"Caden, no." I twist so we're nose to nose and tears well, one escaping in a hot race down my cheek. "You don't believe that, do you? Oh, Caden. You've done everything to take care of me and JT under the worst circumstances. If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be. You haven't taken advantage of anyone, not Justin, not me."
He groans, dipping to lick another tear from my face before it can fall to our lap and when he returns, his heavy breath fans over my mouth. I try to force away the shiver tickling my spine, to hide how his words affect me. But I can't. How I want to belong. More than anything I want to find my place next to this man and be a family with him and JT. Caden squeezes my breast and I moan, a low vibration that warms the depth of his eyes. Leaning in to murmur against my mouth, he says, "Be mine, Piper. Let me inside."
Good Lord. This man with his scorching good looks, his smooth tongue and wicked hands is no match for me. "Let me in," he demands, and yet the simple statement is laced with desperation and need. But it's his eyes that grab hold of mine and won't let go. Pleading.
My hands find their way to his neck, circling to hold him in place, to cover his scar and feel his pulse under my thumb. Life. "Caden." My heart thunders in my chest. It explodes when he groans my name.
"I have never wanted anything more than you. I haven't-I've never thought about kissing someone the way I want to with you. And fucking. Goddamn, I want to worship every part of your body, but I also want to fuck hard and raw until your sweet voice is rough from begging and then we'll begin again. Just us. Starting with a kiss." His hand trembles when it reaches my nape, winding through my hair, the other pinching and caressing my nipple into flashes of pain and exquisite pleasure. "Let me in."
Caden gives me hope. Faith in tomorrow, trust in the future, and freedom to feel everything that I thought was lost. To feel with him. With Caden.
"Yes."
At the one-word submission, he hisses and then dips down. He aligns his mouth with my own, and we kiss. We kiss until breathing is forgotten, catching only short gasps of air when we part long enough to move a fraction. We drown in the thundering rain that is our pulse and the beat of what becomes us. We kiss until the palate of colors creating his canvas blends into mine and a new picture forms. We kiss until our souls bleed from the pain and heal into a new and beautiful masterpiece. And then the silence that surrounds us is quiet serenity.
It ends on a heady moan, his or mine, both, when reality intrudes from voices in the hall. Caden pulls away but he doesn't go far, leaning his forehead against my hair and turning enough to watch as he pulls his hand from beneath my bra. His fingers drip from the milk he expressed by kneading.
Eyes sparking with dark lust, he licks the tips of each digit. "Sweet," he says, pulling them away from his lips and pressing them to mine. "Suck."
I groan and do as he commands, letting him take over, take control. It feels so good to let go. I lick him, suck the sweetness like I would his cock as if he had come-flicking and rolling my tongue between deep drags. My clit sparks into a pulse. His nostrils flair and then his mouth replaces his fingers and he devours me, hard and demanding. I lean into his power, the strength in his chest and his arms as they tighten around me, holding me in place. The man and the SEAL merge, and I fall helplessly under his control.
"Pigeon?"
I push back from Caden, startled by that voice, the voice of easing anxiety, late-night chats and hysterical giggles. Cool fabric abrades my breast and when I look down, a big wet spot soaks the outside of my shirt, staining the blush fabric a darker pink. "Shit," I whisper in panic as footsteps grow louder in the hall, nearing the door. "Maisie."
"Had to call in reinforcements?"
My heart constricts in my chest, and my gaze falls to the etched lines covering his. Maisie. I've missed her. Unconditional love is hard to come by, and although I'm close with Cara and Tess, there's something special about a friend who has weathered the emotional bumps and bruises of childhood with you.
"I just needed her," I mumble.
"Hey." Caden tips my chin until we're eye to eye. "I would give you anything. If Maisie's visit is a repercussion of my idiocy then I'm glad for it, not for hurting you, but that she's here. I should have brought her out for a visit well before this."
I shake my head. "You can't do everything for me, Caden."
"I can damn well try. Now take this." He adjusts me so he can strip out of his shirt and then drapes it over my shoulders. I protest, but slip my arms through the sleeves and look at my dresser on the far side of the room. Too late. The door swings open.