“Oh, blossom, you feel so good when you come for me,” he was murmuring against her ear. “Oh, fuck, nothing has ever felt as good as you.”

And her heart and her mind and her body all let loose, overwhelmed by him, unable to resist the power of his claim on her.

She couldn’t look away from his face behind hers in the mirror. His eyes were hot and possessive as they crawled over her body, and occasionally he would clench his jaw and suck in a wet breath through his teeth.

Kelly was breathing erratically too, but the deepest of her pleasure was already past. Her hair was all over the place, strands sticking to her back, her arms, and her warm, damp face. And she had the most overwhelming feeling of ownership as she watched and felt Caleb claim what he needed in her body.

“Yeah, Caleb,” she urged him huskily, her eyes never leaving his face in the mirror. “Yeah. You come too.”

He was beyond words now, just making primitive sounds of pleasure and dominance in rhythm with the slapping of his pelvis against her ass.

Then he suddenly bared his teeth and his whole body clenched like a fist.

And Kelly saw it—every detail. Saw the intense pleasure slam into him, saw it overwhelm the tension on his face with waves of release. Saw the way his nostrils flared and his neck arched back as his body thrust forward one last time.

She was whimpering in pleasure, both from the physical sensations and from the power of his climax.

When Caleb finally slid his softening cock out of her, Kelly felt warm, limp, and replete. But she had enough wit about her to slant him a teasing look and quip, “Well. I guess someone is feeling macho and cavemanlike this evening. But I declare, just for the record, that you still cheated.”

He gave her a smug look of satisfaction. “I don’t think so.”

“I didn’t come until you touched me.”

“You would have. But you were begging me to touch you, and I’ve always had a soft heart.” The irony in his tone was obvious. Caleb Marshall had never been known for having a soft heart.

She couldn’t help but laugh. “As good as that was, now I’m all messy to go to the party. And I’ll have to redo my hair and makeup.”

“You don’t need to redo your makeup.” He looked sated and slightly flushed but otherwise in better shape than her. He’d reached for the tuxedo he was going to wear this evening. “Or your hair.”

Drawing her brows together, Kelly peered at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were deeply pink, and her skin was a little too dewy. And her hair was a tousled mess, cascading all around her. “You have got to be kidding. I at least need to powder my face. And my hair—”

Caleb had put his pants on, but now he moved up behind her again. His body was relaxed now, but she could still feel heat radiating off of it. “Leave your hair like that,” he said huskily, skimming the side of her face with a few kisses.

She rolled her eyes. “I never wear my hair like this. You just want me to go to this party looking well and thoroughly fucked so people will think you’re a real stud.”

He didn’t object to this sentiment. Instead he walked over to open a drawer of his nightstand and he pulled out a box.

“What’s that?” she asked as he carried it over to her.

She really had no idea, but it looked about the right size for a necklace or maybe a bracelet.

Caleb handed it to her. “This is for you.”

Drawing her brows together, she accepted the box and opened the top. Inside was an oval pendant on a platinum chain. The pendant was a polished stone—made of deep, compelling swirls of gray and silver.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed. “You got this for me? Why?”

He gave a half-shrug. “Because I wanted to.” He lifted it out of the box and moved to place it around her neck, moving aside her hair so he could clasp the chain. “Do you like it?”

She raised one hand to the pendant, surprised and touched and confused. “I love it. Thank you so much.”

“I wanted you to have something that I gave you.”

“And now I do.” She stared at the pendant in the mirror, telling herself that Caleb was so rich that the cost of this necklace would be trivial to him. It was just a little thing. Not meaningful at all.

It felt meaningful to her, though.

Caleb was watching her face closely, and she smiled at him. “You must still be feeling like a caveman, wanting to place your brand on me.”

He laughed and kissed her, and they fell back into their normal interaction as she went to clean up a little and pulled her dress back on.

Kelly liked feeling this way. She liked being this person. A woman who might get fucked over a dresser on the way to a party. Simply because they wanted each other so much.

She stared at herself in the mirror and wondered if she could ever be that person for real.

Not long afterward, they were ready to leave. Kelly was wearing the red dress. Her face was still a little dewier than she preferred, since she hadn’t redone her makeup. And her hair was loose, falling in tousled, messy waves, all the way down her back.

Caleb was looking very pleased with himself.

Chapter 2

The cocktail party was an engagement celebration for an acquaintance of Caleb’s. Evidently the man was big in the local business scene, so the guest list included quite a few important and influential people. It was being held in a nineteenth-century mansion that had been converted to an upscale event venue, and Kelly had a hard time even beginning to estimate the price tag for this evening’s festivities.

Only in the last couple of weeks had Kelly started going out in public with Caleb as his girlfriend, so she was a little self-conscious as they circled the ornate ballroom. Her adoptive parents had been wealthy by most people’s standards, but they hadn’t been anywhere close to this league.

Her dress wasn’t cheap, but it was off the rack—which wasn’t true of most of the evening gowns she saw. And her only piece of expensive jewelry was the pendant at her neck. She could feel the weight of it as she moved—as if it were Caleb pressing against her skin.

She stayed mostly quiet, drinking the excellent champagne and letting Caleb take the lead as they circled. He worked the room like it was a battlefield, a thing to be conquered. She tried to keep the perspective she needed by reminding herself how fake it all was—how fake Caleb was as he schmoozed all of these important people—but he really was impressive, and it was hard not to recognize that. He charmed the women and created bonds with the men and generally made sure everyone he encountered had a favorable impression of him.

“What are you thinking?” he asked her in a low voice as they moved on from someone who was evidently a former UN ambassador.

Letting him guide her to a quiet corner of the room, Kelly smiled up at him. “I was trying to keep up with everyone’s names.”

“That might be true, but it’s not all you were thinking about.” He eased closer to her, his eyes holding hers with that magnetic gaze that was so hard to resist. “What are you thinking about me?”

“What makes you think I’m thinking about you?” She kept her smile flirtatious, but it was deeply troubling that he could read her so easily, that he’d been able to see the direction of her thoughts from the expression on her face. She was playing a dangerous game here, and it was so hard to be on all the time. She was so tired of always being careful, always leading conversations the way she wanted them to go so she could get the information she needed, always guarding every expression of her face and nuance of her voice. She was getting so tired of all of it.