Page 78 of Wild Devotion
Caleb
She didn’t take it back.
Not in the car. Not walking through the door. Not when the house swallowed us in darkness and Chantel’s absence settled over the silence like permission.
I think I’m ready to face my fear.
Those words had been sitting in my chest since she’d whispered them. Quiet enough that I’d almost missed them. Loud enough to rearrange everything.
The hallway was dark. Her back found the wall and her eyes found mine, and the woman who’d spent months running away from this looked at me like she was finally ready to run toward it. Toward me.
“So what happens now?” she whispered.
I could have let her lead. Could have waited for her to close the gap, let her set the pace the way I’d been doing from the beginning. But I was done waiting too.
My hands found her waist, and I lifted her off the ground, her legs wrapping around me instantly. I walked her down the hall, straight to my bedroom, with her clinging to me the entire way.
The room was dark except for the streetlight filtering through the curtain. I didn’t bother with the lamp. I could see everything I needed to see.
Her. In that red dress. Looking like a fucking meal I couldn’t wait to sink into.
“Now,” I murmured, setting her on her feet beside my bed, “I’m going to peel this dress off you. Find every spot that makes you lose your mind. And listen to you chant my name while you come.”
A sound escaped her that was half moan, half curse, and her fingers dug into my shoulders.
“But first, I need to hear you say it, Zadie.”
Her pretty brow furrowed.
“I won’t fuck you unless I know you’re serious. This won’t be just one night.”
She cupped my face in both hands, her big doe eyes penetrating my goddamn soul. “I’m going to have a baby, Cal. I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t know exactly what this means.” Her thumb traced my jaw. “I’m yours. All of me. Even the terrified parts.”
“Good,” I said. “Because once I’m inside you, I’m never letting you go.”
My mouth found hers and the kiss was nothing like the ones that came before. This was hunger unleashed. Weeks of restraint and wanting and holding back, all of it channeled into the way I kissed her and the sound she made when I pulled her body flush against mine.
Her hands were in my hair, gripping, pulling, and the sting of it sent a jolt straight through me. Finding the hem of her dress, I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the fabric up her thighs, over her hips, up her ribs, and over her head in one smooth motion.
The crimson silk hit the floor, and she stood before me in nothing but her underwear and a bra that was straining to do its job.
Fucking devastating.
My hands actually shook as I ran them up her sides, roaming every inch of her. Not from nerves. From the sheer, staggering reality of her.
“Your turn,” she breathed, reaching for my shirt.
I let her pull it over my head. Let her hands explore my chest, my abs, but when her fingers reached my belt, I caught her wrists.
“Not yet.” I backed her the last step to the bed, reaching behind her to unclasp her bra. “Lie down.”
She obeyed, tossing the bra aside as she lay back. The sight of her spread across my sheets nearly ended me before we’d started.
I crawled over her, my mouth finding her neck, her collarbone, the swell of her breast. When my mouth closed over her nipple, the cry that tore out of her was desperate and raw and the most incredible sound I’d ever heard.
I took my time, tasting her skin and learning her gorgeous body. The spot beneath her ear that made her gasp. The curve of her ribs that made her squirm. The soft skin of her inner thigh that made her hips lift off the mattress.
“Cal. Please.”
