “Your first time might be the only time it can mean something. And if it doesn’t, then you’ll just end up being a cynical shell of a person like me who craves a connection that he can never seem to find.”
“So having sex ruins people?” I snapped.
“No,” he said firmly. “But people can ruin sex, and if you share your first time with the wrong person--”
“Are you the wrong person?”
“No,” he said again, his eyes burned through mine.
“Then why won’t you fuck me?”
“You shouldn’t talk like that.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“I can handle it.”
“You can’t.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” I reminded him. “I don’t need you to dictate how I should feel or what I should want. I know what I want… I want you.”
He was silent, and my heart continued to pound in the thick steam.
“And you want me,” I reminded him. The desire burned inside me mixed with anger, and I needed to prove him wrong just as much as I needed to have him inside of me. I climbed onto his lap, wrapping my legs around his hips and planting my hands on the waistband of his briefs.
“You want to be my first,” I whispered, sliding over his lap and feeling the sharp ridge of his cock rising up under the fabric of his briefs. “Come on, Caleb. I’ve been brave. I’ve put myself out there. Now why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking for a change?”
“You’re a little cock-tease,” he said through gritted teeth. “I think you’re a guppy trying to swim with a shark. I think you’re in over your head.”
“You think I’m afraid of you,” I whispered, pressing my lips into his chest. I didn’t know where this side of me had been hiding all of my life, but now that she had been exorcised, I couldn’t stop myself. I was out of control. I was drunk on the thrill of feeling Caleb’s body pressed against mine.
My panties were slick from my excitement and I needed him to rip them off. I needed him to make me feel those things again. I needed him to work his magic, make my body bend and burn in response to his touch.
“You should be afraid of me.”
“Why?”
“Stop asking stupid questions,” he muttered, pressing his lips into neck as his hands wrapped around my bare ass cheeks. He spread my ass apart, sinking his fingers deeper into my skin until I yelped with pain.
“Then give me one good reason why you can’t fuck me,” I dared him.
“Because,” he warned, squeezing tighter, digging his nails into my flesh. “I can’t just have meaningless sex with you, Daisy.”
I took a deep breath, my head spinning with what he just said. We were past the point of being shy. We were beyond being bashful. I felt his cock throbbing between my thighs and the only thing separating us was wet fabric.
“Don’t make me ask twice,” I whispered.
He released his grip on my ass and I feel his open palm swat my skin. The pain stung my skin, but as it trembled through my slit it turned to pleasure and my entire body ached for him to be inside me.
He stood up suddenly, wrapping my legs around his waist so he could carry me, and then he was pushing us through the door back to the pool. The cool air was a shock, replacing the hot steam that my skin had gotten used to.
He tossed me down onto an empty pool bed and then he was digging through the heap of clothes he left by the side of the pool.
He dropped down to his knees and grabbed my panties, working them down my hips. Then his lips crashed between my legs, finding the same spot that brought me waves of bliss before.
I was instantly on the brink of coming, but he stopped when he tasted the climax building up inside of me.
When I saw him pulling down his briefs, I understood why. He was going to finish the job with his cock.
I sucked in a deep breath when I saw him exposed, thick and throbbing, glistening with desperation to get inside of me. I whimpered, wondering how he was supposed to fit inside of me, and Caleb glanced down at me.
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to fuck me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Get inside me.”
That was all the invitation he needed. He thrusted into me, not taking his time, and I felt my walls scream as they open around his thick shaft. I felt my insides rip apart from his size, and the pain was almost too much to stand.
He planted his palm over my chest, pressing me into the bed as he thrust again, and my body shattered. But then my cells started to fuse back together, my muscles mended themselves, my skin adapted, and I felt something other than pain.
I felt my hips buck up, inviting him deeper inside of me. He grunted as he indulged me. And all at once, I felt the explosive orgasm rip through my entire body.
What Caleb did with his mouth was incredible, but feeling him inside me as my body burst around him it was better than anything I
ever could have imagined.
It was bliss.
It was like dying and coming back to life again, all in the span of a few seconds.
I couldn’t stop myself from moaning, and my cries mixed with his grunts as he climaxed too.
