by Natalie Ann
He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I can’t come and visit with you and give you a hand?”
“Sure you can, and you do often. Or more often lately, but you’re never this chipper. I’m trying to figure out what is going on. I’d like to ask if you won the lotto, but chances are you have more money than the lotto would pay anyway.”
“Do you really want to know?” he asked seriously.
“About your mood or the money? Yes to the mood, no to the money. That’s personal.”
“I wasn’t about to tell you about the money,” he said, laughing. “As for the mood, I really don’t have an answer for it.”
“Which makes no sense at all.”
“It doesn’t, but for once I woke up and just felt…different. Happy, I suppose. Happier than I’ve felt in a long time. When I’m happy, I guess I want to play.”
She turned her head when a car pulled into her parking lot. “Well then, I hate to spoil your good mood, but you’ve got two seconds to pretend you’re a guest and hide in the house.”
“What?” he asked, looking over at the woman walking toward them.
“Hello, Celeste. Why did you start without me? You know how much I love doing this with you.”
“I had an itch to get it done with the beautiful weather today, Mom.”
***
Caleb looked over at Celeste’s mom. There wasn’t a strong resemblance, but then he remembered Celeste said her mother dyed her hair red. Still, it wasn’t just the hair color, but the color of their eyes was different, too. Celeste and Cole had blue eyes; her mother had light green.
Celeste looked at him and gave him a nod to get in the house, but he decided to not run for once. Instead, he held his hand out and said, “Hi. I’m Caleb, and you’re Ginger.”
“Oh dear,” Ginger said, her eyes lighting right up, just like Celeste’s often did. “Did I plan this well or what? I’ve been dying to meet you. See, Celeste, Cole didn’t scare this one off, not even after the helicopter ride.”
He should have known Ginger would have that information. “I’ll admit it wasn’t the most appealing flight I’ve taken, but it wasn’t all that horrible.”
“Caleb is being modest,” Celeste said.
“Has Cole been around again?” Ginger asked, looking at him.
“I haven’t seen him,” he said.
“Cole hasn’t been around much lately,” Celeste said. “I think he’s pretty busy with work.”
Ginger nodded and moved forward. “Well, it looks like most of the work is done here. I’ll just let you two finish up with the webs, and I’ll go in and make coffee and put some snacks together. Are there any guests here?”
“No, Mom. It’s a light day, just two rooms full until Friday, and both occupants are off site at the moment. For now it’s just the three of us.”
“Perfect. I can’t wait to have a little chat with Caleb.”
He watched Ginger walk into the house, then turned to Celeste.
“I gave you a chance,” she said, “and you blew it.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not, because by the time she leaves I won’t be able to fully enjoy this good mood of yours.”
“Let’s finish this up and go in. I promise I’ll stay in a good mood until later.”
An hour later, Caleb was still cheerful as he watched Ginger walk out the back door. “That wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be.”
“My mother was much worse than yours, so I’m glad you’re still smiling,” she said.
“She didn’t say or do anything that I haven’t heard before.”
He’d been asked all sorts of questions before by family members of those he dated. From how successful he was, to how much money he made, to his intentions. Usually it was people trying to see where they stood, hoping for an easy payday for their daughter.
But Ginger had been more concerned about what Caleb thought of Celeste’s job. How he felt about the time and energy she devoted to her work rather than herself or a relationship.
“You’ve had other mothers quiz you on if you thought their daughters focused too much on their work and not their personal lives?”
“Not like that, I guess. Still, my point was it was more of an attack on you than me.”
“Exactly, and this time she was much worse than before.”
“Why is that? How much have you told her about me?” he asked.
“She knows the basics, which isn’t much. Just what you do and that you keep to yourself. I really don’t talk about you in general.”
He was wondering why that bothered him since it never did before. “How come?”
“I know you like your privacy and I respect that. What I wish is that everyone respected the fact that I love what I do for a living.”
“I know you do, and I respect that.”
“You do now, but you didn’t before. You still get that little twitch in your eye when you think I’m working too hard. Like showing up today, for example.”
“I understand why your family is concerned more than ever now. They only worry about you and your health.”
“No more than your parents worry about yours.”
He didn’t like that she pointed that out. “It’s not even close to the same thing and you know it.”
“Mental health is just as important, if not more important than physical health.”
He didn’t want to argue with her. There was nothing wrong with him mentally. He was sad and heartbroken that he lost a child, but he hadn’t gone through nearly what she did, or what she might still be going through.
“Anyway, it wasn’t horrible. Flying with Cole was worse and I’m still here.”
She laughed. “You always do that—change the subject when I want to talk about you. But we’ll let it slide. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re still here.”
“So am I.”
Good Mood
“Where do you want these bins?” Caleb asked.
