“I’m going to check in at work, but the day’s almost over. We need to have a serious talk, Lauren. We really do. You gave me a real fright. I’ll check in at the shop, and then I’ll pick up some Chinese food and come back this evening. We’ll talk then. Okay?” He dropped her hands and backed toward the door.
She yearned for another kiss, but she stood where she was.
“I’d love that,” she said. He winked at her and went out the door. Lauren thought of something and ran, calling after him, “Don’t forget the beer!” She could hear him laughing as he drove out onto the road. She couldn’t shake her uneasy feeling, that feeling of seeing him go away from her. Would he ever return?
He did return, at dusk. The evening chill had fallen, and the first stars were twinkling between the pale blue and the purple velvet of the darkening sky. After a long shower and putting on some clean clothes and make-up, Lauren was still upstairs, stripping the smoky smelling sheets off the bed and collecting all the clothes that would likewise have to be professionally laundered. She went into the little bedroom, where there was very little evidence that there had even been a fire. She made up the bed with fresh sheets. She would sleep there until she could fully restore the rest of the upstairs.
“Lauren?” It was Caleb, calling to her from the kitchen. Her heart soared.
“Here I am,” she answered, skipping down the stairs.
He was at the table, taking white cardboard containers of Chinese food out of a large brown paper bag. “Grab some dishes,” he said. “I’ll open the beer.”
They sat at the enameled table, eating take-out with wooden chopsticks, sipping their beer out of the bottle, and each enjoying the other’s company.
“Why did you walk right by me, last night, at the pub?” asked Lauren.
“I didn’t see you when I walked in,” Caleb answered. “It was crowded, so I just made for the corner of the bar and ordered myself a sandwich. I was just getting some supper before I had to go to the firehouse. When I saw you with Josh LaPlante, I was so angry and jealous I had to get out of there.”
“You know Joan’s nephew?”
“He grew up here. He was a year behind me in high school. Then he went off to college and law school, but he still comes around.”
“You were jealous?”
“Well, yes. He’s single, a good looking guy. A lawyer with a big firm in Boston. I figured I was screwed. I just got out of there.”
“Hmm,” mused Lauren. “When I saw you, I just wanted to touch you. I just wanted to leave that table and be with you.”
They ate in silence for a minute, each thinking about the close call they had experienced. Finally Lauren poked at her shrimp and Chinese vegetables with her chopsticks and made her decision. She might as well bring it out in the open. This was it. There were no holds barred.
“What about Amy?” she asked quietly. “Are you still seeing her?”
Caleb put his chopsticks down. He leaned forward over the table and took Lauren’s hands in his. “After I saw you at the fireworks, I was wiped out. I knew then what the deal was. I knew then I was still in love with you. I just didn’t know how to make it happen. I hung around with Amy for a while. I guess you could say I was in denial. I was trying to hide the truth from myself, because I knew you weren’t staying. I knew you were going back to the city. So I made a real effort with Amy, telling myself this was security, this would keep my heart intact, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. I had to break it off with her. I just told her I wasn’t ready for commitment. And I guess that was the truth. I wasn’t ready for commitment to her. You’re the one I love, Lauren.”
It was as though a great weight had been lifted from Lauren’s shoulders and that dark tunnel that so often haunted her dreams was suddenly lit with bright, warm light. He loves me, she thought, and I love him. The thought flitted through her brain, as it had the first time he embraced her. This is what I want. The memory was overwhelming, and her eyes blurred with sudden tears. She looked down at his strong hands holding hers, and the tears splashed on them.
“Why are you crying?” he asked, frightened.
“I am so happy,” she whispered. “I love you too, Caleb.”
Caleb stood up, not letting go of her hands, and pulled her gently up to face him. “I’m not hungry anymore,” he said huskily. “Not for food.” He wrapped his arms around her and clasped her to his chest. She felt those familiar, hard muscles, those powerful arms holding her. She could face the world with this man. She lifted her face to his and kissed his mouth, felt his tongue probing between her lips, wet and warm.
