Captive Hearts

by Gina Leuci

  He took our plates and put them on the counter then turned to me where I stood in the center of the living room. “Do I want to know what you are thinking about so intently?”

  I shook my head. There was no way I could talk about this with him. With anyone. I was too confused to sort it out in my own brain, never mind actually discussing it. I couldn’t think about it now, so I did what comes naturally, I picked a fight.

  “Why didn’t you punch the pompous ass in the face? I was ready and willing, but you wouldn’t let me get by.”

  Caleb’s eyebrows lifted, and I waited for him to get mad. He didn’t say a word, which, as usual, pissed me off more. I stood still in the quiet apartment. Part of me was ready to pace the room with frustration, but I actually had too many contradicting thoughts happening in my head that I was rooted to my spot. So I let my mouth do the running.

  “You could have laid him out flat. Both Roger and his son. Hope, too, for all I care. What the hell is wrong with that family? They all need a good thrashing, and I was more than happy to dish it out if you hadn’t stopped me.”

  “You know why I stopped you.” He took a predatory step to me and I couldn’t judge his mood but I was doing a nice job working myself up.

  “Who do you think you are, interfering all the damn time? I can take care of myself.”

  “I watched you as we came home. Your mind is whirring a mile a minute, and you don’t like to think about your feelings, do you?” He took another step toward me, and my heart began to race in my chest. He was getting too close. I need space. I needed to vent. I turned to my left and headed around the loveseat, doing my best not to look at him but knowing he continued to take careful, deliberate steps in my direction.

  “Feelings?” I rambled. “Aren’t they obvious? I’m royally pissed. At Roger for being completely unreasonable. And at you for not letting me fight my own battles.” I whipped around to find he was only a step away.

  “You didn’t know about Jake’s feelings for you, did you?” I quickly looked away, stepping back as he continued. My heart did a rapid pitter-patter in my chest. He had to stop talking. He had to stop being so reasonable. “But I also did not imagine what happened between us this weekend, either.”

  I shifted as the back of my legs met the edge of the chair. I still couldn’t look up. His words were too close to the bulls eye. I bolted again, this time heading to turn on a lamp, keeping myself busy and away from Caleb, but he followed me, like a panther hunting his prey.

  “I’ve come to know a lot about you, Grace, and I know you get extra feisty when you don’t want to talk about something.”

  I gulped. “Then maybe you should take the hint.” Despite the words, there was no heat behind it. It sounded more like a whine.

  “I’m not afraid, Grace.” Caleb now stood toe to toe, and I closed my eyes when his hand gently tipped my chin up. “I care for you.”

  My heart raced double time as I felt the twinge of tears forming at the huskiness of his words. Don’t go there. Please don’t go there. Jake just declared his love. I’m too confused to think.

  “And I think you care for me, as well, don’t you?” Damn it all to hell. He wouldn’t stop talking. “Look at me, sweetheart.”

  I licked my lips, trying to salvage some moisture in my dry mouth. I slowly lifted my lids, and the first thing I saw was Caleb’s smile. It was like a sucker punch to the heart, opening it to the feelings I was trying to deny.

  “Why can’t you be the type to argue back?” I whispered, and I spotted the flash of humor in his blue eyes.

  “Talk to me, Grace.”

  I licked my lips again and his eyes darkened with heat and every fiber of my body responded in kind. I shook my head that I wouldn’t say anything, but the words I didn’t know were there escaped. “What we have scares me. I am undeniably attracted to you.”

  He waited, and I continued to stare in his blue eyes and at his mouth, only inches away from mine, as he continued to hold my face up to him. If I didn’t breathe, I would start to cry and I didn’t want to cry again in front of Caleb. “I don’t want to think about what this all means. Us. Being together. I can’t think future, because I still want to go home.” The tears I tried to hold back escaped. “All I do know is I want to be here with you, and I can’t think beyond one day at a time.”

