The Marine's Red Hot Homecoming (12 page)

“I won’t need luck to win this game,” he said, his eyes gleaming hot.

“Really?” she asked. “What makes you think that?”

“Because I have a few tricks up my sleeve, too.” He switched the pool stick from his right hand to his left. “I’m ambidextrous.”

Her jaw dropped. All sorts of images of his hands sliding over her body, caressing every square inch with clever finesse popped into her brain. A brain she’d attempted to keep smart and in charge of her libido. A brain that finally betrayed her once and for all.

Because when Caleb took his shot, and made his mark with the precision of his profession, her libido screamed victory in all caps all the way down to her toes and back up again.

###

Thirty minutes after trumping Hannah at her own game, Caleb pulled into the long drive leading to the mountain house and drove the length slowly until they reached the detached garage. He parked, his brain humming with possibilities, then switched off the engine. She released his waist and shifted behind him.

“I had fun tonight,” she said lightly.

“Me, too.” He wondered briefly how long it had been since she’d been this relaxed. And he didn’t want to end the feeling. Not yet. He glanced at their babysitter’s practical four door sedan. Reality kicked in with a vengeance. “Let’s go inside and pay Lori Catherine so she can hit the road.”

She climbed off the back and he heard the hoot of an owl in the distance. Leaves rustled in the slight breeze that also lifted her dress’s hem while she pulled off her helmet. “Excellent idea.” She gave him the helmet and their fingers brushed. “Here you go.”

Electricity sparked on his skin, charged low to his groin. But it wasn’t just the way his body reacted to her that made Caleb want to hold onto the moment, stretch their night a little longer. “You up for a drink on the deck after Lori leaves?” he asked. He wanted to spend more time alone with Hannah because he liked her. He liked the sass hiding beneath her hard-working responsible side. And the mischievous spirit dancing alongside her generous, big hearted soul.

Hell, he loved her, but no way would he admit it to her while he was still trying to figure out how to convince her to take a chance on him no matter what he chose to do.

She nibbled her lower lip. A nervous habit that only endeared her to him even more. “Maybe just one.” Hannah tucked a lock of her shimmering blonde hair behind her shell-like ear. “But that’s not what I really want. I don’t think it’s what you want either.”

The scent of mountain wild rhododendrons mingled with hers. She smelled so damn delicious. Like one taste of her would never be enough. Flecks of gold and amber reflected in her hazel eyes, the moonlight enhancing their mesmerizing effect. A guy could get lost in those eyes.

Permanently. If he acted on what they wanted, the attraction that had drawn them together from the start and had simmered beneath the surface for days after they had reunited, where would that lead? Would that be enough to change her mind?

“You sure you want to play with that kind of fire?” He brushed a stray hair from her temple. “Because I can’t promise you I won’t leave again.” Damn it to hell and back, so much of him wanted to give her what she wanted. But the Marine in him wouldn’t lie. Not to her. Ever.

“Maybe what we need doesn’t have to be tied to any false promises. At least, not tonight.” Her breath misted the air between them.

“What about later?”

“I’m a big girl.” She moved to close the scant distance between them. “I’ll worry about later when it arrives.”

Though the night was cool, heat pulsed between them. The erratic beat of her heart fluttered in her collarbone just where her open leather jacket touched her milky white skin. Her ebony pupils smoldered with the same desire rushing through his blood. The last time he’d kissed her, Caleb had been in a daze brought on by alcohol and long repressed yearnings. But tonight he had no way to blame booze for the way his brain clicked into auto shutdown.

Everything about Hannah and his feelings for her confused him, freaked the hell out of him, and then drew him to her all over again like a moth to a flame. He wanted her to be with him forever, but no way could he give her that unless she accepted his commitment to the Marines.

He had to give her one more chance to back out. “So we’ll worry about later—later?” he asked.

“Like I said.” She coiled her arms around his neck. “What I want is standing right here. Right now.”

Reason shattered.

Good sense obliterated.

Tomorrow faded.

All that mattered was this moment. He wanted this time with Hannah for as long as he could hold it. “Right now works.” Caleb lowered his mouth to seal his lips onto her sweet sultry mouth.

She tasted like sugar and vanilla with just a hint of spice. Like good girl and naughty vixen rolled into one. He wanted to devour her, claim her as his. But as she returned his kiss, molding her body to his so perfectly, he suddenly realized that right now would never be enough, or erase the wild need he had for her.

Because for the first time since he’d returned to Sweetbriar Springs and walked into Hannah’s boutique he had arrived home.

###

Hannah had expected Caleb’s kiss to be wild, urgent as the fire blazing through her veins. Instead, he moved his mouth across hers tenderly, with a gentle restraint as if wanting to draw out the moment. Taking his time to explore and rediscover her lips one torturous, exhilarating second at a time. Where before she had given herself to Caleb in a haze of passion fueled by alcohol, pain, and a need for comfort, this time she returned to him whole and strong and confident in the woman she had become in the years since that first night.

She wanted him.

For now. For always she had wanted him. But this time she refused to hope for more than this moment. This fraction of time that might only become a memory she held in her heart forever.

But oh, what a memory. The luxurious feel of his firm lips coaxing hers apart to slide his tongue inside to tangle with hers. The power of his arms crushing her into his magnificent, broad chest while he deepened his exploration. And the beat, beat, beat of her pulse growing stronger and sending bolts of hot lightning throughout her body.

He anchored her head, tangling his fingers through her hair, kissing her until her mind no longer registered the sounds of the still night air. There was only him. Only her. And the intense, exquisite aching between her thighs begging for more than a long, sultry kiss in the glow of the moonlight and cool spring air.

