“So what’s so special about these falls?” he asked. “Is there some kind of legend?”
“Based on what I found online, there are several legends. It seems as if no one can decide on which one fits the best.”
He stopped at a large outcropping of rocks and sat on one that looked steady enough to hold them. He captured Leah by the waist and guided her down to sit on his lap.
“Give me some of the legends. We’ll pick the best one.”
“Well, most are tied to the Ojibwe tribe,” she started. “But they vary. One legend says that the Memegwesi—those are ancient water spirits—live in the cave just behind the waterfalls, offering help to humans in need. Other legends claim that the falls have special healing powers.”
“Nah. I’m not feeling either of those,” Caleb said. He lifted a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail holder and tucked it behind her ear. “I think we should come up with our own legend.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Oh, yeah? What were you thinking?”
“I think,” he said, his thumb caressing her cheek, “that the special powers are the kind that make two people realize they are perfect for each other.”
“Hmm…is that so? So what you’re saying is that if we swim underneath these falls, we’ll discover that we’re a perfect match?”
He tilted his had toward the water. “Why don’t we find out?”
“Just one problem. We don’t have any suits,” Leah said.
Caleb cocked a brow. “That’s supposed to stop us?”
Leah climbed onto the slippery rock, stretching her arms out to find balance before diving back into the cold water. She swam toward Caleb, who waded in the center of the natural pool at the base of the waterfall.
“This water is freezing,” Leah said.
“Because you keep climbing out of it,” Caleb pointed out.
“But diving is half the fun. You should try it.”
“You don’t want me to get out of this water.”
“Why not?”
He glanced down. “Because something is…umm…making itself obnoxiously known. Staying in the cold water is the only way for me to control it.”
Leah bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling, but one still managed to sneak past her. “I could promise not to look, but I’d be lying.”
“You’re free to look as much as you want. I sure as hell have been.” His eyes dipped to the water’s surface, where her bra’s plunging neckline left much of her skin exposed.
They’d stripped down to their underwear before diving into the water. Leah had tried not to stare at Caleb in his black boxer briefs, but it would have been easier to run to the Jersey state line and back without stopping than to pretend she had not noticed that perfect body.
“It seems pretty unfair that only one of us is getting an eyeful while the other,” she pointed to herself, “has to use her imagination.”
A sexy smile lifted the corners of Caleb’s mouth. Without another word, he swam to the ledge and hauled himself out of the water. Leah’s mouth went dry at the sight of his back and shoulder muscles bunching with his movement. As the rest of his body emerged, her pulse began to quicken. The man was wonderfully made. The way the black fabric hugged his taut ass and the backs of his thighs made her blood heat, but when he turned to face her, Leah was sure she would spontaneously combust.
His erection strained against the snug wet cotton. Desire instantly pooled between her legs as the need to explore every inch of his body put her powers of restraint to the test.
“You done looking?” Caleb asked.
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
He chuckled as he dove off the rock, slicing cleanly into the water. He swam over to her, his face emerging with tiny droplets that made him all the more lickable. She wanted to lick every single part of him.
She could no longer deny it. This attraction had reached the point of no return. It might not happen this weekend, but there was no doubt in her mind what this was leading to. Caleb and her. In bed.
Then again, who needed a bed?
Leah wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged on the back of his head, claiming his lips in a kiss that went from sweet and tender to incredibly erotic in a matter of seconds. Caleb’s tongue pushed past her lips, plunging inside her mouth, stroking with an urgency that had her clinging to him.
Leah’s body responded to his fevered kiss in a way she hadn’t experienced in years. Her breasts grew heavy with need. The place between her legs throbbed, desperate for relief. But not just any relief. She wanted Caleb.
She brought her legs up and started to wrap them around his waist, but instead of helping her, Caleb pushed her legs away.
“Wait,” he murmured against her lips. Then he pulled his head back and said it again. “Wait. We can’t do this yet.”
She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d doused her with a bucket of ice water.
“What’s wrong?” Leah asked, searching his face.
He dropped his forehead to hers.
“Fuck,” he whispered in a voice so soft she could barely hear it over the low roar of the waterfalls. “This is, by far, the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But if I don’t ask, it’ll just continue to needle me and I won’t enjoy what we’re about to do. And I’ll be damned if I let anything get in the way of enjoying this.” He expelled a heavy breath. “Leah, what did you mean by what you said back at lunch?”
She frowned. “What did I say?”
“You said I was too sweet for words, and that it scared you.” His deep brown eyes searched her face. “I don’t get that. What about me being a good guy scares you?”
Leah closed her eyes and grimaced. She knew those words would come back to haunt her. But she couldn’t shy away from them. At the very least, she owed him an explanation. She owed him the truth.
“Because it makes it so easy to fall for you,” she said. She opened her eyes and met his perplexed stare. “And I’m afraid of falling, Caleb.”
You already have!
