“So was that a yes?” he asked, searching her face with brown eyes. “Do you think we could try?”

She nodded, ecstatic and despairing at the same time. “Let’s try.”

With a muffled groan, Caleb pulled her into an urgent embrace. He clutched at her desperately, finally unleashing a little of his pent-up feelings. She was shaking against him and fisting her hands in his shirt. He was murmuring against her neck. His words were incoherent, but she thought that maybe she could understand them.

The moment couldn’t last forever, so eventually they pulled apart. They were still standing in the lobby of Reese’s building, and her doorman was giving them the eye.

“So what now?” Kelly asked, having absolutely no idea how she was supposed to feel at this moment.

Caleb smiled, looking like himself again—cool, confident, intelligent, so sexy he took her breath away. “Well, I was wondering if you might want to go out on a date.”

Chapter 12

Caleb couldn’t remember ever really being with someone. Genuinely with them—in heart as well as body.

Well, he did remember. And then he’d lost her—when he was still just a boy. And he’d certainly never felt that way with anyone since.

Until now. Until Kelly.

He wasn’t fool enough to think that one experience—that one person—would change the whole course of his life. It might feel that way occasionally, but he wasn’t really any different than he’d been just yesterday, than he’d been a month ago. Nothing had softened or weakened about him in the last two weeks, since he’d shown up on Kelly’s doorstep in an act that had surprised even him.

He’d been miserable in the two days she’d walked away from him, but he’d never dreamed he’d want someone enough to work to get her back.

He wasn’t really different now. He just felt something new when he woke up in the morning, when he went to check his phone, when he got his stuff together after work.

Like there might be someone to talk to.

He’d gone out with Kelly several times in the last two weeks—taking her to the movies, to dinner, to the ballet. They’d had lunch together several times, and she’d come out to his place on Saturday, taking the trip to the park with Ralph, and then just hanging out for most of the day. She’d even allowed him to have Pete stick with her to keep her safe.

But they hadn’t yet had sex.

He had no real idea why she was hesitating, although she’d said several times that she wanted to take it a little bit slow. He was willing to do that. He could almost understand it. But she’d never been reticent about sex before, and he was ready to get back into it. The constant frustration—from being around her, surrounded by her, for two weeks, without being able to bury himself inside her—was putting a bit of a damper on his mood.

He was trying to be patient, but he wasn’t used to holding back from what he wanted. And he wanted her. So much. More now than ever.

A few days ago, they’d been kissing after dinner, and he’d gotten so hard that she’d slipped her fingers in his pants and gotten him off with her hand.

It wasn’t bad. Not at all. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

So, when, on the second Saturday after they’d gotten back together, she spent the day with him and stayed on into the evening, watching a couple of old movies, he was starting to get his hopes up.

It was late when the last movie ended, and he asked if she wanted to stay the night.

“Really?” she asked, hiding her eyes behind her hair in a way that was tantalizing, irresistible.

“Of course. I’ll even give you one of my shirts to sleep in, if you want.”

Twenty minutes later, she was sitting on his bed with her legs tucked up under her, wearing nothing but one of his blue oxford shirts that managed to look both innocent and sexy, and asked him if he was sure it was all right that she sleep with him when she wasn’t yet ready for sex. Caleb hid a surge of disappointment and said that of course she could.

He was rewarded when her worry transformed into smiling, tender warmth. Her hair was a lovely, erotic cascade all over her back and shoulders. And her smooth, graceful legs were folded almost provocatively, leading up to the sensuous curve of her hips.

Caleb ached for her—his body, his heart, everything. But he schooled his expression so that she wouldn’t see his frustration. And, after he took off his clothes, he pulled on a pair of gray pajama pants, even though he preferred not to wear them.

He turned out the light and got under the covers beside Kelly.

She shifted to her side and brushed her hair out of her face. “Are you getting annoyed with waiting for me?”

She looked so worried, even in the dark, that Caleb couldn’t help but smile. “It’s only been two weeks. I’m not such an ass that I can’t manage to refrain from sex for a couple of weeks.”

He was such an ass. He had been since he’d hit puberty. But he’d told her he was willing to change, if he could, and he’d meant it—so he could hardly back out now.

Her mouth softened in an answering smile. “I suppose not. But I think this is different. I’m really not intending to tease and torture you, you know.” Her hand slipped up to his chest, and she rubbed it, more affectionate than erotic.

“I didn’t think you were,” he assured her, enjoying her touch in whatever form it took. “I know you’ve been all torn up by everything that’s happened. It makes sense that you don’t want to rush into anything too soon.”

She opened her mouth, as if to object. But then she closed it, and instead leaned over and pressed a soft kiss into his neck.

Caleb experienced another pang of disappointment that she still didn’t trust him enough to truly tell him why she was stalling.

When Kelly pulled back, her face was natural and relaxed. “I need to start rounding up some more clients, I think. Taking most of the month off kind of stalled my momentum.”

Caleb gave her a dry half smile, thinking of the business acquaintance with a full-size poodle he’d suggested get a portrait made from Kelly. “I already got you a perfectly good client.”

Kelly giggled and gave him a teasing slap on his bare chest. “Idiot. Like I would take a client you bullied into using my services.”

He managed to maintain a smug expression. “As if I would do anything so crass as bully someone.”

Kelly seemed to appreciate his pretense at arrogance. She chuckled huskily and pulled him into a soft hug. “I love it when you act all cool and superior.”

He loved when she was like this. Loved how she wanted to be close to him. Loved that it felt so real, so natural—so inexplicably different than the way they were before, as if something inside her had melted or relaxed.

But her fond affection did make it difficult for Caleb to maintain his patience and self-control. When his body instinctively reacted to the feel of her soft curves against him, he pulled away gently. Clearing his throat, he replied, “What do you mean? There’s no act here. I am cool and superior.”

She giggled deliciously and didn’t try to nestle against him again.

Since she was in a talkative, affectionate mood, he risked a question. “And, since I’m so cool and superior, have you thought any more about giving me more information on this guy from your past?”

He felt her grow very still beside him. “Caleb—”

“I’m just asking.”

“I know. But I’m wondering if he’s giving up on me again. Nothing has happened since that one attack.”

“I know that. But I’ve been protecting you all this time, with the exception of the two days you left me, so he may not have had an opportunity. You can’t just ignore men like him. They always come back. They’ll always remain a threat until they’re dealt with.”