Unchained (23 page)

Something in his voice didn’t seem right.

“Why? Is everything okay?”

He stuck his face into the water and made her wait for an answer. Was he stalling? Looking for a way to explain?

“Calder,” she snapped when he swiped a hand down his face to get rid of the water. “What’s going on?” Stephanie knew she was using her dragon-lady voice and didn’t care.

“Everything is fine, sweetheart,” he assured her. “Stop worrying so much.”

Oh, yeah. Like that was even possible. Almost from the moment they returned to Arizona after an estrangement that felt like nails in a coffin, shit had been steadily building until everything was off the hook in one way or another.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled their wet bodies together. “Babe, relax. We just made love. We’re engaged. Not a lot to be concerned about if you ask me.”

That was his answer to everything, and she loved him for it. Calder had this way of cutting through the noise and bullshit—going straight to the heart of almost any matter with a keen eye for what mattered.

“Parker wants to see me about the property. That’s all. He knows we’re eager to move into our own place before Alex and Meghan come home.”

She hung her head for a moment and stared at his throat. Guilt washed over her. Wrapped up in her own worries, she wasn’t thinking about him. With Cam M.I.A. and Alex gone, it was all on Calder and Drae’s shoulders. The family and the agency. She’d seen how the stress was working on him.

“I love you,” she murmured.

He hugged her tight. “It’s okay, Stephanie. You’re allowed to be concerned. We bit off more than we can chew. I honestly don’t know how Alex does it.”

She’d had the same thought a hundred times.

“Let’s rinse off before I get all pruney.”

He laughed and turned her around under the water so she could rinse her hair.

“I can always tell when your brain is in overdrive.”

“How?” she asked on a half sputter when she opened her eyes too quickly and water hit her face.

“You don’t know?”

“Did I curse out loud? Is that it?”

She honestly didn’t know.

Gathering up all her hair, he squeezed out the excess water, left it down her back, and pushed her out of the water fall.

“No, although I must say, you have the sexiest dirty mouth around.”

Stepping out of the tile enclosure, she reached for a towel to wrap her hair in. She bent forward to secure it around her head and yelped when he smacked her soundly on the butt.

“You drop the Georgia sass,” he informed her.

Wrapping the second towel around her body, she considered this new revelation. Dammit! He was right.

With a side-glance, she purred, “Shugah, you smack my bottom like that again, and I’ll be showing you some Georgia sass.”

“Cheeky wench,” he teased as she smiled brightly. “You haven’t said what your plans are. Need a ride anywhere?”

“No, but thanks. I’m good. Having lunch with Betty and her friend Cheryl. I have some ideas for Cheryl’s business.”

Calder did a double take between vigorously toweling off and reaching for his clothes.

“For real?”

“Sure. Why not? Festivities with a female theme are sort of my thing.”

“Female theme?” He laughed. “Don’t you mean Chicks R Us?”

“I’ll stop by Tori’s first. See what’s up. Lacey texted to let me know she took the boys out to Busty’s for breakfast. I think she’s checking up on the construction. Did you see the mock-ups of the western storefronts? Meghan will be delighted.”

“Speaking of Meghan and the family center, I’ll remind Parker when I see him that we need to draft an agreement for Heather to look over. We’ll have no problem getting our program approved through the veteran’s outreach project once she presents her credentials.”

She was reaching for a pair of capri pants when he took them from her hands. “Tossing them aside with a dismissive, “I hate these things,” Stephanie nibbled on her bottom lip to stop from smirking. Calder had opinions about what she wore and never had anything been funnier.

Standing there with her wet hair wrapped in a towel and wearing only her undies, she waited impatiently as he raided her closet and picked out something she was relatively sure would either be short or low cut. It wasn’t so much tits and ass with him as it was legs, arms, hair, stomach, boobs, and bottom. In other words, he was a fan of the whole package.

Coming back with a short white halter style sundress, she bit off a snicker. Men. So sweetly predictable.

“Wear this,” he said. “And those wedge sandals.”

Stephanie just looked at him but didn’t move. He wanted to dress her up like a paper doll? Fine by her. Except he had to do the work. Raising her arms above her head, she smiled brightly.

Taking up the challenge, Calder wasted no time pulling the dress over her head. Hell, he even put his hands inside the bodice and scooped her breasts into perfect position for the sexy low cut halter. If she hadn’t been wearing a bra, she was pretty sure he would have taken plenty of liberties with her flesh.

To her astonishment, he didn’t stop there. Sitting on a stool while he dried her wet blond mane, she decided nothing was sexier than a man playing with her hair.

She reciprocated and made an enormous production out of dressing him in business casual clothes. If he was heading into Sedona for a meeting about anything Justice, he might as well look the part.

After admiring the way he wore a pair of jeans—it was Arizona, after all—and a pale blue shirt, she helped him slide on a basic sports coat then stepped back to survey her handiwork.

“Do I pass?” he asked jokingly.

Stephanie caressed his chest and gave him a heated look. “Mr. Dane. Yes, you pass. Now, if you know what’s good for you, get your cute butt in gear before I forget to be a lady and take you back to bed.”

