by Ashley Blake
He gave me a sly sideways look, raised an eyebrow, and then a small flirtatious smile turned up the corner of his mouth.
“Hmmm, I wonder what you’re hoping the answer will be.”
I was instantly embarrassed and became very defensive.
“Oh, I’m not hoping anything one way or the other. I’m just trying to figure out why a girl that I just met was basically shooting daggers at me the entire time she was in the kitchen. The only reason that I can come up with is that she is your girlfriend and she did not like that you were in the kitchen talking with me.”
I could feel my cheeks burning and I wanted to just crawl inside the cupboard and hide. I wanted to kick myself for opening my mouth. Why did you even ask him that question Emma? Who knows what he thinks now.
“Carrie is harmless, it just takes her a little while to warm up to people. I'm sure you were just imagining any sort of dirty looks she may have been sending your way. She’s always been very nice to me.”
He still had that little sexy smile dancing at the corner of his mouth.
Well of course she’s always been nice to you, she probably wants to hookup with you, if she’s not already doing that. Men could be so clueless sometimes, so even though he didn’t answer the question I just dropped it.
I think he saw that I was bothered so he sidled up to me and gently nudged my hip with his.
“Hey,” I turned to look at him and my stomach did a major flip. I had never been this close to him and he was beyond beautiful. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
A smile slowly spread across my face and there was nothing I could do to stop it. He looked down at my mouth and then his eyes searched mine as his face slowly moved toward me. My heart was thumping out of my chest in anticipation of what was about to happen. His soft lips touched mine and lingered for a couple of seconds before he slowly pulled away and searched my eyes again, his finger gently touching my cheek. “That was nice.”
I don’t know how I was able to remain standing because my knees felt so weak that I thought I was going to melt right into the floor. It was easily the best first kiss I had ever had. I was completely tongue-tied because I did not expect for him to kiss me, and it was such an amazing kiss that I was on cloud nine.
“We should probably get back to the party, I'm sure people are going to start wondering where we are. There's still a little bit of time left before these guys go back home so we have time to play at least one more game with them.”
I heard him talking and I saw his lips moving but it was difficult for me to comprehend what he had just said to me, so when he started to walk out of the kitchen I just followed behind him.
When we re-joined the party everyone was sitting around playing different games of cards, so Caleb and I joined Jack, Mary and a couple of others at their table to play with them. I saw Carrie staring at us and it looked like she was seething, and I know it sounds terrible but it made me feel good to know that a guy like Caleb was more interested in me than he was in a girl like Carrie. I had never had this kind of attention from a guy like this before, and I have to say it really boosted my confidence.
“We were wondering what happened to you Emma, but now that I see you were with Caleb I know you are in good hands. Caleb has been coming here for years and is such a nice young man. You make sure you look after my new friend Caleb, okay?”
Caleb chuckled at Jack’s protective words. “Sure thing Jack, she is safe with me.”
I smiled at them and it felt really good to be me right then because I had Jack looking out for me, and Caleb promising to protect me. I wondered if my dad saw how these two new men in my life were treating me already, if he would feel badly about the way he treated me. One of these days I am going to have a real heart to heart with dad. I pushed any more thoughts of him out of my mind because if I were to dwell on my relationship with him, it would dampen the mood and I wanted to revel in this happy time.
We finished playing our game of cards with them and it was time for everyone to leave. Caleb took charge making sure everyone had a ride home.
“Jack and Mary I can give you guys a ride home since you both live close to each other if you want. This way Mary, Amy, who drove you here with your group, can give a ride to a group who live close together, if that’s okay with you. Because I think she had to drive 20 minutes in different directions each time to pick you all up, is that right?” Caleb had a concerned look on his face and I was so touched because he truly wanted Mary to be comfortable with the arrangement.
He is nothing like I thought he would be.
“Yes, the poor dear. She told us that one of the drivers was sick so that’s why it took so long to get all of us.”
“Well we have a couple of people that have volunteered to drive groups of people home so we should be fine now.” Caleb turned to look at me. “How are you getting home?”
“Oh, I’m just going to take the bus.”
“No, you’re not. I’ll give you a ride home.”
I didn’t argue with him because I really did not want to ride the bus home and, of course, I would rather be with him. We all said our goodbyes to everyone and then we were on our way.
We had a lot of fun riding in the jeep with Jack and Mary. I found that Jack had an incredible sense of humor and he had all of us laughing almost the entire way to Mary’s place. When we pulled up to Mary’s building, I told Mary how nice it had been to see her again and I looked forward to seeing her again soon. Jack got out and asked us to wait for him while he walked her to the door.
I watched them through the window and saw that Mary had her arm linked through Jack’s arm. Aren’t they sweet? I didn’t realize I had said it out loud until I heard Caleb respond.
“You’re a bit of a romantic, aren’t you? And to answer your question, yes they are very sweet, as you say.”
I turned around and realized that this was the first time Caleb and I had been alone since he kissed me in the kitchen and suddenly, I felt just a little bit nervous. I felt him looking at me and I slowly turned to look at him and a smile slowly spread across my face.