  “Then let’s do one day at a time. Together.” Caleb brushed a droplet away with his thumb, and I leaned my face into his palm. “I made a promise to you, and the more I get to know you, the more I want to make it come true, no matter what the consequences.”

  When his lips pressed against mine, I knew he was a man of his word. I felt his longing, but I also knew he held back, waiting for me to respond. Waiting for me to make a decision.

  It was easy. While I was here in Wellington, there was no other person I wanted to be with. Caleb got me. He understood me on another level that no one else did. Maybe Jake did, but it had taken years of friendship to understand. I think Caleb had figured me out within days of knowing me.

  I lifted up on my toes, deepening the kiss. We emerged from the bedroom several hours later to pick at the food we’d brought back from the fellowship meal.

  As I pushed my nearly empty plate aside, I glanced over at Caleb, wearing nothing more than a pair of gym shorts he’d grabbed before leaving the bedroom while I wore a tee that barely covered my panties. He was watching me as I polished off the brownie his mom had put onto the plate.

  At his intent stare, I asked, “What?”

  “You amaze me.” He shook his head. “Some days you forget to eat and others it is like you have been starving in a desert for weeks.”

  I giggled. “Can you blame me right now? I mean, a week ago you were saying you would take it slow with me, and now you can’t keep your hands off. I’m famished here.”

  Caleb cocked his head to the side. “So you’re saying I don’t keep my promises?”

  I narrowed my eyes, trying to assess where this was going. “No,” I hedged, choosing my words wisely. “Maybe you’re not sure what the definition of slow is.”

  He stood and moved to stand before me and I looked up from my chair. “Well, if we are going to quibble.”

  “Quibble?” I laughed.

  “Yes, quibble.” He brushed brownie pieces from my shirt then took my hands to have me stand. “Then maybe you don’t know how to listen.”

  “My ears are perfectly fine.” I grinned at him.

  “Ah, yes, but when I told you to stay put earlier, you jumped back into the fight.”

  “Oh, that,” I admitted. “Nope, I heard you fine.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “So you admit you don’t like to take orders.”

  “Guilty.”

  “Then how about we try an experiment. I will attempt to take things slow with you, and you will have to follow directions.” Caleb followed his suggestion with a long, deep kiss which had me rocking up on my toes and sending my brain on hiatus. If he continued to do this, I would agree to anything.

  “Sure,” I murmured against his lips. “We can try. Can’t make promises.”

  “Let’s start now,” his hand squeezed my ass and pulled me against him. “In the bedroom.”

  “Ooh. Doesn’t that defeat the experiment?” I already felt lost when he walked away from me, leaving me to follow in his wake.

  He tossed the blanket off the already disheveled bed as he spoke. “Not in the least. All I promised was to take things slow with you. And I will. Right now. You have the hard part, dear. You need to follow my orders.”

  I groaned as I saw the intent in his eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

  He pointed to my shirt. “Take your shirt off then lie face down on the bed.”

  What was he up to? I had no idea what he had in mind, but after our afternoon in bed together, I was game for another round. I tossed the tee on the floor then scrambled across the bed to lie with my cheek on the pillow. Caleb straddled me and leaned over to push my hair away f
rom my neck. “Now, I am going to kiss every inch of your body and your job is to lie still.”

  That sounded easy enough and fun. “Okay.”

  I closed my eyes, and he leaned down to kiss the base of my skull then rained tiny kisses along the edge of my hairline. By the time he’d reached under my ear, my body was already sensitive. He worked down my arm to my fingers then sucked each digit into his mouth. I groaned. Then he moved back up my arm across my shoulder blades and down to work his magic on the other side.

  The air conditioner hummed in the background, sending its cool air over my body, heated by Caleb’s touch. The combination had my skin tingling, and I realized this experiment wasn’t exactly fun. No, it was becoming a slow torture of sensation and need. I was learning something about myself though. I didn’t want slow. I wanted to jump in, with everything I had. I knew what Caleb had to offer, and I was ready. “Okay, you’ve made your point. You know how to take it slow.” I wanted to touch him, and I turned to tell him so, but he placed a hand in the center of my back.

