Kaleb (13 page)

There
was a spark of recognition in his eyes, and Zoey was pretty sure Kaleb realized
what she needed almost as much as she did. In a move that damn near stole her
breath, Zoey found herself face first on the mattress, Kaleb kneeling behind
her. Gripping her hips, he pulled her to her knees, thrusting his cock into her
in one swift move that had her body spasming, her orgasm igniting, threatening
to break loose.

With
his fingers digging into her hips, Kaleb began ramming into her from behind,
his cock filling her with every thrust, but there was no pain, only mind
numbing bliss.

“Fuck.”
He groaned from behind her, and Zoey began rocking her hips, so she met each
body slamming assault, her muscles involuntarily clamping down on him as she
fought to stem the orgasm that was building.

She
screamed, reveling in the way he’d lost control, taking her, claiming her,
possessing her.

“Kaleb!”
Oh, God. She was going to come, her body couldn’t take any more, it was too
sweet, too hot,
too
good. “I’m coming!”

And
as she did, her body propelled itself into the ether, every nerve ending ablaze
with the ferocity of the way he used her body.

There
was an animalistic growl that shattered her mind at the same time her second
orgasm tore through her. Kaleb stilled, his cock pulsing, filling her, igniting
another mini explosion deep in her womb.

♂♀

Kaleb
stilled, momentarily unable to do more than breathe. What the hell just
happened?

Well,
he wasn’t stupid, he knew what happened, but how the hell had he let it go that
far?

“Kaleb?”
Zoey’s sweet voice broke through his momentary trance, bringing him back to the
present and the soft, female laying on his bed, looking back at him from over
her shoulder.

“Are
you ok?” He asked, ready to apologize profusely. After the way they made love
the night before, for him to have taken her like a wild fucking animal was so
uncalled for, he didn’t know what to think.

“Better than ok.”
She said, her soft hand sliding over his thigh.

“I’m
–”
Wait, what?
Kaleb looked at Zoey, really looked at her and noticed
the smile tipping her lips.

Relief,
warm and welcome washed over him as he eased himself back down on the bed,
pulling Zoey against him. When she turned in his arms, her small, cool fingers trailing
his neck, Kaleb closed his eyes.

“Promise
we’ll do that again.”

She
couldn’t have surprised him more than she did in that moment. Although what
they had just done was tame in comparison to what Kaleb had done in the past;
to know that he hadn’t sent Zoey running and screaming from his house made it
easier to breathe.

Turning
away from her, he still found it difficult to look her in the eye. If she’d
only known the things going through his mind, all of the ways he wanted to
pleasure her, to possess her, she’d probably blush fifty shades of crimson. In
fact, if she knew the fantasies he wanted to live out with Zoey, she would
probably never look at him again.

Pulling
her against him, he held her close; wondering if now would be the time to
insert some distance between them again. Maybe he was on to something all those
years ago when he hadn’t touched her, because what he wanted from her now
bordered on raunchy and lascivious. To know that she was open to his more
carnal urges, he was scared of what he might ask of her.

But
he could sense it within her. She loved sex. She was open and eager, the
complete opposite of the innocence he’d expected.

Figuring
now was not the time to go into that, he forced his eyes closed, willing
himself to sleep. For just a little while longer, he wanted to enjoy the feel
of her in his arms.

▫▪▫▪

By
the time Tuesday rolled around, Kaleb was feeling the whiplash from the
emotional roller coaster he’d been strapped to since Saturday night when he
brought Zoey back to his house. After their little encounter Sunday morning,
Kaleb had battled with some internal demons where she was concerned.

But,
she’d had a smile on her face when she asked him to take her home. He’d been
surprised to tell the truth, having expected her to stay until he moved her
along, which he never would have done if he had a say in it. It was as though
the tables had turned, and he’d turned into a clingy woman.

She
told him that she hoped to see him later, but as of yet, he hadn’t heard from
her. Nor had he called or stopped by to see her and he was feeling like a
complete and total asshole. The funny thing was
,
he
wasn’t avoiding her because he didn’t want to see her again.

Shit,
if he had a choice, Zoey would be in his bed every night, and he’d wake up to her
beautiful face each morning. And wasn’t that a swift kick in the nuts? He did
not do relationships, not since the psycho bitch had all but torn his heart
out.

“What’s
up, Bubba?” Braydon called out as he came banging through the back door, a
cluster of energy, just like always. He’d come to call every one of them
“Bubba”, with the exception of his twin, and he still did so, even at twenty
nine years old. Half the time they had no idea whom he was talking to but since
Kaleb was the only one in the small office he knew he was the intended target.

“Why
are you here?” He asked. “Thought you’d be out at that garage tear down.”

“Brendon’s
got it covered. His job’s been pushed out a couple of days.
Problems
with the permits or something.
He didn’t want to be stuck in the office,
so he offered to head on over there.”

Fucking permits
.
Kaleb hated that part of the job, but thankfully Sawyer had taken over that
piece, along with his sales position. Something about being better equipped to
flirt with the ladies down at the permit office in order to get what he wanted.
Flirt.
Right.
Sawyer was likely bedding them if
they were under the age of thirty anyway.

“So,
what’s up with you and Zoey?” Braydon asked, grabbing an energy drink from the
fridge and plopping down in one of the chairs across from Kaleb’s desk. As if
he needed any more fucking energy.

Kaleb
didn’t answer the question, just threw a glare in his general direction, one
that told him that he wasn’t interested in having this conversation.

