Captive Hearts

by Gina Leuci

  I blushed, and my mood lightened.

  His plans weren’t exactly what I thought he meant. He’d arranged for an evening horseback ride. It was my first time back to Jackson’s farm since the incident with Leland. The day that had changed everything.

  But once we arrived, I never gave it another thought. I was with Caleb, Aaron, and Caroline, and the mood was light and fun. We meandered through the trails with high-powered flashlights to show the way. It meant an evening out of the apartment, out of the town limits. Roger’s security would be pinging again, but if he looked, he’d see we were not alone. Another win on our books.

  Sunday we were almost late for church. We had every intention of going to Rita’s to help with the kids as we usually do on Sunday mornings, but when I came out of the bedroom wearing a sundress, Caleb’s eyes had narrowed.

  “You can’t wear that.”

  I looked down at the simple print then back at him. “Why? I bought it so I would have something nice to wear to church?” But he had crossed the room, and my heart flipped a bit at the desire dancing in his eyes.

  “You can’t wear that to church because when I see you in that dress, I remember taking it off.”

  To which he did again.

  When we finally left the apartment, with only minutes to spare, I wore my white capris that I hadn’t worn since my first day in town.

  As I knelt for prayer, I looked around me. The old church was beautiful in its simplicity. Sun shone through the stained-glass windows onto the parishioners bowing their reverent heads. The cream-colored walls were a contrast to the dark stained pew benches. The organ music filled the building as voices joined together singing Halleluiah. The children sat between Caleb and me, but when he sent a look my way, I felt a connection with him.

  He sat beside me as we ate. As per usual, we sat at a table in the enclosed room connecting the church with The Hall, the glass doors open to allow a breeze to counteract the summer heat. The children sat, one on either side of us and Shawna on Caleb’s lap. Rita and Conrad sat across from us and conversation flowed easy. I was enjoying myself.

  “Quite the game yesterday, Grace.” I looked up to see Barbara join us. “You seemed very focused.”

  I gave a sheepish grin. “Not enough to win, though. The blue team is brutal.”

  “You’ll get them next week,” she reassured.

  I nodded as she left but knew next week wouldn’t happen, at least with me on the team. I caught Caleb’s glance but quickly looked down at my food, hoping he wouldn’t see the wish that there would be another game.

  “Grace, I was wondering if I could ask a favor.” This time I saw Caleb’s sister, Rose, leaning down to talk. “It’s Kerri’s birthday in a couple weeks, and she has been raving about your baking skills. Would you bake her a cake? She’d love it.”

  I cast another quick, nervous glance at Caleb. Shit, what do I do? I silently screamed the question to him. I won’t be here. His answer was a gentle squeeze of my leg under the table. I got the silent message: Fake it until you make it.

  I turned back to his sister. “Of course. I can’t believe your daughter will be sixteen. It’s an exciting age.”

  The meal seemed to continue that way, with people coming up and talking to me. I finally fit in. After three months, when my time here was ending, I realized I had friends. I blinked my eyes rapidly, in an attempt to quell the sudden spark of tears.

  It was the same when we took the kids to the park. Sheila was there with her brood. I snuggled little Christian in my arms and breathed in the scent of baby powder. He was adorable as he cooed and hiccuped. The little bundle didn’t freak me out as much now as when I’d held him at the hospital back in June. Now, a part of me wanted this, a tiny piece of me and Caleb to hold and snuggle; to raise along with his brother and sisters.

  I’d make a good mother. I looked over at Elena chasing Shawna around the playground, and she caught me looking her way and smiled. Even she had come around to having me here. I looked at her father and saw he was watching me. He gave a nod, and I wondered what he was thinking. Had his thoughts gone the way mine had of a little one of our own?

  Could that already be a possibility?

  No. Don’t go down that road again. I gave Christian another cuddle and handed him back to his mom. I pulled my shades back over my eyes as I crossed the playground. Caleb had followed Justin down to the climbing bars. The boy sat underneath the rounded contraption, playing with his cars in the dirt.