  “Uh, uh. I didn’t tell you to move, and I’m not done.”

  I had no choice, with his body pinning me down, to lie complacent as his mouth continued down my spine, but Caleb’s hands now ran lightly, up and down, swirling around, making random patterns and my entire back was alive with nerve endings.

  What he was doing to me was incredibly erotic and almost hypnotic. I was relaxing, but at the same time my entire body was alive. It wasn’t as though I wasn’t enjoying this, I was, but being told not to move made me want to move all the more.

  His hand moved between my legs to cup me. I felt the warmth of his palm, and I pressed down against it while he continued to work his mouth against my buttocks. When he pushed my panties aside to slide two fingers inside me, I bucked.

  I felt his smile against my skin as he gave an amused chuckle. “Stay still.”

  “I can’t. I want more.” I know I begged, but I didn’t care. I had no idea how long he had been working his way down my body, bringing it to life, but what his fingers did to me now, I was near the edge of no return.

  I panted as I opened my legs for him, giving him permission for better access. Instead, he left me hanging. Wanting.

  His fingers now moved across my thighs as his mouth continue its path downward.

  “Caleb?” I twisted. I needed to see. Needed to complete what he’d started.

  “If you turn around now, we have to start from the beginning,” he stated. “I believe I am keeping my part of the bargain.”

  I pouted as I grabbed a fistful of sheet and pushed my face into the bed to let out an exasperated scream. “You’re not playing fair. I concede.”

  He ran his tongue down the arch of my foot, and I turned my face into the pillow. “I love when you make that little ‘meep’ sound when you try to stop from making noise.” How could his voice be so controlled when I was about to lose my mind? It was so unfair. “Now you can turn over,”

  Finally. I did as instructed, but then I went to sit up, to pull him to me from where he now stood at the edge of the bed he shook his head, denying me my need to touch him. Dear God in Heaven the man was blessed with beauty. From his chiseled jaw, a chest that was expertly carved, to his erection standing tall and firm.

  My mouth went dry. “Now, Caleb. Please.”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t kissed you all over yet. You need to be patient so lay back down.”

  I flung my hands over my head, whimpering. “I’m not good with patience. I like instant gratification.”

  He lifted my left leg, pressing his lips to the side of my foot. “Too bad. You’re the one who said I didn’t know the definition of slow. You cast the challenge.”

  I flopped back against the pillow and moaned as he continued his ever so long onslaught on my traitorous body. Up one leg until he reached the apex between, still covered by a scrap of fabric. After what he’d done with his fingers earlier, I was ready for more. Instead, he placed one hot, open-mouthed kiss there before moving on to my other leg.

  I let out a frustrated groan, and I felt his smile against my thigh. Animal. Like he’d done on my back, his fingers also moved along my body, keeping every inch of me waiting in anticipation. My nipples were puckered and waiting when he finally took one into his mouth. A kiss, then a suck, then a kiss again before moving to its twin. My body was so feverish by now that where he didn’t touch me I felt almost chilled.

  When he finally made it to my lips, I pressed back hard, letting him know I was completely frustrated with want and need. He pulled back too soon then flopped onto his back beside me. “Now, Miss Patience, it’s your turn to do me.”

  I rolled to one side to stare at him. Did he seriously think I could take that amount of time to kiss him as completely? Like hell.

  “Fine.” I huffed. “Close your eyes.”

  With a satisfied grin plastered on his face, Caleb did as he was told. I stood long enough to push my panties aside, then slid his shorts down. “Keep them closed.” I ordered.

  I ripped open a packet and slid the condom over his penis. Caleb’s eyes opened as I swung my leg over to straddle him and promptly sheathed him. He grabbed me at the hips and laughed out loud as he bucked up. “You didn’t follow orders again.”

  I arched back and pushed my hair away from my face. “On the contrary, you said it was my turn to do you. This is me doing you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I groaned when the alarm went off Monday morning. I hadn’t slept much since Friday night, courtesy of one insatiable and delectable man and a huge supply of condoms.

