Her wine arrived just as she came out. She smiled and took her place at the table beside him.
“Hm? Where’s my beer?” she asked, just as the chicken wings arrived to the loud roars of applause and excitement.
“You don’t need a beer,” Caleb said without thinking and pushed a glass of red wine over to her.
She glared at him and only when he met her eyes did he realize the error he had made.
Making abrupt decisions like this earlier on in their relationship in the past had been one of the few reasons they had butted heads, and here he was doing it all over again. He sighed at the many things that he had to relearn.
“I mean, you’ll be able to sleep better without it. You’ve had a hectic day, you need something to slowly intoxicate you and not to work you up.”
After he was done whispering to her, he felt as though he had just spoken for hours. That had got to be the longest sentence that had left his lips in a while.
“I believe I can make my own decisions, Caleb,” she said and lifted the glass to her lips.
“If you could we wouldn’t be here,” he muttered and she heard him.
She turned to glare at him, and upon the feel of her eyes on him, he wondered if perhaps he had gone too far. Things were still so fragile between them.
“I have no clue of what you’re referring to, Dr. Pace,” she said, and his mouth curved into a smile. He did feel a tad bit of hope, so he hung his arm across her chair without much thought. It was only when he notice the peculiar stares from some of the still sober colleagues that he realized what the gesture insinuated.
“Dr. Pace, you seem quite comfortable beside Aisha,” one of the already tipsy nurses slurred. “Did you truly not know her before she was rushed to our ER?”
Aisha quickly jumped in. “Of course we did not, however, he has been very heartwarming and welcoming to me.”
A few of the staff spilled beer from their lips in spite of their efforts to suppress their amusement. “Dr. Pace? Welcoming?” the drunk nurse continued. “He is cold, and bosses everyone mercilessly around, and seems lonely and won’t let anyone be around him. Do you know how many times he has rejected me?”
Caleb watched with discomfort at the lightweight woman until her head fell on the table with a thud. She was lucky she passed out so quickly, otherwise, she had already been on the fast lane to regret.
The drunk chatter continued and Caleb could feel Aisha getting increasingly uncomfortable and drowsy. But then, each time he turned to her, she had a huge smile plastered on her face. Despite how forced it was, it still lighted up the entire room to him.
Eventually, he whispered into her ear, and although she flinched from the close proximity, he still got his words across. “We’re leaving soon. Finish up your drink.”
“We can’t leave together,” she immediately whispered back to him.
“Yes, we can,” he replied without looking at her, and he could feel her eyes enlarge to the size of saucers. His heart was dancing at all of this, but he kept his smile off his face. He couldn’t believe she was right beside him and that they were back to bickering.
She began to rise then, and he wanted to stand up with her but she pushed him back into his seat. He gazed at her in surprise and so did the others at the table that were still somewhat sober. Her face flushed red at the unwanted attention that she had drawn to the both of them. She tried to play it off.
“I’m so sorry, doctor,” she said, and then turned her gaze to the rest of the table. “I have to leave now, my home is pretty far away, thank you all so much.”
The roars of complaint sounded, but still, she turned to walk away. “I’ll take her home,” Caleb announced loudly unable to help himself and walked with her out of the bar.
The drive back to his place reminded him of her grave site, where he had visited countless times. He had always believed that she was present, especially when the air became frigid. There was not much difference now.
He maintained his calm, knowing that she would not speak of her grievance as she wanted to keep what shards remained of her charade.
When they arrived, she headed straight up to take a shower without a word to him while he whipped her up a cup of soothing chamomile tea. He brought it to the bedroom, and just then she emerged, fully dressed in a pair of shorts and one of his T-shirts. She held a towel to her wet hair.
“Here’s some tea,” he said to her and placed the steaming cup on the dressing table. She thanked him.
He was about to leave when she asked, “Can I have some advance on my salary?” Caleb stopped and turned back to her. He knew where this was going, and needed the support to go through it, so he backed up against the opposite wall and leaned against it.
“Up till yesterday, you didn’t even want to work there.”
“Now I do,” she said.
“So do you now admit to being Aisha?”
“I’m not your dead fiancé,” she blurted, but then lowered her gaze from his. “I’m sorry.”
Caleb walked a thin line between amusement and confoundment. “Either way, I don’t think I am the one you should be asking about that. You can speak to the Director tomorrow.”
“You got me in, didn’t you?” she asked. “A doctor without a single qualification to show. I haven’t even met the Director. All I need is some money to pay for a place to stay.”