“Let’s go upstairs,” she whispered in his ear. “Please.”
They climbed the stairs together. Lauren went up first, with Caleb following close behind. He ran his hand down the curve of her hip and over her buttock. The thrill shot through her like electricity. She had almost forgotten she could feel like this. She thought she might never feel this intoxicating exhilaration again.
In the little bedroom upstairs, Lauren turned to face Caleb. The look of desire in his eyes was unmistakable, and her heart leaped at the sight of it. He said nothing, but began to slowly unbutton her chambray work shirt until it fell open, revealing her red lace bra. She heard him utter a little gasp as he cupped each of her breasts in his hands. She tipped her head back and leaned into him. His thumbs and forefingers found her nipples and softly squeezed them through the lace. They grew erect at his touch, and she groaned audibly. Now he reached up and unclipped her luxuriant hair, letting it cascade down her back in a soft, fragrant wave. He took her face in his hands, and, tipping her head back, kissed the hollow of her throat. With his lips, he blazed a trail of kisses down her cleavage, lingering over her taut nipples through the bra. Lauren could feel them straining against their lacy prison. “Please, please,” she whispered. He laughed softly and slipped her open shirt off her shoulders. Then, with one adept motion of his fingers on her back, he unclasped the offending article of clothing and freed her round, firm breasts. Her nipples tingled as he took them, one by one, in his teeth in tender little love bites.
“Ohh,” she breathed. Her hips gyrated against him, instinctively sending him her invitation to placate her passion. In wordless answer, he knelt down, unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, and slipped them down to the floor. She stood before him in the lacy red panties, her body shivering with expectation, her thighs hot with desire.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered. “So beautiful. I can’t get enough of you. I want to explore you until I know every inch of you.” He bent his head to her navel and tickled it with his tongue. The effect was startling. There was a rush of heat through her body. She thought her heart stopped beating for a second. She moaned, hardly able to stand. He hooked his thumbs into her lace panties and peeled them over her curves to her thighs.
“Every inch of you,” he repeated hoarsely, nuzzling the outer softness of her most private self. She could feel his breath, hot and sweet, at the very core of her femaleness. Then his tongue touched her. Lauren felt she might faint from sheer pent up passion. She could feel herself swell with yearning for him. She struggled to let him in closer, but the red lace bound her. She moaned with delicious agonizing anticipation.
“Please,” she gasped. He began to kiss her with his full, warm lips, paying tribute to the silken skin of her soft inner thighs. He gently kissed all around her mound of pleasure, teasing, taunting, titillating until she thought she would burst with the fever of it. Then his tongue probed her secret hidden recess of passion so gently, but oh, so firmly, sending shock waves through her until she shuddered with the suspense of it. She cried out, throwing her head back and gripping his shoulders, pulling him in closer, closer. She strained against the binding lace.
Lauren felt Caleb rise under her hold. Suddenly his arms were around her, lifting her right off the ground. He laid her on the bed and stripped the panties off. She was completely naked. She held up her arms to him. He pulled his shirt off over his
head and stepped out of his jeans. For just a second, he stood, in all his masculine glory. Then, he leaned over her.
Lauren reached out and ran her hand over his belly, feeling the muscles quiver at her touch. With a newfound wantonness she could barely contain, she slid her hand along the length of his silken shaft. Propping herself up on her elbow, she bent toward him as he stood beside the bed, and covered the length of his manhood with hot kisses. Her passion was ignited now, and she used her tongue to transfer her fire to him. He groaned with the sensation, then knelt on the bed beside her. She lay on her back and closed her eyes as he ran his hand up the inside of her thigh and, with the slightest pull, urged them apart. She was beyond resistance. She gave him full access, eager for what was to come. Caleb tenderly caressed her secret sweetness. He exposed the satiny center of her physical hunger, pressing with his fingers, stroking her until she cried out. He explored her deepest recesses. She moaned, thrusting up to meet him. She was throbbing with the suspense of impending satisfaction. Tiny beads of perspiration formed between her breasts. She gripped the sheets and twisted her hips. She cried out, begging him to satisfy that physical excitement surging through all her nerve endings.
