Seduced in Secret (7 page)

She shifted and heard a grunt behind her.

Her eyes flew open.

“If you keep squirming like that, you’re going to end up on your hands and knees with my cock inside you before I even fully wake up,” a low, husky voice rumbled.

For a split second, that tugged an image to mind. Something somebody had written her…

You on your hands and knees…

Instinctively, she shivered and clamped her knees together. That movement pushed her butt backward and she gasped a moment later when she found herself sprawled, half-bent, facedown over the bed.

Caleb pushed one knee between her thighs and she caught a fistful of the sheet in her hand as she looked into the mirror hanging on the wall across the room. “What are you doing here?” she asked, bewildered.

“I’m about to fuck you, that’s what.”

She shivered at the blunt, basic words. “But…”

He stilled, meeting her eyes in the mirror. “Want me to stop?”

Her breath caught. And then, slowly, she shook her head.

The rasping of his zipper was terribly loud and she bit her lip, not daring to move, not daring to do anything for fear of shattering this spell. She almost thought it might be a dream, except she had the dull, lingering headache caused by too much wine. If she were dreaming, she would have left out the hangover.

He moved between her thighs.

She continued to stare at him from where she lay, face down, her hips boosted up on the small pillow she’d curled around at some point during the night.

He pressed up against her and she moaned, blindly reaching one hand back to grab his thigh.

He pushed inside.

It was a slow, thorough claiming and she could feel each thick inch as he took her. She dug her nails into his skin and wailed as he pulled out, then surged back in again.

He caught her wrist, brought it to the small of her back, then did the same with the other.

She tensed, tugged against the light hold, but he didn’t let go.

“Tell me you’re mine, Tessa,” he said, his voice low and thick.

She whimpered instead.

He thrust harder, squeezed her wrists.

It sent a delicious, biting pain through her and she clamped down tighter on his cock. “Caleb!”

He went still and she stared at him in the mirror, watched as he slowly and patiently rearranged her body, like a doll’s. She groaned as he pulled her upright, her back flush against his front, one arm around her waist, her breasts thrust upward.

When he was done, he drew her up, displaying her body, her breasts, her torso…she could even see her pussy and the thickness of his cock spearing into her.

“You know how long I’ve wanted this?” he demanded, staring into her reflection, his gaze holding her spellbound. “How long I’ve wanted
you
?”

The words cut into the heart of her. She had no strength, would have fallen forward if he hadn’t held her steady with one strong arm. She gripped his forearm, clung to him as he drove up into her again, deep, hard, fast, with so much force it arched her back, lifting her breasts high.

“Tell me you’re mine,” he said again.

She reached up, cradling his cheek. His eyes were tormented, haunted. “Are you mine?” she asked instead.

He groaned and buried his face in her hair. “Always.”

His cock swelled, pulsed—she came with a broken moan.

∞

The first order of the day: bathroom.

The second?

Confront Caleb.

Not that she wasn’t happy…well, okay, that seemed a little tame considering she was still pulsing inside from the orgasm he’d given her.

She’d waited a while to actually get into the swing of things as far as sex went—a late bloomer for sure. She’d had her reasons. She’d gone to school with plenty of girls who talked about their virginity like it was some sort of burden to just be done away with, but that hadn’t been Tessa. She was, deep down, a romantic. She’d wanted it to matter and there hadn’t
been
anybody. The guy she’d dated off and on her senior year? He’d dumped her right before prom, so she’d just gone with friends, danced with them…and Caleb.

In college, she’d dated a few guys, but again, nobody serious.

When are you going to lose it
? She’d been asked by some of her girlfriends. But she hadn’t looked at being a virgin as some sort of fatal disease. She’d have sex when she was ready.

And she’d been ready with her best friend.

Go figure. Now, though, she definitely understood why some women were really, really into the orgasm thing. Blushing, she studied her face. She looked almost ridiculously pleased which meant she was making the right choice.

She’d done it in a fit of alcohol-induced loopiness, but last night she’d come to the conclusion that Caleb wanted her enough to
tell
her, to come to her.

