Advanced Physical Chemistry

by Susannah Nix

  The corner of his mouth quirked in amusement. “Okay, then.”

  “Just because I’m nervous doesn’t mean I don’t want to do this.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Okay? Do you believe me now, or do I need to say it a dozen more times?”

  “I believe you.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked him, suddenly afraid that in her quest to be assertive, she might have accidentally pressured him into something he wasn’t a hundred percent on board with.

  He took long enough to answer that she’d almost convinced herself he was going to say no. “I’m sure if you are.”

  “Okay.” She let out the breath she’d been holding. “Good. That’s settled, then.”

  They regarded one another warily. Neither of them inclined to make the first move, apparently.

  Penny broke the impasse by starting for the kitchen, because it was her safe place. As long as she was playing hostess she knew what to do with herself. “I’m getting a beer. Are you sure you don’t want—”

  Caleb grabbed her elbow as she passed and spun her toward him. His arms banded around her as his mouth crushed hers. It was so sudden and so forceful it stole her breath, and she gasped against him.

  He started to pull back, but before he could get away she wound her hands around his neck to stop him. She pressed his mouth open as their lips came together again, and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

  Rather than the slow, precise, exploring kisses of the day before, this was more like an open-mouthed slide. Urgent, fumbling, and rough. Heat shuddered through her as his hands moved over her face, her hair, her shoulders, like he couldn’t get enough of touching her.

  She scrabbled at his chest and pushed his hoodie off his shoulders and down his arms. Once again, only a single thin layer of T-shirt stood between her and what she was certain was a magnificent torso. As they kissed, she pressed her fingertips to his chest, groping him shamelessly, feeling her way down like she was reading a page of braille. Their tongues tangled as she traced the dense flesh of his pectorals, the individual bones of his rib cage, the rock-hard ridges of his abs.

  When she got to his waist, she dipped her fingers under the hem of his shirt in search of bare skin, and he generously pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossing it onto the floor behind him.

  Penny’s gaze consumed him, enraptured. Devouring every perfectly defined bulge and taut valley. “Wow.”

  Caleb watched her watching him, his expression heated but also a little leery. “What?”

  “You’re just…” She gestured at him. “You’re just so wow.”

  His hands squeezed her hips. “You’re pretty wow yourself.”

  She wanted to protest, to point out they weren’t even playing in the same league, much less the same division, but before she could, his tongue was in her mouth again and she forgot what she was going to say. His hands cupped her ass as he pulled her against him, his hardness grinding into her until she felt like she was going to pass out.

  She needed him to be naked as soon as possible. She needed both of them to be naked. Right. Now.

  Caleb must have shared her impatience, because he started moving them toward the couch.

  “Not here,” she murmured between gasping kisses. “Bedroom.”

  He spun her around and started pushing her in the other direction. They tripped and shuffled and kissed their way to her bedroom, bumping into doorjambs and bouncing off walls and pieces of furniture before making it to the Promised Land.

  Penny’s calves hit the edge of the bed, and the intensity of their kissing increased with their proximity to the site of their imminent coupling. Caleb’s bare arms wrapped around her, holding her tight against his chest as her hands roamed over the broad, smooth planes of his back. One of his hands cupped her breast, and as his thumb traced delicious circles around her nipple through the fabric, she clung to him for dear life, blind with lust.

  His fingers found their way to the drawstring of her lounge pants. He fumbled with it for what felt like an eternity before letting out a grunt of frustration, and she pushed his hands away to help him out. As soon as she had the knot undone, he took over again, hooking his fingers into her waistband and sliding her pants down her hips. As they fell to the floor at her feet, Caleb grasped the hem of her T-shirt and greedily lifted it over her head.

  Penny tensed, ever self-conscious about her belly fat. Not that he couldn’t have guessed what she looked like under her clothes, but exposing herself to a man for the first time always magnified her fear of being judged.

  Caleb didn’t appear to be judging her though—at least not negatively. His eyes widened, taking on a look of awe as they zeroed in on her breasts.

  They were supported by her prettiest, most flattering bra. It wasn’t easy finding comfortable bras in her size that didn’t resemble a skydiving harness. Penny had paid an outrageous price for this one—a lacy pink demi cup that lifted her boobs like a Ren Faire beer wench—but the way his eyes had just glazed over made it worth every penny.

  “Wow,” Caleb said, licking his lips.

  She felt herself blush, her chest and cheeks prickling with heat, and tried to step into him to escape his unabashed appraisal, but his hands grasped her shoulders, holding her at arm’s length.

  “Not so fast. Let me savor this for a second.” He slid a hand over the top of her cleavage, so entranced you’d almost think he’d never seen breasts before. Goose bumps broke out on her arms as his calluses dragged across her skin. He pressed his fingertips into the flesh experimentally, watching it give. Then he slid a single finger under the strap of her bra and slipped it off her shoulder.

  He brushed her hair back and bent down to press a kiss to her shoulder. Penny leaned into him, wanting to feel his arms around her again. Wanting to feel wrapped up and safe.

  His hands smoothed over her back, then with one adept flick of his fingers he unclasped her bra. He peeled it off and let it fall to the floor as he gazed at her naked breasts in open admiration.

