The Unwanted (A Novella of the FBI Psychics) (10 page)

Pain. Need. Emptiness.

Just like what she’d been living with.

His hand stroked up over her arm, curved around to cup her nape as he slid his lips down her cheek. “I never wanted to walk away…but I didn’t have a choice at the time, Destin.”

The ache in her chest was going to kill her. She wanted to ask him what in the hell he was talking about. But then he shifted over and his mouth covered hers. Talking,
thinking
, all of it came to a crashing halt. Hell, even
breathing
became difficult as his tongue stroked along her lips and pushed inside.

She tried to turn her head aside, desperate to think, desperate to find steady ground just so she could settle herself. “Caleb, damn it, wait…”

“Why?” Undeterred, he shifted his attention to her neck and she groaned as his teeth scraped across sensitive flesh.

Squeezing her eyes closed, she thought of the first thing that came to mind. “Morning breath. I should brush my teeth.”

He laughed against her ear. “Destin…if you want me to stop, just say stop. If not…quit making excuses.”

Turning her head, she stared up at him. Five years ago, the golden brown of his hair would have fallen into his eyes. Now, nothing was there to soften the impact of that dark, liquid gaze and she felt it clear down to her soul. “If I want you to stop, you’ll stop,” she whispered, bracing her hands on his shoulders.

She could feel the power of solid, sturdy muscle under her hands and her body cried out for him. She’d missed him. A few times, she’d tried to find somebody to fill the void he’d left but it had never worked. Three lovers. One of them had been good too. The others…they’d left her cold.

And come morning, she’d been cold any way.

If you want me to stop…

Watching the carved lines of his face, that familiar face, she smoothed her hands along his shoulders, feeling the cotton of his shirt under her palms. A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Destin…”

“Don’t stop.” She curled her arms around his neck and tugged him down to her. She’d regret this later. When she had time to think, she knew she’d regret this. But just then, if she pushed him away, the only thing she’d regret was not reaching for this moment.

Just like she had to live with the regret of not reaching for him as he walked away from her five years ago.

She’d rather live with the pain of heartbreak than the bitterness of regret.

He curved his hand along the back of her head, his thumb stroking the sensitive spot just behind her ear. “Be sure, Destin…are you very sure?”

“Yes. You’ll just have to deal with the morning breath.”

He laughed as he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. “I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

Heat blistered through her as he slid his other hand under her shirt, stroking higher and higher, dragging the material with him as he sought her skin out. “Too many clothes.”

“Yeah.” He pushed up onto his knees, straddling her hips as he caught her shirt and stripped it away. Her bra followed. “Naked, Destin. Need you naked.”

She reached for him, wanting the very same thing, but he evaded her hands as he reached for the buckle of her belt and freed it. In seconds, he had her naked while he still wore everything. It was something Destin
really
needed to do something about except when she went to sit up and do just that, he shifted down and settled between her thighs.

As he caught her hips in his big hands, Destin thought she heard little mini-explosions firing off in her brain. Then he dipped his head and pressed a hot, searing kiss against her.

“Oh, hell.” Melting back against the mattress, she fisted her hands in the sheets.

Caleb’s mouth opened and she shuddered as he flicked his tongue against her. It was like he’d stroked her with a controlled burst of lightning. It hurtled through her and the strangled, choked gasp hitched in her throat. Each rasping touch pushed her higher, higher…

Sensations slammed into her. The feel of his hands on her hips. The rhythm of his mouth.

And more…the feel of
him
. The warmth of his presence, mantling all around her. It was more intimate than just sex. It was…everything. As he worked her closer and closer to climax, time and trouble and nightmares fell away until it was just them.

His fingers brushed against her inner thigh and she trembled, her eyes flying open.

“Shhh… I’ve missed this,” he muttered against her.

She groaned as she felt him teasing her entrance, the blunt tip of one finger circling around and around. Bringing one knee up, she arched closer.

But he continued on his slow, teasing little play. His mouth teased and tormented, like he was learning her all over again. And his hand…damn those talented fingers, he kept his touch light, just this side of tentative although there was nothing tentative about him.

The contrast was enough to drive her insane and as he worked her to that edge once more, only to back off, Destin reached down and fisted her hands in his hair. The strands were short, almost too short, but she tugged and lifted until his dark eyes met hers. “If you don’t quit teasing me, I’m going to hurt you,” she warned him, her breath coming in harsh, heavy pants.

He smiled and lowered his mouth back to her sex, caught her clit between his teeth and tugged. “Am I teasing, sugar?” He shifted around and used his thumbs to spread her open. “So wet…so ready. Are you ready for me, Destin?”

She shuddered as he pressed his mouth against her core. Then, as a spasm of need gripped her, he thrust his tongue inside her.

Destin climaxed with a harsh cry, twisting on the sheets and straining against his mouth and hands.

While she was still shuddering, shaking from her orgasm, Caleb pulled away. Climbing out of the bed, he all but ran from the room. At the time, he’d told himself it was wishful thinking.

Now, the box of condoms he’d put inside his bag was too far away and his feet felt too fucking clumsy and his hands too big. When he finally found the damn thing, tucked just inside the room he’d taken, his heart was thudding in hard, heavy beats against his rib cage, his hands were shaking and all he could see was how she’d looked, her peach-and-cream body against the sheets, her eyes dark with need.

Box in hand, he headed back into the room and met her gaze as she went to sit up. He settled back on the bed, straddling her hips and catching her head in one hand, slanting his mouth over hers. “I was telling myself I was an idiot for buying these,” he whispered against her mouth. “I’m glad I have no problem with being an idiot.”