Caleb put a hand on each of her hips as he knelt at the altar of her desire. She lifted her legs to receive him. He entered her all at once, burying that manifestation of his passion deep into her sweetest niche. She met his penetration, melting into him.
At first his thrusts were almost frantic, as if he needed to be sure she was really there, really his. She met him just as desperately, heaving herself against him, enfolding him with her legs. Then, suddenly, he slowed. They breathed as one. His thrusts became more tender. She moaned, almost cried, with wonder and delight as the sensation washed over her in a flood of ecstasy.
“Oh, Lauren,” he whispered, “I love you. I want all of you.” Again and again he moved in her, stronger and stronger, until she felt transported by the motion. A mounting heat surrounded her, spreading out over her entire body. Her nipples tingled with anticipation. And then, a wave of such incredible intensity flooded her soul, crashing through her, setting off millions of tiny explosions of pure pleasure as she reached the height of her desire and spun off into the dizzying delight of her climax.
She gasped as she felt Caleb join her in that indescribable place of ecstasy, felt him shudder with the attainment of his desire, filling her with the power of his own sweet pinnacle of passion. They clasped each other, their bodies tightly entwined, keeping that feeling between the two of them for as long as they could.
When their breathing had slowed, when the frenzied flames of their desire had waned to a warm glow, they pulled the crisp sheet over themselves. The moon was just rising over the eastern hills. A silver shimmer slid into the room through the gauzy lace curtains, casting playful shadows on the walls. Lauren snuggled into the curve of Caleb’s arm, resting her cheek against his chest. She could feel those muscles, now at rest. She could hear his heart thumping the rhythm of their love.
“I can’t be away from you any longer, Lauren,” he said. “When that call came through to the firehouse, all I could think of was how much I love you. I can live anywhere, Lauren. I can sell the business. I’d find something to do in the city, as long as I can be with you.”
His honest, almost schoolboy adulation shattered her last reservation.
“I’m not going back to the city,” she said, almost before she knew it herself.
There was a note of urgency in his voice as he asked, “Where are you going, then?”
“I’m not going anywhere, my love,” she whispered. “I’m not going to sell this house. I’ve put too much into it. The fire made me realize how much this place means to me.”
“Then you’re — you’re staying? Here?” He spoke as if he did not believe his ears.
“Yes. I need to be near you, too. I love you, Caleb.” She felt him take a deep breath. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
“We can’t let anything else come between us ever again,” he said. “Are you sure you can be happy here? What will you do?”
“I’ll be happy wherever you are,” she said plainly, and she meant it.
“It gets pretty quiet up here in the winter.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“Not for us, it won’t.” She laughed, pulling herself up on the pillows and planting a big kiss on his mouth. His arms tightened around her, then his hands traveled down her sleek sides, entrapping her waist.
“I can’t take my hands off you,” he said, smiling up into her eyes.
“No one is asking you to,” she replied with a laugh.
He pushed her playfully back onto the pillows and straddled her. “Roll over on your stomach,” he said. “I’m going to give you a massage.”
“Oh, yes,” she exclaimed, doing as he directed. She relaxed into the bed, stretching her arms over her head. Caleb began to knead the muscles in her shoulders. He made broad strokes down her back over her ribcage.
“Will you miss your job?” He talked softly, almost cautiously, as though not to break the spell of their union.
“I don’t think so. These past few weeks, I’ve been so involved in the house, I haven’t thought about much else — except you. I thought about you a lot. I thought, what was I going to do now that I’d lost you?”
“Ah, but you didn’t lose me.” Caleb bent down and placed a kiss between her shoulder blades.
“There must be some way for me to make a living up here,” she mused. “I just can’t go away from you again.”
“If you did, I’d follow.”