“Do I have a hair out of place or something?”
My hands were resting in my lap and he looked a bit serious as he reached out and linked a finger through mine, his eyes gently searching mine. “I really enjoyed today.”
The butterflies in my belly were getting out of control and once again I was speechless. Instead of dwelling on why Caleb would be interested in someone like me, I decided to just go with it and see what happens. No, I was not used to this kind of attention from a guy like him, but it felt really good and I didn’t want it to end.
I gave him a small smile in return. “Me too.”
He started to lean toward me and I could feel my palms getting sweaty as my heart was thumping, and right then is when Jack came back to the jeep.
“Okay kids, now that I have walked my lady friend to her door we can get going.”
Caleb backed away and decided to tease Jack about Mary and have a little fun with him.
“You know Jack, I think you might have a little crush on Mary.”
I glanced at Jack in the mirror and saw him blushing and it was so cute.
“Oh no, no, Mary and I are just friends. She is a wonderful woman and I enjoy spending time with her, that’s all.”
I decided to chime in. “I don’t know Jack, it looks like you and Mary have a little bit of chemistry going on, and I think she likes you too.”
“Oh now, now, you two, have you become professional matchmakers?”
“Maybe we should because I think I see a love connection!” I couldn’t help but have a little fun with him.
“Hey Jack, have you ever spent any time with Mary outside of the functions at Friends of Seniors?” Caleb looked genuinely curious.
“Well no, I’m sure Mary has other things to do during the week. I know she plays bridge and her book club meets once a week. I wouldn’t want to intrude on her time.”
Cal
eb decided to give him some encouragement. “Jack, in all honesty, I really think that maybe you should ask Mary out on a date. You know, just go for a cup of coffee or something simple like that where you guys can talk to each other. Actually, if you don’t feel comfortable going out with her alone, just the two of you, then Emma and I could always double date with you two. What you think about that?”
That totally caught me off guard. What did he think about that? What did I think about that? I thought it was a great idea and I thought it would be something really fun to do especially since I really liked Jack and Mary so much.
Caleb looked at me and whispered to me under his breath. “Is that okay with you?”
Was he kidding? “Of course, it sounds fun.” I whispered so that Jack would not hear me.
“That sounds like it would be a lot of fun, but I’ve dated a few women in my time and I think I still remember how to take a woman out on a proper date. But thank you for the offer of coming with us to make it more comfortable. I’ll ask her for her phone number when I see her at the facility in a couple of weeks. You two will be there right? I want to give you updates on what she says when I ask her out on a date.”
“I don’t know about Caleb, but I will definitely be there Jack. I am so excited for you and I can’t wait to hear what happens!”
“Don’t you worry Jack, I will be there too, and if you need any advice you can always come to me.”
"I think you may need to switch that around son, I'm the one with more experience, remember? If you need any advice you can always come to me.” Jack was smiling as he ribbed Caleb.
We all laughed at what Jack said and then we pulled up to his building and he sat there for a minute before saying something.
“Thank you so much for the ride Caleb, and Emma sweetheart, it was a pleasure to see you again. Caleb, you be sure to take care of my friend.”
I smiled at him. “It was nice to see you again too Jack.”
He opened the door and stood at Caleb’s window that was rolled down. “You know, you might want to think about taking your own advice.” He then winked at Caleb and told us he would see soon.
Caleb chuckled and then turned to look at me as we waited to make sure Jack made it inside.
“Jack thinks I should take my own advice.” He turned that sexy smile on me and I melted. “What do you think?”
What do I think? I think I want to kiss you until the sun sets, I think I want to feel your hands and tongue explore my body, and I think you should definitely take Jack’s advice.
My eyes held his and I tried to look demure as I answered him.
“I think you know the answer to that.”
His smile widened as he started the jeep and took off, but he didn’t say anything.
After about a minute he finally spoke but it wasn’t what I had hoped.
“I just realized that I have no idea where you live. Where am I going?”
I gave him directions to my place and we rode in silence for about a minute before he spoke again.
“Do you mind if I come upstairs to use your bathroom when we get to your place?”
I was so happy that both Kelly and I were neat freaks and that I had made my bed that morning. Caleb Morgan was actually going to be in my place. I know I kept saying this but; is this really my life?
“Of course you can come up. My roommate isn’t home so you won’t get to meet her this time, maybe next time.”
He raised eyebrows and glanced at me. “Next time? So you want there to be a next time, huh?”
I really had to start filtering my thoughts a little bit better and holding my tongue. I tried to brush it off as a casual comment that didn’t mean anything.
“Oh, I just meant that if you ever happened to give me a ride home again from the center and you needed to use my bathroom, maybe you would meet my roommate at that time. No big deal, don’t read anything into it.”
“What if I want to read something into it?”
Boy he was good at this whole flirting thing and he was so damned sexy!
I sat there trying to think of something to say when he pointed out the window.