“And what if you decide to run away again?”
“You know that I won’t,” she replied.
“No,” he said. “I do not know. Because it now seems that the moment something goes wrong, your first response is always to run away… just like you did four years ago.”
“Dr. Pace, I appreciate your care for me thus far with all of my heart, but it’s not proper for me to continue to remain here freeloading off you. Please lend me a hand one last time.”
Caleb glared at her, his temper rising. “Where’s the ring I gave to you?” he asked.
Silence.
“If you return it to me, then I can fulfill your request or better yet, just sell it yourself. It’s worth at least 60 grand. But that’s if you still have it.”
She brushed her hair away from her face, and then parted her lips to speak but no words came out. With a sigh, she began to walk past him but Caleb grabbed her hand to stop her.
“We’re not done talking,” he said, but she jerked her hand from his grip.
“We are!”
He only allowed her a few more steps before he grabbed her hand again and softly pushed her against the wall. He caged her in with both of his hands above her head, his insides boiling with frustration. He gripped his hair in his hand, and then before either of them could anticipate it, drove his hand into the wall.
Chapter 16
Aisha shrieked in terror. “Caleb! What are you doing?”
She grabbed the hand that he had driven into the wall with both of hers, and despite his reluctance, inspected the blood that had gathered on his knuckles. However, he jerked his hand from her grasp with such force that it sprained hers. With a wince, she held her hand as she gazed into his pain-filled eyes.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he asked her. “What did I do so wrong?”
“Allow me to leave,” she whimpered, but he yelled from the base of his heart. “No! I’m never letting you go.”
She began to struggle desperately but he refused to budge until it turned violent.
“Let me go!” she yelled and hit him with all of her strength, her eyes shut and the tears running down her face. “Caleb, let me go!”
Caleb managed to cage both of her hands by her sides and slammed his mouth against hers.
The first shot of pleasure that shot straight to his groin nearly crippled him.
For a moment, he forgot how to breathe, his eyes shut as he savored that exhilarating taste of her lips that he had missed for so long.
In her absence, he had been unable to consider anyone
else for even a second and thought himself ruined for life by this one woman. But now that he had her in his arms once again, he felt as though his entire world was spinning around in circles. She continued to fight him until he slipped his tongue even deeper into her mouth. A few moments later, he felt the resistance flow out of her.
She grabbed his shirt with her fist and pulled him even closer, wrapping her hands around his neck and pressing her body to his as though she wanted them both to be merged as one.
Caleb spun himself until he was the one backed up against the wall, and then lifted her legs to wrap around his waist.
He handed her the reins and she took him to a place he’d thought he'd never be able to return to. A place of maddening ecstasy and of love so pure he felt as though his two feet were no longer on the ground.
He held her with all of his might, and for dear life, while she kissed him as though he would disappear at any moment. Her kisses were laced with her sobs and spoke of her love, filled with such torment that only he could understand.
He turned once more until her back was against the wall, and pulled up her T-shirt. He flung it away, and she quickly returned her mouth to his, oblivious to everything else until he dragged his lips from her and placed it on her left breast.
He sucked on it as though he were dying of thirst, while his free hand kneaded its twin.
She threw her head back, her arms around his head to hold on for dear life until he brought his lips back to her neck.
She lifted his face to hers and wiped the tear that fell from the corner of his eyes.
She looked like there were a billion things that she wanted to say to him, but in the end, she pulled her legs from his grasp so that she could stand on her own feet. Caleb didn’t want to let her go. He tightened his hold on her waist, but she started to push him toward the bed until he eventually let go and fell on the soft mattress.
She crawled in too, her gaze never leaving him and before she had to ask, he ripped the buttons off his shirt and shrugged it off as though he were on fire.
She took off her bra and then glued her bare chest to his, kissing him deeply as he fought to unbuckle his belt. When he had succeeded, she dragged her lips from his and ran kisses down his sculpted torso. When she arrived at his hips, she tugged down his jeans and briefs until she could gain the access she longed for, and then left the rest to him.
She found him ready and willing, so she grabbed him and took him into her mouth. In response, he released an animal groan that almost sent her off the edge.
It had been so long, yet it felt as familiar as though she had never stopped.
Tears filled his eyes as she milked him with love, and crazed passion and his emotions nearly choked him. She gripped the base of his shaft with her hand and worshiped him until eventually, he tried to pull her up.
“I can’t take anymore,” he said to her, as he fisted the covers of the bed in anguish, but she refused.
