THE FALL

by Marie Force

  Amused, she said, "You think you're very clever, don't you, Ted Duffy?"

  "Will you come home with me? Tell me I don't have to leave you tomorrow." He pressed his lips to hers. "I'm not going to be ready to leave you tomorrow."

  She put her arms around him and sank into his kiss. They slipped under the water without breaking the kiss. She resurfaced sputtering and coughing. "Okay," she gasped through her laughter. "I'll come."

  Chapter 23

  After their bath, Ted flipped through a photo album as Caroline snuggled with him on the sofa and introduced him to the people in her life.

  "That's Tiffany. We were in high school then. And that's my sister. Turn the page. I think the picture of us in Brownies is next."

  Ted laughed at the shot of the two girls in their brown and orange uniforms. "Oh, you were so adorable! I want a little girl who looks just like her." He pointed to the young Caroline in her brown knee socks and beanie.

  She kissed him and the photo album slipped to the floor with a thud. Trailing her tongue along his bottom lip, she smiled when he groaned.

  He tried to close the small distance between them, but she kept her hand on his bare chest and continued to tease him.

  "Caroline…" His hand snaked up under the T-shirt of his that she wore.

  "What?" she whispered, turning her attention to his ear.

  "You're making me crazy."

  "I like you that way."

  "You're playing with fire."

  "I'll take my chances." She slid her hand down to see if her efforts were having the desired effect.

  When she reached her destination, Ted sucked in a sharp deep breath. "Satisfied?"

  "Not yet, but getting there."

  His laughter got stuck in his throat when she stroked him through his shorts. "Caroline," he sighed, closing his eyes and giving in to the pleasure.

  "That didn't take much effort." She tugged on the button and unzipped him.

  "You only have to be in the room. That was a real problem for me before yesterday."

  "Really?" she asked with amazement as she freed him from his clothes.

  Enraptured by the gentle movement of her hand, he could only say, "Mmm."

  "Have you had lots of girlfriends?" she asked as she dragged her tongue over the head of his penis.

  His eyes flew open. "A few," he choked out.

  "I'll bet there were a lot." She closed her lips over him and took him deep.

  "None of them were you," he whispered as his fingers spooled through her long hair. "So none of them mattered."

  Slowly, she slid her lips back up and looked at him. "Surely someone has mattered before now."

  He reached for the hand that stroked him. "You're going to have to stop that, honey, if you expect me to talk."

  "I have a better idea."

  "I'm almost afraid to ask…"

  "How about I finish it and then you can talk to me?" With her eyes still on his, she took him in again, swirling her tongue over him.

  Ted groaned and gripped a handful of her soft hair. "Caroline…"

  "Hmm?"

  "Oh God…"

  The combination of her hand, her warm mouth, and enthusiastic tongue drove him up fast.

  "Baby," he gasped. "Wait… That's enough."

  But rather than stop, she sucked him hard, and the orgasm roared through him, leaving him completely depleted in its wake.

  Caroline sighed with contentment and snuggled into his chest.

  "That was amazing, honey," he said when he had recovered the ability to speak. "You're amazing."

  "I've never done that before," she said, her cheeks blazing with embarrassment.

  Charmed by her, he asked, "Done what?"

  "Let someone, you know … come in my mouth like that."

  Ted sighed with contentment and tightened his arms around her. "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you."

  "Now will you tell me what you were going to before?"

  Ted took a deep breath to calm the surge of emotions. "I went out with a girl named Marcy for three years when I was in college. I thought I loved her. But now that I know how it feels to really be in love, I realize I didn't love her. Not like I love you."

  Her green eyes filled. "I wasn't fishing for that, but it's sure nice to hear."

  "It's true. What about you? What about this guy you almost married?"

  She winced and rested her cheek on his belly, her eyes tilted up so she could see him. "I guess I asked for that, didn't I? I wish I could say I've never felt like this before…"

  "I don't expect you to. Our lives didn't begin the day we met." Although Ted wondered if his life had in fact begun the night he met her.

  "I loved him, but he was nothing like you. Since we broke up I've come to see he was very selfish in a lot of ways. I let him get away with far too much."

  "Like what?" he asked, feeling the passion of a few minutes ago drain away to be replaced by something far more tender. Imagining her unhappy stirred his protective instincts.

  "Our relationship was all about him—his work, his family, his friends. I kind of lost myself after a while. I even quit my job—a job he hated and I loved—to devote more time to him. Knowing what I know now, I'd never do that again and not just because he called off the wedding. I gave him too much power in our relationship, too much power over me."

  "I hope I don't end up doing some of that same stuff. My job can be all-consuming at times, and I'm already asking you to come to Boston with me tomorrow. My work often messes up my plans and seeps into my personal life. There'll be days when it'll appear more important to me than you are." He kissed her hand. "But that'll never be the case."

  "There'll be days when it should be more important, and that's all right. I know that going into this."

  "Are you over him, Caroline?"

  She paused for a long moment. "When someone hurts you like he hurt me, it leaves you in pieces. And over time you put the pieces back together, but the picture changes. You're never really quite the same. I don't know if that makes sense."

