Caleb

by McCarty, Sarah

  “Was that good enough?”

  The door burst open. His brothers spilled into the room, guns drawn and at the ready. He shifted his body, blocking her nakedness from their view. “I think it covered the job.” And then some. He felt each of his brother’s stares—Jared’s censure, Jace’s amusement, Slade’s speculation.

  “Jesus, Caleb.” Jared sounded totally disgusted.

  Jace laughed. “Teaching the little woman her place?”

  Unbelievably, heat crept up his neck. “Something like that.”

  He felt Allie’s chuckle more than heard it.

  “Well, could you do it a little more quietly? Some of us are trying to have a discussion.”

  “I’ll give it a try.”

  “Before you do, make her feed.”

  He cut Slade a glance. His serious face was set in sterner lines than usual. “Her hunger makes us uncomfortable.”

  “He’d better just be talking about my stomach rumbling.”

  Since Allie couldn’t see the slight shake of Slade’s head, Caleb didn’t disillusion her. “More than likely.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the door. “If you could all excuse us?”

  “I, for one, am sure as shit not making promises, but I’ll give it a try,” Jared grumbled as the brothers walked out, grabbing the doorknob and closing it on his brothers’ backs and the curious faces of the weres.

  As the latch clicked, Allie wiggled beneath him. “I seriously think Jared needs a girlfriend.”

  “What makes you say that?” He tucked his hand under her left thigh, coaxing it up and out with gliding pressure. She caught on quickly enough, hooking her ankle around his hip as her hands came around his shoulder. “He’s way too grumpy. He needs someone to focus all that intensity on.”

  “Other than you?”

  “I am getting tired of his disapproving stares.”

  “You’ll get used to him.”

  “That’s a bleak thought.”

  He chuckled. “I guess, to you, it would be.”

  Her hands slid through his hair, gentle, yet demanding, pulling his mouth toward hers. “Was he always that intense?”

  Images of Jared as he was before—strong, reliable, focused on what needed to be done, but with a sense of humor he could touch when he took himself too seriously—filtered through his mind. “He had his moments.”

  Her tongue flirted with the corner of his mouth, tickling the nerves there in dainty flicks that shot like fire down his spine. Coaxing him around. “He needs to have a few more.”

  Yes, he did. He missed Jared’s laughter more than he missed the feeling of exhilaration that came with battle, the challenge of surviving against the odds. Immortality had its downside. Suddenly, Allie didn’t look so interested in the proximity of his body as she had a second ago. It didn’t take much to know the two small pleats between her brows weren’t caused by lustful thoughts. He’d seen that same look on too many matchmaking mommas to mistake it for anything but what it was. “You’re not compiling a list of past acquaintances to introduce him to, are you?”

  She had the grace to look guilty. “What makes you think that?”

  “The gleam in your eye for one.”

  “Well, it was just speculation anyway. I can’t really contact anyone.”

  “But you were thinking of ways.”

  Her nose wrinkled up. “I’ve got to work on my poker face.”

  “Kind of a waste of time with me.”

  The pleats deepened to a frown. “I’m going to work on a mental poker face, too.”

  She could work all she wanted. He’d never let her hide from him again. “You do that.”

  Her hands eased up over his shoulders, cupping the top, squeezing gently. Testing his strength? She didn’t have to worry. He was strong enough to take care of her.

  “I will learn to block you.”

  “Why do you want to?”

  He felt that feminine brush, the impression of banked power before she pulled away. “Because it’s annoying that you can read my mind whenever you want, but I can’t read yours if you don’t let me.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Baby, I’ve seen you in action. I’m thinking there’s nothing you can’t do if you set your mind to it.”

  All expression in her face disappeared. Her lower lip sucked between her teeth. “Yeah. About that.”

  “What about it?” Fear flickered across her face followed quickly by an insecurity he’d never seen before. Instead of fading away, both emotions settled into the planes he thought solely reserved for laughter. For life. The sheets rustled as she unhooked her leg from his thigh.

