Intimate (29 page)

She clawed at
his hair and tried to fight his imprisoning grip. When he started to suck hard
on her clit, she tossed her head uncontrollably, banging it a few times against
the wall.

“Fuck,” she
muttered incongruously, as the pain registered through her haze of desire.

Caleb must have
recognized her tone and what caused it because he chuckled warmly against her
aroused flesh.

“Fuck,” she said
again, this time not from the pain. She tried to push his face against her with
more pressure. “More, please. I need more.”

When she felt
his teeth graze her lightly, she came in a powerful rush.

She felt Caleb’s
tongue again, gently now as her orgasm eased. The knowledge that he was tasting
her—that he loved to taste her—produced a different kind of delight, this one
centered at her heart.

She pulled at
his shoulders, trying to get him to his feet. “Please, Caleb. Now I want
you
inside me.”

He stood up and
quickly unfastened his pants. His eyes were molten silver.

Marissa had
never tried to live out a sexual fantasy herself, but she imagined it must be a
pretty heady feeling.

Trying to give
him some encouragement, she murmured, “Take me. I want you to take me hard
against the wall.” She stroked his hot erection, which he’d just freed from his
pants.

He made a
throaty burst of noise and pushed her back against the wall with strong pressure.
“Yeah? You want this?”

“Oh, yeah. I
want you just like this.”

He didn’t waste
any more time. He parted her legs and angled her hips. Bent his knees enough to
position himself at her entrance. Then he pushed into her, the sensation full
and strange in this unusual position.

They both
groaned, and Caleb grabbed her by the ass, unable to stand straight but not
appearing to mind.

“God,” she
panted, “God, yes.” She pressed her back and shoulders flush against the wall
and tried to thrust out her hips to make her body more accessible.

He pulled back
and pushed into her again, pushing her up with the force of his thrust.

Her cry in
response was of both pleasure and discomfort, as her body forcibly submitted to
his motion. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to use it for
leverage to raise her body high enough to make the thrusts more natural.

Caleb’s eyes
had been crawling over her body possessively, but as she shifted against him,
he asked, “Okay?”

“Yeah,” she
assured him, not wanting her slight awkwardness to get in the way of his
pleasure. She squirmed. “I want to feel more of you.”

He let out a pleased
grunt and hooked one of her legs over his elbow, lifting it off the floor and
opening her body to him more completely. With this shift in position, the angle
of his penetration changed, and Marissa sucked in a harsh breath at the
intensifying sensations as he continued to pump into her with smaller, faster
thrusts.

He wasn’t
pulling out very far, but he was driving in with a lot of force. With each push,
her hips were slammed back into the wall. The discomfort wasn’t as distracting
as it could have been—since it made the whole scenario feel naughtier—but she
couldn’t help but realize that her whole back might be covered in bruises
tomorrow.

“More.” Despite
the mild pain, she loved how strong and powerful he was, loved how he was
taking her like this. “More, Caleb, more.”

“Yes,” he
hissed, his face damp and tense in concentration. He held her against the wall
relentlessly, in complete control of her body. “Love you, baby—shit!”

The last word
was clearly not an exclamation of ecstasy. Rather, it sounded like surprised
pain.

“What is it?” Her
rising climax halted from concern as she saw him freeze in place and twist his
mouth into a distorted line.

“Nothing. Stupid
clench in my back.” He was scowling, but she knew it wasn’t at her. His
position must have been pretty uncomfortable, since she was too short to allow
him to stand anywhere close to upright. He tried to straighten out his back,
but her body didn’t allow it.

“Oh,” she said,
still pretty aroused but not sure what they should do. “Do you want to move
this to the bed after all? It’s all good to me, as long as you don’t stop completely.”

He repositioned
his hands to hold her bottom more securely. “You don’t think I give up so
easily, do you? Hold onto me.”

Realizing what
he was about to do, Marissa clung to him, trying to support some of her weight
as he lifted her up and held her against the wall—in this way finally able to
fully straighten his legs and stretch his back.

She wrapped her
legs around him tightly and whimpered at the difference in penetration.