And in that moment, I realized that I would never be the same again.
14
CALEB
The phone rang on my desk and I picked up the receiver without glancing at the digital caller-ID screen.
“This is Caleb Preston.”
“Caleb!” a familiar voice gushed, and I immediately felt my shoulders clench up. I hadn’t heard that voice in years, but it immediately filled me with the same sense of dread that I felt the last time my sister Calista called.
The circumstances have always varied, sometimes she would be calling from a holding cell at jail, other times she would be on the side of the road, calling because she just crashed her car, but she couldn’t call AAA because she was drunk.
I wasn’t sure what I hated worse, the years and years of those surprise phone calls, begging me to come to the rescue and clean up whatever mess Calista had gotten herself into, or the years of silence that followed.
But now things were different. I had been waiting on this phone call. I had been counting the days, wondering when Calista would finally show some semblance of remorse or regard for her daughter.
“Calista,” I said finally, exhaling and forcing myself to stay calm. There were so many things I want to say to my sister. But I knew there was no point in getting them off of my chest now. I needed to figure out what the plan was. I needed to know where she was, how long she would be there, and what steps she was taking towards building a stable home for Emmy.
“I’m sorry I haven’t called sooner,” Calista said. Her voice sounded soft and shy. A far cry from the drunken slur I had gotten used to in years past.
“Where are you?” I asked, ignoring the apology. That was another thing I’d gotten used to. Empty apologies. My sister was never sorry for the bad decisions that she made, and she was never sorry for the impact that her actions had on the people around her. If anything, she was sorry she got caught, sorry she had to spend a night in the drunk tank instead of downing shots at the club, sorry she had to look after a screaming infant instead of jetting off for a five day bender in the Virgin Islands with her famous friends.
“I’m in the hospital,” she sniffled in a small voice. “Caleb, I think I really fucked up this time.”
“You say that every time.”.
“God, I know.” Her voice cracked and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Emmy is ok,” I said. That should have been the first thing she asked. How was her daughter? Was Emmy ok? Was she safe? Was she happy? Was she asking any questions? Was she asking why her mother hadn’t come home yet?
“I knew she would be,” Calista said sadly. I wanted to slam down the phone, because I was disgusted with how selfish my sister is.
“No,” I said, “You assumed that she was ok. You assumed I would take care of things for you, just like I always do.”
“Caleb…”
“Calista,” I cut her off sternly. “This isn’t about you and me. If you want to let your life go up in smoke, that’s your prerogative. But you can’t take that sweet little girl down with you.”
“I know, I… I…”
“No,” I stopped her. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. I don’t. There’s nothing you can say that would justify the way you abandoned your daughter.”
“I’m trying to get better,” she sniffled. “I swear, Caleb. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I checked myself into treatment, because I knew I couldn’t do this anymore.”
“Good,” I said, shaking my head. I’d heard this a dozen times before. I have heard the tears, the emotional appeals. I did not believe it anymore. Until my sister came home, sober and ready to behave like a decent human being, I would not believe it. “I hope, for Emmy’s sake, that you can get your life together.”
I was tempted to hang up the phone.
“Calista, just to be clear, I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for Emmy.”
Then I slammed down the phone and sunk back into my chair. My head was throbbing and I needed to get out of this office. I reached for my cell phone and I pulled the thread of text messages that I’ve exchanged with Daisy.
“Join Emmy and I for dinner tonight?”
I hit ‘send,’ and then I second-guessed myself. This wasn’t exactly a sexy follow-up to our last date, but before I could think too much about it, her response showed onto the screen:
“As long as it’s our little secret :)”
I smiled, sliding my phone back into my pocket, and despite the phone call from Calista, everything somehow felt brighter.
15
| DAISY
“God, look at you,” Raven rolled her eyes as she watched me grin into the screen of my phone. “You’re so smitten with this guy that literally it’s disgusting.”
“Shut up,” I said, even though her comment made my smile grow wider.
“I know that look,” Raven eyed me up and down knowingly. “You got the D.”
My entire face burned bright red and I slapped her arm, glancing around the schoolyard to make sure nobody overheard.
“You did!” Raven insisted. “Don’t deny it.”
