With Me In Seattle: Bundle Two (23 page)

“Ah, Caleb, that feels so good.”

He grins against my breast and repeats the motion on the other side, sucking and tugging my nipple with his lips. He moves his hips, just enough to cause friction between the head of his cock and my clit, and I groan his name.

“Gonna make this last, sweetheart,” he whispers.

“I need you, Caleb.”

“I’m right here,” he replies softly.

My body is on fire for this man. I can’t stop moving beneath him, can’t stop my hands from roaming over every damn amazing inch of his smooth skin.

Finally, he slips just the very tip of his cock inside me and stops, pulls his face back up to my own, kissing me deeply and passionately, sliding his tongue along my own, cupping my face in his large hands.

He’s worshipping my body, and it’s the most amazing fucking thing I’ve ever felt in my entire life.

He slowly slides the rest of his cock in my pussy and then swears under his breath as he holds himself there, sheathed in me.

“So damn amazing,” he whispers.

The room is quiet, the house still, as he makes soft sweet love to me. Our breathing is labored, but we hardly make any sound at all as he moves above me and I raise and lower my hips to meet him, relishing the way his hardness feels inside me.

It’s as though he’s home.

“Love you so much,” I whisper into his shoulder as his pubis presses against my clit, sending me into a rolling orgasm, gentle as a calm ocean wave, but no less staggering than the wild choppy seas of a hurricane as he follows me over the edge and into his own climax.

He shudders above me, not making any noise as he collapses beside me and pulls me into his arms.

If he heard my declaration seconds ago, he doesn’t say. He simply tucks me up against him, pushes his fingers through my hair and kisses my forehead before falling into a deep sleep.

After several minutes, I untangle myself from his embrace to go to the restroom and clean myself up, pull on some clothes, and mentally pull myself together.

Did he not hear me?

Possible.

When I return to the bedroom, he’s turned onto his side, facing away from my side of the bed. I climb in behind him and lie on my side, several inches from him, watching him as he breathes in sleep. The light from the moon casts a shadow of light over his back, illuminating his tattoo.

I can’t resist tracing the letters and numbers with the tip of my finger. He’s so much more than what’s written in these four lines.

He’s everything I’ve ever wanted.

Chapter Eighteen

~Caleb~

I’ve avoided her all day. All fucking day. And that’s not easy to do when the person you’re avoiding is the one you’re living with and doing your damnedest to protect.

It’s not easy.

But for my own sanity, it’s necessary.

I heard her last night when she whispered that she loved me while I was buried inside her and couldn’t tell where I ended and she began. She didn’t have to say the words aloud, I could fucking
feel
her, and to say it scared the shit out of me is an understatement.

So I did the only thing I knew and ignored it.

Because somewhere along the line I fell in love with her, too, and now I’m too much of a pussy to admit it.

I slide out from under the sink in the kitchen, throw my wrench in my toolbox and wipe my hands on a towel. I’ve managed to work out twice, repair a loose board on the deck, re-caulk the bathtub in the kids’ bathroom, and repair a leak under the kitchen sink, all since we all returned home from work and school this afternoon.

I even opted out of eating dinner with Brynna and the girls, insisting that I’d eaten a big lunch at work.

I’m fucking starving.

I frown as Bix saunters around the kitchen island, sniffing for any scraps that may have fallen while Brynna made dinner, and comes to me for an ear rub.

“Hey, boy,” I whisper and kiss his cheek while I rub him down. “How are you feeling?”

Bix nudges my chin with his head and sits next to me on the floor, enjoying the attention.

“You’re such a faker,” I mumble with a laugh. “You get more attention from those two little girls than you have in your whole life.”

He grins up at me and moans as I rub the sensitive area around his injured ear.

“Does that still give you problems, boy?” I ask with a whisper and gently massage the tender area.

“What’s wrong with him?”

I glance up, surprised to see Maddie standing in the kitchen and I didn’t hear her approach. She’s in a long nightgown. Her dark hair is still wet from her bath, but it’s been combed to hang over her shoulders. She’s barefoot and holding her doll close to her chest.

