Snow sniffled. “But you don’t know everything.”
He placed a kiss on her forehead, then one on each eyelid. “Whatever I don’t know doesn’t matter. We’re going to be fine,” he said, giving in to temptation and dropping kisses along her jawline.
“We aren’t going to be fine,” Snow said, even as she slid her hands into his hair. “We’re prolonging the inevitable.”
“You can say that until you’re old and gray,” he mumbled, rubbing his thumb along her bottom lip. Her full lips were one of the first things he’d noticed about his wife. Lips that were made for kissing. “But I’ll still be right here.”
To seal the promise, Caleb did what he’d been dying to do since he’d walked into her little shop on the corner the day before. He slid his lips across hers as his arms tightened around her tiny waist, lifting her off the floor. To his great relief, Snow welcomed the advance, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. Caleb had thought to go slow, to ease his way in and savor every second.
But Snow wasn’t interested in slow and easy. She wrapped her legs around his hips, sending his towel to the floor as her mouth opened over his. She tasted like sugar and tea and he couldn’t get enough. She flung the towel he’d draped around his neck to the floor and tightened her hold as Caleb took three steps and pressed her back against the wall.
When he deepened the kiss, Snow arched against him, a soft cry echoing around them. This was where they were good.
“Caleb, we can’t,” Snow said, pulling back and pushing against his shoulders. “This is wrong.”
“There’s nothing wrong about this,” he said, nipping at her bottom lip.
Snow put two fingers over his mouth as she pressed her head back against the wall. “Please,” she said, the desperation in her voice enough to drag him out of the fog. Her eyes were pleading as she said, “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”
He didn’t know what she meant. Keeping his hands off of her was the hardest thing he’d ever done. “I want you, Snow. And I know you want me.”
“We agreed,” she said. “This isn’t going to help us figure things out.”
Caleb exhaled and let Snow’s feet touch the floor. He was hard as a rock and letting her slide down his body wasn’t helping him gain control.
“I need a minute,” he said, his eyes closed as he stepped back to give her space to leave.
“Caleb,” Snow said, her voice soft and apologetic. She waited for his eyes to open and meet hers before she said, “You’ll understand this someday.”
He didn’t feel all that understanding at the moment. “I doubt it,” he said, stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
Snow sat tucked into the corner of her couch, knees to her chest, staring at Caleb’s boots by the door. The last ten minutes played through her mind over and over. She didn’t even recognize the woman playing her part. The goal had been to make her husband want to leave, but without warning she’d shot right over to psycholand.
If he walked out of the bedroom carrying his bag and heading for the door, she would not be surprised. Part of her wanted to explain. To apologize, but for what? For screaming then crying then climbing him like a woman desperate for the last coconut on a deserted island? Caleb was right, she wanted him as much as he wanted her. And she’d almost given in.
She still wanted to give in. To kiss Caleb until he forgot how much she’d turned his life upside down. But they’d have to come up for air sometime. And her secret would still be there. The threat from his mother would still be hanging over her head. No matter what, Caleb could never learn the truth. Not because he’d never forgive her, but because she wouldn’t hurt him like that.
It had been bad enough explaining everything to her mother, who was relieved to finally hear Snow’s voice, but disappointed in the choices her daughter had made. Snow didn’t tell her mother everything. She didn’t want her to know about the tainted blood comment. Nor did she admit the messages her family had received in the last year and a half had come through Vivien.
The fewer people who knew that tidbit the better.
One thing was for certain. The idea of the one-month trial period would end tonight. Even Caleb wasn’t optimistic enough to think anything could change between them now. If he chose to stay the night, Snow would sleep on the couch and try not to think about watching him drive off in the morning.
She was contemplating how little sleep she would get when Caleb stepped out of the bedroom. He was wearing gray sweatpants with a black T-shirt. His feet were bare and his hair still damp. Without a word, he sat down beside her on the couch.