Think About Love (24 page)

He turned her in his arms and lifted her, hands on her buttocks.

"Wrap your legs around me," he growled, and she gripped him with her legs and he bent his head, his hair in her face, and sucked so deeply that she cried out.

"Cal, oh, God!"

He gripped her buttocks and thrust up into her and she clenched herself around him and held tight, her arms and her legs and the muscles deep inside that made her feel him hard, filling her, so deep she could only moan, ragged moans with each thrust. Her head... she couldn't... felt the wall at her back. She let her head fall, gave herself up to the heat clawing inside her, clawing and pulsing, and she sobbed with unbearable ecstasy each time he filled her. She heard his harsh groans tear the air with hers, and she couldn't... she couldn't... she would....

The world shattered, exploded inside her and she screamed a long scream that had no end, and in it she heard his release and felt the forceful thrust of his sex spilling inside her.

Air tore through her, gulping breaths. Water streamed over them, Cal's face pressed into her throat. His breath, harsh, ragged.

She closed her eyes and sensations filled her. Inside, the spasms returned, weaker now, draining the last trace of energy from her body. Cal, inside her. She felt... she felt—

"Samantha?" His voice was ragged, like his breath.

He tightened his grip on her hips, and she felt him slip out of her. He dragged his mouth from her throat, and she opened her eyes. He was close; his eyes flecked with gold, the water streaming down his head.

"Samantha? Are you OK?"

She thought it was going to be a laugh, but no sound came.

"Sam?"

She looped her arms tighter around his neck and pulled his head close, so she could kiss him. "Cal, I'll never think of showers in the same way again."

She felt his laughter and had to close her eyes again, because the sensation washed through her like water. "Cal?"

"Yeah?" He lowered her, slowly, and her feet found the ground.

She wanted him to do it again. She wanted—heavens, how
could
she want, after that? "Do you think a person can become addicted?"

His grin was wolfish, and she felt a wave of hot weakness surge through her. "Addicted to making love in the shower?"

She knew she needed to make herself form words to correct him. They'd had
sex,
but the word wouldn't form on her lips.

"I didn't just mean... not just the shower." She couldn't hold his gaze and she dropped down and fumbled for the soap, trapped it finally in the corner of the shower.

"It's your turn," she said soberly, and she began to soap his feet.

"Sam—"

She looked up at him. "If you get to make me lose control...." And, heavens, how he'd seduced control from her. "Then I get to do it too."

"Sam," his voice sounded strangled, "after what we just did, it's going to be a while before I can do anything."

She smiled and lathered the soap. "So this shouldn't bother you then," she said softly, and she began to slowly, ever so slowly, turning the soap into lather, covering every inch of his body.

She heard him groan when she did his thighs, a groan of protest, she thought. Later, when she had soaped his chest and shoulders, when she'd stopped to tease his nipples with her tongue, she returned to his belly, smoothing thick lather. By then, he was breathing in harsh explosions, his hands clenched at his sides. She saw his erect sex jerk as she skimmed over his hips, and heard him moan her name. Her chest filled with something too overwhelming to name and she swallowed hard. Then she lathered his clenched hands and murmured, "Such rigid control."

She was kneeling in front of him and she slid her hands up to his buttocks. They were rock hard. His whole body was hard, like steel.

"What would it take for you to lose control?" she asked softly. She wanted to taste him, needed to know what would happen when she did, to feel his body jerk in response.

"If you do what you're thinking of," he growled, "you'll find out."

She'd never done it before, wasn't quite sure how, but she bent her head and took him into her mouth, and when he cried out she felt it through her whole body.

Chapter Eleven

She needed to rethink everything. This marriage. The relationship... friendship, whatever it was. The whole thing had made sense a couple of days ago, but then they'd gone to Haida Sunset and he'd turned her into some kind of love slave.

Well, to be fair, he hadn't done it all by himself. Her face flamed as she remembered what had happened in the shower. And afterward, in the bed. And the next morning, astride him on the big easy chair by the window, with the cool air-conditioning flowing over her naked shoulders and Cal deep inside her.

She'd never known, never understood... never....

Well, she'd just never. This was different, soul-shattering, mind-numbing, hot, overwhelming... loving. Not love. Not like
in love,
not like giving control of your world to someone else, but it was just that the word
sex
didn't really cover what happened when he touched her.

He didn't even need to touch her. When he looked at her, telling her his thoughts without words, she felt herself heat, felt moisture. When she sat, like this, in the car, wanting to ask him to stop, to pull off the road before they got back to Gabriola, because she needed him now.

He would pull under the trees on a side road, pull her into his lap, cup her buttocks, and she'd clench inside, hungry... ready. Needing.

She didn't. Not actually
need
. It was... cumulative hunger, because this feeling had been waiting for her all these years, and now she'd discovered her own body in Cal's arms... his body... she couldn't seem to get enough.

They were traveling the new Island Highway, built to take them from city to city. No side roads, nowhere to pull off.

"Cal?"

"Hmm." He didn't turn his head, but he reached out a hand and captured hers to bring it to his side.

Of course she wouldn't ask him to stop. That belonged back at Haida Sunset, with their honeymoon. They had things to do today. Cal would be flying back to Seattle for his Monday afternoon meeting. Even now, she could see him thinking of work. He'd be planning, going over the priorities for the Lloyd e-commerce phase. She needed to get back, take over responsibility for Dorothy from Adrienne and look after Kippy. She needed to check her e-mail, too, to make sure nothing had come unraveled over the weekend.