She was glad he hadn’t bolted when her mother showed up. Though she was still clueless as to the cause of his good mood, she didn’t want to disregard it, either.
In the last few weeks, she’d noticed that he seemed a little different. He was coming around and spending more time with her. They’d gone out on a few dates, spent a few nights together, and even a few breakfasts.
He still kept to himself during the days and even the nights when he was working. Since she was busy, she didn’t mind so much.
She completely expected him to revert backwards after his parents’ visit, but again, nothing happened. She’d stayed and had an early dinner with them before rushing back to her guests. They asked her all sorts of questions about her business and left the next morning.
“You don’t need to worry about it. I’ll put them away.”
“I’m not worrying, but I’m going to help you clean up. Speaking of which, I think you need a shower.”
She looked down and saw that although her hands were clean, there was soot on her arms and all over her jeans.
“You don’t look much better,” she pointed out, wiping a finger down his arm and coming away with some dirt.
“Maybe you can show me where those bins go and then we can go clean up—together.”
They hurried up and put her bins in the basement, then she grabbed his hand and led him back to her cabin. “It’s your lucky day there are no guests on site, but we need to make it quick.”
“Don’t put any pressure on me. I might not be able to perform.”
She turned in a circle as she pulled him along, the rush of excitement making her push her door open and shove him back against it when it closed. “I don’t have any doubt you can perform under any situation.”
“It’s nice that you have so much faith in me.”
He slid his hands under her shirt and she shrieked from the cold. “Okay, lets go into the bathroom and turn the water on.”
“It’s not that cold out today,” he said.<
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“No, but your hands are like ice. Steam, I want lots of steam in the room.”
She pushed away from him and quickly took the short steps to her room, lifting her shirt over her head on the way.
“Wow, guess you are in a hurry,” he said.
“No time to waste. Hurry up, unless you want to run the risk you’re showering alone.”
She laughed when he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor, then unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down only to realize he still had boots on. “Damn,” he said.
Shaking her head, she said, “I toed my sneakers off when I walked in the door. You didn’t even see me do it, did you?”
“Nope, I was too busy thinking of all the things I was going to do to you in the shower.”
“Promises, promises.” Both of them finished undressing in her room, and then they squeezed into her tiny bathroom where she reached over to turn the hot water in the shower on full blast. “Warm me up until the water is ready.”
“Gladly.”
She loved his hands, even when they were cold. Soft at times, softer than she thought he would have been. Then again, there was a lot she was learning about Caleb that she didn’t expect and not in a bad way, either.
He reached around her back, placed his hands on her rear, cupping her cheeks, and lifting her against him as he dropped his mouth to hers.
She was so completely lost in the taste and feel of him that she almost didn’t realize the room had fogged up. “I think we can get clean now.”
“I was hoping to get dirtier,” he mumbled against her lips.
She kissed him once more quickly, reached in to add some cold water to the hot, then climbed in and urged him to follow. It was a tight fit, but since she wanted to be touching all of him, it was actually perfect.
The two of them were standing under the water kissing, the stream running over her head and soaking her braid. When he moved his lips away, she ended up drinking more water than she wanted, but again, didn’t care.
All she cared about was his hand moving over her body and his lips on her neck.
She felt him reach behind her, heard him pick something up and a top pop. The smell of strawberries filled her senses as his hands glided all down her back, over her behind, up her spine, then down again.
“I could get used to this,” she said.
“Me too.”
He spun her around quick, her back against his chest, the evidence of his arousal pressing into her hip now. Before she could make a comment, his hands were over her breasts and thoroughly cleaning her just like he’d said.
Not staying there long, he moved over her shoulders some more, down her arms, and between her legs, deciding that was where he wanted to be.
Between the heat in the little room, the warm water, and the way he was touching her, it wasn’t going to be long.
“Caleb,” she said, sighing, her body arching into his. She wanted to turn around and take ahold of him and find a way to fit them together in this space when realization dawned. “We forgot something.”
“We don’t need it to have some fun.”
“I’ll hold you to it.”
“I’m the one holding you now, and I think you’re loving every bit of it.”
When his finger slid inside of her, she moaned. “I am. I do. I love when you touch me like this.”
“I aim to please,” he whispered in her ear.
The water was pouring over both of their heads—there wasn’t anywhere for them to move away from it. Instead, she arched into him some more, pushing her breasts out, letting the water try to hit them.
“Need a bit more, do you?” he asked, moving one hand up to her nipple and pinching, turning her body and letting the water beat on the other.
She was being flooded with sensations greater than ever before. Who would have thought sex in the shower could be this fantastic?
And it only got better when he slid another finger in, both of them curving just right, her knees going weak as she reached out and put one hand on the wall, the other gripping his arm.
When he brought his thumb into play the rest was history. There was no stopping the floodgates from opening, her body crying out, or her shout echoing off the small tiled walls.