“Come
on, man.” Braydon leaned back, sitting his drink on his flat stomach and eyeing
him with that look that said he was in it for the long haul. “I always knew you
had a thing for her, but seriously? I’m surprised she’d give you the time of
day.”

Braydon
and Brendon graduated with Zoey, and Kaleb knew his twin brothers liked to give
him a hard time about her, but it was only because they were close to her. They
might not have been as close as she and Kaleb had been as far as friends go,
but they looked out for her just the same.

“Shut
the hell up.” Kaleb grumbled, clicking through the images on his screen. They
had a big project coming up, and it didn’t have anything to do with demolishing
something. If he didn’t figure out a way to get his shit together, he might
just be single handedly responsible for sending Travis over the edge. The man
was hanging there as it was.

“Did
you get ol’ Stranford to come around on the land?” Braydon asked, apparently
giving up on the Zoey conversation, which Kaleb certainly wasn’t prepared to have.

“Not
yet.” That wasn’t exactly true because Kaleb had another meeting with Carl
Stranford that afternoon, at the other man’s request.

To
his surprise, Carl had called Monday morning, asking Kaleb to come by so they
could work out the deal. It looked like Kaleb’s frequent visits got the man to
thinking, but now, based on the news Kaleb had learned just that morning, there
might be a bigger problem. He only hoped he could figure out what to do about
it before Travis got involved.

“I’m
meeting with him this afternoon.” Kaleb told Braydon when he continued to stare
at him.

Surprised
when Braydon leaned forward, lowering his voice, Kaleb stared back at his
younger brother.

“Seriously,”
Braydon said, his voice tight, “be good to her, man. That Jason prick she was
married to... He was a class act. She might not know all that he did, but the
bastard was running around on her for quite some time. Too bad for him, Bren
and I found out about it. Let’s just say he was inspired to want to see the
world.”

Fuck
.

Kaleb
stared back at Braydon, trying to grasp what he’d just told him. His brothers
had run Zoey’s husband out of town because the slimy bastard was cheating on
her. “What the fuck?”

“It
wasn’t pretty, Kaleb. He’d been through more women than all of us together.”
Braydon said with that lopsided grin that women flocked to. “That’s saying
something.”

“Does
she know?” Of course she didn’t know, or Zoey might very well never forgive the
twins for interfering in her life.

“Hell no.
Let’s just say Jason
relocated
...
With his pregnant
girlfriend.
I warned him not to make his presence known when he comes
back to visit his folks.”

Holy shit
.

Kaleb
couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Granted, he didn’t know much about Zoey’s
split with her ex-husband, but that was because his own life had been in utter
chaos at the time and it had been all he could do not to drink himself into a
blind fury each and every night.

“She’s
a friend.” Braydon confirmed, sitting up straight once again. “No one wants to
see her hurt.”

Kaleb
was top of that list. The problem... He wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t be the one
to do just that. The woman stoked a fire in his blood, one he feared he
wouldn’t be able to control. More than that, he worried he’d push her beyond
her limits and she’d be disgusted by what she learned about him.

The
rumors about the Walker boys weren’t just rumors. It was a hard fact – one
their parents weren’t exactly fond of, but had chosen to turn a blind eye to –
that they shared women. Braydon and Brendon were notorious for it, but the
others, with the exception of Ethan that they knew of, had had many of women
between them.
At the same time.

Kaleb
would be the first to admit the difficulty in denying the urges. The pleasure
that they could bring a woman when there was more than one of them was
intoxicating. They didn’t flaunt it, but they didn’t deny it either. Kaleb knew
when it came to Zoey, he’d dreamed about taking her, watching her come apart at
the hands of one of his brothers, or hell, his best friend Gage, but he also
knew he could restrain the urge if needed.

He
hated himself for it, but heaven help him, he didn’t want to hold back. And
that was what he feared would be the final straw when it came to what might be
happening between them.

“You
don’t have to worry, Bray. I hear you loud and clear.” Kaleb mumbled as his
brother walked out of the room, but he knew he heard him.

Now
if he could just get the situation with Carl Stranford taken care of, he might
have half a chance of proving to Zoey that he had her best interest in mind.
Not that what he had to do was going to be easy, nor was it going to make any
of his brothers happy with him.

♂♀

“Mr.
Stranford?” Kaleb called from the porch, after rapping his knuckles on the
door.

Zoey’s
truck wasn’t in the drive, which meant she was probably working or maybe out
with Vanessa.
Likely Carl’s reason for scheduling this impromptu
meeting so late in the day.

Being
that it was a little after five, Kaleb wasn’t sure when Zoey was going to be
home. He only hoped he and Carl could come to a decision before then because he
was almost certain she wouldn’t be any happier about the situation than his
brothers were going to be.
Which couldn’t be helped.

“In here, boy.”
Carl’s gruff voice called from the interior of the house.

Kaleb
let himself in, glanced around just to reassure himself that Zoey wasn’t there.
Not that he didn’t want to see her.
Just
the opposite.
But if he was supposed to have a conversation with Carl,
having Zoey close by would likely be too much of a distraction.

“Thanks
for coming over here.” Carl said from his reclining chair.

Kaleb
glanced around the tidy living room; one he remembered being exactly the same
for most of his life. Only now it seemed a little dated. That didn’t say much
for Kaleb’s age either. There was a time in his life when the room would have
been in style so to speak.

“Have
a seat.” Carl pointed to the couch, and Kaleb did as he was told. Folding
himself down to the couch, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees,
giving Carl his attention.