Secrets in the Marriage Bed(30)

Her last words were heartbreakingly quiet and he felt them in the core  of his soul. Outside she was smiling and perhaps even laughing, but in  her heart, Vicki was crying. Today she'd surrendered her last hopes and  accepted that Danica wouldn't ever be able to give her what she needed.  Acceptance didn't mean the pain was any less.

"Never," he whispered, his voice husky from the knot of emotion choking  his throat. "I wouldn't go when you asked me to. Why would I leave  voluntarily?"





Thirteen



V icki curled in bed, thinking over the words Caleb had said to her as  they sat on the couch. Next to her, he was fast asleep. She'd set the  alarm to ring in a few hours so he could return to work, but she  couldn't sleep.

For the first time in her life, she was with someone who, quite simply,  was too damn stubborn to walk away from her. Some women might have found  that kind of possessive commitment daunting, but it was exactly what  she needed. When she'd tried to divorce Caleb, she'd hoped to garner his  attention, but she hadn't understood the depths to which he'd go to  keep the promise he'd made to her on their wedding day.To love, honor  and cherish. For always.

The extent of his loyalty humbled her. Her darling Caleb would be her  rock, no matter what life threw at them. It was okay to take risks and  open her heart and her body fully to him.

After all these years, the four-year-old girl inside her was smiling.  She still felt a little bruised but was healed enough to take the next  step.

Getting up out of Caleb's arms, she walked quietly to the dresser and  pulled out the lingerie she'd bought today. It was time to start showing  her husband what he meant to her. He'd done so much for her and yet  expected so little in return.

He'd been abandoned the same way she had and needed as much care and  tenderness. The difference was, he'd never allow himself to break down  as she'd done countless times, never allow himself to cry or ask for  tenderness. She could accept that. It was simply the man he was. But it  meant she had to read between the lines where his emotional needs were  concerned.

A smile curved her lips-these days she was having no trouble reading  Caleb, in bed or out … because her husband trusted her. She had every  intention of treasuring that gift, starting now. Tonight she'd give him  the tenderness he'd never accept in any other context, show him that she  was his in every way.

Slipping out of her pj's, she shimmied into the panties and camisole.  There, she thought, feeling a mixture of nervousness and joy. That will  surprise him when he wakes. She only hoped he'd understand what she was  trying to say. Fighting a shiver, she crawled into bed next to Caleb's  warm body. He grumbled in his sleep then cuddled her close.                       
       
           



       





Caleb woke though the alarm hadn't gone off. Staring at the clock, he  realized it was an hour before he had to be up. Yawning, he was about to  close his eyes when he registered the texture beneath his palm. Satin.  Soft and silky and very touchable. He frowned. He'd been tired when he'd  gone to bed but he was sure Vicki had been in her pj's. Carefully, he  switched on the bedside light.Vicki was on her back, her head on one of  his arms while his other arm lay across her stomach. Raising the one on  her stomach, he lifted away the blanket to have a look, and froze.

These were not Vicki's old pj's.

Unable to do anything else, he bared her completely. She complained in  her sleep so he started stroking her upper thighs, gentling her as he  took in the delectable sight of his wife's body showcased by satin and  lace. The panties were cut high on her thighs, the lace edging the legs  meeting the lace of the waistband. In sleep, the camisole had rucked up,  exposing a strip of skin on her taut stomach that he couldn't help  running his finger over.

"Caleb," she moaned, sounding more than half asleep.

He let his eyes wander up and almost begged for mercy. The left strap  had fallen half off, exposing the creamy curve of one breast while the  other remained primly covered. What did Vicki think she was doing? He  was supposed to be concentrating on saving the Maxwell deal, not  drowning in a river of hunger.

One hand on her thigh, he leaned over to drop a kiss on the bared skin  of her breast. His stubble rubbed across her skin. She made a sleepy  sound and one hand rose to tangle in his hair, keeping him where he was.  Delighted, he tugged at the fallen strap until her breast popped free  completely and he breathed a sigh of appreciation.