She’s all fresh and clean and just about the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.

“Nothing, buttercup,” I respond and smile. “Sometimes his ear just hurts.”

“Oh.” She frowns and watches me rub Bix’s face. “Poor Bix.”

“He’s okay,” I reassure her. “What are you up to?”

“I want you to read us a story and tuck us in, so Mom said I should come find you.”

She watches me with wide sleepy eyes.

“Shall we take Bix up and read a story?” I ask her with a smile.

“Yes, please,” she responds happily.

I rise from my seat on the floor and motion for Bix to follow us up the stairs. Brynna is just coming out of the girls’ room as we approach, and she hugs Maddie tight and grins at her.

“Good night, baby girl,” Brynna croons to her daughter.

“’Night, Mama,” Maddie responds and jumps up into her bed. Bix happily curls up on his bed between the two, but he’s not fooling me.

He’ll be up on one of their beds as soon as I turn the light out and leave.

“You and I need to talk,” Brynna murmurs to me before turning and walking down the stairs.

Yeah, we do, Legs.

“Come over here with us, jelly bean, and we’ll read a story.”

Josie climbs into Maddie’s bed, and the two little girls curl up together. “I want Ferdinand,” Josie informs me.

“Ferdinand it is, then.” I grin and find on their bookshelf the book about the bull before sitting on the edge of the bed to read.

Bix sighs as I begin the story about a bull who is content to just sit and smell the flowers under his favorite cork tree. The girls settle in and watch the pictures as I read, making my voice different for the different characters. They yawn, their eyes growing heavy.

By the time I reach the end, they both have their eyes closed and are breathing deeply with sleep. Rather than wake Josie and make her get into her own bed, I lift her carefully and carry her to her bed, tucking her in.

Before I can pull away, she tightens her arms around my neck in a hug and whispers, “Love you, Daddy.”

My heart stops as she wiggles away, turns on her side, and sighs as she falls back to sleep.

A sheen of sweat forms on my forehead, and pulling air in and out of my lungs is a struggle.

I need out of here.

I back out of the girls’ room, turn out the light and walk quickly down the hall through Brynna’s bedroom to the bathroom and turn the faucet on cold, briskly splashing water over my face, over and over again, not caring that I’m splashing water all over the floor, the sink, down my shirt.

I stop and lean my hands on the countertop, staring at my own dripping refection, panting, trying to drag enough air into my lungs.

Rat tat tat tat tat!

“Move, move, move! Retreat!” I call to my men in the wilderness of Afghanistan. “Get the fuck out of here!”

“Marshall is down!” Lewis yells at me from twenty yards away, shooting with precise calm at the Taliban that ambushed us.

“Fuck!”

“I’m going up the hill to try to call for help,” Bates, the fourth on our team, informs me.

“No, we stay together.” I shake my head and aim my rifle, taking out another of the enemy.

“We need backup, man,” Lewis calls over.

“You’ll get hit,” I call to Bates as we make our way through the trees. “There are at least fifty of them!”

“We need backup,” Bates repeats and looks me square in the eye. “I’m going up.”

Before I can respond, he ducks and runs back up the hill to get to high ground for the communication unit to work, and Lewis and I open fire, covering him.

“Three o’clock!” Lewis screams, and I turn to my right, firing, taking out three more Taliban.

My eyes search for Bates and find him, still making his way up the mountain.

Suddenly, I hear Lewis grunt and as I look his way, he drops to one knee, but keeps firing.

“Are you hit?”

“Affirmative, sir,” he calls back and continues to fire.

“How bad?”

He doesn’t answer. Looking up, Bates has reached the top and is setting up the comm unit when suddenly a bullet catches him in the right shoulder, knocking him back. He grimaces but pushes on, raising the CB to his mouth, calling for help. Another bullet pierces the hand holding the mouthpiece, but damn if he doesn’t pick it up with his other hand and keep talking.