His arousal pressed against her. She was at once vulnerable and exposed. Yet a strange power flowed inside her. Because he wanted her. Not because she was alone and sad. Not because she was the mother of his child. But because he was attracted to her, drawn to her and unable to stop himself from acting on it any longer.

And because she had given him permission to be hers, and hers alone.

Chapter Ten

“I thought she’d never leave,” Caleb said, drawing Hannah into his arms.

Possessive. Proprietary. Perfect.

And hers for the night. She hadn’t wanted to stop their kiss to walk inside the brightly lit mountain house’s hallway and rouse their babysitter long enough to say goodbye, but they weren’t teenagers sneaking around who were trying to hide from their parent’s watchful eyes.

Nor were they at a party without a care in the world.

No matter what happened between them after tonight or next week or next year, they would always have Jason to bind them.

But tonight the world had shifted to include more than Parenting 101 as the glue that would hold them together. Tonight the need and want and passion between a woman and a man who desired each other, complemented each other physically and emotionally, pulled them together.

She inhaled Caleb’s clean masculine scent. Delicious tingles traveled through her body, making her breasts heavy and her nipples tighten. “Lori always gives a post babysitting report.”

“Longest fifteen minutes of my life,” he said.

“Do you think she figured out we were...,” her cheeks grew hot, “You know?”

“Maybe. Most likely.” He tilted her chin up to look into her eyes. “I for one could care less. You?”

“Well it’s not like we haven’t done this before.” She smiled into his serious blue eyes. “After all, she has a full time job with benefits because of it.”

He grinned and the hint of doubt left his gaze. “True.” Then he anchored her head and lowered his sexy smiling mouth onto hers again.

Her breath mingled with his. She wrapped her arms around his waist, running her hands up the length of his broad back. They had already shed their coats and now his powerful muscles corded beneath her fingertips.

God, she loved the way he responded to her touch, the instant arousal it created. She loved the shuddering intake of air she heard rumbling through his body. And she loved being framed by his tall, strong body while he plundered her mouth with ever increasing urgency.

Somehow they managed to stumble their way down the hallway to his bedroom without breaking their kiss. Urgency and need replaced tenderness. Panting, she tugged at his shirt, releasing it from his waistband. Then she slid her hands under the fabric and glided them across his naked skin. He felt hot beneath her touch, and his cock pulsed with the fire she had stirred.

She couldn’t get enough. More. She wanted so much more.

He wrenched his mouth from hers, traced his tongue and lips across her jawline, then lower. “You still taste the same,” Caleb said and nibbled even lower until he reached the v of her neckline just above her breasts.

That he hadn’t forgotten her
that way
brought heat to her sex, making her wet and hot and beyond ready for him. “Is that a good thing?” she asked, arching her back and thrusting her breasts higher.

“That’s a very good thing.” Caleb tugged her zipper down and cool air replaced heat for a microsecond. “I’ve spent a lot of nights fantasizing about that and a whole lot more.” He pushed her sleeves off her shoulders and pulled her dress down her hips until it puddled at her feet.

“I’m surprised you remembered anything at all,” she said, feeling more exposed and vulnerable than she could possibly have imagined now that she stood only in her panties, bra and high heels. “We were pretty out of it.”

He held her gaze with his dark blue eyes, his finger lightly tracing the lacy edge of her bra. “I have an amazing recall for beautiful things. You, Hannah, were beautiful. Are beautiful.”

Caleb cupped her backside with his other hand and drew her close until she felt the ridge of his erection pressing against her. “There’s no way I’ll ever forget how hard I was for you. How hot I was for you. How incredible you were when you came for me.”

Her nipples pebbled and electricity shot straight to her clitoris. She swallowed hard and fought to string together a coherent sentence. “You remember everything?” she asked, half dreading the answer. Half hoping she hadn’t been the only one dreaming about reliving that one encounter.

She’d been wild that night. He’d been equally as wild with her. Though booze had lowered her resistance, and his, it hadn’t annihilated her memories about the passion and power and heat that had exploded between them.

“Every. Awesome. Second.” He popped open her bra’s front closer and her breasts spilled out. “Including how sensitive your nipples were when I did this,” he said before rolling one between his index finger and thumb, teasing it until it elongated even more.

Her knees turned to melted marshmallows. She clasped her hands around his waist. “Caleb. God. That’s so, so...” Everything. Yet not nearly enough. “I want.”

Oh, how she ached for his mouth to claim her full breasts. For his hands to touch her and bring her relief from the exquisite aching sensation between her thighs. For the length of his cock to slide into her and fill her once again, making her whole and then sending her to the stars, shattered yet every part reconnected with startling clarity.

“I know. God, babe, I know,” he said roughly, then he answered her silent plea and replaced his fingers with his mouth, sucking in her nipple.

Everything in her went molten. Fire flamed into every crevice of her being and the need that she’d banked for so long blazed out of control. “Caleb,” she moaned and clutched his head, threading her fingers through his short hair in a desperate bid to find an anchor, anything to hold her steady.

The heat of his mouth, the warm slide of his tongue across her sensitive flesh shot more excited waves to her sex. There was nothing to do but hang on and cling to the fierce desire pulsing through her. And pray it would lead her back to the place they wanted to rediscover.

A place where they shared more than physical attraction and wild need. One with a deeper connection forged out of mutual respect and trust and something more. Because Hannah had crossed the mental bridge of no return before she had climbed onto the back of Caleb’s V-rod Harley for tonight’s date. Now she had no intention of retracing her steps.

###

Caleb had wanted to take it slow and easy, draw out the time between seduction and the awesome end result. But his good intentions evaporated the minute he heard the sweet sound of her sexy cry as she literally came apart in his arms.