Shifting Positions (13 page)

Flabbergasted, she opened her mouth, closed it and tried again. “I, I don’t know.” He studied her with a brooding gaze, then let out a sigh and rested his forehead against hers. “As much as I want to hear you say ‘with you’ this is at least a start.”

“What do you mean?”

His eyes crinkled with his smile. “Because it means you’re seriously thinking about it.

Thinking about me. Us.”

Shying from his possessive tone, she glanced away. A subject change was in order.

Preferably something lighthearted. She lifted her hips suggestively and waggled her eyebrows.

“You bet I’ve been thinking about us.”

A brief look of disappointment crossed his features before he shook it off, as if accepting she needed time to process everything. When he didn’t press the issue, Tess felt her chest unclench.

“I understand. It’s my irresistible manly charm.” He smirked, eyes twinkling with smug merriment.

Caught off guard, her lips parted on a shocked gasp. “Not likely.” Rather than answer with words, he skimmed one hand down her body. His lips followed, leaving light as air kisses. He bent to tug one nipple into his mouth, rasping the hard aching peaks with an easy skill that triggered the fires inside her to burn brighter. Just laying with him, skin to skin, heart to heart, had kept her aroused. The instant he moved to stoke the flames, she ignited.

When he paused to lave her other creamy mound, his warm breath teased over her wet flesh, the hand sliding over her ribcage causing her belly to quiver in anticipation. He moved lower as he rose slightly to his knees, pressing a hand between her thighs, testing and teasing the damp slit. She lifted up, pressing against his roaming touch, moving to position the throbbing knot of nerves begging for attention. When he touched her clit she nearly came off the bed, her hips jerking in tandem with his clever fingers.

“Thank God,” Caleb groaned as if in agony. Then he slid two calloused fingers through the juices coating her pussy and thrust into her writhing body, stroking over the ultra-sensitive flesh. Her back arched and she cried out in pained relief. She clenched around him, gripping fistfuls of the bedding and riding his fingers with a wild abandon that would have embarrassed her if it hadn’t felt so damn good.

He came fully to his knees, blindly reaching for protection that had somehow appeared on the nightstand with one hand as he continued to fuck her with his fingers. “Fucking beautiful,” he hissed, eyes glinting with intense fire as he watched his glistening fingers dip in and out of her body.

“Don’t stop, please,” Tess nearly sobbed.

“Never,” he rolled on a condom single-handedly and then leaned back over her. He withdrew his hand from her swollen pussy, grasped his cock and parted her tender folds. She felt him press against her, the thick juices flowing from her entrance coating him, slickening for quick penetration.

He thrust upward, diving into her slow and sweet, as if that first stroke was to be relished, treasured and remembered forever. She wrapped her hands around his biceps, holding on for dear life while silently pleading for more.

Withdrawing just as carefully, he bent to kiss her, driving his tongue in her mouth as he drove in her body, harder, faster, creating a spiraling pit of longing that terrified and thrilled with equal fever.

When the need for air became too much, she broke the kiss, filling her lungs as she looked into his face, his features pulled taunt as he concentrated on her pleasure rather than his own. And his eyes. The look in them nearly undid her. They gleamed clear and true, as if willing her to see into his soul, the brown and amber colors mixing with heat and some emotion she didn’t want to identify.

Disconcerted, she ducked her head, pressing her lips to his shoulders, nipping and suckling his sweat-soaked skin, eliciting a long groan from his lips. His taste was addicting, his scent intoxicating, and the sex. Wow. She’d never before felt the scorching pleasure that now gripped her in primal abandon. Never had the sensations reached a ferocious pitch she could not escape. All inhibitions were lost as she became a being of pure sensation.

She felt the storm building inside her, circling in ever-tightening bands of erotic agony.

Her muscles flexed around his cock as he forged through her wet pussy. Her hips churned with each plunge, grinding her throbbing clit over the steel-hard shaft.

Hard, shimmering tremors of bliss tore through her, coiling, building, until she exploded with a force that sent her arching backward, convulsing as the white-hot sensations raged up her spine. He powered into her deep and hard, raking over exquisitely sensitive tissue, prolonging her orgasm as he fell into his. Caleb threw his head back with a guttural shout of sublime pleasure. He stiffened, shook and then collapsed over her. Though limp and exhausted, Tess wrapped her arms and legs around his trembling body, swamped, for the first time ever, with the need to hold a man close to her with all her might.

