When had she ever been kissed like this? Men had tried, of course. A few dates had responded to her much the way Caleb was now, moaning and tightening his hold on her shoulders. But she had never felt any need to respond. She had never felt any need, period. The press of a man’s lips to hers had always been met with a curious detachment, a numb experience that left her suitors curiously gasping for breath and her ready to find the nearest exit. Now, however, Caleb’s mouth ignited every erotic impulse she thought she didn’t possess. His fire lit her insides until she felt like the woman she became in the waterfall dream.
His tongue slid along her lips, sending a tickle down to her clit. When she parted her mouth for him, he groaned and slipped his tongue inside. She gasped in pleasure at the feel and taste of him, so purely male and sensual.
“God, Rose,” he murmured against her lips. “You’re even more incredible than I imagined. Just the thought of us bein’ together makes me near to losin’ my mind.”
His hands ran along her shoulders, and she shivered with the goose bumps his touch set off on her flesh. Her tongue grew bolder, and she explored his mouth deeply, fully. Her already-tense nipples stiffened to aching peaks that silently begged him for his touch.
Or perhaps not so silently, because he responded. His hands moved to her sweater and gingerly slid the edges back. He pulled away from the kiss to look at her, but what she hoped would be a positive response turned into a grimace.
“This looks so painful,” he said, delicately tracing his fingertips over the visible part of the seat belt bruise. Her nipples hardened fiercely at his touch.
“Right now, pain isn’t what I’m feeling,” she said quietly. “Not even close.”
Her eyes met his, swallowed by the intensity of his gaze. From this close distance, his eyes made a bizarre shift in color so that the gold seemed to be overtaking the rest. The results were breathtaking, in a very real sense.
“You should be relaxin’ so you can heal,” he said, still running his fingers over the swell of her breast. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself.”
He pulled away then, and she could still feel his touch lingering on her skin. Her body cried out for more of him, instantly and hopelessly addicted.
“Please,” she said, taking his hand. “Don’t stop.”
Something flickered in that gaze. “I have to for your own good.”
“This is what’s good.” She drew his hand back to her breast, part of her wondering whether thinking about her dream had prodded her into taking such a bold approach. “Make me feel better, Caleb.”
His eyes clouded. “Lay back. Close your eyes.”
She settled on her back with her head resting on the cushioned arm of the couch. He stretched out on his side next to her and gave her a gentle, yet searing kiss. “You didn’t close your eyes,” he murmured.
“I can’t. My eyes want to keep staring at you.”
A brief smile vanished inside an expression of determination and longing, and Caleb let his fingers trail along her jaw, down her throat, and back to the mounds of flesh rising and falling with each shaky breath. A glance showed how prominent her nipples were against the thin fabric of her top, but Caleb was not content to simply allow his hands to trace around the straining buds. He lifted the hem of her shirt, staring in awe when he bared her breasts. They weren’t particularly large, but they were round and firm. She wasn’t disappointed by the searing heat in his reaction while he stared at them.
“So unbelievably perfect,” he whispered, his eyes shifting to hers. “Even more beautiful than your name.”
The full length of the marks on her chest was visible to him now, and he bent his head to the ugly bruises. “I’m so damn sorry for this,” he said, pressing the lightest of kisses to the top of the mark cresting her collarbone. “And this.” Another kiss along the bruise, somewhat lower down. “And this.”
He continued this way down the length of the strap mark, each kiss shooting sparks of desire straight down between her legs. The last kiss he pressed to the underside of her breast, right along her rib cage. She whimpered with pleasure and squirmed against his lips.
“Relax,” he whispered, taking the hand she’d curled into a fist. “Let go and just let me touch you.”
“I can’t help it.” His mouth centered right over her nipple, and her heart almost stopped when his hot breath fluttered over the stiff, pink nub. “How can I relax when I’ve never felt this way before?”
He let out a deep groan at that and lowered his mouth to her nipple. He sucked it in and circled his tongue around the tip. Any hope of relaxing went to hell with the feel of his mouth on such sensitive flesh. She threaded her hands into his soft hair, pulling him closer.
She moaned loudly when she felt the delicious, light graze of teeth on her nipple. A gush of warmth released between her legs as her clit pounded with each rapid beat of her heart. “What did that accident do to me?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, seeming utterly captivated as he moved from one breast to the other, driving her irreparably insane with hot, wet flicks of his tongue. His hand slid over her stomach to palm the mound in her snug jogging pants. She pressed her hips upward, wriggling against his touch until the tops of his fingers found her clit.
She cried out in shock at the contact. “Caleb! Oh, yes.”
Of course she’d touched herself before and had found her own way to orgasm many times. But this! A man’s hand down there shot her to heights she hadn’t expected. He could leave his hand resting perfectly still right where it was, and he’d still make her come.
He worked his hand between her legs, no doubt feeling the damp heat coming off her. He gave a little growl that sounded almost animal and pressed his pelvis against her hip. She felt his erection then, and a surge of satisfaction flooded her. His cock was so hard for her. He was every bit as turned on as she was.