As he pulled away, her gaze dropped to the box he held and then she reached for it. He let her take it as he reached for his belt, all but tearing it open. “You’re still dressed,” she said, her voice husky and soft.

“Yeah. I don’t care.” He cupped her breasts in his hands, plumping the sweet little curves together and flicking his thumbs over her tight nipples. Her eyes went cloudy and he pulled the condom out of her hand, put it between his teeth as he unzipped his jeans.

Her hands brushed his away and he groaned as she closed one soft, strong hand around his cock.

Yeah. Screw the clothes just then.

He didn’t need to worry about his clothes. He just needed her.

And…it was easier this way. For now. They could talk later. Right?

He tore the condom open. She reached for the hem of his shirt and he let her tug at it as he unrolled the rubber, but before she could get the shirt up past his abdomen, he tumbled her back on the bed, capturing her head once more and holding her still as he kissed her.

“You tease me nonstop and you can’t even let me take your clothes off?” she teased.

“Fuck the clothes.”

“How about me instead?” she whispered against his lips.

“Yeah. I like that idea.”

Still waters ran deep
—that saying could have been created with Caleb in mind. It was something Destin knew well. The world saw a quiet, composed man who rarely raised his voice, spoke only when he had something to say, rarely cursed. Quiet and calm…that was Caleb.

The man in bed with her was anything but quiet. Anything but calm.

He caught her lip between his teeth and tugged, muttering against her lips, “I’ve missed you.” He reached down between them, tucked the head of his cock against her core and they both groaned. Then, as he started to press inside, he rasped, “So tight, Destin. So hot and sweet…”

She arched up against him, whimpering low in her throat, her fingers digging into the muscles of his arms.

He eased into her slowly and she shuddered, feeling herself stretch around him. It had been years, she realized. Years since her last lover and it was almost painful. The sweetest pain imaginable. He started to withdraw and she groaned, arched up.

Caleb shuddered, his elbows planted on either side of her head. The muscles in his arms tensed and she could feel him trembling. “Caleb…”

With that same, slow rhythm, he surged back inside, working deeper. Just a little…not
enough—

Groaning, she clenched down around him and brought her leg up, twining it around his. “Don’t,” he warned, his voice a ragged growl.

She smiled and milked him with her internal muscles again.

He shuddered and swore.

When she did it a third time, a savage curse escaped him and he lunged, surging deep inside her, not stopping until he’d seated himself completely inside her. She cried out, her scream, caught between pain and pleasure, bouncing off the walls.

His hands caught her shoulders, bracing her as he withdrew and drove back into her.

She clutched at him, her hands fisting in the cotton of the shirt he wore, cotton that rubbed against her sensitive, swollen breasts. “Caleb…”

“Mine.” He angled his head, his mouth taking hers as he caught whatever she might have said with his mouth.

Yes
—

She’d always been his.

A fact that time, distance, heartbreak couldn’t change.

He hooked one elbow under her knee, opening her further, and when he drove into her again, she whimpered against his mouth. His fingers stroked against the seam between the cheeks of her ass, teasing the flesh there while his other hand caught her hand and dragged it to the side. His mouth locked on her neck, his teeth raking the delicate arch. “You don’t know. You
can’t
know what it did to me, walking away.”

And even know, in the midst of the pleasure, the pain could swamp her.

I don’t want to know
. She blocked it out and turned her head, pressing her lips to his cheek. “Kiss me.”

She didn’t want to think, wouldn’t. Couldn’t…not yet.

When his mouth covered hers again, she was the one to take control this time.

Even as his body controlled hers, she controlled the kiss, sinking her teeth into his lower lip, sucking it into her mouth. She felt him shuddering against her and it fanned the fires between them. When he went to stroke his tongue into her mouth, she bit him lightly and felt it as his control snapped.

Snarling against her lips, he braced his arm under her as he surged inside her, deep, hard. Destin whimpered against his lip, caught helpless under the driving impact of his body, caught helpless as need and pleasure and love swamped her.

Love…

He muttered something against her lips, but she couldn’t hear him. Not over the racing of her heart, the roar of blood in her ears.

Orgasm hovered just
there
—so close…so close—

Her long, slim body tightened under his. Too rough. Too hard… Tearing his mouth away from hers, he lifted his head and tried to throttle back. Tried to force himself to slow even as he pressed another demanding kiss to her swollen mouth. “I love you, Destin.” The words ripped out of him without any conscious thought of his own.

Her eyes, glassy and wild, were locked on his face and he didn’t even know if she heard him.

As she arched up higher, she cried, “Caleb…”

Fisting one hand, he called up the scraps of his control.
Slow down…gotta slow down—

And then she whispered, her voice shaky and soft. “I love you…”

The world rocked around him.

The control he thought he’d lost came back to him and the driving, desperate hunger eased.

Untangling their limbs, he caught her face in his hands. “My girl.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. He stroked his thumb over her cheek. “Fuck, you’re sweet…”

She tightened around him and he shuddered as the silk of her pussy milked him—a snug, soft fist.

Her hands caught in his shirt, tried to drag it up. He almost lifted up to let her. Then, as he skimmed his lips along the scar on the side of her face, he remembered…
yeah…better wait…

Instead, he caught her wrists and stretched them high overhead, watched as her eyes widened, watched the way her breath caught. “Mine…”

“Yours,” she agreed. “And you’re mine. I’m not letting go again.”

Hell, he hoped not. He’d settle for what he could take for now, but they had miles to go yet. Rocking against her, shifting the angle of his body, he groaned as she clenched around, again and again. “Stop it…you’re killing me…”