Tess pulled into Dolen’s the next morning, ready to tackle the daily soup, triple up on the chili to cover the weekend, and get her shift over so she could pick up her mom.

While mulling over Caleb’s words from last night, she’d succumbed to a deep sleep.

Though he never voiced his thoughts, she knew what rattled around in that thick skull of his. Just because she held her emotions close, not tossing them out to be trampled on willy-nilly, didn’t mean she was afraid to trust or love.

Turning off the engine, she sat a moment, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.

Okay. So she was. But dammit, just because she felt biologically compelled to mate with Caleb didn’t mean she had to love him or that he had to love her. And truly, that’s what she wanted. To be loved. Which meant she needed to get past the belief that all men will leave like her father did. It was cruelly unfair to Caleb, or any man, to judge them based on another’s actions. If the situation were reversed, she would be pissed.

Feeling lighter, she shut her truck door and headed to the café’s rear entrance. Unbidden, her eyes were drawn to the left, and there he was. Her traitorous heart leapt once, then proceeded to do a foxtrot in her chest. Caleb stood just outside the police station talking to one of his deputies, his tall, muscular frame clothed in his normal attire of jeans and flannel shirt, hand gestures graceful for such a large man.

With a soft sigh, Tess remembered how those work-roughened hands touched her so gently last night, arousing and petting, and then became inflexible as he gripped her hips as he rode her hard. A heated shiver passed through her, pebbling her nipples in a way the cold air never could. Dampness began to collect between her thighs and her lips pursed, worry mixing with the instant lust. Not that the desire ever actually died. The emptiness, simmering heat and constant low-level throb low in her belly were all consistent with what her sister called “in heat”.

It made her sound like a dog and made her damn near crazy with the need to fuck.

As if sensing her nearness, Caleb suddenly turned his face and caught sight of her. A warm smile split his face and she melted on the spot.

Face flushing, she sent him a brief smile before turning tail and hurrying into the café.

That mild throb bloomed into a full-fledged ache and she could not help but fantasize on how soon she could get him alone and naked.

Maybe a quick trip to the police station is in order before I head off to get mom.

She ran the scenario in her head, trying to picture Caleb’s expression as she waltzed into his office, shut and locked his door and then stripped. She clamped her hand over her mouth to hold in the snicker. The man made her head spin. He confounded, astonished, irritated and aroused her, but he also made her want to have fun. By far their relationship was the strangest she’d ever had. She either wanted to smack him upside his hard head or fling her legs around his waist and hold on tight.

Decisions, decisions.

Lost in naughty thoughts of seducing Caleb at his work, she voiced an offhanded good morning to the kitchen in general and hung up her coat and gloves. A heavy silence greeted her, so at odds to the day before, and she warily rotated to see two solemn faces peering back. One of the morning shift waitresses, Penny Kroden, nodded once before exiting through the swinging door into the dining room.

“Ah,” she muttered, immediately wondering who died. Then she remembered and her mischievous thoughts went up in a cloud of smoke. She twisted her features into a perplexed look because, after all, who knew if the grim reception was due to the death of Dave Collins.

Maybe, God forbid, something else had happened last night.

“What’s going on?” She directed her question at Dolen who suddenly appeared in the doorway that led to his small office.

He crossed his meaty arms over his chest. “Thought you already knew, what with you and Caleb dating.”

No snappy retort because, frankly, you and Caleb
are
dating
, she told herself.

. “Knew what?”

“Dave Collins was killed last night.”

Ten years of absence made both her ignorance and guarded tone very real. “I’m sorry.

Was he a friend of yours?”

Busy at the gigantic kitchen range, Sean let out a snort of laughter. Dolen shot him a glare then turned back to Tess. “No he wasn’t. He was just a kid, barely in his twenties and still finding his way in the world. I only knew him because he and Gina dated a bit until she broke it off about six months or so back.” He rubbed the back of his neck with a hand the size of a platter. “Not sure how she’s handling it.”