  "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

  She shrugged. "If I hadn't, I wouldn't be here now. But I hope I'm never in that place again. It was the low point of my life.

  He squeezed her hand. "That's not going to happen to us."

  "I hope not. So to answer your question, I'm over him, but I'm different now."

  "Well, I'm in love with the Caroline who's right here with me. I didn't know that Caroline, but I like this one a whole lot."

  "You know what? I do, too. She's a lot tougher than she used to be."

  Ted laughed. "Just my luck."

  "You'd better watch out," she said with a menacing scowl.

  "If I start to pull the same shit he did, don't let me get away with it, okay?" He tugged her close enough to kiss.

  "Mmm," she said against his lips. "I won't. Hey, you must want to run after lazing around all day."

  "Nope," he said without breaking the kiss. "Not without you."

  "I miss running," she said with a moan.

  "You'll be back to fighting form in no time. I can't wait to run with you again."

  "I can't either. We were good together."

  "We are good together—in more ways than one," he said with a lascivious grin.

  She giggled. "Are you hungry?"

  "Getting there. Want to go out?"

  She mulled that over for a moment. "What if, you know, someone sees us?"

  Ted shrugged. "It's a big city. I think we'll be okay."

  "Do you like Thai?"

  "I love it." He got up and helped her up.

  After they got changed, she followed him back to the living room. "There's a good place about two blocks from here. I can walk that far."

  "But you don't have to. You've got me." He squatted down to offer her his back. "Hop on."

  "You don't have to carry me."

  "I want to."

  "You won't be able to stand up straight tomorrow."<
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  "Shut up and get on."

  "All right." She climbed onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

  "I've carried you before. Remember?"

  "How could I forget? I think I fell in love with you on that long walk back to the parking lot."

  "Did you? That soon?"

  She pressed a kiss to his neck that sent a tremble through him as he carried her on the sidewalk. "You were so caring and competent. How could I not fall for that? When did it start for you?"

  "That night on the deck when I first saw you. I very distinctly remember having the feeling I'd been asleep my whole life and was finally awake. It was an amazing moment—one I'll never forget."

  "Ted," she whispered as she tightened her hold on him.

  "I usually have a hard time talking about the losses, but that night I didn't because you were so easy to talk to. It just kind of poured out. That was definitely the start of it."

  "I was awake all night after that," she confessed.

  "Me, too."

  She squeezed him from her perch on his back and pointed to the restaurant on the corner. They ate at a small table on the sidewalk and shared a bottle of wine. The street was busy, and the night air warm but not overly humid.

  As Ted carried her back to the apartment after dinner, she nibbled on his ear.

  "I'm going to drop you if you keep that up."

  She moved from his ear to his neck.

  "Oh, that's a big improvement."

  She giggled and kept up the mischief.

  When they reached her building, Ted took the front stairs two at a time and pulled her key out of his pocket. Once they were inside, he eased her down onto her good foot and turned to her. Pressing her against the wall, he captured her mouth in a long, deep kiss. "See what you started?" he whispered in her ear as he slid his hands under her shirt.

  She unbuttoned his shorts. "And are you going to finish it?"

  "What do you think?" He pushed up her skirt and tugged her panties out of the way. Lifting her against the wall, he propped her legs on his hips and sank two fingers into her heat.

  Groaning, Caroline rested her head on his shoulder and clutched a handful of his hair.

  After a few minutes, he nudged at her top. "Take it off," he said, his voice husky.

  She fumbled with the buttons as his fingers slid in and out of her at an increasingly faster pace.

  "Bra too," he whispered urgently.

  The clothes dropped to their feet. Ted lifted her higher and feasted on her nipple.

  She climaxed hard, clutching his fingers and crying out with completion.

  He freed himself and was inside her so fast the last waves of her orgasm gripped him from within. She was so tight and so hot, it was all he could do not to explode into her.

  She gasped as she struggled to accommodate him and tightened her arms around his neck.

  His tongue plunged into her mouth, mimicking the movements of his hips. What had earlier been slow and sensual was now fast and frantic. And when it was over, Ted was left flattened by the knowledge that in the course of this one day she had become more essential to him than anything or anyone.

  "I love you," she whispered.

  Since he couldn't speak over the giant lump in his throat, he just held her tighter.

  Chapter 24

  Ted carried Caroline's bags and her box of plants out to his car and then went back for his own bag. "Do you have everything?"

  "I'm just trying to think. I stopped my mail, cleaned out the fridge, and took out the trash." She chewed on her thumbnail as she looked around her apartment. "I feel like there's something I'm forgetting to do."

  "We've got time, so why don't you come kiss me until you think of it."

  "Because if I do that, I won't be able to think at all. You stay over there."

  Ted flopped down on the sofa and pretended to pout as he watched her think. He was so glad she was coming with him, especially after spending the night wrapped around her and then waking up to her in the morning. There had never been anything quite like opening his eyes to a new day and finding her there next to him.

  She leaned over her desk, giving Ted an excellent view of her backside in a fitted white skirt. He couldn't believe it was possible that he already wanted her again.