Leah mentally batted away that voice as she disengaged from his hold and swam to the pool’s rocky ledge. She lifted herself up and sat on a piece of flat limestone, leaving her feet to dangle in the water. Caleb followed, but instead of getting out of the water, he folded his arms on a piece of rock that jutted out just over the water and looked up at her.
“Am I supposed to be satisfied with your answer?” he asked
“No,” Leah said. She folded her hands in her lap. “I’m going to share something that I rarely talk about.”
“Is this something I’m going to regret hearing?” Caleb asked, unease evident in his voice.
“It’s not anything horrific,” she said. She nervously ran her hands through her wet hair. “I was a late bloomer.”
Caleb’s forehead creased. “That’s it?”
“Here me out,” she said. “I didn’t have a serious boyfriend until my senior year of high school, and when I say ‘serious’ I mean a guy that took me out on an actual date. I didn’t lose my virginity until my third year of college. I had friends who slept around, and that was perfectly fine for them, but I made a personal choice not to do it. When I sleep with someone, there’s a lot attached to it. And when I really fall for someone, I fall hard.”
“That still doesn’t explain why falling for a guy like me—a nice guy—would scare you.”
“Don’t you get it? It’s not you, it’s me.” Leah slapped her forehead. “I can’t believe I just said that.” She looked down at Caleb. “You have my permission to hate me right now.”
“Hating you has never been an option,” he said. “I’m just trying to understand.”
“My track record sucks, okay? It’s me because I absolutely suck at this.” Her shoulders slumped with her admission. “Derrick wasn’t the first fiancé to break up with me. I was engaged before. About five years ago. That one cheated on me.”
Caleb let out a low curse. “Damn
, Leah, I’m sorry.”
“I’m not,” she said. “If I’d married Joshua it would have been a disaster. I’m beginning to feel the same way about Derrick. It felt as if I was blindsided when he came over Thursday night and told me he wanted to break things off, but honestly, I wasn’t blindsided at all. I recognized that we weren’t right for each other a long time ago, but it just felt as if I was in too deep to do anything about it. Like, if I ended the relationship, it would be admitting that I’d failed yet again at finding love.”
She searched his face, imploring him to understand. “That’s why it scares me to even think about jumping headfirst into something new. No matter how right this feels, I just can’t trust my own instincts right now.
Several moments ticked by before Caleb finally spoke. “Are you planning to write all men off forever?” he asked.
“Of course not,” she said.
“Then there’s nothing else to talk about. I’m willing to wait until you’re ready.”
Leah just stared at him for a moment, too floored to speak.
God, how could he be this sweet?
Quietly, she asked, “What if I’m not ready for a long time?”
“I’ve got a long time.”
That made her grin. “I haven’t specified what a long time is yet.”
“I don’t care. I’m willing to wait until you’re ready, however long that may be.” He took her hand and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. “I waited for you while you were engaged to another man. What makes you think I’ll stop waiting now that I know it’s a real possibility that you can be mine?”
Yes, he really was this sweet.
“It won’t be too long,” she said. “I don’t think I can wait much longer.”
Caleb’s lips spread into a smile. “Good. Because even though I can wait, I’d rather not.”
Leah slipped off the rock and back into the water. She swam up to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“You do realize this is new territory for me, don’t you? I’m not used to being with someone as patient as you are.”
“Let me guess, Mr. Lexus wasn’t one to show patience.”
“Not with anything,” Leah said. She cocked her brow. “And I do mean anything.”
Caleb’s brow lifted as well. “As in anything anything?”
She nodded.
He snorted a derisive grunt. “Why am I not surprised by that? What an asshole. I know you said you were with Derrick because he’s the kind of guy your family and friends expected you to be with, but if I were you, I’d stop listening to family and friends. They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.”
She grinned at his assessment. “That happens to be the most significant thing I’ve discovered this weekend,” Leah said. “I no longer care what anyone else thinks is best for me. The only thing that matters is what I think is best for me.”
“You should care about what I think is best for you,” Caleb said. He nuzzled the spot behind her ear. “You want to know what I think is best for you? Making sure you get off during sex.”
Leah felt her entire body blush. “I agree,” she said.
He lifted his head and his gaze drifted to her breasts again. “You do realize we don’t have to have sex for you to get off, don’t you?”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “Um, yeah. I’ve gotten off enough times on my own to know that.”
“It’s even better when you have a partner. Want me to show you?”
Her stomach muscles pulled tight. She couldn’t speak if she tried, so instead, she nodded.
The deliciously wicked smile that climbed up the sides of Caleb’s mouth sent a shiver of wanting down her spine. He wrapped his arms around her and turned them around so that Leah’s back pressed against the smooth rock.
She leaned forward and crushed her lips to his. Everything in the world turned quiet. All her concentration, every bit of it, centered on Caleb’s strong arms, his soft lips, his amazingly generous heart. For just this moment, she threw out the notion of not falling for him and allowed herself to feel all the emotions she’d tried to shut out since the minute she’d asked him to join her here.
His mouth opened over hers and Leah pulled his tongue inside. Her entire body responded to the taste of his delicious kiss. Sensations bombarded her as Caleb began to skillfully light her world on fire.
