Bent Not Broken (A Cedar Creek #1) (35 page)

“Yeah. Oh.” He smiled big, then, “I love you, too, baby. And when I get back from dropping Tommy at school I’ll show you exactly how much.” Then he slanted his head and kissed me full on. In the kitchen. In front of Tommy. And I didn’t care. Instead, I melted into him and kissed him back with everything I had, conveying my love for him in a different way.

Macy had been right. Again.

She had known that Cal would be the one for me. The one to take on my demons, the one to put in enough effort to break through my carefully designed and fortified by steel walls, the one to fight for a place in my heart.

She had been right.

I would get my happily ever after.

No.

I already had it.

So apart from worrying about the situation with Tommy and his mother, everything was going great. It felt like I had finally found myself. After having been what felt like only a shell for so long, I had finally found my happiness, my own little slice of heaven, my happily ever after.

My soul didn’t feel like it was shattered anymore. The pieces of myself that I had thought I had lost forever had miraculously been put back into place. Though they weren’t the same pieces.

They were different, better, more solid.

And every day, they settled in a little more, which in return made me feel lighter.

I felt happy.

Content.

Normal.

And it was the best feeling in the world.

Now that Cal and Tommy were moving in with me, it felt even better. We would be a family. A real family. And I was going to make sure to do my part to make it good for all of us.

Little did I know that I would have to remind myself of that vow sooner than I had ever anticipated.

Chapter Twenty-four

Betrayal

Ivey

“Say it again,” Cal grunted into my ear as he thrust upward and into me.

He had come back from dropping Tommy off at school and was in the middle of showing his gratitude and appreciation for me telling him I loved him, and let me tell you, it was delicious. As soon as he had walked through the front door and found me still in the kitchen, now enjoying my second cup of coffee while I was finishing the immense task of compiling a grocery list that had enough on it to feed seven people, five of those people male, for five days—not an easy feat, but I thought I was doing all right—he picked the pen out of my hand, threw it on the counter, took my mug out of my other hand and put that on the counter next to my notepad, grabbed that hand, and dragged me behind him straight to the bedroom.

He did all this without saying the first thing to me. But that didn’t mean he didn’t communicate with me.

He did.

His eyes were scorching with heat.

And need.

Need for me.

And love.

So much love and need it took my breath away and paralyzed me into not speaking either.

As he prowled through the house and up the stairs, pulling me behind him with a tight grip on my hand and thus leaving me no choice but to follow him—not that I had any intention of not doing exactly that—anticipation filled me and I could feel my pulse between my legs.

We reached the bedroom and I found myself pulled to the front of Cal’s body. He let go of my hand, grabbed my ass and lifted me up, so I had to wrap my legs around his hips. He started walking backwards until he reached bed. Then his back hit mattress with me on top of him, he rolled so I was under him, and he took my mouth in a fierce kiss, his hands still on my ass pulling me up against his grinding hardness.

It was wild.

It was intense.

It was the absolute best.

He tore his mouth from mine to slide his tongue down my cheek to my ear where he growled, “Clothes off, baby. Need to be inside you right fucking now.”

Oh yes. That sounded great.

As soon as I had my shirt halfway unbuttoned and gave him better access to my breasts, he dove right in, taking my bra clasped nipple into his mouth and sucked deep. I gasped and threw my head back, arching into him, pressing my breast deeper into his mouth. He ground into me harder and sucked deeper in response.

I was so lost to how good that felt that I had stopped undressing and had my hands fisted in his hair, keeping his head in place. He let go of my nipple to growl again, “Clothes, baby, hurry,” then latched onto the other nipple, making it hard for me to concentrate on getting my clothes off as fast as possible.

Somehow I managed. With Cal’s help.

My shirt was gone. So were my jeans, which Cal had ripped off me the second I had undone the zipper and had taken my panties off with them. I leaned up to get to the clasp of my bra. Cal’s fingers were playing between my legs, creating magic, rubbing and teasing and gliding and flicking. Bra gone, I went to wrap my arms around his neck to pull him down with me, but he pulled back.

“Now me, baby. Hurry.”

The need to feel his naked skin one mine, to feel his cock moving inside me was urging me on, so I tugged and ripped at his clothes, shoving his jeans over his hips and down his legs until we were both completely naked.

Cal didn’t waste any time and drove into me with one hard thrust. He didn’t go easy, he didn’t tease.

No.

He took me.

Hard and rough and wild.

And I loved every second of it.

Within a few minutes, we were both breathing hard. I was whimpering. Cal was grunting. Another thrust, two, three and I came. Gloriously. I wrapped all four limbs around Cal’s body and held on while I rode out my release. After a few more thrusts and Cal found his.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. Wrapped up in each other, holding on tight, until Cal rolled to his back, taking me with him. I pulled my face out of his neck and grinned down at him. He grinned back at me. Then his face changed and turned serious. He framed my face with both of his hands and said, “What you gave me down there not an hour ago means everything, baby.
You
mean everything.”

Wow. That was beautiful.

“Now slide off me and go clean up. Not done with you. That was me claiming what’s mine. Next one will be slower.”

Okay. That was beautiful, too.

Wanting that, I leaned down to put my lips against his where I whispered, “Okay, baby,” then I slid off his body, cleaned myself up, and rejoined him in bed, where he fulfilled his promise of showing me slowly how much he loved me.

I was front to front with Cal, my back against the headboard, his hands at my ass holding me up, his cock thrusting upward and into me.