  It took everything she had to resist the urge to cover herself. She wasn’t used to being stared at so brazenly—or with such reverence. His palms smoothed over her breasts, squeezing gently, and he lowered his mouth to them. Penny heard herself let out a low moan as his lips caressed her. His hot breath seared her skin, making her knees feel weak again as his tongue traced a sensuous trail.

  She curled her fingers into his hair and gave it a tug. “Get up here.” She needed to kiss him some more, and then she needed him to take his pants off, because she wanted to feel him inside her as soon as humanly possible.

  As their mouths came together again, she fumbled with the button on his jeans. He reached down to help her out and together they pushed his jeans down, both of them clumsy in their impatience.

  She watched him step out of his pants, her vision tunneling as it sank in that Caleb was standing in front of her completely naked except for a pair of black boxer briefs. His body was even more beautiful than she’d imagined in her fantasies. Her gaze tracked up his calves and over the striations in his quads, until it froze on the bulge in his underwear. Sweet Jiminy Christmas.

  His hands captured hers. “Are you okay?”

  She looked up into soft brown eyes, creased with concern, and smiled. “So okay. You have no idea.” How could a man this attractive possibly be this sweet? It defied the laws of nature.

  Penny rose up on her toes and kissed him. His hands grasped her hips and yanked her toward him, his hardness pressing against her stomach as his hands explored and caressed her. He guided her back onto the bed, laying her down with such gentle care she felt like a queen, and kissed his way down her body, removing her lacy thong before settling himself between her thighs.

  She shuddered with pleasure as his stroking fingers and tender mouth lavished her with attention. She’d never felt anything like it. Never felt so desired—so desirable. It wasn’t the first time a man had gone down on her, but it was the first time she
’d actually enjoyed it. The first time it hadn’t seemed like a burden, performed grudgingly out of a sense of obligation. And it was definitely her first time with a man who knew what he was doing. Caleb seemed to sense instinctively what she needed, responding to her every moan and quiver until he had her gasping out his name and breaking into a million pieces beneath him.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, kissing her thigh as she lay there panting and trying to remember how to talk. He kissed her stomach, and a spot between her breasts, then his lips brushed against hers. She opened her eyes and found him gazing at her with a self-satisfied smirk. “So I guess that was okay?”

  “More than okay.” She reached for him, curling her fingers into his hair, because she wasn’t even close to being done with him yet. All of her insecurities had been washed away by that glorious orgasm, and for once in her life she felt uninhibited and in control.

  As his lips caressed hers, she reached between them and slipped her hand inside his underwear. He groaned and kissed her more roughly. She loved the heavy hardness of his body on hers, the weight of him pressing down on her. And she loved the way he shuddered and jerked against her, helpless in her grasp.

  “I want you,” he panted. “Please? Will you let me fuck you?”

  A heady rush flooded her pleasure centers. This beautiful man was not just in her bed, he was actually begging for her. She was in charge, and Caleb was putty in her hands. It turned her on even more, something she wouldn’t have thought possible in her heightened state, but apparently she had reserves yet to be tapped.

  “Condoms are in the bedside table,” she said, releasing him.

  He wrenched himself away and jerked the drawer open. Once he’d found his prize, he yanked down his underwear and climbed back onto the bed.

  Penny tried not to stare at the magnificence that more than lived up to her imaginings. Instead, she snatched the foil packet away from him with a vehemence bordering on the violent and tore it open with her teeth as she reached for him again. He went to his knees before her on the mattress, his muscles trembling as she rolled the condom on.

  When she was done, she pulled him down onto her, basking in the heaviness of his body weighing down on her and the head-to-toe heat of his bare skin touching hers. Their eyes locked as he pressed into her, and the solemnity of his gaze made her heart stutter. She arched her hips against his, biting her lip at the exquisite pressure as she felt herself stretching to accommodate him.

  His breath caught and he jerked against her, the sweet shock drawing a loud gasp out of her.

  “Okay?” he asked, frowning slightly as he struggled to hold himself still.

  She smiled and reached up to stroke her thumb tenderly across his cheekbone. “Better than okay.”

  The intensity of Caleb’s eyes ignited an unexpected flare of emotion in Penny’s chest. The concentrated earnestness. The restrained passion. The hint of uncertainty. It was too much.

  She pulled him into a kiss as she surged against him, craving more of him. He held her tightly and rocked her with careful control, setting a torturous rhythm that drove her mad with desire. She shuddered beneath him as his hardness moved against her softness. His mouth crushed hers, his breath fevered and uneven, and she dragged her fingernails down his back, urging him on, feeling alive and utterly lost at the same time, swept away by the ebb and flow as he carried her to the edge of ecstasy.

  Penny heard herself cry out as the dam inside her burst, and she clung to him as she rode the swell of pleasure. She was still half gone when she felt Caleb’s muscles tense, and his fingers tightened where they clasped the back of her neck. His head dropped to the pillow beside hers, his beard dragging across her cheek as he moaned into her hair.