Whoever was seducing her in secret? He didn’t.

And she was coming to realize that she was crazy about Caleb. Completely crazy about him. He made her laugh. He’d always done that. He made her happy. He’d always done that. And now she knew he could make her burn.

Smiling a little, she opened the door and found him standing by the window, shoulders rigid.

Some of the pleasure fluttering in her heart faded away.

Still, she strove for a mock stern voice as she said, “Buddy, you and me are going to have it out. I’m not even going to waste my time asking how in the hell you got into my cabin. You and your superhero Navy SEALS shit…you realize people have an expectation of privacy, right?”

For a long moment, he said nothing. He didn’t even look at her.

When he did, he said quietly, “We need to talk.”

“That’s what I just said.”

He shook his head.

He glanced down and she saw that he was holding his phone.

She frowned. “Is everything okay? I…shit, I’ve had my phone off. Is…it’s not your mom, is it?”

She spun on her heel and ran into the living room, grabbing her purse and dumping it out. The phone was the last thing to come out.

But before she could turn it on, Caleb reached over her shoulder and took it.

She swiped at it, but he held it out of her reach.

“My mom is fine, baby,” he said.

But he wouldn’t look at her. His eyes glanced over her face and then away. Back to her face, then away.

“Caleb, give me my phone,” she said, trembling deep inside. “You…shit, you didn’t go and beat up Tyson or something stupid, did you?”

He stared up at the ceiling and blew out a breath. “No. I’ve thought about it. Quite a few times, if I had to tell you the truth.”

“
Why
?” She gaped at him.

Now he looked at her, pinned her with a hard, level stare. “Isn’t it obvious?”

He looked down at the phones he held and then tossed her hers. He shoved his into his back pocket and looped his hands behind his neck. “You know, I can’t recall a time when I didn’t love you. Can’t recall a time when my world didn’t revolve around you. Even when I was in the Navy, all of it was about making myself into the kind of man I thought you’d be proud of.”

Dazed, she sank down onto her butt, drawing her knees to her chest. “What…Caleb, what are you talking about?”

“Didn’t I just tell you?” He shrugged. “I’m in love with you. I always had a thing for you, but I can tell you exactly when I knew I loved you. It was tenth grade. That dickhead Price Green was picking on the girl with Down’s Syndrome and you punched him in the nose. I knew then that I loved you. But you…” He smiled and it was sad. “You never saw.”

Tessa sucked in a breath. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried.” He hitched up a shoulder. “The dance that weekend? I asked you to go with me. You told me that the girl he’d been picking on? Angie. You said she had a crush on me and it would make her day if I asked her. So I did. For you.”

He sighed and turned away. “You need to turn on your phone. You’ve got a message. You’re going to be pissed off at me here in a minute. But…” His voice went raw and ragged. “Fuck, Tessa. You were going to marry that bastard, and he didn’t love you. You weren’t listening to me and you didn’t ever see
me
. So…I…hell. I had to find another way to make you see.”

Confused, hurting all over again, she turned her phone on.

She heard him go out the front door.

The message bubble on her phone made her groan.

She didn’t want to deal with him now.

But…

She frowned.

Her phone had been off.

The only messages
were
from him.

She tapped on them and they all came up. She reach one, getting more confused.

Then her gaze landed on the fifth—and last one.

It’s me, Caleb.

It had to be a mistake.

She read the message. Five times. Each time, she told herself it had to be a mistake.

But it wasn’t.

They all came from the same number. A number that wasn’t his.

A hysterical laugh escaped her and she clamped her hand over her lips to stifle it. Really, how hard would it be for a guy like Caleb to make it seem like texts were coming from a different phone number?

Surging to her feet, she spun and threw the phone.

It hit the wall and then crashed to the floor.

She didn’t bother to see if it had broken.

She was already out the front door.

He was standing on the porch, hands in his pockets, staring outside.

“You
lied
to me!”

He turned his head, watching as she came striding toward him.

She jabbed him in the chest with a nail painted the color of plums.