  “Aren’t you afraid of me now? Afraid I’ll suck the life from you?”

  That was the reason she’d been so different since they got back? Not because of his failure to protect her, but because she thought he’d be afraid? Of her? He took her leg and hooked it purposely back around his thigh. “No.”

  She stiffened. Her hands pressed his chest. “Well why not? I’m a Goddamn psychic vampire! I sucked the life out of a guy with nothing more than my touch.”

  “You won’t hurt me.”

  Her eyes flared with bright blue light underlaid with silver. “You can’t know that.”

  “And yet here I sit completely unconcerned.”

  “How?”

  “You’re my wife.” She wouldn’t hurt him, any more than he’d hurt her.

  Her hands fastened on either side of his face, hard and angry, her talons pressing into his skin, almost but not quite breaking through. “That might just make it worse.” He felt her power come at him, strike deep, draw hard. “I could kill you so easily.”

  “Yes.” He extended his own talons, the point of his index finger pressing precisely at the base of her skull. One thrust and her brain would be punctured. She froze. He let the understanding sink in. “We’re all deadly, Allie girl, in our own way. It’s what we choose to do with it that matters.”

  “That’s the problem.” Her talons retracted as her stress increased. The bitter taint of fear blended with the aroma of womanly arousal. “I don’t exactly have a choice. What happened with Vincent, just . . . happened. I don’t know how it started, and I sure don’t know how to turn it off. He was hurting you, and I just knew he needed to stop. I was completely out of control.”

  “And I’m thankful for it.”

  “But,” her legs dropped free, “what if it happens again? When I’m out of control for another reason? What if I can’t stop and I hurt someone?” The stroke of her thumbs over his cheeks as her tears welled clued him in to her real worry.

  “By any chance, are you afraid you’re going to kill me between the sheets?”

  “It’s a distinct possibility. You make me pretty wild.”

  He stood, angling her hips up into his until his shaft nestled against all that moist, feminine warmth. When he was snug and tight against her, he bent down, arching her spine so her shoulders took her weight and her breasts stretched up for the descent of his mouth. The pretty pink nipples were tight and eager, rising and falling with each of her short breaths. “Then maybe we ought to check it out and see what happens.”

  Cotton ripped as her talons tore at the sheets. His cock throbbed as her pussy clenched around his shaft. More arousal, more fear scented the air.

  “You can’t be serious,” she gasped

  “Never been more serious in my life.” He leaned in, teasing the puckered bud of her nipple with his breath, holding her gaze as he opened his mouth and reached with his tongue. Her hot little whimper went through him like a bolt of lightning a second before he touched the tip of his tongue to the tip of her breast. “Let me see just how wild you can be.”

  22

  SHE didn’t come to him wild. She came to him like the first breath of spring, cool and hesitant, a hint of warmth heralding the arrival of better times. The only problem with that was he didn’t want her hesitant. He wanted her w
ild, confident, teasing him with her body and wit.

  He wanted the Allie that he’d always known. Caleb curled his tongue around her nipple. She gasped and arched toward him. He welcomed her, opening his mouth wider, taking her flesh deeper. With his hands at the base of her spine he encouraged her closer. And she came to him, a breathless little cry punctuating the move. He released her nipple with a little pop. “That’s it, baby. Let me see, feel, and hear what you’re feeling.”

  Her response was a shake of her head and a tightening in her body and mind. She thought to resist him. He smiled against the side of her breast. She was welcome to try. “Is that a challenge?”

  “No.”

  “A dare?”

  “No.”

  “A request?”

  “Can’t it just be a denial of what you have planned?”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m not in the mood to indulge you that way.”

  “Now, I am disappointed.”

  “Not for long.”

  Never for long. He nuzzled his way along the undercurve of her breast, sliding his tongue along the crease. “Have I mentioned how much I enjoy your breasts?”

