Page 59 of Playing Pretend

I rubbed my thighs together, but wasn’t discreet enough about it. Caleb saw the movement, and he licked his lips.

I wanted to be those lips, so very badly.

“Quite the observation skills you’ve got there, Einstein.”

“Don’t you know that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit?”

“Don’t you know it’s an asshole move to screw someone and then tell her it was a mistake?”

Our eyes locked, and for that brief flash of time I wasn’t aware of anything but the places his body touched mine.

Without much warning, Caleb brought his hands to my waist, and lifted me up. Wrapping my legs around his hips was instinctual, and my current position couldn’t be helped unless I wanted to fall on my butt. I sucked in a startled breath when his fingers dug into the exposed flesh of my thighs, and caught the flash in his blue eyes as he discovered my lack of underwear.

He hummed, arching his neck to look up at me. “Tell me again how nothing you did tonight was to get my attention.”

I lowered my head, tightening my grip on Caleb’s shoulders for leverage. “Tell me again that you think last night was a mistake.”

“You’re not letting go of that are you?”

I stared at Caleb for a moment, searching his eyes for genuine contrition. I was oddly relieved to find it, but still felt the sting of his words from earlier that morning.

“What is it they say?‘Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorned’.”

It was Caleb’s turn to stare, and the lucidity of his gaze made me shift in his arms. He squeezed my supple flesh, a silent warning to stay still.

“What I don’t get,” he sighed, “Is why I’m willing to burn in Hell, if it meant I got one more night with you.”

My heart stuttered, and my mind wanted to stutter right alongside it, but the little voice in my head reminded me that they were just words, and without the actions to back them up they meant nothing.

The silence crackled between us, igniting my pulse, my skin, my desire. That told me it was time to change tack, and amidst everything I was thinking, and feeling, I could only come up with one way to do that.

“Where’s Brae?” I asked quietly, hoping that mentioning her would stifle the intensity with which Caleb was looking at me.

“She’s with a friend,” he replied gruffly.

“Your ‘friend’ from the photographs?”

Caleb hesitated, and the flames inside me dulled to a low roar, doused by disappointment and my indefensible sense of betrayal.

“Put me down, Caleb.”

“No. Not until you hear me out.”

“You have nothing to say that I want to hear.”

I was being stubborn, but I refused to be trampled on. A great night of sex wasn’t worth that, not ever.

“Too bad,” replied Caleb. “You’re going to listen to me anyway.” His hands tightened, and I couldn’t help but squirm. Controlling my physical responses to the feel of Caleb’s hands on me was proving to be far more challenging than staying angry with him.

“Her name is Sarah,” he started. I shook my head, and tried to push us away from the wall, but that only seemed to add to Caleb’s determination to explain himself to me. He closed the miniscule space between us, and pressed me harder against the wall. In response, I gripped his biceps, and dug my nails into his exposed flesh. He grunted, the sound reverberating between us like a pinball caught in a pinball machine.

“Shut up,” I bit out. “I’m not interested in hearing about your newest conquest or -”

“She’s a lesbian.”

I snapped my mouth closed, and narrowed my eyes.

“She’s also my Father’s care-giver, and a very good friend. Nothing more.”