“I did.” He shrugged and went back to staring out over the yard.

“You…” She stopped and then started again. “Aren’t you going to say anything else?”

“What do you want me to say?” He pretended to debate. “I guess I could lie and say I’m sorry. But I
would
be lying. If I’d done nothing, you’d still be puttering along, letting that jackass make plans for a wedding you’d hate, letting him criticize a dress you loved, letting him plan a honeymoon you didn’t want…you were already miserable, Tessa, but you didn’t hear anybody when they tried to tell you!”

“It was my mistake to make!”

She jutted her chin up as she yelled at him.

He bent his head and shoved his face into hers. “But I loved you too much to see you miserable. You want to hate me for that? Go ahead. Never talk to me again. I’ll deal. But at least you’re
happy
now.”

He went to turn away.

She caught his arm.

“So it was all just to stop me from marrying Tyson? You didn’t…” She faltered.

He cut off the rest of her words with his mouth.

Backing her up to the wall, he trapped her there, between his body and the wood. The muscles in his leg were already knotted up, but he ignored them, focused instead on
the softness of her and bringing a moan to her lips. “Does this
feel
like it has anything to do with that uptight doctor, baby?”

She moaned.

“Caleb…”

“I told you already. I’ve loved you since we were kids. Nothing’s ever going to change that.” He skimmed his hand along her side, cupped her hip. “I’ll love you tomorrow and I’ll love you in fifty years. You can walk down those steps, drive away from me, fall in love with some guy you meet at the gas station and get married, have his kids…and never see me again. And I’ll still love you. So no. It wasn’t
all
just to stop you from marrying the limpdick.”

“I made love to you because I’ve wanted it for longer than you can imagine.” He breathed it against her skin, felt her shudder. “I kissed you because I’ve gone insane wondering how you’d taste. I asked you to go out with me because I’d hoped you’d finally look at me and see the man who loved you…not just your buddy across the street.”

He gave her a soft, lingering kiss.

And then he moved away.

“I’m sorry I hurt you. But if I had to do it over again…” He shrugged. He took a step, grimaced as his thigh sent pain screaming through him. But he bore down and ignored it. “I’m going grab my stuff, then head out. You need time to think.”

∞

He was halfway inside before she spoke.

“No.”

She was acting on instinct here and she knew it.

But she wasn’t going to go back on the promise she’d made herself last night.

Okay, so the two men who drove her to distraction were one and the same. She could…adjust to that, right?

Caleb stilled in the doorway.

“Aren’t you going to look at me?”

Stiffly, he turned. She frowned as he reached out, braced his weight on the door. Her gaze drifted down to his leg and he stiffened, his face going cold. So she didn’t ask. Instead, she moved toward him. “No. I don’t need to think. I did that.”

Reaching up, she cupped his face. She blew out a sigh and then leaned in, pressed a kiss to his mouth.

“I did think, Caleb. I did a lot of thinking. Most of it was last night and most of it was under the influence, but I figured something out.” Pressing her brow to his, she said, “There’s only ever been one constant in my life, one person I always looked for, one person I always needed. One person I always thought to call, whether things were good or bad…or just plain boring. It’s always been you, Caleb. I feel like I’ve spent most of my life waiting for something…but it was you all along. That’s what I figured out last night. So I don’t need to think anymore.”

She cupped his face in her hands. “Maybe it took me a while, Caleb. But I see you now…please don’t go.”

Don’t Walk Away

Bonus Story – From the Mammoth Book of Romantic Suspense

Chapter One

The woman he loved held a knife at his throat.

He was on his knees, on a filthy street and she stood behind him. Close. So close he could smell her skin. So close he could reach out and touch her…finally. After all of this time…

He could still remember how she had felt in his arms, how she had felt against him, under him. Damn, he’d loved her—loved her still. Wanted her still. Would have given anything to pull her into his arms.

Except there was the small matter of the knife in her hand. And he suspected she probably hated his guts. Somehow, he doubted the knife was her way of telling him how much she missed him.