"Did you say something?" Cal asked.

"I was wondering if we'd make the eleven forty-five ferry to Gabriola."

He shot her a smile that sent her pulse hammering. "We'd have made the ten-forty if we hadn't stopped to make love."

"How long will you be gone?" She'd been determined not to ask, determined not to need him so badly she'd beg for him to return, beg him not to go.

"I can't get back tonight." He sounded irritated, and she couldn't stop a stab of satisfaction that he seemed as disappointed as she was. "I'll be back tomorrow night, though it may be late. I'll bring your car, shall I, so we'll have it to drive back to Seattle with Kippy? Do you think there's room in the trunk for Kippy's things?"

"Yes, except the playpen, but we can get one in Seattle."

Yesterday, in the caves, she'd decided she wouldn't live with him, that she would return to Seattle, to her own apartment. A short-lived decision. She'd be alone tonight, but tomorrow night he would love her again, although they'd have to be quiet, not to disturb the baby. Tomorrow, she decided, she would be calmer, tamer. She'd enjoy it... oh, heavens, she'd enjoy it, but she was getting used to his touch, wasn't she? And she'd take it more calmly next time.

Right.

They caught the eleven forty-five ferry, though only because it was ten minutes late.

"I'll have to take off right away," said Cal as he drove onto the ferry. He'd arranged to have a local pilot fly the chopper to Dorothy's so it would be waiting for him when they got back.

"Yes," she agreed, unfastening her seat belt as he parked the car in the ferry's center aisle. "I'm going to go up front to watch the water."

He came with her and they stood, staring at Gabriola as it came closer.

"We'll come here a lot," he said.

"You don't take enough time off to go anywhere a lot."

"I will now."

Uneasiness crawled at the back of her mind. She'd lost control this weekend, big time. First in the dark, in bed, then it had spread to the shower, to the daylight, and now she felt sensitized, as if one look could bring her to his bed, no matter where it happened. At work, in a crowded conference, in the car crawling through Seattle's rush hour.

She'd been counting on circumstances being on her side. He'd go back to work and the job would swallow her. They'd touch, love, in the dark, at night, and the rest of her life would return to something approaching normal.

And it would. He might plan to take time off, but Tremaine's would swallow him, because he loved it and couldn't let the reins go. She'd get herself back under control, at least during the daylight hours.

Dorothy was sitting cross-legged on the lawn, some twenty feet from the waiting helicopter, when Cal and Samantha drove up. She got to her feet as Samantha climbed out of the car, lifting the baby into her arms and walking toward them.

"Grandma!" Samantha hurried to Dorothy. "I'll take Kippy. You shouldn't be lifting her."

Dorothy accepted Samantha's kiss and held onto the baby. "She's sleeping. I'm putting her down for her nap. Don't worry about me. Adrienne's watching me like a hawk. When Kippy wakes up, you tell her I'll be back in a few hours. Adrienne and I have an appointment."

"Don't you need to get back to the hospital?"

Dorothy snorted. "That's nonsense, too, and at least Adrienne has the sense to see it. We're off to the university."

"The university?"

"That's right," said Dorothy, and she left Samantha staring after her as she walked slowly to the house, the baby against her shoulder.

"What's she talking about? She's sick. She shouldn't be carrying a baby, shouldn't be tearing around."

Cal said, "We'll get the story from Adrienne."

"You have to leave." She didn't,
wouldn't
let herself need him to get through the day. Bad enough she couldn't imagine a night without him. "You'd better go. I'll look after this."

Cal ignored her words, taking her hand and walking toward the house. Dorothy disappeared inside and Adrienne came through the door to stand on the porch with her hands on her hips, watching Cal and Samantha approach.

"You're looking a little more relaxed, brother," she teased.

Cal grinned. "What have you been up to while we were gone? Dorothy's talking about going back to college."

"Not back," said Samantha. "She's never been."

Adrienne held out her hand to Cal. "Give me your keys. We need to catch the one-twenty ferry. We'll take your car. Dorothy's needs a valve job. You should do something about that, brother."

"What's going on?" demanded Samantha.

Cal's sister smiled at her. "Sorry, I'm so used to teasing Cal, I didn't think—I'm no cardiologist, but I can't make sense of this doctor's diagnosis of Dorothy. She's having spasms, cramps, but no pain in her left arm, and the fever isn't consistent with heart failure. I've called in a couple of favors and taken an extra couple of days off. I'm taking Dorothy over to the university research hospital where a friend of mine has agreed to run a few tests."

Cal frowned. "You're leaving Sam stranded without a vehicle."

"Who's doing the tests?" demanded Samantha.

"Dennis Rachers," said Adrienne. "Head of the cardiology unit."

"Oh."

Cal said to his sister, "I'll get you a rental car."

Samantha shook her head. "Take Cal's. I'll use Dorothy's."

"It's got bad valves," said Cal.

"It's good enough to get around the island."

"We'll be back first thing in the morning," said Adrienne. "The tests are being done tonight, after the place closes." She grinned. "How else did you think I could get her past the waiting lists? We'll stay in a hotel out by the university, and get back on an early ferry tomorrow. There's food in the fridge, diapers, and formula in the pantry."