Toxic Bad Boy(75)
“What now?” I asked, glancing at the mess.
“I plan on burning them.”
“Are you in trouble with Jim?”
“He made enough money off the rest of the show.”
“What about the buyer?”
“Jim will tell them they were destroyed and that’ll have to be good enough.”
Caleb and I left the studio. Instead of going into the living room with him, I tugged on his hand and guided him into his bedroom.
“There’s something else coming between us,” I told him.
“What’s that?”
“My ridiculous fears,” I said, pulling my cotton dress over my head.
He stood in place, not moving toward me or taking off his own clothes. “You know I won’t hurt you?”
“I know,” I told him, unclasping my strapless bra.
“You know I love you more than anything in this world?”
“Yeah,” I said, slipping off my panties. There was no hiding from him in the brightly lit bedroom as the sun shone through the open blinds.
He groaned, rubbing a hand over his mouth. I stepped forward, helping him pull his shirt off and unbutton his jeans. He tugged them off, revealing black boxer briefs.
“I don’t have any condoms,” Caleb said, looking crestfallen.
I giggled at his expression. “I’m still on birth control.”
“Thank fuck,” he breathed, moving us onto the bed.
He went slowly with me, even more gently than the first time. Not once did my fears surface. This was Caleb, the guy who loved me enough to take on the world for me.
He made love to me like he was worshiping me and I somehow knew it’d always be this intense for us. I returned his passion while he moved inside me, filling me in the best way.
When we were done, Caleb started all over again. This time harder, rougher, holding nothing back of his fierce desires.
Afterward, I lay in his arms, staring at the sunbeams.
“Caleb?” I asked softly just in case he was asleep.
His eyes opened. “Yeah?”
“I want you to pick where we go to college.”
He stroked my cheek with a thumb. “It doesn’t matter to me. I just don’t want us to be apart again.”
“I don’t care where we go and I don’t want us to be apart either.”
His laughter made his chest shake under my head. “Then it’s decided. We won’t be apart and we’ll go wherever we both get into.”
“If you don’t go to an art school, I at least want you to get into a really good art program at a university.”
“You really don’t know what you want to do for a career?”
I had no clue. “No. I may not know for another few years. So, we’ll concentrate on you first.”
“What if I don’t want to be an artist?” he asked.
“Then we’ll figure out what we want to do together.”
“Should we stay in Colorado?”
“If you want,” I said, hugging my arm tighter around his torso.
“Chance would miss you if we left,” he pointed out.
“You’re right, and I don’t want to miss him growing up. Can we stay in Colorado?”
“Whatever you want. Boulder would only be a fifteen minute drive to your mom’s house.”
“Maybe she’d let us live with her while we’re in school?” I teased him.
“No way,” he said, pulling me up higher on his chest. “I want my girl to myself. When we move in together, I’ll be able to fuck you whenever I want.”
Giggling, I slapped his chest lightly. “You’re so romantic.”
“I try,” he joked, slapping my bottom through the sheet. “Now get dressed, I need to feed my girl.”
“Can we go to the diner?” I asked, hungry for a big hamburger and fries.
“That’s what I had in mind,” he replied, stepping into his underwear. I was a lucky girl. My guy was hot, his abs toned along with the rest of him. “Quit perving on me, Gianna.”
I pulled my dress back on. “Oh, I’m the pervert now?”
“When you look at me like I’m a piece of meat, yes.”
“I am hungry for a piece of meat, but I want a milkshake with it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Forever is composed of nows.”
-Emily Dickinson
CALEB
“I don’t see why we have to buy all this crap for Ian,” I complained as I pushed the red shopping cart through Target.
“You said why yourself, Caleb. He’s lonely and his dad doesn’t ever visit him. We’re not family, so we can’t get in to see him. This will let him know we care.”
I pulled the Thinking About You greeting card out of the basket. “I’m not signing this.”