  Caleb smiled and pulled me close for a kiss. “You’re beautiful,” he stated and I felt my insides glow. “You’d make a good mother.”

  Damn, it was like he could read my thoughts.

  “And don’t think I can’t tell what you are thinking just because you have those gorgeous brown eyes hidden behind these dark sunglasses.”

  I lifted my chin. “Oh, really? What am I thinking?”

  Caleb glanced over his shoulder. “Justin, stay off the bars, they’re too wet from the rain last night. Play with your cars.” He turned back to me. “That the job of making babies is a lot of fun, too.”

  I punched his arm. “No, that’s what you are thinking.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Why, so it is.” But I saw him frown as he turned quickly. “Justin, I said no.”

  But it was too late. The young boy slipped from the bars and fell, landing with a loud thud on the inside of the structure.

  Caleb was by his side before the child could even begin to wail. I took one look at the boy’s crooked arm and rushed away to throw up in a bush.

  I took the girls home while Caleb spent the rest of the day at the hospital with his son. Rita and Conrad were doting grandparents when the little boy came home with a cast.

  Caleb came straight to my side. “How are you doing?”

  I shrugged. “I’m glad you have a strong stomach, because I was useless out there.”

  He tapped my nose with his finger. “We all have our weaknesses. I’ve seen Marines drop at the sight of a needle. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

  When we got back to the apartment, he took my hand. “Let’s wash this day away.” It wasn’t long before Caleb was stretching an arm outside the shower curtain to open the drawer on the vanity and reached for a packet. It wasn’t until we were toweling off when I spotted the box of condoms inside.

  “Where did this come from?” I knew the newest box was in his nightstand drawer.

  Caleb was busy brushing his teeth. He spit out the toothpaste before he spoke. “That’s the first box. Since we seem to have as much sex in the shower as we do in the bedroom, I moved it in here.”

  “Oh.” I grabbed a comb and pulled it roughly through my hair as the implications became evident. “When we opened the other box, I assumed this one was finished.”

  Caleb dropped the towel from his waist and pulled me to him by grabbing my towel and letting it go so that we were skin to skin. I looked at our reflection in the mirror as he stood against me. My nipples reacted instantly as his hand slid up my belly to cup my breast. It didn’t matter we’d run the water cold a few minutes before, one touch and I was all nerve endings.

  “Not quite,” his voice was husky. “I have to thank Jake for buying the Costco-sized boxes and the first box was still over half full.”

  At one point, I was very thankful, too, but then Caleb didn’t know about Jake’s psycho ex-girlfriend. He didn’t know these condoms had been tampered with.

  “I have an idea,” Caleb said as his callused thumb brushed across the pink peak. I dropped the comb into the sink as I watched in the mirror while his large, tanned hand moved across my paler skin. As his mouth moved to my ear his deep voice turned my insides to mush. “Let’s see if we can finish off both boxes before you have to leave.”

  “There has to be about fifty of them left.” I scoffed, but when he swung me up onto the counter and grabbed another packet, ripping it open with his teeth, I pushed the lingering thoughts away. “Okay, forty-nine.”
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br />   I lay awake long after Caleb slept. He was curled around me, his arm around my waist, his breath steady and strong at my neck.

  Normally, I slept with layers, even in the summer with the air conditioner blasting, I would huddle under the blankets with a night shirt and sleep pants on.

  No longer. This large man was a human furnace wrapped around me. Clothes would only get in the way as we tended to make love going to sleep and again when we woke. We couldn’t get enough of each other. I slowly rubbed at the hairs on his arm as my thoughts raced.

  Maybe I should get rid of what was left of the condoms in the bathroom. If I took some out of the box in the bedroom, maybe he wouldn’t notice? Or should I look at each package and see if I can tell which one’s Layla had poked?

  Or was it like closing the barn door after the horse had escaped? How many of those had we already used? And when was I due for my period? I couldn’t remember, my time here had started to blend together, and I hadn’t been tracking my cycle.

  My other option was to stop having sex in the shower and use only the condoms in the bedroom. Caleb shifted. I pressed his hand more firmly against my belly, scoffing at the idea.