“Wow, you managed to clean me and make me feel dirty at the same time, but now it’s my turn. Hope you like strawberries.”
She turned and grabbed her body soap, filled her hands and rubbed them together until suds were overflowing. She liked what he’d done so much, she decided to do the same.
Sliding her hands around his waist, she pulled him forward in a hug, started to clean his back, then his behind, gripping his cheeks and yanking him forward. “Hmm, I love this part of your body,” she said, rubbing against him.
“The front or the back?”
“Both, but right now, the front. I’ll get to that in a minute, don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried in the least. Take your sweet time.”
“You’d like that, but time isn’t something we have right now.” She took a step back, putting as much space between them as she could. “Since I’m shorter than you, I won’t be able to watch if I turn you, and I really want to watch you as you come.”
“I like it when you talk dirty. You should do it more often.”
She didn’t think it was that dirty. “I can talk much dirtier if you want.”
“I might take you up on that when we have more time.”
“Only if you promise to talk back,” she said sweetly.
“Oh, I can talk all night if it’s about sex.”
She moved her hands to his chest, rubbed them around, lathered him up, then grabbed more soap and moved her hands to her real target.
“Soft, smooth, and so hard. Just the way I like it.”
He grunted. She wasn’t sure if it was from her words or her actions. “I thought we were going to hold off on the dirty talk.”
“You’re no fun, but if you want, I’ll just get to work.”
She brought both hands down to him, one to stroke him, the other to cup, then just started moving them in different directions. The suds were making the movements nice and slick.
His eyes were shut, which was fine; she knew the feeling as she was pretty sure hers closed tight while he worked her over.
He didn’t need as much time as she was hoping for before she felt his body tighten and noticed him tensing. “Don’t you dare fight it. Let it go, let me watch it.”
That was it. That was all she had to say and he was groaning low in his throat and reaching out to steady himself against the wall.
“Now we really should clean up,” he said a minute later.
“I think you’re right. I missed a few spots on you since I was in a hurry. Turn around and let me get your back and legs.”
She didn’t bother to take her hair out of her braid to wash, just let it go and they finished up fast.
Climbing out of the tub, they each grabbed a towel and started to dry off without elbowing each other in the process. “This would be more fun if we had room,” he said. “We have to try it at my house next.”
He did have a nice big bathroom. And a huge soaking tub. “Only if I get to lounge in your tub. This one is kind of small.”
“Any time you want, if I can join you.”
“I fully expect you to.”
When they were back in her room, him putting his clothes back on, her pulling out clean ones, he said, “You missed some soot on the back of your arm.”
She lifted her arm up, but couldn’t see what he was talking about. He grabbed the towel and wiped it off for her. “Thanks.”
“No problem. You might have to scrub it a bit, it doesn’t look like it wants to come off.”
She turned and looked in her mirror and saw a long streak down her arm. “Hmm. Yeah, this stuff is oily and hard to get off. I’ll take care of it later, but I need to get back into the house now and get ready for dinner. Did you want to stay?�
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“I think I will.”
“Guess your good mood really is lasting today.”
Never Easy
“Thanks for getting me in so fast, Dr. Hamilton,” Celeste said when he walked into the room.
“You can call me Max in here. There’s no need to be formal anymore—we’re business partners, after all.”
“That true, I just keep forgetting.”
“So Amber tells me there is a mole on your arm and it needs to come off. Let me see.”
Celeste turned and showed Max the mole she discovered on the back of her arm when she was scrubbing the soot off last night. “It’s in an awkward place and hard to see.”
She felt him move her arm, then pull and push her skin apart. “How long has this been here?”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t have even noticed it at all if I wasn’t wiping something off my arm and looking in the mirror to see if I got it all.”
There was no need to tell him the panic she felt when she noticed the black spot wasn’t coming off. It reminded her of the last one she had that hadn’t come back bearing good news.
“I definitely want to take it off, but I’m not extremely concerned over it. You’ve been very diligent about watching your body for any changes and the girls look you over completely every six months, so it couldn’t have been there that long.”
That didn’t diminish the racing of her heart though. “That was my thought.”
“Okay, we’ll have Ava put you in next week on Wednesday if you can. I’ve got a slot for you.” He stopped and looked her in the eye. “Don’t worry. I’d tell you if I really thought there was cause for panic.”
“You don’t think it’s cancer then?”
“I won’t know anything until the biopsy comes back. You’ve been down this road before. We take it off, you get a little scar that I’ll try to make as small as possible, and move on. Even if the results aren’t what we hope for, it’s still not cause for concern right now.”
She nodded her head—only it was never easy to move on.
With that thought in her head, she walked to the front desk, made her appointment with Ava, and climbed in her car. Rather than go back to her house, she decided to do something she almost never did.
