Elusive Love (22 page)

She writhed and jerked underneath me. Her eyes were closed as she had a look of pure ecstasy etched into her features. Before long, she was unraveling before me. The sounds she made as she gripped my sheets had me unbuckling my jeans with one hand as I coaxed her through her orgasm with the other.

When her body finally stilled, I stood and pulled my jeans and boxers off. I opened my nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom, ripping the packet open as soon as I had it in my hand. Her eyes scanned up and down my body before stopping on my cock. She watched as I slid the condom on, and she simply stared. She didn’t look afraid any longer. She had a look that told me exactly what she wanted, what she
needed.
I was more than happy to give her just that.

I covered her body with mine and positioned myself at her entrance. “Are you ready?”

She nodded as she rested her hands on my shoulders. I quickly slid into her, unable to hold back any longer. The moment I completely filled her was a memory I knew I’d never forget. Her warm pussy enveloped me, pulling me deeper within her. She was tight, something that took me a moment to adjust to.

“Are you okay?” I asked through gritted teeth.

When she nodded, I took it as a sign to move forward. Slowly, I pulled back and thrust into her again. Her grip on my shoulders tightened as I pulled back again and thrust into her more forcefully.

I kept my pace slow and steady, letting her build. By the time she lost control, her nails were digging into my flesh. I knew I’d have marks there, maybe even blood, by the time we finished.

I lost control in that moment and roughly slammed into her. I hesitated for a split second, afraid that I’d been too rough, but she didn’t cry out in pain. Instead, she begged me for more. I grabbed her legs and lifted them until she wrapped them around my waist, allowing me to go deeper.

She clung to me as I thrust in and out, over and over again. Our bodies became slick with sweat, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t pause. I knew I was going to explode at any second. I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I reached between us and pressed my thumb against her clit. Instantly, she cried out, a mixture of curses and prayers, as she tightened around me. I exploded into the condom, my entire body shaking with the effort.

I collapsed on top of her, both of us gasping for breath. Already, I could feel the slight pain of whatever marks she’d inflicted on my shoulders. For several moments, our bodies quaked with aftershocks.

I waited until my breathing returned to normal before pulling away. Instantly, I regretted my decision. I missed the feel of her body around mine.

I pulled the condom off and tossed it into the garbage can before returning to the bed and lying next to her. I softly kissed her on her lips before pulling her so that she rested her head against my chest.

“I…” She paused. “I don’t regret that at all.”

Unable to help myself, I laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She raised her head enough to look at me. “I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

I kissed her forehead, and she rested her head back down onto my chest.

“Please, keep the compliments flowing. I’m all ears.”

She laughed as she smacked my stomach. “Ass.”

“I’m just teasing,” I said, laughter filling my voice.

She sighed and snuggled down tighter against me. “I just want to stay right here forever.”

“We can do that. Granted, someone might come and kick us out when I don’t pay the rent, but whatever,” I teased, hoping to keep the mood light. I didn’t want her doubts to ruin this moment.

“You’re a dork,” she mumbled, her voice sleepy.

“I know.” I soothingly rubbed her shoulders. “Get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Okay,” she mumbled.

Moments later, I heard her breathing even out. She was already asleep.

I smiled as I pulled the sheets up around us, making sure to keep her tucked in close to me. I savored the feel of her skin next to mine, wanting this moment to last forever. Before long, I felt my eyelids starting to droop. And like that, I was out, too.

I woke up with my arms still around Caley. When I opened my eyes, I looked down to see her still resting peacefully in the exact same position we’d fallen asleep in. It seemed both of us had been too tired or maybe too comfortable to move throughout the night.

I watched Caley as she slept. Total creeper move maybe, but I couldn’t help myself. When she was awake, she was always on guard, as if she’d expected the world to come crashing down on her at any moment. That was probably because it had, over and over again.

For the first time ever, I was able to see her completely relaxed. Her forehead, which was usually creased with worry, was smooth. She looked so much younger as she slept, her face peaceful, serene even.

I glanced over at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was almost nine in the morning. I hated to wake her, but I had no idea if she was supposed to be somewhere or if she had plans for the day. I knew the last thing she needed was for someone to realize she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. That would lead to questions of where she had been and whom she had been with. I knew that would end badly for all of us.

People judged, no matter what, and if anyone found out that she’d slept with me while still married to Joey, I knew they’d label her as a slut. Jesus, Joey could even use it against her if the divorce turned nasty, which I was sure it could. I couldn’t risk her losing Amelia because of me.

I had to remain her secret—for now.

“Caley,” I whispered as I nudged her, “wake up.”