Fitting his hands on her backside, he pulled her to him until his rigid erection pressed firmly against her stomach, imprinting itself on her skin. Leah let the water lift her up until her center rubbed over the hard cock that continued to strain against his wet boxer briefs. She undulated against him, using the sway of the water to set the cadence. Her body hummed with pleasure as his thick length hit her exactly where she needed it.
Caleb gasped. His head tilted back as he began to grind against her, rocking back and forth, his thrusts growing more forceful with each lunge.
Leah felt the initial signs of orgasm start to build low in her belly. The sensation from the friction of her satin panties rubbing against her clit, Caleb’s broad chest abrading her sensitive nipples, the desire that was thick enough to smother them both. It all sent her spiraling toward a delicious, pleasure-filled crescendo.
When Caleb slipped his hand between them and moved her panties to the side, she lost all ability to think. To breathe. To do anything but focus on the feel of his fingers gliding over her aching flesh.
Her breasts, already heavy with desire, grew even heavier. Her nipples tightened to the point of pain as Caleb dipped his head and drew the left one inside his warm mouth. His fingers and mouth worked in tandem, with him sucking at her breast in rhythm to his thumb rubbing against her clit. When two thick fingers slipped inside her, Leah’s back bowed. She rode his fingers. Hard.
Sensation quickly built inside her until she could no longer take it. Leah screamed as she climaxed, her body shivering with her release.
Her breaths came out in rapid pants as she slowly began her decent back from the sensual haven she’d found herself in. Caleb closed his arms around her, holding her to his chest. She could still feel his hard erection pressed against her.
Leah reached for it, but he moved her hand away.
“No,” he said.
She frowned. “Why not?”
“Because this wasn’t about me,” Caleb said. “This was for you.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. Never had she been with someone so selfless, so concerned about her needs, that he’d sacrifice seeing his own met.
Caleb kissed the top of her forehead. “I meant what I said. You’re worth waiting for. I won’t rush you into doing anything you’re not ready to do.”
But I am ready.
Leah had no doubt in her mind. At this point she was more than ready to give her body over to Caleb. She was dangerously close to handing over her heart.
Chapter Eight
Caleb had witnessed death on the battlefield. He’d looked true evil in the eye during more than one undercover operation. But he had never known what real torture was until today, when he’d forced himself to stop after giving Leah that first climax. Putting a stop to their erotic underwater play wasn’t the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, but it sure as hell felt like it.
Right now, as he watched her pull her shorts up over her wet underwear, he had to fight the urge to rip those clothes from her and indulge in every fantasy he’d had over the past year. Feeling the way her body had closed around his fingers, so snug and warm, made the erection he’d barely been able to control start to grow yet again.
This was torture. Total, complete, unmitigated torture.
But he would do it all again in a heartbeat, just to see that glazed over look in Leah’s eyes. It was the look of ultimate pleasure. Pleasure he’d provided. Caleb knew if he gave her the time she needed, he would eventually experience all the pleasure for himself.
The temperature had dropped a couple of degrees, and a slight win
d whistled through the trees surrounding them. Caleb glanced up just before pulling his T-shirt over his head.
“The sky isn’t looking all that happy,” he said.
“Not at all,” Leah agreed. “It’s time for us to head back.”
She took him by the hand, and together, they started back the way they’d come. Thick raindrops began to fall as they navigated the trodden path through the forest. By the time they reached the campgrounds, the rain had turned into a steady downpour.
Caleb and Leah jogged to their cabin, laughing as they finally ran up the steps.
“We could have swum in our clothes for this,” Leah said as she shook water from her arms.
“Nah. I much prefer our other swimming attire,” Caleb said. He laughed at the rosy tint that instantly colored her brown cheeks. “God, I love making you blush,” he said. “Come on, if we shower and get dressed we can make dinner. I hear Chef Meg is making one of her signature dishes.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. “Besides, I think we used up enough energy to earn another dessert, don’t you?”
That got Caleb the result he’d been aiming for. That stain on her cheeks grew even darker.
An hour later, he and Leah were seated at a dining table in Birch House with Abigail and Joel. Caleb wasn’t the most observant person in the world when it came to these things, but even he could see there was something going on with their table mates. The two seemed unable to stop smiling at each other.
Apparently, Leah noticed it too.
“Okay, one of you will have to spill it,” Leah said. “You two look entirely too happy right now.”
“We are,” Abigail said. She looked over at her husband, exchanging the kind of sly, secret smile Caleb had seen his friends share with their girlfriends. Reaching over and taking Joel’s hand, Abigail’s face beamed as she blurted out, “We’re pregnant!”
Leah clapped her hands together and brought them to her chest. “Congratulations,” she said. “That’s wonderful.”
Caleb glanced over at her. Her smile was genuine, but he was sure he heard a note of something else in her voice. Longing? Regret?
Mr. Right Next Door (Camp Firefly Falls Book 6) Page 11
