He lifted the muzzle away from my neck and took a step back. “Well for that part, Wolfe, I can’t blame you, we try to stay outta there too, kinda bad for business. Where did you come by your information?”
“That is for me to know and for you never to find out.”
He walked around the table. “You remind me of myself when I was young.”
I couldn’t imagine how, but I said nothing.
“That is exactly how I would have played it.”
“It isn’t,” I said softly.
He laughed. “You are right.”
Then it was suddenly over. He had played his hand and I had dealt him mine.
Don Carlo Bambino jerked his head and the unblinking robot behind him immediately went to open the door. I stood and walked out.
The night sky was full of stars, and though I'd never been religious I couldn't help think that maybe the stars were an omen. You know like when the shepherds were guided by the stars in the sky.
Well, maybe they were there tonight for me.
54
Caleb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwAMFcc2f8
“It’s history repeating itself again, isn’t it? All your wealth is all gone because of me. Without me in the picture you’d have done it differently, wouldn’t you?” she murmured after I told her everything that had happened.
I walked up to her and stood in front of her. “You think I care about what I lost? I don’t have anything if I don’t have you, Willow. Yes, I would have done it a different way. Might not have given it all up on a plate to that snake if you weren’t in the picture, but I couldn’t live with creating something that would hurt ordinary people, Willow. I got tricked once into creating such a scheme when I was young and foolish, and I won’t allow anyone to use me like that again.”
She looked at me with enormous eyes and I reached and touched the soft curve of her cheek.
“The choice to deliberately make those risky bets and lose everything was easy for me. Then it was even easier for me to be rude to my clients so they would be so furious they would report me. I needed the authorities to revoke my license for sheer incompetence. Without my license, I was useless to them. Not even worth the price of a bullet. But I also knew it would not end there. It never does when these bloodsuckers have something on you. The only way I would be left alone by the Don was to turn the tables on him.”
“What you did, Caleb, was incredibly dangerous. What will you do now?” she whispered.
“Ah, there is one other card I didn’t reveal to the Don. I have a secret stash, but we won’t dip into that yet. We’ll save it for our kids’ college fund. Now we’ll play the part of paupers for a little while. We’ll live in a rented apartment, you’ll have your shop, I’ll get a job, maybe we’ll have a baby or two. In a few years, when the coast is clear, I’ll work my magic with numbers again and we’ll buy something even better than this house.”
She touched my face. “You were always good at planning long term.”
“Always.”
She began to take her clothes off. Slowly. I stood back so I could watch her in all her glory.
This was my Willow. “Everything I wished and hoped for the last twelve years has just come true, and I feel as if I’m in a dream. I still can’t truly believe you’re mine.”
“I’m yours, Caleb. I’m yours even when my mind had forgotten you. I couldn’t go with any other man because I was always waiting for you.”
I watched that intoxicatingly, excruciatingly slow striptease, until she was dressed in nothing more than her underwear. Her full breasts were completely exposed to me. It was not the first time I was seeing them, there was now a new meaning to everything.
I no longer felt like the stranger who was forever unable to convey the depth of his love for her. Finally, she understood how much I cherished her. More than I would have ever been able to explain.
Suddenly, she stopped. Some part of her must be still too vulnerable. Her eyes lowered as her hands went over her breasts to shield them from my hungry eyes.
I moved forward and lifted her hands away. Then I licked her nipples. They were hard as pebbles. “I love you, Willow.”
Slowly, I pulled her panties down her legs. They pooled around her feet. Then I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the shower. I put her down on the ground and switched on the shower and waited for it to become the right temperature.
She moved and began to undress me. Her fingers fumbling, hasty. When we were both naked, I scooped her up and carried her into the cascade.
I felt its warm blast run down my skin like a massage. I didn’t move, and remained still so that the water could soothe the tension and aches that had accumulated in our muscles from the last twelve years. Slowly, magically, it chased away my splitting headache. I now had every reason in the world to relax. She stirred in my arms.
Heat whipped up like a storm inside my chest. I needed to taste her. Not, taste, eat a full meal. I was ravenous. I put her down on the ground.
I held her face in my hands as our tongues danced wildly against the other’s, coaxing, stroking, teasing, and sucking.
It was a long while before we came up for air. She staggered slightly and I punctuated the kiss with a soft nip on her bottom lip. She melted even further against me.
“I love you,” she cried and threw her arms around my neck. “Caleb, I fucking love you with all my heart. I know that I’ll never be able to fathom even a fraction of the pain you’ve had to endure over the last twelve years, but I swear to you ... I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I swear it.”
“You can start by letting me taste you again,” I said.
She widened her legs and I ate her out. It was like being in heaven. When she came I held her tight. When I rose she clung to me. She buried her face in my neck and whispered, “I’m going to protect you. From now on, I’m going to be the one protecting you. No one will dare hurt you on my watch. I swear it. I fucking swear it.”
It was endearing. Truly it was. The thought of little Willow protecting me. I tried not to smile as I pulled her away so that I could see her face, I wrapped my arms around her waist and asked her the question that I knew would embarrass her.