  “Rise and shine, Grace.”

  I groaned again, pulling the covers over my head. “I hate mornings,” I mumbled. “How can you be so chipper this early without coffee?”

  Caleb rolled to his side and pulled the blankets to join me underneath. “You don’t need coffee.” His husky voice gave me fair warning a moment before his hand skimmed across my belly, and his knee pushed my leg aside. “What you need is to get your blood flowing.”

  I stretched, allowing my body to slide against his. Skin to skin, and every nerve ending snapped awake. I pressed my lips against his warm, inviting chest as his calloused fingers set my nipples erect and waiting. “Is that so? I suppose I could be tempted.”

  “Mmm. Good.” He captured my lips, and I moved into his embrace, wanting, needing more of him, as though we hadn’t spent the last two days exploring every inch of each other. “So why don’t you get dressed, and we’ll go for a run.”

  “Uh, huh.” Then his words sunk in. “Wait? What?”

  Caleb gave a husky laugh, and my insides quivered. “You agreed we should get our blood flowing to start the day. A five mile run will do that.”

  I flopped back onto the bed and stared up at him, not sure if he was serious. “I thought you meant…” He lifted his eyebrows, waiting for me to say the words. “Hell, no, Caleb. I hate mornings, but I hate running more. You’re on your own.”

  Then he cast the line. “Afraid you can’t keep up?”

  I pushed up on my elbows at the challenge and saw that his eyes drifted downward to where my breasts jutted out. Let him look. He’d had his opportunity this morning, and he decided on another form of physical exercise. “Keep up? With you, old man? Bring it.”

  “Old man?” His hand moved toward my protruding nipple that had caught his attention, but I swatted it away.

  “Sure, aren’t you, like, forty?” I deliberately added ten years to his age.

  He snorted. “You’ll pay for that. Come on, slow-poke.”

  It was only after we hit the pavement that I found out Caleb had set the alarm for five, and I remembered again why I hated the man when I first arrived. Sadist.

  I was panting when we finished our run, which was far short of five miles. I know he had slowed his pace for me, but when we reached the apartment building again, I stopped, my hands to my knees as I stared at the staircase. “Why can’t there be elevat
ors in this place?”

  He laughed as he ran in place, waiting for me to catch my breath. “Need me to carry you?”

  I shook my head, envisioning him throwing me over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold, as he sprinted up the stairs. While part of me knew it would be sexy as hell, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Instead, I bolted up the stairs with him hot on my heels.

  “I call shower first,” I ordered as we entered our apartment, and I pulled my sweaty shirt over my head and dropped it on the living room floor. My bra, shorts, and panties left a trail to the bathroom where I finally turned to see Caleb standing with his back to the door, watching every move I made.

  I closed the door with a single thought: would he choose to pick up the clothes, or join me?

  The water was steaming hot when he finally stepped in behind me, pressing his front against my back as he leaned down to press a hot kiss to my neck as his hands circled around me, to press me back against him. “Do you know what you do to me?” He ground the words out in a husky voice. “Your saucy smile; that engaging laugh? I’m a goner every time.”

  I froze under the pelting water. What was he doing? Sure, he’d admitted he wanted me, but that was just physical. These words were more—I felt a tightening in my gut—emotional. I had to stop him.

  I twisted in his arms to face him, the water sloshing over us, the steam nothing compared to the heat between us. I put fingers to his mouth, silently asking him to stop talking. He kissed the pads of my fingers before sucking one digit into his mouth. I attempted to curb the desire spiraling through my body but Caleb wasn’t done talking. “I want you, Grace. Every moment of every day. I can’t get enough of you.”

  Shit, shit, shit. Was it wrong of me to want him this much, too? Even if I knew I couldn’t let my heart get involved? I was going home. Had to go home. This was only a day-by-day affair. Sex with Caleb? Hell yeah. But what he was saying?