  Her laugh held a jagged edge. “There’s not much to enjoy.”

  “Ah, but there’s pleasure in every perfect inch.”

  “Perfect?”

  He might have been short on female company the last two hundred fifty years, but before that, he’d never had his bed empty. He knew women, and more importantly, he was coming to know this woman. “More than perfect.” He snuggled the assurance into the valley between her breasts. “Pure pleasure.”

  Allie’s hands crept up his arms. “I bet you were quite the ladies’ man in your day.”

  “Uh-huh.” He grazed the slope to his right with his teeth. “But now I’m your man.”

  Her hands reached his shoulders, the nails pricking erotically into the muscle. “Maybe. If I decide to keep you.”

  Propping his chin on her chest, he found her looking down at him. “Now that, wife, was a challenge.”

  The third finger on her left hand wiggled in his face. The scar he’d placed there catching his eye. His own personal brand.

  “No ring. No wife.”

  He kissed his way down the slight indentation of her abdomen. She was a persistent little thing. “You’ll get your Goddamn ring.”

  Her fingers slid in his hair, tangling in the snarls, lingering as they caught. “A ring’s not enough.”

  Lowering her hips, he dropped to his knees, finding her navel with his tongue, smiling as she shivered when he traced the small indentation. “Preacher, vows, and ring. You’ll get it all.”

  Whatever she needed, whatever it took. He’d bind her to him in so many ways it’d take all of their forevers for her to untangle the knots.

  “It won’t work if you don’t make me want it.”

  “You’ll want it.”

  The downy softness of her pubic hair tickled his chin.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

  For all her big words, she wasn’t pushing him away. The lady wanted to be convinced. He cocked her hips up to his mouth and dipped his tongue through the nest of curls to the soft pink flesh beneath. “I’m sure.”

  He shifted his knees apart, adjusting his angle. She was as pretty there as she was everywhere else. Red brown curls highlighted the softest of flesh, moist and fragrant, addictively beautiful, calling to him. He had to taste her. At the first touch of his tongue she almost came off the bed.

  “Caleb!”

  The second had her freezing, every muscle, every nerve ending anticipating the third. He made her wait for it, made her speculate on the pleasure, doubt her senses, doubt his abilities, before he parted her folds with his thumbs, leaving her vulnerable for whatever he wanted to do. He glanced up her body, over the small curve of her abdomen, between her small, plump breasts, to her face. Her lip was caught between her teeth, her brow creased with concentration, her eyes swirling with golden lights beneath the deep blue irises. “Right here.”

  “It’s not safe.”

  But she wanted it. With everything male in him, he knew how much she wanted this. Needed this. The same way he needed to stake his claim, she needed to be claimed. The episode with Vincent had shaken them both. “I’ve never been known for playing it safe.”

  “I could lose control.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  Her chin worked as her teeth worried her lip. “I’d die if I hurt you.”

  “Baby, you couldn’t hurt a fly.”

  “You make me sound like such a wuss.”

  He shook his head, sliding his fingers down the deep red channel to the depths beyond. “You’re soft and gentle and fiercely protective of life. All life.” He caught her gaze. “The way a woman should be.”

  “According to your criteria.”

  He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Does anyone else’s matter?”

  Her “No” was slow coming.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  She opened her mouth, no doubt to argue the politics of a man appreciating a woman’s softness. Caleb forestalled it by simply leaning forward and taking her into his mouth. Her hips bucked and the argument was swallowed up by the passion that spiked between them, leapfrogging along her skin, dancing from pressure point to pressure point, landing in his mind.

  The sensation of her pleasure mellowed with the transference through the link, but it was still incredibly arousing to know the touch of his tongue to her was a cut of pleasure, a gentle lap, a baptism of fire. To know the depth of joy when he pressed just so, just there. To hear her cry of ecstasy as he tasted her pleasure, felt her desire. Son of a bitch, it was almost too much. He nursed her through the aftermath of her climax, lapping and suckling gently, keeping her on edge, letting her down easy, but not letting her all the way down.