She groaned, but her eyes stayed firmly shut. I nudged her again, harder this time, and repeated her name. Her eyelids fluttered open but just barely.

“What?” she mumbled, her voice hoarse from sleep.

“You have to wake up. You stayed the night here,” I answered.

It took a moment for my words to register.

Suddenly, she bolted upright in the bed and looked around. “Shit!”

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked, alarmed.

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was going to go back to my parents’ place.” She looked down and saw our naked bodies tangled together in the sheets. Her face turned crimson. “Holy hell, that wasn’t a dream either.”

I grinned. “Definitely not.”

She fell back down, her head hitting the pillow. “I’m not even sure what to say.” She glanced over at me, her face still bright red. “I’ve never been involved in a morning-after situation before.”

“This definitely isn’t a normal morning-after moment, Caley. For one, I’m not planning on kicking you out of my bed and never speaking or laying eyes on you again. We’re much more than that. Surely, you’ve figured that out by now.”

She looked away, but I’d seen that her face was troubled.

“What we did last night, it—”

I cut her off, “Don’t even say it. Whatever thoughts are running through that mind of yours, you have to realize it wasn’t a mistake.”

She turned back toward me with an angry look on her face. “I wasn’t going to say it was a mistake, asshat. I was going to say that it was the best night of my life, but then you had to go and ruin my speech.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling like an idiot.

“Yeah, oh.” She sighed. “Why did you wake me up so early?”

“I thought you might need to leave.” I held up my hands in surrender, not wanting her to take that the wrong way. “Not that I want you to leave. I just wasn’t sure if you had somewhere you needed to be.”

She shook her head. “My mom will demand to know where I’ve been when I get home, I’m sure, so I think I’ll avoid going back there until later today when Joey brings Amelia back. My day is completely free.”

I grinned. “So, what would you like to do today then?”

“Honestly? I think I’d like to sleep for a few more hours.” She smiled at me. “Here, in this bed with you. I’m not ready to face the big, bad world again just yet.”

My grin widened. “I think that’s doable.”

I pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her naked waist. We lay there together, tight against each other.

For a moment, I let myself imagine that this was our life instead of something we had to hide from everyone. I imagined waking up every goddamn morning with my arm wrapped around Caley. She would be the first person I saw every single day for the rest of my life. To me, that sounded like pure fucking heaven.

Neither of us was rich. In fact, we were pretty much both borderline dirt poor. Most people would have looked at the life I imagined and scoffed. I knew we’d never have an amazing life filled with the finer things. We’d never have brand-new cars or a huge house.

And I was okay with that because I would have Caley…and Amelia. That would be far better than anything else I could imagine. Time would give me exactly what I wanted. All I needed to do was be patient.

We didn’t crawl out of bed until well into the afternoon after I’d finally convinced myself that I couldn’t sleep any longer. Feeling positively disgusting, I asked Ethan if I could take a shower. He let me borrow a shirt of his along with a pair of boxers, and then he sent me into the bathroom while he threw my clothes in the washer for me.

I took my time in his shower, trying to come to terms with what had happened last night. I’d had sex with Ethan. It had been mind-blowing sex, the best I’d ever had. He’d made me feel like the most beautiful woman on this planet. I was ashamed of what pregnancy had done to my body, but he’d pushed my worries aside, like they were nothing.

He’d taken the time to show me that I was sexy in his eyes. Plain old Caley was sexy and cherished.

The warm feeling from last night hadn’t left me. I felt as if I was practically glowing with happiness. For the first time that I could remember, I didn’t despise my body. My stretch marks no longer felt like they had neon signs and flashing lights around them, making them stand out even more than they already did.

In one night, Ethan had helped me learn to love myself just a little bit.

Once I finished with my shower, I climbed out and dried off. I dressed in my borrowed clothes and ran one of Ethan’s combs through my hair to get the tangles out. Once I felt human again, I left the bathroom and headed back into the bedroom.

Ethan was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at his phone with a frown. I stepped closer, curious to see what was wrong.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

He turned to look at me as he slid his phone into his pocket. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“What was up with your phone?” When he gave me a questioning look, I explained, “I saw you frowning when you were reading something.”

He shrugged. “Danielle texted me.”

My mouth popped open in shock. With everything going on, I’d completely forgotten about the girl who had set all of this in motion.

“I forgot about her,” I admitted. “Bad time to ask, but have you ended things with her?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, I’m still taking her on dates while sleeping with you.”

“I had to ask,” I said, ignoring his sarcastic tone.

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said simply.

“What did you tell her?” I asked. “When you ended things, I mean.”