Chapter 25

25

Grace woke and stretched. The sound of running water teased the edges of her hearing. Sunlight splashed happy colors on the walls, but she was alone. Her hand drifted across the expanse of rumpled bed, seeking the solid warmth of Caleb's presence, but found only cooling emptiness. He was already up.

She pushed back the sheets, trying to bite back the disappointment that he wasn't with her. Did he regret the closeness with her last night? Was that why he'd got up early before she woke? So there wouldn't be any awkward conversation?

She reached over to the bedside cabinet where Caleb had placed the water carafe the night before. She drank deeply, the cool liquid helping to clear the cobwebs from her mind.

The sound of the shower continued, a steady rush of water against tile that beckoned her closer. She finished her water, glancing up to where the bathroom was.

What am I doing?

She hesitated outside the bathroom door, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as she tried to ignore the images in her mind.

Caleb. Naked. Rivulets of water tracing the contours of his muscled form.

Desire, hot and urgent, loosed deep in her belly, a searing ache that made her breath catch in her throat. For so long, she had suppressed her own wants and needs, molding herself to fit Richard's desires. But now, her testimony in court looming and the future uncertain, she wanted to take this moment for herself. To choose her own path, her own pleasure, even if only for a stolen moment in time.

Just for once in her life, she wanted to choose for herself, and she chose Caleb.

The man who made her feel cherished, protected, and alive. The man who set her blood on fire with a single smoldering glance, who could unravel her with the barest brush of his fingertips against her skin. Her heart ran a wild, reckless rhythm.

Do it.

She reached for the doorknob, the metal cold beneath her palm, and opened the door.

Steamy air enveloped her.

Caleb's broad back faced her as he leaned, one hand splayed on the tiles. Her gaze ate up every delectable inch of him as water cascaded over his muscled shoulders and powerful thighs. Everything about him was perfection—a living embodiment of raw, primal beauty.

A soft gasp escaped him and he shifted, turning toward her a little. He held his cock, hard and thick, in his fist, the flesh dark with arousal.

Hell.

Her heart stuttered to a halt.

Heat exploded through her body before her heart restarted in overdrive. She should leave, grant him this private moment, but her feet remained rooted to the floor, her eyes wide and hungry as he pleasured himself.

"Grace." Her name fell from his lips like a prayer, a broken moan that made her burn in places she'd long thought dead. Still unaware of her presence, Caleb pumped his cock with brutal strokes, the cords of his neck straining with the force of his need. Water cascaded over him, the trail of hair leading from his navel glistening like a path of temptation.

She stumbled backward, her legs unsteady as the heat of her own arousal threatened to consume her. Her backside collided with the door, the sudden click of the latch too loud.

Caleb's head snapped around. His gaze locked onto her, blazing with a raw hunger. A low, animalistic growl rumbled from deep in his chest, the sound vibrating through her like a physical touch.

This was it. The universe was offering her a choice.

It was now or never.

Now. I choose now.

She held his stare, her chin lifted.

With a boldness she hadn't known she possessed, she crossed the space between them, painfully aware she was wearing only panties under her pajamas. His eyes darkened to smoldering coal as she drew near, his lips parting as he drank her in. She stepped into the shower, the hot spray beating down on her sensitized skin. In an instant, the water drenched her clothes, the soaked fabric clinging to her curves, every inch of her greedy for his touch.

With deliberate slowness, she peeled the top over her head, reveling in the way his eyes widened, his pupils eclipsing his irises. She tossed the garment aside, stepped out of the shorts, baring herself to his heated gaze. She'd wanted nothing as much as she wanted this man, and she wanted him now.

"Grace." His voice was a hoarse whisper. "This can't happen. You're vulnerable right now, so much has?—"

"Shh." She pressed two fingers to his lips, silencing his protest. She closed her hand over his, feeling the tremor that her touch triggered. His eyes fluttered shut as she traced her fingers along the back of his hand. "I might be on the run, but I know my mind."

"We shouldn't do this." But he made no effort to move away from her, to turn off the shower and draw this to an end. His gaze fell to her breasts, then lower still. "You're so fucking beautiful."

"I want you." Grace slid her palm against his rough cheek, imagining the scrape of his stubble against the skin of her inner thighs. The thought made her core almost seize with need.

"If we do this, there's no going back." His voice was strained, his control blatantly fraying at the edges.