“Lewis! Bates is calling for help!” I call out.

Lewis is on his stomach now, still shooting and taking down men.

My own rifle continues to fire as well, and for a moment, I think we might survive it, just one man down.

Until a fucking sniper lands a shot in Lewis’ forehead, killing him instantly.

“Motherfucker,” I growl and continue to fire in earnest, sure that all four of us will die here on this mountain, and I’ll be damned if we go out without a fight.

“Back up is coming!” Bates calls down to me, just before another bullet hits him in the left shoulder, and he slumps to the ground.

“You hold on!” I call to him, my heart beating erratically. “Get down, Bates!”

“Roger, sir,” he responds and watches me with glassy eyes as I continue to take out the enemy around us.

A flash of light comes straight for us and lands several yards away, knocking me out cold.

What am I doing?

I shake my head, pulling myself back into the here and now, and splash more water on my face with shaking hands.

I’ve wanted Brynna since the first time I laid eyes on her. She’s fucking gorgeous. Who wouldn’t want to fuck her?

But, goddamn it, she’s more than that. Why did I think I could have her in my bed and not fall in love with her?

Why couldn’t I keep my fucking hands off her?

I stare at the hollow, broken man in the mirror, knowing the answer already.

Because Brynna Vincent is it for me. There will never be another woman who can make me feel safe, make me feel happy.

Make me feel loved.

And her daughters are two little beacons of light that I just can’t resist in this dark hell I call a life.

And God knows I don’t deserve them.

Any of them.

Just the thought of Josie and Maddie calling me Daddy fills me with so much pride and so much fear I don’t know what to do with myself.

Things have gotten so far out of hand. We have to stop playing house. If not for my own sanity, for the sake of the girls, because only heartache can come of this.

I couldn’t protect my men. What in the name of Christ made me ever think I could protect these precious women?

I stomp out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, punching the keys on my phone as I move, yank my bag out of the closet and throw the few articles of clothing and toiletries I have into it, zip it, and jog down the stairs, preparing to go toe-to-toe with the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

Because I’ll never be the best thing for her.

“What are you doing?” she asks with a scowl, rising from the couch when she sees me.

“I’ve texted Matt to come be with you and the girls. It’s time I go, Bryn.”
Dear God, don’t look at me like that.

She blinks and her eyes turn sad, but she crosses her arms over her chest and thrusts her chin in the air. “Why?”

I shrug and pull my jacket over my arms.

“It’s time. I think I’ll take a job I’ve been offered in San Diego. You’ll be fine with Matt.” Every word is like a knife stabbing through my heart.

“So, I tell you I love you, my girls fall in love with you, and all you can do is
run away
?” she asks, her soft voice full of anger.

Betrayal.

“Look,” I begin and wipe my fingers over my mouth, not able to look her in the eye. “I can’t help it if you mistook me fucking you for anything more than that.”

She gasps, and I turn my back on her, my chest heaving, hating myself.

How can I do this to her?

“I figured I’d have some fun with you while I was here, but…”

“But what?” she growls between clenched teeth.

“But I don’t love you.” I can’t turn and look her in the face.
God, I love you so fucking much I can’t stand it.

I hear her breathing hard behind me and pray she doesn’t cry.

Doesn’t beg.

But this is Brynna we’re talking about, and she doesn’t beg for anything.

“I’m telling you right now, Caleb Montgomery, if you leave, you will not be welcome to come back.” Her voice wavers on the very last word, and it’s a kick in my gut.

I nod stiffly. “I’ve already texted Matt.”

“Am I supposed to fuck him, too, since he’ll be filling in for you?” she asks, her voice full of venom and anger, and she does exactly what she’s aiming for.

Stabs me right through the heart.

I’ll fucking kill him if he puts a hand on you.

I clench my jaw and my fists and turn to look her in the eye. I do my best to keep my face impassive, but I know I’m failing horribly.

I’d never crack under pressure if I were being interrogated by the enemy, but this is breaking me, and I need to get the fuck out.