She’d held men’s desires in little regard until that very moment. Now, she wanted nothing more than for him to need her.
His hand pushed inside her pants, plunging through her curls to find the source of the hot, slippery wetness soaking her panties. His fingers slid along the channel between her lips, dragging against the hood of her clit until she felt the peak of climax begin to sharpen. Her hips ground against his hand, and she reached down to clamp onto his wrist and push his fingers farther, deeper. When they found and prodded the entrance to her cunt, however, she paused.
“This is going to sound weird,” she said, hissing out a breath in the middle when his tongue found an especially arousing rhythm over her nipple. “But I haven’t—I mean, you’ll want to go slow because I…” she trailed off, not seeming able to get the words out.
“Because you’re a virgin,” he said softly. “I know.”
“How do you know that?” she asked, feeling her face redden a bit at her own lack of experience. “Can men tell?”
“I can tell.”
He raised his head from her breasts, and when she saw the fire in his gaze, her eyes flew wide. “Your eyes!” she exclaimed.
He closed them for a moment. “Yeah. I don’t doubt it for a minute.”
His eyes no longer held even a tinge of their usual purple color. Gold pulsated in their depths, even more so than she remembered through the initial haze of the accident. She hadn’t been imagining it, then. Caleb was different from other men. Very, profoundly different.
Two of his fingers breached her at that moment, and the entire focus of her thoughts blanked out into a world of pleasure. His digits slipped in and out, all the way up to pull her wet juices up over her wildly throbbing clit.
“Oh, God,” she murmured, pressing her hips against his hand. “Deeper. Faster.”
Caleb took the command and improved on it. His fingers twisted inside her as he explored the depths of her soaking wet cunt, plunging in and out faster until she writhed shamelessly on the couch.
When his mouth claimed hers, orgasm shot up and over a hot, high peak.
“Caleb!” she shouted, and then language skills devolved into a series of shamefully loud moans as she worked her cunt against his probing fingers, and he pressed his hard cock against her in return.
There was a blissful, complete lack of anything in her universe outside the spasms of ecstasy pulsing through her body. Her unwilling descent hastened when Caleb pulled his fingers out of her panties. She caught the scent of her warm juices on him when he took hold of her hand and pulled it to his crotch.
“Did I make you feel better?” he asked, his voice huskier than normal as he pressed her palm to the impossibly hard ridge in his pants. He moaned and pushed himself against her hand.
“No,” she said. “You took me right off of this planet.”
She’d never felt a man’s hard cock before, at least not outside the accidental and not-so-accidental erections her patients experienced during baths and routine care. This, of course, was entirely different. His erection was so unbelievably stiff and long. She felt it jerk a little, and her still-tingling clit pulsed in response.
Caleb let out an uncontrolled moan and thrust his tongue in her mouth. “Rose,” he said hoarsely when he pulled back. “I don’t know how much longer I can find the patience to stay away from you.”
She rubbed him more boldly now, reveling in the power of making him squirm and his dick throb with need. “This is your idea of staying away?
He smiled and reached between them to fumble with his belt buckle, and she was about to join in and help.
The moment jolted back to reality when they heard a sharp knock at the front door.
Chapter Four
Caleb and Rose sat up on the couch, the rapid change in position sending a new wave of drumbeats pounding through her head.
“Expectin’ company?” he asked.
She yanked her shirt back down over her breasts and frowned at the door. “None that I’m aware of.”
“Shall I answer it?”
“I’ll do it,” she said, though when she got up too fast, the room gave a slight pitch.
“Let me help you.”
He circled her waist again as she headed for the door, and a glance out the peephole sent a little pulse of shock through her. “What’s he doing here?” she whispered.
Caleb didn’t reply. He just leaned casually against the wall with a smile, as though he knew exactly who she meant.
“Did you know about this?” she asked, wary at his suspicious expression.
“Nope. Plannin’ to open the door?”
She tugged the door open to Dr. Williams. He’d ditched the white coat, but still had on his dress shirt and slacks from earlier. Even with the tie loosened and the top button of his shirt undone, he looked every bit as polished and professional as when she’d first seen him. Every bit as delectable, too, though perhaps it was wrong of her to think that way after what she’d just let Caleb do to her.
“Doctor Williams,” she said. “I wouldn’t have expected you here.”
“Wouldn’t you? And please, call me Stephen.” He was looking at Caleb. “Can’t say I’m surprised to see you here.”
“I’d be surprised if you were surprised.”
The doctor’s piercing blue eyes shifted back to her, and her stomach did a little flip. “Are you all right?” he asked. “You look flushed.”
There was a hint of accusation in the words. She swallowed and felt her face heat up even more. “I took a hot bath not long ago.”
“May I come in?”
Apparently, remembering proper manners didn’t come naturally after, well, coming powerfully. Rose pushed open the door she’d been clutching. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
As he entered, his knee-weakening scent trailed him in. The cologne from that morning had long faded, but his own masculine aroma enlivened her very senses. What was it about him, anyway? Besides the incredible good looks and medical degree.