"I don't want to go back." She drew in a steadying breath. "Stop punishing yourself for the things you can't control."

His molten gaze was on her. "You don't understand?—"

"I understand more than most," she countered, her thumb brushing the curve of his lower lip. "I've been to hell and back and I know what it's like. But I've also seen the man you are, the way you take care of the people you love. No one's perfect, Caleb, but you are just as deserving of happiness as anyone else." Her breath was a tortured exhale. "Let me give you that happiness, even if it's just for this moment. Let me show you how much you deserve to be loved."

Water streamed across the hard planes of his chest, tracking the defined ridges of his abdomen, a lattice of white scars close to his belly button.

The fight in his eyes flared, then extinguished. "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes." His eyes raked over her, his pupils blown wide with lust. A rush of feminine power crashed through her at the unvarnished want reflected in their depths.

And then his mouth was on hers, the touch of his lips igniting a fire within her. This kiss was greedy, loaded with passion and an edge of danger and she loved it, wanted more with a breathless urgency.

His hands found her hips, his fingers digging into her soft flesh as he walked her backward. She hardly registered the smooth press of tile against her spine, too lost in the drugging slide of his lips against hers, the delicious friction of his body aligned with her own, branding her with his heat.

His fingers skimmed the lace edge of her waistband. Her breath hitched, her muscles quivering under his touch as he traced maddening patterns beneath the fabric while his lips trailed a path of fire down the column of her throat, his teeth and tongue marking her as his own.

Caleb.

He wedged a muscled thigh between her legs, the pressure against her aching core drawing a choked moan from her parted lips. She rocked against him shamelessly, the coil of tension that had wound between them over the last few days, winding tighter with each deliberate grind of his hips.

He curled his fingers around the soaked lace of her panties, the material a flimsy barrier. With agonizing slowness, he eased his hand lower, the rasp of his roughened skin against her own an exquisite torment. She held her breath, every nerve ending alight with anticipation as he delved deeper, till he found the spot he was seeking.

Fuck. She breathed out, her knees turning to liquid as she leaned against him. Hot water streamed over her skin, adding to the sensation as he found the nub of her clit and circled it with languid strokes.

"God, look at you." He dropped to his knees, his voice rough with awe and desire, his hands still anchoring her hips to the tiled wall.

Her fingers dug into the corded muscles of his shoulders. Every inch of him exuded masculine power, a primal force of nature, the complete antithesis of Richard who'd been driven only by lies and manipulation.

Caleb scorched a trail of reverent kisses across her belly before progressing to the delicate skin of her inner thighs with a single-minded devotion, driving her to the brink of madness with his mouth.

He paused only long enough to slide her panties off.

She arched against him, desperate for him to go lower and he rewarded her with the press of his hot tongue against her clit. God. Sensation ripped through her as he delivered the intimate kiss she craved. His tongue was so soft. Pinpricks of pleasure swept over her skin and her head tilted, hitting unyielding tile.

Richard had never kissed her like this. A few times he'd tried, but it had felt awkward and clumsy. And in the end she'd known he preferred to receive than give.

But this? This was something else.

She clung to Caleb, anchoring herself as he wrecked her with his wicked tongue. She hadn't known it could be like this. White hot pleasure raced through her veins, leaving her incapable of speech, of anything but surrender.

"Fuck. Grace." For an instant, his breath was warm against her skin before the faint hint of his teeth, the flick of his tongue, and perfect pressure from his lips continued. He sucked and kissed, working his magic over and around the perfect spot.

She gasped as two thick fingers pressed inside her, stretching her, filling her. Slowly, he slid them deeper, a thick, exquisite pressure that threatened to splinter her apart.

It was more than she could take.

Unable to withstand the onslaught, molten heat exploded, searing her mind with incandescent pleasure. Her thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind as his tongue pressed against her throbbing clit, extending the wild waves of pleasure shuddering through her, milking every drop from her trembling body.

As the final pulse of her release subsided, Grace sagged, her limbs heavy. Caleb boosted to his feet, capturing her in his arms, kissing her with lips that were salty and tasted of her essence.

She knew then.

Caleb had been right about one thing. There was no way back from this, no return from the threshold she had crossed. But in doing so, she had found a piece of herself she hadn't even known was missing.

And she'd do anything to make sure she never lost it again.