I tried to jerk my wrist from his hold, but he must have been expecting that. His grip tightened, and his steps quickened.
“Let go of me,” I warned.
Did he know what I’d just gone through with that mental case who was obsessed with him?
Did he know how much effort and patience it took for me to smile and talk to these people who looked at me like I was beneath them?
Did he know what kind of hell I’d gone through today to get to him?
“If you don’t let go of me right now, Caleb, I swear to God—”
“Shut up,” he growled.
For a moment, I wondered if I’d heard him correctly. Did he just tell me to shut up?
It shocked me that he could be like this. He was always playful, always gentle with me, even when he was angry. I wasn’t sure how to process the way he was acting now.
“What the hell did you just say to me? Who the hell do you think you—”
My words caught in my throat as he suddenly stopped and faced me, keeping hold of my wrist. His handsome face was a tight mask of fury as his eyes, hot and hurt, searched my face. Next thing I knew, he’d thrown me over his shoulder.
“Put me down. Now.”
He started walking faster. I could feel the strong muscles in his back and shoulders bunch as he carried me like I was weightless. I lifted my head and saw that he was heading for a small cottage on the property.
“Oh, is that what the princess wants?”
For the second time in the space of a few minutes, my mouth fell open.
Where does he get off talking to me like that?
Indignation boiled in my blood. It pulsed in my temple.
“You bastard! Put me down!”
I flailed furiously in his arms, hitting his back, his shoulders, his arms. Everything about him was rock hard, and my struggle didn’t seem to affect him. It only made me angrier.
“Now is not the time to argue with me, Red.”
I heard the loud bang of a door opening and hitting the wall with force. A few seconds later, I lost my breath as he dropped me unceremoniously on a bed.
“What the hell!” I fumed.
I fully expected him to grab me again, but when I sat up, he wasn’t anywhere near me. I watched, shocked, as he strode to the door.
Was he going to leave me here?
Livid, I scrambled off the bed.
“Who do you think you are!” I screamed. “Get back here!”
I caught him before he reached the door, snarling as I grabbed his jacket and yanked.
He turned around so fast that my breath caught, and I took a step back.
His face was beautiful even in anger, half in shadow. The unmistakable fury in his eyes reminded me of a wild panther.
His big hands clamped around my arms and jerked me to him so our faces were only inches apart. I could feel and smell his hot, minty breath, and his intense green eyes bored into mine.
“I’m trying so damn hard right now. Don’t test me,” he whispered.
Like a warning.
A threat.
A promise.
I felt my eye twitch.
I slammed his back against the wall and heard his surprised grunt at the impact. My eyes roamed his face, and I saw the hurt and naked vulnerability in his eyes.
I couldn’t believe this was all about Damon. Did Caleb really think I’d cheated on him? It hurt that after everything we’d gone through, he would think this of me.
He was breathing hard, his cheeks flushed. The beauty in his face and the strength in his body that he controlled so thoughtfully always affected me, but it was the way he let me see what no one else saw, the way he exposed his weakness and his real emotions to me that pulled at my heartstrings.
But since he’d seen me with Damon at the gazebo, he’d hidden himself from me, only allowing his anger to show. Until now. His green eyes had always been expressive, and they were looking at me with pain and sadness.
I was furious with him, taken aback by his whiplash anger and the uncharacteristic carelessness of his actions. But as I looked at him now, my anger subsided. We had been apart for only a couple of days but it felt like a long time. I had missed him, and after what happened today at the shop, the threat to life that suddenly shocked my system, it made me realize we were only on borrowed time. Caleb could be taken from me any moment.
Still, it hurt. I needed to know why he was acting this way. I knew he was hurting too, and I felt helpless and frustrated that we were both too stubborn and proud and angry to stop fighting.
“What’s wrong, Caleb?”
He remained silent, gritting his teeth. Suddenly, his eyes blazed with heat and accusation again, wiping away all vulnerability. He had closed up, and he wouldn’t allow me in. All the understanding and sympathy I felt a few seconds ago left me, and I knew there was no way my anger would subside now. It had to spill out.
He loosened his tie, narrowing his eyes at me. The muscles in his arms strained against his dinner jacket. His jaw was hard, which made him appear more masculine, more alluring. It made me more furious that I still wanted him even now.
Lust and anger sang in my blood as I grabbed his jacket and pulled it off him, tossing it carelessly to the floor. I moved in to him, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him down for a punishing kiss.
It was like being swallowed by a tornado. If his hunger didn’t match mine, it would have scared me in its intensity.
My breath caught in my throat as he spun me around and shoved me against the wall. My palms slapped against it as he pressed his solid body against my back. I felt his hardness pushing against me.
Without warning, he gathered my hair in his fist, coiling it around his hand like a rope as he pulled it to the side.
“You drive me fucking crazy,” he murmured dangerously in my ear.
His lips hovered near my mouth, a silent demand for a kiss thickening the air.