Stroking his hand up her body, he took her nipple between his fingertips  and plucked at it, teasing her fully awake. She shifted and he moved  enough to slide one hair-roughened thigh between her smooth ones.  Rubbing his thumb over her nipple, he felt her hand clench in his hair.

"Caleb, what … ?"

"These aren't your pj's," he accused, without looking up from his task.  He released her nipple from his fingers only to take it between his  teeth. She gasped.

"I wanted to … um … " She gasped again as he let go of the nipple, scraping it with his teeth. "Caleb."

"You wanted to what?" he prompted, cupping her breast in his hand.

"To surprise you." The roughness of desire colored her tone.

He pressed a kiss to her breastbone and rose to look at her. "Why?"

She blushed. "Because I wanted … "

"What?" He dipped his head to play with her other nipple through the satin of her top.

In his hair, her fingers spread and then clenched again. He licked and  laved until the hard little bud was completely defined against the  satin. "Tell me what you wanted."

"Do I have to say it?" It was a husky plea that succeeded in capturing  his full attention. The second his eyes met hers, he knew. His wife had  worn this because she'd wanted to make love. She'd made the first move  in her own deliberate way. He'd had no part in seducing her to this  point, hadn't even asked for a kiss.

Slowly, he shook his head, almost scared to face the hope bursting to  life inside him. "Not this time." Then he grinned, as the hope broke its  bonds and shot through his bloodstream like white fire. "We've got  years, and I kind of like your way of asking."

Her blush deepened and under his hand, he felt her skin heat up. Looking  down, he groaned at the sight of her flushed breast cupped in his palm.  The image was rawly sexual and something primitive in him rejoiced. His  wife. His woman. His lover.

At last, she was his lover in every sense. Not only accepting but also  demanding. And it wasn't just her body she was giving him. The emotions  in her eyes were so powerful, he could barely believe it was his  composed Victoria in his arms. He still needed to hear the words, needed  to see her lips shape them into sound.

If she never said those words, it would hurt but it wouldn't destroy,  not when she was willing to show him how much he meant to her in other  ways. He kissed his way down to her stomach and along the band of skin  exposed by the camisole he'd pushed up. The fingers in his hair tugged.

"Caleb, honey."

He raised his head to glance at her. "Hmm?"

"I want a kiss." Her cheeks were red but the heat wasn't from a blush.  The glittering fever in her eyes spoke of something else entirely.

He gave her what she'd asked for. Never would he deny her anything in  bed except in sensual play. Vicki's kiss was a stroke of his senses,  wild and uninhibited. As she kissed him, she wrapped one leg around his  waist and bent the other so that he was cradled against her. The heat  passed effortlessly through the satin of her panties and the cotton of  his briefs, the most intimate of caresses.                       
       
           



       

He groaned his pleasure into her mouth, more than willing to let her be  the aggressor in this intimacy of lips. Vicki could kiss like no other  woman on earth. She put her soul into each glide of the tongue, each  sensual bite of the lip until he felt kissed by her whole body.

No one else had ever lavished such pleasure on him.

When she ended the kiss, he gladly let her press him to the bed and  straddle his body. She ran her fingers down his chest, through the rough  darkness of the hair there. The look in her eyes was hotly sensual,  distinctly proprietary.

"What are you doing?" He wasn't complaining. Having his wife's  half-naked body for his private viewing pleasure was one of his favorite  fantasies.

"Looking at you." She slid the remaining strap of her camisole down her  arm. For the first time in their married life there was no shyness in  her.

He held his breath as her action bared both breasts. "Vicki."

With a very female smile, she drew the straps off her hands and let the  camisole bunch around her waist. Above him, she was a symphony of cream  and pink, luscious and tempting. When he ran his hands to her back and  pushed gently, she leaned over to let him taste her breasts.