“Did I hear you say the rest of your life?” I asked. “Did you just propose to me?” I thought she would immediately try to correct her words, but instead she held me even more tightly to her.
“I don’t need to propose ... you’re mine. You’ve always been mine and mine only.”
“You’re stealing all my lines,” I groaned. This level of joy had to be unreal. Every nerve in my body was so tight with excitement and love I felt as if I would explode. I just crushed her soft wet body against mine.
“My darling, I’m not going to short change you. You’re going to get everything the other girls get. You’ll have an official proposal and you’ll have a big white wedding. Everybody who knows you will be there and you will be the belle of the ball. Afterwards, you’ll be whisked off to a dream honeymoon,” I said. For some reason, I got carried away with my own words and found myself going down on one knee.
She laughed. Water poured off her. She looked so beautiful I wanted to weep.
“Are you going to propose without a ring?” she asked.
Shit! I jumped to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”
“No need,” she grabbed my wrist. “There are things I want to do to you first.”
“It’ll only take a—”
“Later,” she breathed softly. “We have forever, remember?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely, we have forever.” I lifted her up, and spun her around as water cascaded on us. She squealed and screamed for me to put her down.
“You’ve made all my dreams come true,” I said. “Do you realize that?”
She leaned down to kiss me. “And you’ve done even more than that for me.”
I let her slide down my body, as my eyes bored into hers. “I still want to make an offici
al request. You need a good story to tell when you’re asked about it.”
Her smile made my heartbeat go even wilder. “What do you have in mind?”
Once again, I dropped down to one knee. “Willow Rayne, will you marry me?”
“Yes, I will marry you, Caleb Daniel Wolfe.”
My smile widened. “You remember my middle name?”
“I’ve remembered a lot of things.”
I placed a kiss on her belly. She giggled. Then I began to trace the kisses down, and her hands went to my head. “Caleb,” she called, “not again.” But it was too late. My lips were already over her soaked sex. A gasp tore out of her lips.
“Caleb,” she breathed, and twisted above me.
“Let’s give you a proposal story that you won’t ever get tired of telling.”
‘Caleb!” she squealed, and I dug my tongue into her sweet, sweet pussy.
By the time I was done with her, the pads of her fingers were like prunes and she had screamed yes a hundred times.
Epilogue 1
Willow
One Month Later
We had just moved into our modest apartment and I was standing on a chair rearranging the topmost shelf in Caleb’s closet when I felt the box. I knew without being told it was private. It contained secrets. I stopped and considered whether to take a look at it, or to just continue with my chores. But that morning I found out I was pregnant and I knew I didn’t find the box by accident. I was meant to find it today.
It was a simple cardboard box.
I brought it down and sitting on the chair, I opened the lid.
Inside were photographs and photocopies of documents. As I began to sift through them my jaw dropped. For a little while I stared out of the window. My love for Caleb grew every day. Stronger and stronger. Every night, I got onto my knees before bed and thanked God. My lot was bountiful, indescribably beautiful.
I know it was supposed to be a horrible thing, us becoming poor, and moving into this small apartment, but I loved it. Of course, I would love the big house that Caleb promised to build for us, but for now I adored being so cozy here. Just him and me holed up in our own little world. It was sheer heaven. Soon it would be autumn and I could already see Caleb and me curled up on the couch as snug as two bunnies in a hammock as the days became shorter and shorter.
As I looked around the small bedroom, I heard the door close. I knew without him calling out to me it was him. He was back. The apartment always felt empty until he came into it. His energy reached out and touched me.
I smiled as I imagined him throwing his keys into the little ceramic dish my mother gave us and heading into the living room. I didn’t want him to come looking for me so I quickly headed over to my purse and retrieved the test result. Burying it among the pile of photos and documents inside the box, I went to the kitchen. The television was on in our little living room, but from the smell of spices and the clang of ceramic, I knew he wasn’t in the living room.
I stood at the doorway of the kitchen. Mr. Wolfe was looking delicious in a dark T-shirt and jeans.
“You’re back,” I said, placing the box on the island counter.
He turned around, his raven hair, slightly tousled by the wind and falling to the side of his face. A slight stubble dusted his jaw. I loved the clean-cut version of him, but I really loved this rugged version. Maybe because of the way it felt on the inside of my thighs.
“Yeah. We ran out of ham,” he replied, looking at the box.
It was precisely at that moment when I noticed the brown bag of baguettes by the corner. I gasped softly, and completely forgetting my mission, I dove for the bag. I broke a piece off the freshly baked treat and put it into my mouth.
“Hmm,” I moaned, closing my eyes. “This is just what I needed.”
“You’re just trying to get me all hot and bothered, aren’t you?”
I opened my eyes and saw him watching me hungrily.
“And you’re just trying to distract me from the scandalous contents of this box, aren’t you?”
He smiled.
“I can’t believe it,” I said. “I can’t believe you. You stalked me during the years you were in prison!”
“No,” he corrected calmly. “I kept my eyes on you. I needed to know you were okay at all times.”
