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"No." I twist around so I can rest it on the edge of my bedside table. "I was just texting my friend. I was supposed to meet her for lunch today."
Normally he'd be shooting off questions about who I'm meeting and where. "I feel numb, Rowan. I feel numb inside."
I shift my body until my head is resting back on my pillow. I pull on the bottom of the sweatshirt I'd put on before we'd left my apartment this morning. Caleb had barely given me enough time to yank on a pair of jeans and rummage for a shirt before he'd pulled me into the hallway.
"You were so strong today." He brushes a piece of my hair from my forehead. "How did you get to be so strong?"
"I'm not strong." I smile softly. "I just knew it wasn't him."
His eyes rake over my face stopping when they reach mine. "You didn't believe it was him for a minute, did you?"
I fist my hand to keep from reaching up to cup his cheek again. It felt natural and comfortable when I did it when he was fast asleep. Now that he's awake and he's staring right at me, I feel vulnerable and exposed. "I'm not sure. Maybe I just didn't want to believe it was him."
"I filed a missing person's report two days ago." He swallows hard. "I've contacted everyone I can think of who might know where he is. No one has seen him in weeks."
I lick my lips. "I've tried to contact him too but he doesn't answer. It's not like him to go silent on me."
"You care about him a lot, don't you?" He raises a brow. Normally when Caleb would ask me that question, my defenses would kick into high gear. I know that he feels threatened by the closeness of my friendship with his brother. It has to stem from the sibling rivalry that has always been a part of the dynamic between the three brothers.
"He's my friend, Caleb," I answer without hesitation. "I can't imagine my life without him."
He shifts slightly on the bed. His lips move but he doesn't say anything. I can tell from the expression on his face that there's a question right there, sitting on the tip of his tongue.
"What?" I ask softly. "What is it?"
"It's just…" he stops as he leans closer to me. "It's just that I think about you a lot. I think about when we were kids."
Out of a sheer need to breathe, I slide away from him until I'm on my back again. "What do you think about? When you would pull those pranks on me and my friends?"
His eyes light up in the warm afternoon sun that is pouring in through the open window. "You always screamed when I scared you on Halloween."
"That's because you'd wait by the side of the stoop with a mask on and jump out at me when I came outside." I tap him playfully on his bare chest.
He shifts and moves one of his arms around me until he's hovering directly above me. "I loved scaring you then. I don't want to scare you now."
"You don't scare me, Caleb." I stare at his lips. "I'm not scared of you."
Time feels as though it stalls as he tilts his head slightly to the side before he lowers it. I catch my breath when his soft, full lips finally touch mine for the very first time.
Chapter 19
The urgency of his kiss increases as his hand leaps to my chin. He holds my head exactly where he wants it as he pushes my lips apart with his tongue. I moan into the kiss. The sound only spurs him on more and he bites my bottom lip softly.
I reach up to grab his shoulders. One of my hands slides to the back of his neck and with that a low growl pours from within him and into me.
I whimper from everything I feel. I can't control it. I may not have admitted it to myself or anyone else, but I've wanted this since I knew what kissing was. I've dreamt of what his lips and breath would taste like. I've compared every man I've ever been with to Caleb even though I've never touched him in an intimate way.
He pushes his body into mine and I instantly feel his erection beneath his pants. He's as aroused as I am. I want this. I'm wet just from the taste of his kiss.
His hand drops to my leg and without thinking I arch my hips off the bed.
"Rowan," he whispers against my lips. "Yes."
I pull him back into the kiss. My tongue sliding against his in a sensual invitation to give me everything his body has to offer. He pulls back abruptly. It's so fast that I actually moan into the silent air.
His hand finds the bottom of the sweatshirt and he pushes it up and over my head. I struggle to rid myself of it but once I do I toss it next to us on the bed. All I'm wearing is the thin, white tank top I had put on when he woke me earlier.
I watch silently as his eyes travel over the front of the shirt. My nipples are hard, swollen and straining against the flimsy material. His hands fall to my waist as his eyes meet mine. I see the same hunger within them that I feel.