Tess glanced around. “She’s not here?”

Dolen shook his head. “She doesn’t work Fridays.” He cocked his head back and stared up at the ceiling as if searching for an answer.

Tess looked to Sean who just shrugged. “What is it, Dolen?”

“Kids are weird nowadays.”

“Okay,” she stretched the word out, not sure how to respond, or if Dolen even expected a response.

At his continued silence she gathered the makings for the daily soup, set them on the large prep counter and retrieved a cup of coffee.

Dolen watched her silently for a moment as if contemplating his next words. “Here’s the deal,” he finally stated. “Gina’s relationship with the Collins kid wasn’t well known, like she was ashamed or something. After the breakup, he’d come around a time or two, try and talk with her, but she always stopped him cold. From what she said to Dave, not that I was eavesdropping or anything, she got herself another man, someone with balls is what I remember her saying.” Tess took a sip of coffee, savoring the heat as it slid down her throat. “Your point?”

“Just that no one knows who this guy is. Gina’s keeping mum and why the secrecy?

Makes a body wonder if the new beau took care of the pesky old beau.” Sean chortled and both Tess and Dolen looked at him. After a beat, Dolen narrowed his eyes. “You know who it is, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” Sean poured batter into a pan.

“Who? He’s not married is he?” Dolen asked.

Sean shook his head. “Nope.”

“Well,” Dolen demanded. “Tell me.”

Sean raised a brow at his boss. “What will you give me?”

Dolen growled. “Your job.”

“Yeah.” Sean turned back to the stove.

With a huff Dolen added, “Fine, you can have off next Saturday.” With a satisfied grin plastered to his thin face, Sean bobbed his head to some internal beat. “That’s more like it. It’s Matt West.”

Tess choked on her coffee. “Matt West? He’s a dozen years older than her.” Not to mention that fact that he’d had his tongue down her throat four days ago. Bastard.

“Saw her driving away from his house early one morning.” The cook winked at Tess.

“My date turned hot so I was just getting home myself and as Matt lives just down the road, well…” He shrugged one shoulder and turned back to flip a pancake. “She was either visiting him or the Reynolds.”

Jackie? Her mom’s best friend? That was doubtful but easily confirmed. She gnawed her lower lip. Should she tell Gina about Matt’s inability to keep his hands to himself? She didn’t know the girl that well and if the relationship was a secret, maybe it wasn’t exclusive.

“What’s she doing hooking up with that drunk?” Dolen looked like an angry father.

Tess popped her head up. “Drunk?”

Dolen’s eyes took on a hard glint. “Can’t say I know much about it, but ever since I’ve been here, that kid’s had more than his share of drink and women. Since he bartends over at the Alehouse, he has access to both, and exploits it.”

“Yeah, ever since high school…” Sean’s voice petered off and he plastered inquisitive eyes on Tess. “Wait a minute. You two dated in high school.”

Tess felt her face flush. “For awhile, yes.”

“Guess it’s because of you.”

“Excuse me?”

Sean shrugged. “I’m only two years younger and I remember how, just before graduation, he suddenly turned from studious to reckless. Must have been you leaving that turned him stupid.”

Tess placed her hands on her hips. “I left to go to college. Besides he left me first. The jerk was cheating on me.”

The cook’s jaw dropped as he scanned Tess over in an intense and totally un-sexual appraisal. “He cheated on you?”

She shook her head in annoyance. “Looks evidently aren’t everything.”

“But…”

Now she waved a hand in dismissal and turned back to her workstation.

“He really is stupid,” Sean said softly after a moment.

She couldn’t prevent the small smile of gratitude. “Thanks.”

“You know,” Dolan said, deciding to give his two cents. “A man cheats for three reasons.

He’s stupid, he’s angry at his woman, or he’s scared and is trying to run her off.”

“Or he’s trying to prove something to his friends or someone else. See, I can get anyone I want.” Sean added.

“Which falls into the stupid category,” Dolan shot back.

Sean tipped his head back on his shoulders. “Touché.”

“Two number five’s,” Penny called from the window, deftly slipping the breakfast order on the turnstile rack, then plunked a hand on one hefty hip. “Aren’t you done yet with table eight’s order?”