“Isn’t that what all stalkers say?” I tossed another piece of bread into my mouth, and opened the box. “I mean, look at all these pictures. Me at a play in high school, me waiting for the bus, me in a wet T-shirt for God’s sake ... me at the grocery store with Mom. Hmm … I was frowning so much here, I wonder why.”
I peered closely at the picture, spotted the soda cup in my hand, and remembered why.
“Ah! Mom refused to get me the Reese’s puffs cereal I wanted. She said we already had enough cereal in the house. Ooh, and here’s one of Sandra! God, she was so young, and her hair has streaks of pink. Even I can’t remember that.”
I heard his low laugh, and raised my head to see him laughing at me.
“Caleb! This is unhealthy. No wonder you knew exactly where to find me the moment you got out.”
He took the corn chowder he was making off the burner, and brought it to the counter along with a coaster. After setting it down, he took a spoonful of the creamy liquid, blew on it to cool it down, and tasted it. When he noticed my look of disappointment, he chuckled.
“Here.” He lifted another spoonful out of the pan, blew on it, then fed it to me.
I licked my lips at the delicious taste, and savored the creamy corn flavor. “I love your corn chowder.” The way he was watching me made my core begin to tighten with desire.
He leaned towards me, forgetting the hot pot. It burned him.
“Oww,” he complained.
I couldn’t hold back my amusement.
“My pain is funny to you?” he asked, pushing the pot out of the way. He rounded the counter, and I immediately ran to get away from him, but I might as well not have bothered in that cramped space. He caught me easily and by the waist. In no time I was plopped down on the counter, with him between my legs.
I leaned up and kissed him, the lingering taste of the chowder mixing erotically with the aphrodisiac that he was. Already, I was out of breath. When he pulled away from me I could see that his eyes too were glazed with burning passion.
There was nothing I wanted more than to be fucked senseless by him on that counter, but there was something else I had to reveal to him first. I took a moment to think about how I was going to do that as he started working on the clasp of my bra. Only one way came to mind.
I reached out to grab the box, but he wouldn’t let me out of his arms.
He lifted up my white T-shirt and buried his head underneath it. My bra came lose. Damn him. His mouth closed around my nipple and I lost myself.
“We’re not done,” I managed to rasp out.
He sucked hard on the engorged peaks, and it instantly made me wet. My toes curled at the sensation, but I didn’t want this moment to pass. Before I completely lost my senses, I reached desperately for the box which almost displaced his greedy mouth.
The battle that ensued as our different intentions fought for domination made me laugh.
Finally, the box’s contents spilled out and the countless photos of me dropped out. “Hey? I missed this. How the hell did you get this?” I said, picking up a photo of my prom night.
“I hung this photo above my bunk for a very, very long time,” he said with feeling.
I could tell. It was creased and lightly stained and folded through. I put on a stern face. “Are these stains … cum?”
“They sure are, ma’am,” he joked.
“Oh, you are bad,” I said shaking my head, but my heart started to hurt. Every time I thought of him in prison and the terrible experiences he’d had to endure, I always felt sad and guilty. The great irony was the world thought he was a sinner, but truth was he was a saint. A true saint.
Suddenly, he spotted the test result I
’d slipped in. “What the hell is that?”
I feigned surprise. “Yeah, what the hell is that?”
Impatiently, he pulled the plastic out of my hand … and tossed it away. Then he swept the photos and the box out of the way, some even fell to the floor.
“Caleb!”
He slanted his head and overwhelmed me with a kiss. It was hard and fast. I knew him well enough to tell nothing was going to break through his urgency. My news would have to wait.
I let go and wrapped my legs around him. My shirt came off and so did my underwear. I was quickly splayed out on top of the kitchen counter and I reveled in it.
Caleb went down on me. It was his magical show that somehow seemed to get better and better as time passed. Every time he made me lose my mind with his mouth, I was left incoherent, spent and absolutely certain that it was the best head he’d ever given to me, but then the next time happened and I was left even more stunned. In the time we’d been together, he’d gotten to know my body even more and he used every bit of that knowledge to his advantage.
In less than a minute, he had me squirming and writhing. “Oh!” I gasped as I drove my hips into his expert mouth, chasing my release like a crazed woman.
When I eventually exploded into his mouth, it was with a scream.
Before I could even recover he set his cock free. With his hands underneath my thighs he jerked me roughly to the edge, settled the head of his cock at my entrance, and plunged into me.
Jesus!
“Ahhhhh.” It was beyond satisfying to have him so tightly sheathed inside me. When he wasn’t inside of me, I felt the emptiness and the ache of his absence. I threw my head back and cupped my breasts in my hands. I massaged the heavy tender mounds.
Of course, that caught his attention.
He pushed my hands aside and began to mold my breasts, teasing and pinching the hardened nipples at just the right intervals. The brief shot of pain spurred my desire on even more. When he began to move out of me I quickly lifted my hips to meet his thrusts.
Saint & Sinner: A Second Chance Romance Page 23