  Right. If things went according to Brent’s plans, I could be leaving sometime in the next week. My time with Caleb was limited. I wasn’t going to deny myself the pleasure of rubbing the bar of soap over his chiseled abs or allowing him to lather shampoo in my hair. How could I resist him when he used his calloused pad of his thumb to bring me to the brink every time before lifting me up to wrap my legs around him so he could find his own release?

  I squeezed my legs together, as memories of us together sent heat pooling in that direction. I should sleep. There hadn’t been a morning yet, where one time hadn’t led to a second before heading to work. Slow and sensual in bed. Fast and furious in the shower.

  But sleep eluded me. Instead, my thoughts, not a rested body, had me hot and ready as my man stretched in the early hours. It was me, turning to him, me stroking his penis, me ripping the packet open and straddling him. Me, wanting to delay the inevitable, when I would wake alone in my own bed in Vermont.

  Later as Caleb reached for the foil packet when he stepped into the hot water of the shower behind me, I ignored the pesky voice in my head and met him groan for groan, thrust for thrust and when we were done, I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer to the God I didn’t know if I believed in, asking him to forgive me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I was starving by the time we stopped at the diner. Instead of my usual fruit and yogurt, everything on the menu appealed to me. I settled on a bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin, a banana, and the tea Caleb insisted I drink. My husband shook his head at my appetite but kept his mouth shut when I sent him a glare warning him not to comment.

  Brent and Greg were both on duty, and I didn’t think anything of it when Brent disappeared into the chief’s office shortly after we arrived. When lunch time approached, Caleb informed Greg that he was taking me out to lunch for a change, instead of eating in the station.

  That was unusual, and my heart began to race. But when he drove us back to our apartment, instead of heading across to the diner, I had to ask, “What are we doing?”

  He gave me a heavy-lidded stare as he put the car into park. “I need you.”

  It was the look of desperation in his eyes that had my hands shaking as we climbed the stairs of the building. I felt the difference in his kiss. His hands were slow and determined as they lifted my shirt over my head. I closed my eyes as he pulled my hair out of its hair tie.

  I helped him out of his clothes, waiting as he sat to unlace his work boots, pulling them off so I could slide his jeans down his legs. He joined me on the bed and lay there looking at me, not touching for what seemed an eternity, and then finally he crushed me to him in a long kiss.

  His mouth moved downward to my neck, my clavicle, my shoulder. His hands clasped mine, pulling them to lay on either side of my head. “Caleb, please, what’s wrong?”

  “Shh. Let me do this. Let me have this time.” His lips moved down my chest, bypassing my breasts where my nipples were puckered, waiting. Instead he moved to my stomach and brushed across my abdomen.

  I sucked in my breath? Did he know? Had someone told him about the condoms? Did he know I wondered if I were already pregnant?

  If he did, he didn’t say. He moved back up, finally taking a nipple into his mouth. My body was his. It was always ready for him, but this slow onslaught in the middle of the day was unexpected. His facial hair scratching along my sensitive skin as I moved myself into position. I spread my legs, wrapping them around him. I lifted my hips, telling him without words I was ready for him. His full erection was pressed against my thigh. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to reach for the drawer in the nightstand. But he hadn’t released my hands.

  His tongue circled my areola, and it hardened to a peak. His mouth captured it, sucking it and my back arched. “Caleb, you’re killing me.”

  I felt his smile against my chest. “Well, I can’t have that.” He released my hands, stretching to reach a condom, but as he did his erection, already full and pulsing slid deliciously close to my center. All I had to do was shift my thigh ever so slightly and it was there, pressed at my entrance.

  Caleb’s breath hitched. He froze. His penis pulsed. I was wet and ready. “Grace.” His voice was tight, and I could tell control was barely on his radar. “You don’t know how much I want to come inside you.”

  He shifted slightly, and I felt his tip push past my pubic hair. “Part of me, Grace, says I can do this. Part of me says, just one thrust then cover up.” I groaned at the thought, and my body reacted on its own, my hips lifted, but he moved away and I heard pain in his voice. “No. We can’t. Not now. Not today.”