I was relieved to be home and to have the break in the question, because I didn’t know how to answer what he had just asked.
“Is this your place?”
“Yep, this is it.”
The stars must have been aligned because we found a parking spot right in front of my building. For some reason I didn’t feel nervous at all about inviting Caleb into my home, it was weird but it felt really natural.
As soon as he walked in I could tell that he liked the place. His response was almost identical to mine when I saw it for the first time. The timber beams, exposed brick and huge windows were just so cool. I think because we were both artists, in some respect, we could really appreciate the architecture of the place.
“Emma, this place is amazing. After you tell me where your bathroom is, I would love a tour if you don’t mind.”
“Oh sure, the bathroom is right through here.”
I quickly rushed around to check that nothing was out of place, and I closed the doors to our bedrooms. When he came out I took him on a tour of my place, which wasn’t very big, but had tons of character.
“You’ve already seen the bathroom so let me show you the kitchen which is right through here, this is the living room, this first closed door is Kelly’s bedroom and my bedroom is that closed door right next to Kelly’s room.”
“I’d love to see it.” His eyes smoldered as he slowly walked toward me.
“Um, ok, let me show you.”
I put my hand on the doorknob and before I could open it, Caleb was right behind me, his muscular body pressed against mine, his hand covering mine. I could barely breathe as he whispered in my ear.
“You don’t have to show me if you’re not ready.”
He slowly brushed the hair away from the back of my neck and I felt his soft lips press against my delicate skin. I had one hand still on the doorknob and the other pressed against the door. His hands roamed down my sides and glided over my hips, and I could tell that he liked what he was feeling. I felt his hands caress my ass through my jeans and he let out a soft groan. My heart was ready to leap out of my chest at this point and I leaned back against him, rolling my head to the side to give him better access to my sensitive neck. His tongue slowly made its way up to my earlobe which he captured between his teeth and gave a gentle nibble. I could feel my panties getting wet as his hands came around to my slightly rounded belly and they slid up over my ample breasts and softly kneaded them on the outside of my shirt as he kissed my neck. I could feel his hardened member pressed against me, and it made me feel really good to know that I had caused that reaction in him.
Suddenly his urge became faster as he quickly spun me around and held my hands behind my back with one of his hands. The other hand held my face as his lust-filled eyes searched mine.
“You drive me crazy Emma Blakely, I don’t know what it is about you but I can’t get enough. You’re so damned sexy that I want to just lose control with you!”
His lips came crashing down on mine and I opened my mouth to let his tongue in. It slid on top of mine as we urgently kissed each other, our tongues sliding, teasing, tasting and exploring each other. He captured my bottom lip between his lips and sucked gently before lightly raking it between his teeth. I was helpless to wrap my arms around him because he had my hands held behind me in a tight grip.
His voice was deep and throaty as he choked out his words. “Do you have any idea what I want to do to you right now? What are you doing to me woman?”
He finally let go of my hands and I eagerly wrapped my arms around his neck, raked my fingers through his gorgeous thick hair and whispered in his ear.
“I bet I want to do the same things to you that you want to do to me.” I pulled him closer to me, pressing my hips into his. I could feel his hard member through his pants and my voice was hoarse and filled with lust
as I said the next words. “Let’s go into my bedroom.”
I reached behind me with one hand to open the door and Caleb suddenly stopped me, his breaths coming in pants.
“No, not like this.”
I was stunned and didn’t know what to say since my body was burning for him. I looked at him completely confused about why he wanted to stop.
He gently ran a finger down my cheek as he looked into my eyes.
“I want our first time to be special Emma, you deserve that.”
He smiled at me and gently kissed me with his soft lips. He then leaned back a little and looked at me with his gorgeous dark eyes.
“I don’t know what it is about you, but I am completely under your spell.”
I smiled at him and realized that he was actually a gentleman. What was wrong with me? Here I was ready to jump into bed with a guy I had only met a few weeks before and had only really talked to a couple of times! But he was so damned sexy and good-looking that I was willing to let my morals fly out of the window.
“Good, that means I can have you when I want you.” I lightly touched the tip of his nose with my finger. “We are going to be amazing together, you’ll see.”
I liked this sexier, confident side of me. Caleb was bringing out feelings in me that I didn’t even know existed. I felt like the sexiest woman in the world when I was with him and I wanted so badly to show him what a good time he would have with me in bed, but he was right. This wasn’t the best way to have our first time together, so I decided I would be patient and wait, and take a cue from Caleb for when the time would be right.
He hugged me tight as he looked into my eyes. “I look forward to it.” He kissed me one last time and then said he should take off.
“Thanks for letting me use your bathroom.”
“Any time. So do you have anything good planned for the rest of the weekend?”
“I have a project for school that I need to work on so that’s going to occupy most of my time this weekend. What about you?”
“Kelly and I are going to grab some dinner later and then I have studying to do. Tomorrow I have to meet with my partner and we have to work on a class project that’s due Friday, we’re giving a presentation. So the rest of my weekend will be devoted to school unfortunately.”