  Caroline turned around and caught him checking her out. "What are you doing?"

  "Just enjoying the view, which I have to say, is even better from the front." He made no attempt to hide that he was fixated now on the cleavage made prominent by her light blue halter.

  She hobbled over to the sofa and sat on his lap. "You make me melt when you look at me like that."

  He pulled her closer. "I want you all the time, even when I've just had you."

  "You'd better get a handle on that, sailor. You've got to go back to work tomorrow."

  "Don't remind me," he groaned. "I'll tell you right now I'm taking a vacation in August, and we're going somewhere fabulous where I can keep you naked for a whole week."

  "Oh, I like the sound of that." She kissed him with abandon. "Wait!" She pulled back, leaving him panting for more. "I thought of it. I almost forgot to pay the bills. You've got me totally distracted."

  "Just bring them with you. We should get out of here before rush hour." He reluctantly eased her off his lap and stood up. "Do you need your crutches?"

  "Nah, leave them." She tossed the bills and her checkbook into the bag where she had earlier put her computer. "I don't need them anymore."

  Ted took the bag from her and slung it over his shoulder.

  She locked the deadbolt and followed him down the stairs.

  He opened the car door for her and stashed her bag behind the seat.

  "The last time I was in this car we were on the way to the emergency room."

  "Hard to believe that was only a couple of weeks ago." He flipped the switch to take the top down. "I feel like I've lived a lifetime since then." At the stop sign at the end of her block he stopped the car and turned to her. "I know what you forgot!"

  "What?" she asked, alarmed.

  "Cameron Littlefield!"

  Her face lit up with a huge grin. "Oh, I didn't forget him. He's always with me." She put a hand over her heart.

  "I hate him."

  She leaned over to kiss Ted's cheek. "He's not the one I spent most of last night—and this morning—making love with."

  "That's right," Ted said smugly. "Eat your heart out, Cameron, old boy." He hooked his arm around her to keep her close to him as he drove them out of Manhattan. "I was thinking about how you said you're taking a break to write about Cameron, but did you have other work to do this week that I'm dragging you away from?"

  She shook her head. "I'm giving myself three months to write the book, and then I have to go back to work. I used my commission from the Convention & Visitor's Bureau job to pay three months' rent, so that bought me some time."

  He brushed his lips over her soft blond hair. "You know, if you lived with me at some point you could focus on your writing full time—if you wanted to, that is."

  She raised her head off his shoulder to look at him. "You're very sweet, but that's not me. I'd need to contribute."

  "But you wouldn't have to. Maybe you'll write a runaway best seller, and I'll end up living large off you."

  "Now that's a scenario I could live with."

  "What about, if…"

  "What?"

  "If we have kids someday—before the best seller, that is—would you want to be home with them?"

  "I would. I'd want that very much, but I'd probably still do some freelancing, and of course, there's Cameron to consider."

  "I'm not leaving you at home alone with him every day. No way."

  "I never imagined you to be the jealous type."

  He heard her deep sigh. "Hey, what's going on inside that pretty head of yours?"

  "I can't believe we just talked about me being a stay-at-home mother to our kids."
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  "Am I getting ahead of myself on our second full day together?"

  "No. It all feels possible today, doesn't it?"

  "It is possible—all of it. I've never been so content to spend two days the way we just did. I could spend a month like that and never be bored, never run out of stuff to talk to you about, and never, ever, ever stop wanting you."

  Caroline pressed her lips to his until he had to pull away from her to focus on driving. "Thank you for coming all that way the other night when I needed you."

  "I thought I was going to go crazy trying to get to you."

  She held up the speeding ticket. "Is that how you got this?"

  He winced. "You weren't supposed to see that."

  "Ouch! Four hundred bucks! I'm not exactly a cheap date, am I?"

  "Luckily you didn't eat much last night."

  She laughed. "I didn't realize I'd already cost you so much money, or I wouldn't have gotten the shrimp."

  "For you, baby, sky's the limit."

  "Ugh," she said. "This traffic is beastly. It's going to take us forever to get to Boston at this rate."

  "Want to take a detour and spend the night in Newport?"

  "Do you have time?"

  "I'm on twelve to eight tomorrow, and the house is ours until Labor Day even though we only use it on the weekends."

  "What if Chip or Parker showed up there out of the blue?"

  "They never would."

  "They'd probably say the same about you, though, right?"

  He smiled. "Yes, they would. I need to return their calls from yesterday anyway, so I could do that and find out where they are. What do you say?"

  "You're the one who has to work, so whatever you want is fine with me."

  "Hey, just because you're not working right now doesn't mean you don't get a vote. I want to be careful not to treat you the way old what's his name did."

  "You're incapable of treating me the way Brad did."

  "Brad." Ted turned up his nose with distaste. "Brad and Cameron. I hate them both."

  "It's okay, baby," she cooed. "You're the only one I want."

  Pacified, Ted smiled. "In that case, I'll let you go long enough to return those calls, and then I want you back over here with me." He lifted his arm to release her and reached for his cell phone to call Parker.