He massaged down her long waist, kneading her lower back with his warm, strong hands. A sense of total contentment rippled through Lauren. For the first time in longer than she could recall, she felt at peace. Her thoughts floated into a place between dreaming and waking. Caleb lay down beside her, cradling her in his arms. They drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
COULD THE SUN BE any more brilliant? Could the sky be any bluer? Could the New England fall foliage be any more spectacular? Lauren was in the garden, planting narcissus and daffodil bulbs for next spring. She looked around. Suddenly, she raised her arms in tribute to the elements and took a deep breath of the pristine air. In doing so, she noticed that the sun was just over the western hills and the shadows in the yard had elongated. It must be almost six o’clock, she thought. Caleb had said he was coming by this afternoon. She clapped her hands together to loosen the garden dirt and then wiped them on her jeans. As she made her way across the wide lawn, she saw Caleb’s big white truck pull into the drive. She gave him a lighthearted wave and ran to meet him.
Caleb came through the gate. In his right hand he carried a six-pack of Long Trail Ale. As Lauren reached for him to give him a hug, he wrapped his left arm around her, and picking her right off the ground, he swung her around.
“Oh my!” she exclaimed. “You make me dizzy!”
“I’m happy today,” he said. “Here, open us a beer. Let’s sit on the steps.” He sat down and patted the step beside him.
Lauren plunked down happily. “Okay, I guess cocktail hour has arrived.”
The bottles clinked as he took them out of the pack. He handed one to Lauren and took one himself. It wasn’t until she went to hold it by the neck in order to apply the opener that she noticed a fine, white ribbon around the bottle.
“What’s this?” she asked, holding the bottle up for scrutiny. There was something suspended on the ribbon.
“Hmm, I wonder,” said Caleb. Lauren looked at him. His eyes were dancing, the green lights in them fairly flashing. She had a momentary feeling she could not quite identify, and her stomach leaped. She slipped the ribbon off the bottle and held it up.
It was looped through the gold band of a large diamond solitaire. Lauren’s eyes filled with tears, and she clapped her free hand to her mouth, covering the squeal of delight that escaped involuntarily. Caleb wrapped her in his arms and h
eld her against him.
“Lauren Smith, will you marry me?” he asked.
She answered before he had even finished, “Yes, yes. Yes, I will marry you, Caleb Cochran!” She was laughing and crying at the same time. With shaking hands, she untied the knot in the ribbon and slipped the ring off, holding it in her palm. Caleb picked it out of her hand and, taking her left hand in his, he slipped it on to her third finger.
“Oh, it’s a perfect fit!” she exclaimed.
“Of course,” he laughed, and then he kissed her. “Of course it’s a perfect fit.”
“Caleb, it’s beautiful!” She held her hand out in front of her. The last rays of the sun caught in the stone and flashed like a lighthouse.
“I figured the beer on the porch steps was important to us,” he explained shyly. “Remember, it was the first time we really discovered each other.”
“I remember,” she giggled significantly. Suddenly, she heard something. “What’s that sound?” she said. “Did you hear that?”
Caleb lifted his head to listen. “Nope. Didn’t hear a thing.”
She held up her finger and listened carefully again. He sat there in silence, a smile playing on his lips.
“I do hear something!” Lauren insisted, standing up. “It sounds like, like a squeak or — or some kind of bird or something.”
Caleb got to his feet. “Maybe it’s your engagement present,” he said.
Lauren stared at him. “What are you talking about?” She held up her hand, flashing her ring at him. “What’s this?”
Caleb planted a kiss on the back of her hand, like an old-fashioned knight in shining armor might have done. “That, my lovely, is my desire of you, and you wearing it is your pledge to me. Now for the engagement present. Wait right here on the lawn.”
He strode through the gate and opened the back door of the cab of his pickup. When he turned around, he held a large cardboard box in his arms. Lauren heard scuffling and whining. Caleb set the box down in the grass, and a blond ball of fluff scrabbled over the side and rolled out onto the lawn.
Small Town Girl Page 21