“Oh god, no!” he teased. Grabbing a handful of her ass, he hauled her in for a quick kiss. “Putting you on a sex diet, Duchess. Once is all you get this morning. You be good today, darlin’,” he added with a wicked leer, “and we’ll see about later.”

She laughed merrily and smacked him on the chest playfully. “Be good? Maybe later? Who are you kidding, shugah?”

In typical alpha style, he cupped her nape and held her head as he put his face right up to hers. “Behave,” he growled.

“Or what?”

Whispering in her ear, he told her exactly what. She heard the words ass up. And something about how sexy it was when her legs shook as she came.

Was it too late to tear their clothes off and start now?

Shocked when she felt his hand slide inside the front of her panties, she melted down the second his fingers found their destination.

Calder bit her earlobe and grunted. “Somebody likes it dirty.”

He was correct about that. Having lived a mostly celibate life after her Daniel had died, she’d been mildly shocked at how quickly she became aroused when he took things to lewd and crude territory. If anyone else ever spoke to her like that, she’d probably smack them good. But hearing all that dirty talk coming from Calder? She was helpless in her response.

No use in pretending—she widened her stance and wrapped her arms around his neck, hissing when his fingers slid into her body and then quickly whimpering as he hit all the right spots.

“Look at me,” he growled demandingly.

Slowly but surely stroking her with his fingers, Calder ground the palm of his hand on her sensitive clit while massaging her inner walls with lovely precision. With her clinging to his neck and her gaze focused solely on him, she surrendered to the pleasure and lost herself in a swift, pulsing orgasm.

“You are fucking fantastic, Duchess,” he told her after withdrawing his fingers and patting her still trembling mound through her panties.

Her only response was to kiss him slowly. Deeply. Passionately.

On their way out of the house, she stopped to search her purse and the table where she kept her odds and ends for her phone. Why was the damn thing never where she thought it was?

Leaving the house without it was out of the question. Calder kept close tabs on her whenever she left the Villa. Stephanie liked to tease him about his macho ways even though they both knew full well she gloried in his overprotective nature. And besides, she had a ton of resources on her phone she wanted to share with Betty and Cheryl. Starting with her ideas for a Mommy and Me event that would bring in all sorts of contacts and business for Stork Creations.

“Honey, have you seen my phone?” she called out. Whirling around to see if he knew the whereabouts of her missing phone, she wobbled slightly as her head spun to catch up.

“Whoa,” she muttered. She blindly reached for something, anything to grab.

Calder was on top of her in a flash. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she choked out weakly. “Felt dizzy for a moment.”

And then she gracefully slithered to the floor.

Panic gripped him when all the color drained from Stephanie’s face, and she went limp as her body collapsed. He caught her long before hitting the floor was a possibility.

Oh, dear lord. What was happening?

Cradling his love, he carried her unconscious body to the sofa in the formal living room and carefully laid her down. Shoving a pillow beneath her feet to raise them above her heart, Calder replayed every first-aid course he’d ever taken in his mind searching for what to do.

He didn’t know what the equivalent was for the phrase a Spanish angel of mercy, but that was who appeared to save the day.

“Meester Calder,” he heard Carmen mutter. “What happened?”

Meeting the housekeeper’s worried frown, he said, “I don’t know. One minute, we were getting ready to go out, and the next, she blacked out.”

“Maldición!” Carmen swore as she bent over Stephanie’s lifeless form. “Run to the kitchen and bring back a wet towel. Órale!”

Sprinting for the kitchen, he grabbed the first towel he found, turned on the faucet full blast, and wet it, as water splashed everywhere. Running back to the living room, Calder was relieved to see Carmen on an ottoman patting Stephanie’s hand.

Handing her the towel, he dropped to his knee and took over squeezing his fiancée’s hand as the wise older woman gently swiped the cool, wet cloth across Stephanie’s forehead and up and down her cheeks.

“What happened,” she asked in a small voice.

“You passed out,” he told her, being careful to keep the worry from his voice.

“Oh. Really?”

Carmen pushed some stray hair from Stephanie’s face. “When did you eat last, Meesus Stephanie?”

Had they eaten breakfast? Fuck. He was so rattled Calder couldn’t remember.

Stephanie struggled to sit up, but both of them pressed her back.

“Um, I had coffee earlier. And a nibble of toast. Haven’t been hungry.”

Carmen’s critical frown didn’t do anything to alleviate his anxiety. How had he dropped the ball and not known she wasn’t feeling well?

Carmen stood up and gave Stephanie a kind smile. “You stay put. I’ll heat up a scone with some honey butter.” And then she was gone.

Calder kissed the hand he held so tightly. She turned her head and met his gaze. The color was back in her cheeks, and she looked fine. He took a deep breath and gave thanks.

“Scared the shit out of me, Duchess. Don’t ever do that again.”

Stephanie’s sweet smile calmed his frazzled nerves. Turning on her side, she lay still and held his gaze. “I love the way you take care of me.”

Since he hadn’t picked up on her lack of appetite or the fact that she hadn’t eaten all day, he couldn’t do anything except frown with skepticism.

Kissing her hand again, he silently vowed he’d do a better job from here on out. And he would too even if it meant tailing her like a private detective.