  She held him as he slumped against her, and they lay together spent and satisfied, chests heaving and sweaty limbs entwined.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Caleb lifted his head and smiled at her. “Wow.”

  She grinned at him, feeling a bubble of pride as she smoothed his hair off his forehead. “Ditto.”

  “Hang on.” He shifted off her, leaving behind a splash of cold air when he got up to dispose of the condom. A few seconds later, he crawled back into the bed and wrapped her up in his arms.

  Penny sighed happily and snuggled her back against his front, still not quite believing she had Caleb in her bed in all his naked glory. Any moment now, surely, she would wake up and realize it had all been a dream. A wonderful, extraordinary, marvelous dream.

  His hand smoothed down her arm. “Comfortable?”

  “Mmmm.” She couldn’t remember ever feeling this secure. The practical part of her brain whispered that she should get up and go to the bathroom so she didn’t get a UTI, but she couldn’t bear to leave his arms just yet. If she got up, he might decide to leave. What if this was their one and only time together, and she never had another chance to lie here with him like this? She wasn’t ready for it to be over yet.

  Just a little longer, she told herself. Then she’d get up.

  “No regrets?” Caleb said, nuzzling into her hair.

  “Not a one.” She rolled over in his arms so she could look at his gorgeous face. “I do have a confession to make: I’ve never done that before.”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Could have fooled me.”

  “Not that.” She laughed. “I’ve done that. I meant invite a guy over just for sex.”

  “Ah.” He rolled onto his back, lifting his arm to make a space for her. She nestled against him and laid her head on his chest as his arm resettled around her shoulders.

  “I wish I could have more,” she said, running her fingertips over his magnificent abs.

  “What? That wasn’t enough for you?”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get enough of you.”

  He laid a hand on her hair. “Penny—”

  “I know.” She waved his concerns off with a flick of her hand. “You’re leaving. I’m not getting attached. I’m just saying. You’re not gone yet. A month is a long time.”

  He tangled their fingers together on his stomach. “Not that long.”

  “We could have a lot of outstanding sex in a month.”

  “Is that so?” His thumb stroked the inside of her palm, sending a shiver of goose bumps over her skin.

  “Sure, why not?”

  He was quiet for a moment. “You don’t think it’ll make it worse?”

  She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest. “What could possibly be worse about getting to have lots more sex?”

  His fingers combed through her hair. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t have anywhere else to be tonight, do you?”

  “No.”

  “How about tomorrow?”

  “Not until work on Monday.”

  “Sounds to me like we’ve got plenty of time.” She smiled coyly. “Unless you’re too tired?”

  He let out an amused breath. “Give me five minutes.”

  “Perfect!” She brushed a kiss across his lips as she pushed herself upright. “I’m going to pee. Don’t go anywhere.”

  * * *

  “Hungry?” Caleb asked when Penny’s stomach let out an ear-splitting growl an hour later.

  They were still recovering from their second go-round, and he was lying with his head on her belly, so the untimely squawk had occurred right into his ear.

  “I guess so.” She was starving, now that she thought about it. She hadn’t eaten since lunch six hours ago, and two rounds of sex burned a lot of calories. According to her fitness tracker app it was actually only seventy-two calories for every fifteen minutes, but it felt like she and Caleb had burned a lot more. Her app also claimed an average load of male ejaculate had five calories, which she would definitely be leaving off today’s food log.

  Penny nearly offered to get up and cook dinner for both of them, until she remembered that was what the old Penny would have done. She’d vowed not to mother the men in her life anymore—n
ot that Caleb was in her life, exactly. He was just passing through. But still. Now was as good a time as any to start building better habits.

  “Do you have eggs?” he asked, propping himself up on one elbow. “I can make us omelets.”

  Her mouth fell open in shock. “You can cook?”

  “I can cook omelets,” he said with a shrug. “Why do you look so surprised?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever known a man who could cook before.”

  “How do they feed themselves?”

  “When I’m not around? I honestly don’t know. Pizza and frozen dinners I think.”

  “Well, I can’t afford that.” He dropped a kiss on her stomach before rolling out of bed and reaching for his underwear. “It was either learn to cook for myself or starve, and starving seemed like even less fun than cooking.” He pulled his underwear up and bent to kiss her on the lips. “I’ll find something to make us,” he said, and padded out of the room.

  Penny went to the bathroom and put on her bathrobe before following him into the kitchen. She found him bent over, digging through the contents of her fridge, and she leaned against the counter to watch, wishing she could take a picture to preserve the moment for eternity. Would that be wrong? Her phone was just in the living room—

  “What is this?” He pulled out a plastic container and shook it at her.

  “Shredded chicken.” She tiptoed to the coffee table and grabbed her phone.

  “Can I use it?”

  “Sure.” Back in the kitchen, she made sure her volume was off and opened the camera app.

  “Do you have any green onions?”

  She focused on his ass and snapped a shot. “Bottom drawer.” She took a few more pictures, just in case the first one was blurry.

  “Wow, look at all this produce. You must eat really well.”

  “I try.” She took a step to the side and switched to live picture mode so she could make a GIF of his abs rippling.

  He straightened and shut the fridge, his arms full of ingredients. “What are you doing?”