She increased her suckle, covering his shaft with wet, hot kisses and blowing him as though she were possessed with some insatiable hunger.
Eventually, he came so hard that his juices shot down her throat and spilled on her face.
“Fuck!” he roared into the night, and her chest swelled up with pride. He was trembling violently, mind blowing ecstasy quaking through his entire body.
This was her man, and only she had ever been able to release such emotion from him. Famished, but unable to stop herself, she began to kiss his quivering body once more until he pulled her up and kissed her mouth. Then he turned her over, stood up from the bed with his eyes never leaving hers, and tore off the rest of his clothes.
“Who else in this goddamn world do you expect will be able to do this to me?” he asked, deep resentment in his tone.
Impatient, Aisha started to reach for him and he allowed her to pull him down to her. He tore away the strip of fabric that covered her essence, and in the next moment, his mouth was on her moist pussy lips. She moaned loudly, outbursts of pleasure running through her body.
“Caleb,” she gasped, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, but he wouldn’t let her move away from his grip.
Tears filled her eyes as she put a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, while the other hand grasped the bed sheet for dear life.
His tongue drove deep into her. He lapped up all of her juices until eventually, her hand fell from her mouth and she let out a hellish scream.
She thought she heard him chuckle, but by then she was incoherent. Her eyes were staring straight ahead but the ceiling had disappeared from sight. All she could see and feel was a drugging haze of love and ecstasy.
“Caleb,” she cried, but he kept going with such fervency until she could take it no more.
She grabbed his head and in that moment, she reached the peak, her body twisting and writhing in one endless spasm.
Finally, her back shot up from the bed, and her mouth opened wide in shock. Her legs suddenly closed shut, trapping him within as she devoured the waves of pleasure that rocked her body until he was able to pull himself away and find his way back to her lips.
He swallowed her groans until they turned into tears. So he laid on his back, pulling her into his arms and cradling her like a child. She clenched him tightly, and he found himself dumbfounded in that moment at just how in sync their hearts were. All that she felt, he also felt, and it was too overwhelming to bear.
“I fucking love you,” he whispered to her. “With all of my soul. How could you just leave?”
She buried her face deeper into his chest. After a little while, he turned to gaze into her eyes. He wiped the tears from her face. “We’re not done yet,” he told her and before she could say a word, gripped her waist and brought her to sit astride him.
She bit her bottom lip and held his gaze as she automatically began to grind her hips against him.
“I want a ride,” he said, and her cheeks burnt a deep shade of red at the memories that that single phrase evoked.
She shut her eyes, and with his help, impaled herself on him.
Deep rumbling groans escaped him, and it awed her at how completely and perfectly he filled her.
She was made for him, and she believed it now more than ever. How she could have managed to harden her heart to all of these, she would never know.
Aisha began to move her hips slowly, but soon her tempo picked up the speed. She held up her hair in a sensual trance as she writhed against him, his cock moving within her to the rhythm of her lap.
Caleb responded with passionate rumblings from the pit of his stomach, his eyes clenched shut and his arms lined with bulging veins.
Eventually, he hoisted her up by the waist and hastened her for a few moments before relinquishing control. She took the initiative and rode him harder, increasing her pace. She pounded her hips against him until he could no longer lie still. She was sweating profusely, so he sat up and wiped the sweat from her brow. Then, after a deep look into her eyes, he kissed her with such fervor that she held onto him tightly.
In the next moment, he had flipped her gently on her back.
He took over, and upon the first hard thrust, a loud gasp escaped her lips. He kept going, each thrust coming harder and going deeper.
“Keep going,” she pleaded, her arms around his head. He placed kisses all over her as he made deep, hard love to her, and soon she had reached her peak once more.
With one last thrust, she exploded around him and so did he, his seed shooting deep inside of her.
Their groans were uninhibited, and wild, and told the tale of the release they had both craved for so long.
He gently rolled over with his shaft still buried inside her, never wanting to part. “Please don’t go,” he muttered in an agonized plea. “Please... Please.”
She laid her head on his chest and fell asleep to the beat of his heart.
Chapter 17
Caleb awoke once again to an empty spa
ce by his side.
At first, he felt disoriented by such a deep sleep, but then it all came back to him. She was gone. Again.
Panicked, he shot out of the bed and looked down toward the living room.
“Aisha,” he called out, but there was no response.
“Aisha!”
His heart began to pound painfully in his chest as he cursed her with all of his heart.
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