“Say it again.” I knew what he wanted. During the last hour he had asked me over and over again to tell him I loved him, and over and over again I had complied and given it to him. I did the same now.

“I love you, baby,” I breathed. I was close, so unbelievably close. He had kept me on the edge, had retreated again and again, drawing it out, making me wait. I loved it. But now I really needed to come. I communicated that by whimpering, “Cal, baby. Please.”

He thrust into me hard, grinding, rotating his hips when he hit the end of me, rubbing over that sensitive spot inside me again and again. Then he pulled out, and repeat. I was reaching for it, closer, so close now, reaching a little more…

“Eyes, baby. Give me your eyes.” Cal grunted. I opened my heavy lidded eyes halfway—that was all I could manage—and locked onto his in a lust filled fog.

“I love you, too, baby. So fucking much!” He shouted on one last heavy thrust and we both flew apart at the same time.

I came to with my back in the mattress, Cal on top of me. My legs were still wrapped around his hips as were my arms around his shoulders. His face was in my neck and he was still buried inside me.

Holy hell! I think I might have just passed out from orgasm.

I blinked a few times and tried to get my rapidly beating heart under control. Cal’s heart was beating just as rapidly. I could feel it pressed against my chest. We lay like that for what felt like forever and it was heavenly.

Cal lifted his face out of my neck and looked down at me, a smile playing at his lips. Those lips lowered to mine and he kissed me soft and easy.

“You’re mine, Ivey,” he murmured quietly against my lips.

“Yeah,” I replied just as quietly.

He kept on kissing me softly for a little longer before he leaned his head back. I thought this day couldn’t get more perfect, but his next words rocked my world yet again.

“Wanna put my ring on your finger.”

I momentarily froze, then melted underneath him and my face broke into a brilliant and happy smile as I breathed, “Okay.”

“Wanna put my baby in you.”

My heart leaped, then swelled, then its beat sped up again.

I hadn’t told him, yet. He didn’t know, yet, that I had been pregnant once and had lost the baby. But for the first time, the thought of telling him didn’t scare me. He deserved to know and I needed to tell him, but now was not the right moment. This moment was about our future, not my past.

“Okay,” I replied again.

Cal studied my face for a moment with a strange look that I couldn’t identify, then his eyes flared, he leaned down again, and pressed another soft kiss to my lips.

“Soon, Ivey.” He said when he was done kissing me.

“Soon,” I repeated.

“Christmas,” he stated.

My eyes got big. Christmas? That was just a month away!

“This Christmas.” Cal stated firmly.

“Honey, that’s in just a little over four weeks.” I informed him of something he already knew.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

I stared at him. He didn’t take his eyes from me, but instead stared into them, showing me how much he wanted this, how much he wanted me to be his wife, how much he wanted to be my husband. Since I loved all of that, I gave in and again melted underneath him.

I knew he read my reaction correctly as me giving into his ludicrous demand when he again stated, “Christmas,” before he slanted his head and kissed me again. Not soft this time, but hard and deep and possessive. Seeing as I loved all of his kisses, I joined in and gave all that he gave me right back to him.

*****

I was walking down the stairs after our morning sex marathon and kind of engagement, putting my earrings in, when I heard Cal talk on the phone.

We had taken another shower together, a shower, where for the first time since we started out, we did not make each other come. What we did do to take care of each other was wash each other’s bodies. It was the most intimate experience, and the gentleness and reverence that was shining in his eyes when he lathered my body in soap, made me fall in love him even more.

He had toweled me off, kissed my nose, then grabbed a towel for himself, and took it with him to the bedroom, where I assumed he got dressed. When I hit the bedroom a few minutes later to find my clothes, he was already gone. I got a new pair of panties from my bag, redressed in my jeans and shirt, chose a pair of earrings, and went in search of my man. I needed another kiss before we both went our own way for the day.

“What do you mean you can’t find him? A month ago you told me you had eyes on him,” I heard Cal’s hard voice saying to whoever was on the other end of the line.

“Fuck, Bane. I need this shit done. Now. I’ve been patient. You’ve assured me I’d get my shot to teach Kyle Parker a lesson he won’t soon forget. I’m counting on you to make that happen.”

I stopped dead.

Kyle Parker
?

Cal was talking to someone about
Kyle Parker
?

There was only one Kyle Parker I knew. My ex-boyfriend, who almost beat me to death. I had never told Cal Kyle’s last name. But I had no doubt that that was who Cal was talking about.

And the thought that he must know hit me.

He knew.

He knew
everything
.

“Bane, get me right fucking now. You find him. I don’t care what you have to do, but you find him. I want Ivey free and safe. And she can’t be that, knowing that asshole is out there. She can’t be that if there is the slightest chance he could still come after her. You and I both know that assholes like that do not change. He needs to forget she exists. It’s my job to protect her, so I’m gonna be the one who makes sure he does. Find him.” The words he spoke in his low and tense voice were beautiful, but that didn’t penetrate. I could hear Stella yapping at him and whereas that would usually make me smile, this time, it didn’t touch me. The only thing that reached my brain was that he knew.

And it wasn’t me who told him.

Somehow he had found out.

Someone had told him what was mine to share.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, when I did share with him things about my past, he had acted like he didn’t know.

He hadn’t said a thing.

The feeling of betrayal started sliding through my body, obliterating all the good and happy I had felt just a few seconds ago.