He shut his eyes for a moment, almost as if he was in pain. When he opened them, they were filled with an impatient hunger.
“You do this to me, Red. Every fucking time. I’m losing my mind because of you. You have no idea…”
He gripped my hair tightly as he ran his other hand down to caress my neck and shoulders, and then further down to squeeze my breast.
“I won’t be gentle with you tonight,” he said before he crushed his mouth against mine.
He bunched the material of my dress that hindered him from touching what was underneath.
And ripped.
“Oh God,” I panted.
I was so unbelievably turned on as his fingers tweaked and teased. I strained against him, needing him to give me more.
“Stop me now if you don’t want this, Red. Otherwise”—he breathed heavily, using his other hand to remove his belt and open his zipper—“I’ll take you right here.”
“No.”
I felt him stiffen, and I smiled in victory as his hard hold slackened.
“No, I don’t want you to be gentle,” I told him.
I whipped around, reached for his tie, and yanked him down to me, fusing his mouth to mine.
Need was a furious demand in my stomach as we sank to the floor. I straddled him, biting his bottom lip. He let out a low moan before I felt his tongue slip inside my mouth.
He raised his hips, shoving his pants and boxers down. I grabbed his shirt and pulled. Buttons snapped and flew. That only urged me to take more.
He clutched at my dress and pushed it up to my waist. He stroked his fingers in my center until I was gasping for breath.
I bit my lip to keep from making a sound as he gripped my hips and pulled me right where he was rock hard between his legs. It felt so good.
I had to place my palms on his naked chest to steady myself. His skin was burning ho
t and lightly covered with sweat. It shocked me that I wanted to lick it.
I was breathing hard. My skin felt tight and sensitive everywhere.
“Lift your hips for me, Red.”
I was still so angry, and I wanted to punish him for what he said to me earlier—for his stupid assumptions about Damon, and for everything else that happened tonight. So I ignored him, continuing to rub myself against him instead.
“Red…” he moaned. “I need you.”
His strong hands slid over my hips to cup me from behind, squeezing and increasing the friction. My body suddenly flooded with hot need. I finally looked him in the eyes and raised my hips.
“Yes,” I gasped. “Yes, Caleb.”
His fingers found the tiny scrap of lace that covered me from him and pushed it aside.
I cried out as he slammed into me. He was so hard, so huge that I felt so full inside.
“Ride me, Red. Yeah, just like that.”
Biting my lip, I rocked my hips against him.
Up and down.
Back and forth.
Up and down.
“Put your arms up, hold your hair. Fuck, you’re so beautiful. Fuck, yeah. Like that.”
His hands gripped my hips as I let my head fall back, lifting my arms as I held my hair up for him.
And rode him.
The love and need and longing I felt for him overwhelmed me as I watched the haze of pleasure play over his handsome face. His eyes darkened as he watched me on top of him, his face a tight mask of control as he gritted his teeth.
Then his hands were cupping my breasts, squeezing, his thumbs circling.
My eyes shot to his.
Take me.
Suddenly, I wanted him to come. Desperation pushed me to go faster. I could hear the slap of skin on skin, feel the slippery wet slide of our bodies, smell the intoxicating scent of his sweat.
His hands curled around my neck as he pulled me down for a desperate, rough kiss.
“Just like that, Red. Go slow. Fuuuuck.”
He pressed his lips to my ear and whispered dirty secrets about what he’d always wanted to do to me.
It drove me mad.
I pushed away from him, keeping my hands on his chest. My nails dug into his skin as he grabbed my hips and hammered into me.
Fast and shallow, slow and deep.
Faster.
Until my head was spinning and my lungs felt tight and everything around me exploded in a burst of light as I climaxed. I slumped on top of him, boneless.
“I’m not done with you yet,” he whispered in warning.
I gasped and swallowed hard as he shifted us until he was on top of me.
“Hold on to me,” he said before he drove me to the brink once again.
And again.
And again.
Chapter Thirty-two
Veronica
Caleb stroked my back gently, the tips of his fingers lightly trailing from the small of my back to the top of my spine. I felt his chest rise as he took a deep breath before he kissed my hair.
My muscles and bones felt liquefied, but my heart refused to slow down as it continued to knock sharply against my chest.
The tap, tap, tap of the rain against the roof and the soft whooshing of the wind should have relaxed me, but they didn’t. Our argument had planted a persistent ache in the pit of my stomach.
“Red,” Caleb whispered softly. Achingly. “I’m so sorry.”
The pain and sincerity I heard in his voice grabbed at my heart, but hurt and anger still had their claws in me. I rolled away from him, pulling the blanket to cover myself.
What the hell was I thinking? Ending up in bed with him because I couldn’t separate the anger and longing I felt for him.
I had never done anything so…shocking in my life.
Especially after he’d acted like an asshole. It was a little overwhelming to realize how much power he had over me, but then again, in the back of my mind, I’d always known he did.