“All right?” he
asked hoarsely, breathing erratically and burrowing his face in the crook
between her neck and shoulder.

“Yeah.” She
wriggled her hips in an attempt to get some more friction. “Really, really
good. How’s your back?”

He gave a low
laugh. “Better.” He pushed into her.

She bit her lip
and squeezed her thighs around him. “Are you sure I’m not too heavy?”

“You’re
perfect. And I’ll have you know I’m in pretty good shape.”

She giggled
foolishly, her climax approaching again and her mind clouding over with lust.
“Right. Really good shape. Really strong.”

Pushing her
even harder against the wall, Caleb started rocking his hips differently.
Started levering up on each stroke.

Marissa
shuddered helplessly each time he pushed, and soon she was raking lines on his
shoulders. “Yeah. Almost there. Harder, Caleb. Harder.”

He accelerated
their rhythm, sweat streaming down the sides of his strained face. “Come, baby.
Come. Now.”

Her mouth fell
open in a silent cry as her orgasm slammed into her. Her back tried to arch
against the wall, but he was pressing her too tightly against it. As her
muscles clenched violently around his hard length, he pushed back against the
contractions until he finally let himself go.

He released a
rough, wordless exclamation, and she felt him swell and contract. Then felt his
hot release inside her.

They were both
gasping and sweating and shaking when they finally came down from their
climaxes. He was leaning against her now, rather than pushing against her, and
she could feel his heart pounding. Or maybe it was hers.

For the first
time, she felt a glimmer of anxiety. Then of nausea. Vague but unmistakable.

She still felt
it occasionally. She’d healed more than she could imagine in the last few
months, but old scars didn’t disappear completely.

“Sweetie, can
you put me down now?” she asked, keeping any trace of discomfort out of her
voice.

He must have
sensed it anyway.

He let her
slide to the floor very carefully and held her up when her knees buckled.

She smiled as
he scanned her face anxiously, her brief anxiety dispelling completely. “That
was amazing. Although I’m not sure that I can walk right away.”

“Me either.” The
concern on his face relaxed as he saw she was fine.

“You’re
supposed to be the strong, powerful man. I would have thought you could at
least manage to carry me to bed while I swoon over your rampant masculinity.”

She squealed
when he swung her into his arms without warning and started walking toward her
bedroom.

Wrapping her
arms around him, she gave his jaw a few wet kisses.

“I’m still
waiting for some swooning.”

“Oh, you big,
strong, powerful man,” she gushed with exaggerated saccharine. “I’m in awe of
your gorgeousness and your sex appeal and absolutely enormous—”

Her words were
cut off with a huff when he dropped her on the bed. Then she huffed again when
he sort of fell on top of her.

She wiggled
until she wasn’t pinned under his weight and then took him in her arms. In a
different voice, she murmured, “I
am
in awe of you, you know.”

She could tell
the words had touched him. “Same here.”

She was feeling
incredibly satisfied when she snuggled up against him again. After a few more
minutes, she asked, “Was that like you dreamed of?”

Caleb snorted
and kissed her on the top of her head. “Not exactly. I hadn’t envisioned the embarrassing
cramp in my back or the bruises you’re going to get tomorrow.”

She hadn’t
thought he’d noticed her mild discomfort. “Who cares about a few bruises when
you can have sex like that?”

He smiled.
“Right. It wasn’t exactly like my dream, but I think it was even better.”

His tone
changed at the end of his sentence, so Marissa looked up to check his face.

He met her eyes
with a warmth that took her breath away. “If it had been as easy as I used to
dream about, then it wouldn’t mean as much as it does.”

She knew
exactly what he meant. She nestled against him more closely. They both still
had on most of their clothes but neither seemed inclined to move anytime soon.

Then he said
one more thing. “It wouldn’t have been nearly as good.”

The campus felt more normal as
the students swarmed into sidewalks and lawns, on their way to their next classes
or, by the looks of some of them, back to their dorm rooms to sleep.

As Baron headed
toward his car, he turned his head once more to glance back at James Hall.