“That’s none of your business,” I snapped. “And besides, I shouldn’t be talking about this at school anyway. Not after what Mr. Richmond said--”
“Ok, Mr. Strict-mond needs to loosen the hell up,” Raven said, rolling her eyes again. “And you, missy, need to give me all the dirty details.”
I sighed, then I flicked my eyes to her. I tried to keep a straight face, but my resolve immediately melted and I busted into a huge smile.
“Ok, ok,” I admitted. “We might have,” I nodded my head, filling in the blanks.
“Oh my God!” Raven squealed, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me in for a hug. This time, a few pairs of curious eyes do looked our way, but Raven ignores them.
“Finally!” she gushed. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this? Oh my God I feel like I should get you a cupcake or something. Do you want a cupcake? I want a cupcake.”
“Slow down,” I said, glancing around anxiously for any sign of Mr. Richmond. “Let’s not make a huge deal out of this.”
“It is a huge deal!” Raven clapped her hands together. Then, in a whisper, she added, “You’re a woman now!”
I stabbed her in the ribs with my elbow, and she finally forced herself to take a deep breath and contain her enthusiasm.
“I need all the details, obviously.”
“No way,” I said. “That’s private.”
“Please,” Raven rolled her eyes. “It’s Caleb Preston. The man is about as private as a bus stop bench.”
“Eww,” I grimaced.
“It’s true! Homeboy is hot as hell, but he’s got a bad reputation,” she said, and then, assessing the concerned look on my face, she added “But you knew that. You’re being smart about this, because you’re Daisy Wright, and Daisy Wright doesn’t trust anyone.”
I blinked reluctantly and Raven’s eyes went wide.
“Daisy,” she said. “Don’t tell me this is about more than just sex.”
“Of course not,” I sniffed quickly, shaking my head.
“Good,” she said firmly. “Because sex is all Caleb Preston is good for.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. “Aren’t you usually nagging me to trust more? To give guys a chance? To stop being so cynical?”
“Well, yeah,” Raven shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean you should trust just anyone, and it definitely doesn’t mean you should trust someone like Caleb.”
I swallowed heavily, trying not to take her words to heart. I knew she was right. I knew that Caleb probably had a crazy tabloid persona that I wouldn’t understand, just like his sister Calista did. But I also believe
d that I was seeing a different side of him. That there was no way the man who just texted to invite me to dinner with him and Emmy could be the kind of womanizing monster that the newspaper headlines made him out to be. He may be more experienced than me, and maybe he had a wild past. But that did not have anything to do with who he was now.
“Just look out for yourself,” Raven shrugged. “That’s all I’m saying. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Then the worry on her face twisted back into a smile.
“And I definitely want to hear a full report on what went down in the bedroom!”
I blushed and rolled my eyes, but inside the curiosity was eating me alive. I had avoided the tabloids and gossip sites, knowing that I wouldn’t find anything good if I did look. But now I suddenly couldn’t resist. I needed to know.
“Shit,” I said, patting my pockets. “I forgot my keys in my room. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure,” Raven nodded.
It was a lie, but it bought me some time to slink down to my room and pull up the web browser on my phone. With shaking hands I typed in Caleb’s name. The screen flashed white as the browser sluggishly struggled to load up, the cell service was hit or miss in my room, and I tapped my fingers on the desk, waiting.
I tried to prepare myself for the worst. What if he has a girlfriend? What if he’s seeing someone else? What if he’s been secretly married this entire time?
As I waited, anxiously tapping my feet on the tile floor, I tried to convince myself that I could handle anything I might uncover. After all, wasn’t this just about sex? Wasn’t I in control? Didn’t I already accept, implicitly, that whatever happened between Caleb and me was just physical?
So if I was so certain that I don’t care, then why was my heart pounding so frantically in my chest? Why was my stomach twisting with dread as I imagined all the possibilities that might be revealed when the search engine finished loading?
16
CALEB
“Operation ‘Transfer Sleeping Child’ was a success,” I said, raising my arms victoriously as I strode into the kitchen.
Baby Makes Three: A Brother's Best Friend's Secret Baby Romance Page 22