My throat tightened as he looked at me with tortured eyes, but I refused to let him see my emotions. I kept my face blank.
He rubbed a hand over his face, exhaling a short, sharp breath as he rose and sat on the edge of the bed, his back to me.
“Fuck me,” he said quietly.
The muscles on his back and shoulders stood out as he leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and lowering his head into his hands. He looked miserable, and I wanted to reach out to him, comfort him, but remembering the way he’d let his jealousy control his actions earlier held me back.
Oh, so now you’re holding back, my subconscious lashed. You definitely weren’t holding back when you were on top of him. Or when he was on top of you.
I closed my eyes, ashamed of my actions. I had let myself succumb to my desire for him. And look how we both felt now: still heartbroken. The sex had taken out some of the aggression we had both felt a few hours ago, but it didn’t solve anything.
Maybe if I were the old me, I would have run away the second he grabbed my hand and dragged me away from that gazebo, but I had learned a lot since Caleb came in my life.
I had learned that there was no perfect relationship. It was up to you to make it work, to keep fighting for that one person and never give up because that person was worth your effort and love.
Everyone possessed darkness and lightness inside them. Caleb had always shown me his light, but I’d only seen glimpses of his darkness. Tonight, he had revealed it. I wasn’t going to run away from it.
Loving a person was never easy. I knew that from the start. Caleb had shown me that loving the right person was worth the pain. And he was definitely worth it.
That didn’t mean I would let him step all over me. It just meant I was willing to stay and work things out.
I would fight and argue with him, even drive us both insane until we’d cleared up the heaviness we both felt inside. This time, I wouldn’t walk away without a fight.
“When I saw you with him—”
“Choose your words very carefully,” I warned him. “If you think I’m cheating on you—”
He turned to look at me. “Never,” he said strongly.
“—you better think again because… What?”
“I never thought you were cheating on me,” he continued. His jaw was tight, his mouth a straight line of displeasure.
“Then what the hell, Caleb?”
“I know you, Red. I know you’ll never cheat on me. I’m sorry I acted like an asshole. You deserved to be treated better. And I…”
The helplessness and pain in his green eyes pulled at me, the way his mouth curled down in remorse.
I closed my eyes, blowing out a breath to help relieve the ache in my chest. It felt a little lighter now that I knew he didn’t think I was cheating on him, but the ache was still there.
His eyes were still on me, and I could sense him waiting for me to answer.
When I felt him move, I finally opened my eyes. Naked and completely unselfconscious, he stalked to the window and looked outside. His back was to me, but I could tell he was angry by the unyielding set of his shoulders, the way he bunched his hands into tight fists.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “I was too rough again, wasn’t I? I can’t seem to help it with you.”
He raked his hands through his hair, dragging his hand down his neck as he lowered his head in shame.
“I…want you too damn much, even when I’m so mad. Mad at you. Mad about you. You drive me fucking insane. Why in the hell would you tell him and not me?”
I could feel the hurt and anger in his tone. Most of mine had subsided when I realized why he was angry. It wasn’t because he thought I was cheating on him with Damon, but because I’d told Damon about the fire.
Caleb had b
een insistent earlier, trying to find out what was bothering me, but I had refused to tell him. When he heard me tell Damon about it, that’s probably when he lost his temper.
If I switched our roles and I’d heard him talking to another girl about what had been bothering him all night, I would have been hurt and angry too.
But still…he had no right to act the way he did, dragging me like a child, ordering me around like I was his property.
He turned around. My eyes lowered, and I felt the blush creeping in my cheeks as I took in his nakedness. He was completely at ease with his body, and why wouldn’t he be? He was hard and lean all over.
Memories of what we’d shared a few minutes ago flitted through my mind. I bit my lip to keep from groaning out loud when I felt the soreness between my legs.
“Does this bother you?” He gestured. “Does this make you feel uncomfortable?”
“Just…” I cleared my throat. “Put some pants on, Caleb.”
He watched my face for a moment. “No,” he said.
I looked up at him, noticed the narrowing of his eyes. He was still angry.
“You’re being childish,” I accused.
“Am I? You’re the one who keeps blowing off my questions.”
“I’m not…”
Frustrated, I dragged my fingers through my hair. I rose from the bed, looking for my dress. When I spotted it, I let out a frustrated sigh. It was in tatters; Caleb had ripped it to pieces. There was no way I could wear it again.
When I looked back at him, there was a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Annoyed, I grabbed the dress and threw it at his face.
Of course he caught it easily.
“Very mature,” he commented dryly.
“One more word,” I warned, shooting him a glare.
He made a show of zipping his lips, and I narrowed my eyes at him. His stance was insolent as he angled his head and raised his brows in challenge.
Well, good. I was ready for a challenge.
“Do you know how much this dress cost?”
When he shrugged carelessly, I wanted to stuff the expensive tattered dress down his throat.
Always Red Page 23