And collided
with someone in front of him.

The woman
huffed and dropped a pile of papers, and Baron bit back a curse at the jarring
surprise.

Then his eyes
focused on who he’d run into.

“Leila!” His
heart jumped oddly. She looked beautiful and discomposed, her hair slipping out
of a long braid, her glasses slipping down her nose, and more papers slipping
out of her hands.

His heart
jumped again when she broke into a smile when she processed his presence.
“Baron,” she said, sounding glad to see him, “I’d have thought you’d be a
little better at watching where you walked.”

“Sorry,” he
said, leaning down to help her pick up her scattered papers. He wasn’t about to
admit that he’d been looking behind him toward her office, and he couldn’t
think of any acceptable excuses for being so inattentive, so he just glossed
over the issue. “Although I notice that your powers of perception left
something to be desired as well.”

She snickered
and straightened up with a messy pile of papers in her hands. “I was reading,”
she admitted with blithe sincerity. “You won’t believe some of these papers
that students turn in.”

“I thought you
didn’t teach on Fridays.”

“I don’t. I was
just proctoring an in-class essay for a colleague.” Leila gazed up at him, her
expression torn between interest and something that looked almost shy. “What
are you doing on campus? Another meeting about the purchase?”

He wondered if
she thought—hoped— that he might be here to see her. After all, he had kissed
her last night.

He wanted to
again, his body reacting to sensual line of her lips, the fragrance of
something fresh and floral that surrounded her, the hint of cleavage he
couldn’t help but notice above the V-neckline of her draped top.

He cleared his
throat and managed to remember her question. “Yes. Another meeting.”

“Is everything
still on with that?” For the first time, she sounded slightly hesitant.

His defenses
immediately rose. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know.
I just heard a couple of vague things, and I wondered if that was…if that was
what had upse—what had bothered you about the message you got Saturday at the
park.”

He registered
the word she had first intended to say. He’d known he hadn’t done well at
hiding his emotions, but he didn’t like the fact that she’d known how upset
he’d been at learning of his brother’s involvement. “I’ve got everything under
control.”

Her expression
didn’t really change—and certainly her posture didn’t—but something intangible
in her presence seemed to shrink away from him at his cold, distant tone.
“Good,” she said lightly. “I’m glad to hear it.”

She smiled up
at him again, but it didn’t seem quite so sincere. “It was good to see you.
Maybe I’ll see you around.” Then she walked past him, back toward James Hall.

Baron stood
frozen in place for a moment. This was good. It was what he’d wanted. She’d
gotten the message. He could withdraw from her now without incident, without
entanglements, without distractions.

But something
stronger, deeper than that inner cringe rose up as he processed her expression
and realized that he’d hurt her feelings.

He’d kissed her
last night. And treated her like shit this morning.

A glimmer of
recognition told him this was something he’d done to other women innumerable
times before.

It shouldn’t
matter. He needed to break free of this and return to the man he knew himself
to be. In control of who he was and what he wanted.

He turned
around. “Leila,” he called out. “Wait.”

She stopped and
turned back, a question on her face.

“Sorry about
that.” He took four steps over so he was beside her again. “I have a bad habit
of being an ass sometimes.”

“I know that.”
She peered up at his face, her vivid eyes observant, searching, still slightly
distrustful. “So what’s changed?”

He swallowed,
not even close to being able to answer that question. “Maybe I’m not always an
ass.”

For a few
seconds, Baron wasn’t sure how she would react. Then she finally broke out into
rippling laughter. Holding her pile of papers to her chest with one arm, she
patted his chest with the other in a gesture that was both casual and
frighteningly intimate. “You’re a very confusing man. Did you know that?”

“I had my
suspicions.”

She laughed
again. Then glanced down at her watch. “Hey, my old dissertation director is on
campus this weekend. She’s giving a lunch lecture today. Since you’re
interested in my research, you might find the lecture interesting too. You want
to come?”

Baron had a
conference call scheduled in a half-hour, and he was supposed to be cutting
Leila out of his life completely.

“Sure,” he
said, “Sounds fascinating.”