  “You’re holding back.”

  She looked at him over her heaving stomach like he’d lost his mind. “I don’t think so.”

  “I know so.”

  Her head flopped back on the mattress. “Lord, just take me now.”

  “Trust me.” He crawled back up her body, his cock so hard and full he thought he’d die with the agony of holding back. He settled his hips into the cradle of hers. “This is not the time you want to be saved.”

  She cracked an eyelid. “I don’t?”

  He slid his shaft along her crease, dragging the length along her ultrasensitive clit. “Definitely not.”

  Allie jerked and shuddered. Her hands clenched on his waist, talons digging in, pulling him closer. “Maybe not.”

  He did it again slower, longer, dragging the sensation out, delighting in her response, her pleasure. “Ah, baby, you burn me up.”

  “Good, because I’m damn close to ash.”

  The third pass had her arching and making demands. “Stop teasing me.”

  “But I like teasing you. Your face gets all flushed, you’re eyes sparkle, and you get so deliciously wet.”

  “You forgot something.”

  Both eyes opened to slits. “What?”

  “I also get distinctly . . .” Another tantalizing stroke. “Ah . . .” She gasped. “Homicidal.”

  Unbelievably, he laughed. His balls full to bursting, needing her so badly that it felt like he was about to explode out of his skin, and she had him laughing. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  His fangs extended fully into his mouth as her heels drummed on his thighs. Damn, she was sweet. “Are you ready for me, Allie?”

  She nodded and then thrusted up her breasts as she sucked in a hard breath that left no doubt. Her fangs dug against her lips. She was definitely losing control, but she wasn’t there yet. Caleb cupped her buttocks in his palms, squeezing the firm flesh, separating the soft globes, smiling at her whimper and glare, and then inched his hand down her thigh, dragging his nails ever so lightly on her skin, thrusting gently along her slick crease as he tickled the ba
ck of her knee.

  “Darn it, Caleb.”

  Her leg jerked back, creating a niche he moved into as he continued to tease, squeezing her calf, cupping her heel, then wrapping his fingers around her ankle and then lifting it up over his shoulder as he took a step back. As natural as breathing, his cock snuggled into the tiny well that awaited him. A bit of pressure and Allie’s eyes widened as her tendons stretched right along with her body.

  “Relax. You’re going to like this.”

  He pressed in. There was an initial moment of resistance and then those brilliant blue eyes closed as she moaned. “That’s it.” He leaned forward, giving her that first breath-stealing inch. “Just like that.”

  He paused, granting her a moment to adjust, checking for any signs of pain. There weren’t any. From the tight set of her face to the desperate fluttering of her inner muscles, she was a woman on the edge of climax.

  “Pretty, pretty Allie,” he whispered as he bent, taking possession of her body and her blissful cry as he sank deep, giving the latter back to her in his own groan as the blisteringly hot softness accepted him. All of him, hugging him with desperate entreaty. Too much to resist.

  “Ah, damn.” His forehead dropped to hers. Magic. She was magic.

  She opened her eyes. This close, it was too hard to focus, but there was no mistaking her tension for anything other than it was. He held perfectly still. He didn’t want to come yet. Not yet. This was too perfect. She was too perfect.

  And this lesson was too important. If there was one thing he could give her, it was his own faith in her. “Hold still.”

  A shake of her head. “I don’t want to.”

  The sexy airiness of her high-pitched denial took the intensity one notch higher.

  “I want to make this good.”

  “It is good,” she moaned. “Very good.”

  Yes it was. “But not good enough.”

  Her mouth met his, her tongue flicking along his lips, her fangs scraping gently. He opened his mouth. The growl that purred between them was definitely wild. As wild as her kiss. Lust flared. Caleb tucked his thumb between them, finding the swollen flange of flesh that screamed for attention.