An interesting though silent power play took place while she led her visitors into the living room. The men were clearly jockeying for position, and Stephen lost when Caleb all but pulled Rose down and sat with her between him and the arm of the couch. That left Stephen standing alone with an annoyed expression. He made no comment, however, as he sank down on the closest chair flanking the ends of the coffee table.
She offered him a smile. “So, what brings you to my door, Doctor?”
“Stephen. I thought I’d stop by and see how you were doing.”
Her brow lifted. “Really? House calls are a rare thing these days.”
Caleb grunted. “Yeah. Especially for hospital-based docs.”
Something flickered in the man’s eyes. “This is more of an informal visit,” he said. “Partly because I wanted to give you this.”
He held out an envelope she hadn’t seen him holding. The same logo that was embroidered on his doctor’s coat was stamped in one corner.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’m sure it’ll be self-explanatory.”
She tore open a corner and pulled out an official-looking paper typed on hospital letterhead. With her head pounding as it was, focusing on the small type strained her eyes. She closed them and rubbed at her temples.
“Still have the headache?” Dr. Williams asked.
“It was mostly gone,” she said. “But it’s back now.” With a vengeance.
“When was your last dose of pain meds?”
She glanced over at a wooden wall clock. “I’m past due.”
He was up in a flash, strutting over to the adjacent dining area. A white pharmacy bag was sitting on the walnut-veneer dining table. “In this?”
When she nodded, he picked up the bag and headed for the open kitchen, where he had no trouble finding his way around to get her a glass of water.
“Seems like you know where everything is,” she said as she watched him dump two pills into his hand.
“I’ve visited the corporate housing before,” he said, wandering back to her. “The hospital puts up special guests here.”
She took the proffered medicine as he sat back down. “Like I said earlier, you’re quite the full-service physician.” While she swallowed her pills, she scanned the contents of the brief letter—and almost choked. “Just apparently not my physician.”
He flashed a look but said nothing.
She held up the letter. “You’re firing me as a patient after only treating me once?”
“Don’t think of it as a firing. It’s more of a clarification. It’s just a formality.”
Her heart pumped faster as she fought off disappointment. He didn’t want her as a patient. The dismissal rankled more than a little.
She tossed the letter beside the sketch pad Caleb had replaced on the coffee table when they’d gone to answer the knock. “I don’t understand.”
“I do,” Caleb said, and he stretched his arm along the back of the sofa behind her.
It was a possessive gesture, one she challenged with a look. He returned it with a naughty grin. Public displays like this were a bit much at this point in their relationship, and she probably shouldn’t encourage his behavior. Still, considering all he’d done for her, brushing him off in front of Dr. Williams wouldn’t be a nice way to repay him.
“This is nothing personal,” the doctor said.
Caleb’s snort cut in. “Like hell it ain’t.”
A muscle twitched in Dr. Williams’s jaw. “Fair enough.” His attention returned to Rose. “It’s nothing negative to do with you, then. Quite the opposite.”
Her woozy head refused to follow his words to a point, if he’d in fact made one. “As they say, just give it to me straight, Doctor,” she said.
“Call me Stephen.”
“Okay, Stephen.” She kicked herself mentally over the little happy dance tickling her stomach over saying his first name out loud. After all, the man was in the process of dumping her. Sort of.
Rose folded her arms. “Let me see if I have this straight. You’re saying I was a model patient for the who
le twenty minutes or so that you were my doctor, but now you never want to see me again.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not saying that at all.”
“Then I’m lost.”
He shifted forward in his chair so he could take hold of her hand. She ignored the accompanying tingles by gritting her teeth.
“I told you I expected we’d meet again soon. You thought I meant when you start work at the hospital. I meant something more personal.”
His thumb stroked the back of her hand, and the fireworks he touched off were impossible to drown out.
She gaped at him. “Are you asking me on a date?”
He smiled. “I suppose I am, in a manner of speaking.”
One man’s arm was draped around her seat while another one asked her out. She flicked wild glances back and forth between them. Caleb wore a casual, almost smug smile while Stephen made a play for her right in front of him—and right after Caleb had had his hand in her pants. Whatever rabbit hole she’d tumbled down, it was a deep one.
“You’re asking me this in front of Caleb,” she said, “whose arm you see around me. And that doesn’t bother you?”
His eyes shifted to Caleb. “Guess you didn’t tell her about me, did you?”
“Tell me what about you?” she asked.
Caleb shrugged. “It didn’t come up.”
The other man narrowed his blue-gold gaze. “‘It’ didn’t, or I didn’t?”
“Other things have been goin’ on.”
Stephen’s tone grew edgier. “Yeah, I’m aware of that. And yet what should have come up first wasn’t mentioned. That bothers me. A lot.”
She stared at him quizzically. Just when she thought she’d wrapped her head around the conversation, it drifted off into the unknown again.
Caleb made a clucking sound at Stephen. “See, that’s the difference between you city fellas and cowboys.” A shiver ran down her arm when he moved his hand from the couch to stroke her shoulder. “Ya’ll are in such a hurry. Cowboys, well, we like to take our time with things.”
Disobedient Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4