The revelation slammed down on him like a vise, briefly halting the momentum of his climax. He stopped thrusting with a guttural sound. Pulled out of her. Started untying the silk cords.

Kelly was whimpering, but not from desire anymore. “What are you doing? Why are you stopping?”

Caleb didn’t answer until he had finished freeing her. He moved to stretch out beside her, pulling her into his arms. “We’re not doing this tonight.”

“What?” She tried to pull away from him, but he refused to let her leave his embrace. “I told you—”

“I don’t care what you told me. We’re not doing this tonight.” He gently rolled her onto her back again and moved over her, gently kissing her lips until she started to respond.

Her whole body was shaking, and the pulsing tension in Caleb’s cock and chest both started building again.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him, her body softening as the kiss deepened.

And he was drowning in her, the surge of emotion so strange, so troubling. He gave himself over completely to the embrace, torn between wanting to run and wanting to comfort her. Wanting to demand she give him answers and wanting to protect her from anything that threatened. Wanting to fuck her and hating every man who ever had.

She responded needily, clutching at his head, holding his mouth against hers, rocking beneath him.

Until finally he was buried inside her again, her legs wrapped tightly around his hips, rocking together as his arousal started to climb toward completion.

His desperate need was as much emotional as physical—both of them building, cresting, releasing together.

He kept kissing her, and she kept shaking helplessly with suppressed emotion, but soon her body was shuddering through an orgasm and he was choking out a wordless sound as he came with hard waves of pleasure and feeling.

He was still holding her against him when his body relaxed completely, even the hard, ruthless compulsion that had driven him all his life finally easing into a moment of peace.

And his last conscious thought until he fell into dreamless sleep was that he’d never in his life had sex like that before.

Chapter 7

Kelly had completely fallen apart the night before, and she’d almost ruined everything.

There was no excuse. She hadn’t liked the way they were having sex in bed initially—it was too traditional, too personal, too intimate—so she’d tried to turn it into something kinky, a vague scene out of one of her sexual fantasies so it would feel less emotional, less real.

But it hadn’t worked. Even as he’d tied her up, it had felt deep, real, hard, and then he hadn’t even let himself go and taken what he wanted, the way she’d been expecting from him.

He must have read some of her conflicted feelings and had responded in a way she never would have imagined.

He’d been gentle, tender, giving as much as he took.

And she’d wanted what he’d given, as much as she wanted what he took.

When she’d come, it had felt like more than an orgasm was released.

It was wrong. So wrong in every way that she couldn’t let it happen again. She had to be more careful, or she’d never be able to do what she had come here to do.

All of these thoughts filtered through her mind before she’d even opened her eyes the following morning. As soon as she did, she realized she was still in Caleb’s bed.

They’d slept all night together. They’d never done so before.

She watched him for a minute. The way his dark hair, mingled with a few strands of silver, was rumpled and kinked up over his left temple. The way his bare chest rose and fell, the cover pushed down toward his belly. The way his long fingers gripped the sheets, as if he were under pressure, even in his sleep.

He looked normal—like any other man—when the cool intelligence in his brown eyes and the power in his attitude was masked by sleep.

In some ways, he was just like any other man.

In other ways, he was more so.

He wasn’t completely a monster. She had to admit that to herself after last night. He’d been careful with her, gentle, undeniably sensitive. He’d held her last night and given her what she needed—even though what she needed was the last thing she’d wanted.

He couldn’t know that, though. He’d genuinely tried to be there for her, and there was no way for her to mentally turn it into something else.

It didn’t matter. He didn’t have to be a complete monster to do what he’d done. And a few soft moments weren’t a sign that her mother was wrong about him.

All it meant was that Kelly needed to pick up her pace, or she would never be able to accomplish her purpose.

He trusted her as much now as he would ever trust her, so she needed to get moving. Any more time would only weaken her and allow him a chance to uncover her lies.

Making a sound in his sleep, Caleb rolled over, and Kelly used the shift in position to slip out of the bed without waking him. It was just seven on a Sunday morning, but she couldn’t lie around looking at him anymore. She was already unnerved enough.

He was still sleeping after she showered and dressed, so she went downstairs for coffee, and then she took a walk around the grounds with Ralph, the German shepherd.

His place was really more of an estate than a house. There was a separate building for the garage, a swimming pool, tennis court, and stables—plus acres of grounds, some of it wooded, which she would never venture into.

Just the thought of going into the woods made her queasy, and it made her cringe thinking of what she might have revealed to Caleb of her real self on Saturday in the park. She turned her back on Caleb’s woods and walked toward the stables—which were empty because he didn’t keep horses.

They’d probably been part of the grounds when he’d bought this place.

She and Ralph walked through the stables, and he dug an old battered ball out of a pile of hay and presented it to her.

The ball was really pretty gross, but she took it outside and tossed it for him, watching him bound toward it, catching it on the second bounce.

“I can’t believe you touched that old thing,” came a voice from behind her.

She turned around to see Caleb, unshaven and clearly unshowered, since he wore the trousers he’d had on yesterday evening. “It’s a little worse for wear.”

“That was his first ball. He had it when he came to me as a puppy, and he refuses to relinquish it.” Caleb smiled at his dog as he returned, ball in mouth, and then he threw it again when Ralph dropped it.

Kelly kept her eyes on the animal, since Caleb was looking far too attractive—half-dressed and domestic the way he was.

“Sentimental.”

“Obsessed and deluded. He’s got this idea that it’s the best ball in existence, and every other ball is just a poor second.” He reached out to take her hand, using it to pull her body against his. “You’re up early.”

Kelly forced herself not to tense up at his proximity and the affectionate gesture. “Yeah. Couldn’t sleep any longer.”

He usually woke up before her—always on weekdays and usually on weekends too.

He slid his hands down to her hips, studying her face. “How are you feeling? After last night.”

She tried to tell herself he was mostly curious—since her behavior had been so strange—but there was concern as well as questions in his expression. “I’m fine. Sorry about all that.” She swallowed hard, trying to think of a reasonable excuse for her behavior.

She’d really screwed up.

Caleb paused before he spoke, as if thinking through his next words. “I’m happy to try anything you want to try in the bedroom,” he said at last, his eyes focused on Ralph and his ball. “But only if you really want to do it.”