  He leaned down and kissed a tear from my face, one I hadn’t realized had escaped. “I could never stop with one thrust with you, sweetheart.” He finally grabbed a packet, and he kept his eyes steady on mine as he used his teeth to open it. “Help me,” he whispered. I took it from him and reached between us to sheath him. With my hands already filled with him, I guided him back.

  “Keep your eyes open,” he ordered and then pushed forward until he couldn’t go any further and he stopped. “Feel me inside you, Grace.”

  “I do.” But it wasn’t just being full of him. He kept his eyes open, and the intimacy was beyond anything I’d ever experienced. My body quivered in response when I watched his eyes dilate. He slid slowly out then back in and I forgot to breathe.

  Then his hand was between us, his finger rubbing me, rotating while he kept his pace slow. “I am ready to come, Grace. It’s not going to take much, but before I do, I want to watch you fall apart first.”

  “Caleb.”

  In. Out. His finger moved between us, making circles while he continued a steady rhythm. In. Out. I couldn’t keep up with what he was doing to me, but it was getting harder to keep my eyes open. I gripped the soft cotton sheets. My heels pressed down on the firm mattress. My hips gyrated. Then when I didn’t think I could see any more stars, Caleb grasped my hips and thrust forward with a cry of his own.

  He collapsed on me, still holding my thighs at his waist. “Never enough,” he mumbled into my neck.

  My legs were shaking when he finally rolled away. He discarded the condom then pulled me to him, wrapping us with the sheet. We lay like that for a while, content to bask in the afterglow. Our lunch hour was heading toward two when he let out a sigh.

  “Brent came to see me this morning.” I stiffened against him, finally understanding our nooner; knowing what was coming next.

  “When?” It came out almost as a cry.

  He rolled me onto my back, to look down on me. He brushed a hair from my face, and while he tried to keep his face impassive, I saw resignation in his eyes.

  “Wednesday.” I was still reeling from our first work hooky to comprehend at first. “Wednesday?” Then it hit me. “That’s only two d
ays away.” And my birthday. I’d hoped to at least have that with Caleb.

  His hand folded over mine. “I know. Day by day, right?” Right. I nodded. That’s what we’d agreed on. “We have to continue on as though nothing has changed.”

  I heard his voice, but a part of me had shut down. Two days. That wasn’t enough time.

  “Talk to me, Grace,” he pleaded. He still leaned on his elbow, looking down at me. I pressed my cheek into his hand. I was going to miss this.

  A nasty part of me wondered if Caleb knew how much I liked sex with him, and that was why he waited until after to tell me. Then I caught myself. No. I saw the naked need in his eyes when he’d brought me home.

  The news had affected him, as well. “I’m going to miss—” I choked. Should I say how much I would miss him? That would give him too much power over me.

  I scoffed. Who was I kidding? This man owned me, body and soul. The feelings I had went beyond a forced marriage, went beyond the gold band on my finger. It even went far beyond the amazing sex we shared. Somewhere along the line, I’d discovered Caleb Wellington was a man of honor. A man I respected. He had a gentle and warm heart. He was a protector of those he loved.

  He’d brought me to Wellington under false pretenses. He’d kept me from leaving under strict orders. Despite everything we’d been through, in the end, he had captured my heart.

  “Don’t cry,” he begged, but I couldn’t stop the tears from escaping.

  He brushed the tear with a padded thumb, and I once again turned my cheek into his palm. This time, I thrust my tongue out, taking the salty teardrop into my mouth. I heard Caleb’s breath hitch.

  He gave a long sigh. “We need to go back to work at some point.”

  “Always the voice of reason.” I sighed. “I’d rather hide out here.”

  His kiss was long, and I thought for sure he was going to agree, but he eventually pulled back. “Come. There are things I need to do to put things in motion.”

  For Wednesday. For me to leave. He didn’t say the words exactly, but it hung in the air as we dressed and headed back to reality.