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“This is the worst proposal I’ve ever heard.”
“Not true. That honor belongs to my cousin Maggie, whose mating and proposal involved accidentally biting her mate on the ass.”
“You’re right,” I conceded, remembering the number of stitches required to sew up Nick’s butt cheek. “That was worse.”
“This is important,” he told me. “It’s something you need to do for yourself, not for me. I can be patient. You can take all the time you need.”
I sighed, peering up at him through my lashes. “You’re right. I thought the answer was to just keep moving around, but that hasn’t worked so far. I have to change tactics. And I would feel a lot better not lying to people every time I open my mouth.”
He fluttered his hand over his heart. “A nonromantic response to a nonromantic proposal.”
I laughed, whacking him with a pillow, wrestling with him until I pinned him to the floor and pressed a kiss against his throat. I was fairly certain he let me win. “I’ll start the paperwork just as soon as we get back to the valley,” I promised. “If nothing else, I have to come home with you so I can see the look on Maggie’s face when she realizes I might end up her in-law.”
13
Pandora Was a Total Idiot
We were leaving. I’d never looked forward to traveling like this. Usually, departures meant distress. Now I was going home.
We would be leaving for the valley in a few days. Caleb was working diligently to close up whichever of his pending cases he could close and to send progress reports to his clients on those still open. Since I was able to type more than five angrily pecked words per minute, I ended up sending out most of them while Caleb dictated.
“I don’t suppose you would give up typing for the day and get naked with me?”
“Do you want to leave town without any pesky paperwork hanging over your head?” I asked.
“Hmm, my desire for sex loses out to my hatred of paperwork. Well played, woman.” He sighed, hauling himself out of bed. “I need to get the tires checked for our trip and run to the grocery anyway. Surprise, surprise, we’re out of condoms again. And those little packs of raisins.”
“How about some juice boxes?” I suggested cheekily.
“Well, they might come in handy,” he said, considering.
“My big bad wolf.” I sighed, rolling my eyes. I kissed him again. “If people only knew.”
He swatted my butt good-naturedly. “You’re just happy you don’t have to buy the condoms.”
I pursed my lips, remembering exactly how hot my cheeks got when the clerk at the Ready-Mart gave me the I know what you’ve been doing look over my box of extra-large, ribbed-for-her-pleasure protection. “You’re not wrong.”
I worked steadily for an hour, doing a little dance when I finished the last report and hit “Send” on the e-mail program.
All I had left to do was pack. I was really looking forward to returning to the valley. I knew I would have to do quite a bit of groveling, but eventually, the pack would accept me again.
Now for the e-mail I’d put off for the last week. I opened the program to sign out of Caleb’s address and sign into the secure server I used to contact Red-burn. Just as I was about to click on “Log Out,” a new message alert popped into a folder labeled “Pack” with a ping. I frowned. I knew there were folders in Caleb’s account—heck, I’d arranged most of them—but I’d assumed they were for storage. I didn’t realize they could receive directed messages.
I opened the folder and had to search around a bit before I found a subfolder marked “Schuna,” bolded and blinking with an unread message. I opened it and saw that the messages were from a private investigator in Seattle named Robert Schuna, the same investigator who’d sent us after a guy named Calvin Dodd. In fact, the new message was from Schuna, with the subject line “Progress Report?”>Bracing my hands against the open bathroom door, I bucked against him. He ripped my shirt down the front, and my bra followed, fluttering to the floor in ruins. I rocked and rode against him, seeking the friction we both needed so much.
He managed to keep me pinned to the door, unzip his jeans, and roll on a condom without dropping my butt to the floor. He pushed gently inside me. I sighed as my body adjusted, stretching to accommodate him.
And just as I grasped his rhythm, he spun, carrying me across the room toward the bed. Loved. I’d never felt so loved and cared for and wanted in my whole life. I wanted this feeling to go on and on, until I was old and gray and no longer able to pull off this position. Wherever I was going, I wanted Caleb to come with me.
Caleb pushed my hair off my shoulder as he rained kisses down the length of my neck, down my spine, pressing his mouth to each individual star before making his way back to my shoulders. He nipped my earlobe as he pressed inside me, working our hips together as he slid his hand around my hip. I pushed back, bracing my arm against the headboard, until I was filled to the hilt. His hands were everywhere—between my legs, on my breasts, at my throat.
A delicious tension wound its way out from my belly, tightening from my breasts down to my toes. Caleb rubbed in small circles, increasing his thrusts as his breath came in short bursts. I threw my head back, yelling when one final thrust of his hips sent a climax rippling along my body. Caleb pulled me up until I was sitting in his lap, my overwrought nerves twitching and firing as he moved underneath me. We collapsed against the mattress, sweaty and sated.
“If you make a joke about me bringing out the beast in you, I will not be held accountable for my actions.”
“Understood.”
Honestly, we intended to honor our reservation at the steakhouse just across the street. Caleb got dressed up in a white Oxford shirt and khakis. He was tugging uncomfortably at a navy tie when I stepped out of the bathroom. He looked so polished, with his dark hair carefully combed back and the darker caramel tones of his skin highlighted by the crisp white shirt.
