Caleb called my name as his head fell into the dip of my shoulder. I felt the shudders of his body while tremors of pleasure were still wracking mine. My skin was damp, and I could hardly catch my breath, gulping in air as I came down from the intensity of my climax crashing through me.

His palms slid down my sides to rest at the curve of my waist. The tile counter was cool against my skin, a contrast to the heat inside and out. It was heaven to feel him so close to me. I savored the hard planes of his body and the feel of his strength encompassing me.

When I felt him lift his head, I dragged my eyes open to find his waiting. My heart twisted sharply inside my chest. Everything felt so intense. It was so easy to simply lose myself in him, in the heat of our desire, in the heartbeat of every moment.

We stared at each other, intimacy shimmering around us, hazy in the air. Again just as before, it felt as if time was falling away. I was simultaneously falling backwards and barreling forward. I would wonder later if everything felt so heightened with him because of how much I’d had to shut myself down to get through the last year and a half. But for now, I felt free of those worries and let them fall away.

I felt the subtle, prickly sensation of his thumb brushing across my scarred skin, crossing over to the smooth surface of my unblemished skin. The contrast in sensation was odd and something I hadn’t felt often. I couldn’t help but love that Caleb didn’t even seem to notice the scars, not in a way where he was careful, or as if he had to be aware of them.

There was a thump behind us and then Caleb’s mouth curled in a grin as his eyes flicked beyond my shoulder. “Looks like we have company,” he observed.

Creamsicle leapt onto the counter, keeping a safe distance away, his tail twitching back and forth. I’d had a cat when I was a little girl, but I’d forgotten how inquisitive they could be. Creamsicle’s amber eyes surveyed us. After another moment, he turned away, leaping to the floor and heading over to his seat on the windowsill.

I bit my lip as I glanced up at Caleb. “I suppose…”

Before I had a chance to finish whatever I meant to say, which probably wasn’t sensible, Caleb lifted me against him and carried me upstairs. It was late, the lingering rays of the late autumn sun leaving nothing but a burst of orange, gold and red in the sky.

The view from his bedroom was spectacular. The mountain ridge in the distance was outlined against the darkening sky as the inky night took over. Once he reached the foot of his bed, he eased me down, only then pulling out of me. I instantly missed the feel of him filling me, if only because it was the closest we could possibly be. And right about now, the feeling of intimacy and complete safety that I felt when I was tangled up with Caleb, well, I would just about sell my soul to keep feeling it.

His bed was luxurious with pillows piled high, cool sheets and a lightweight down comforter. The air gusted across my skin as he lifted the comforter and let it fall over us, pulling me close against his side as my skin prickled at the chill chasing over me.

“You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to stay,” I teased.

His eyes canted down to meet mine, a gleam visible in the fading light. “Do I need to ask?”

I shook my head against his shoulder, tracing circles on his chest with my fingertip. “No.”

“Okay then,” he murmured, dusting a kiss on my hairline, just below where my new scar was.

I tumbled into a deep sleep. I could’ve gotten addicted to this. Falling asleep with Caleb was a heaven I hadn’t contemplated. I wasn’t much for cuddling, or so I’d thought. In the few dating relationships I’d had after high school and before the last year and a half when everything went to hell, spending the night had always been more of an afterthought and nothing I thought too much about.

Yet with Caleb, it appeared I was a cuddler. Though we’d always been affectionate when we were dating in high school, I’d never spent the night with him. Because, well, we were in high school. He’d tried to cajole me into it, but the downside to having a father who was the police chief in town was trying to sneak around for anything seemed impossible. Oh, we’d had sex, in fact I lost my virginity to him. But we’d never spent the night together. I couldn’t have known that he would hold me close all night—pulling me up against his side where I could comfortably drape myself over him, or spooning behind me, holding me in the cage of his arms.

That was how I woke the following day—with the sun angling across the bed and Caleb’s warm, hard body curled behind me. His palm rested on the curve of my belly, and I could feel his breath rise and fall, slow and steady, against my back.

I shifted my hips, my body reflexively seeking to be closer, and felt his quite obvious arousal against my bottom. I was instantly slick between my thighs. My body moved on its own accord, my hips shifting restlessly, trying to ease the ache at my core. I felt him come awake from a subtle shift in his breathing. He murmured something and then flexed in a shivering stretch that I felt to my bones.

His palm slid up my belly to cup one of my breasts. My nipples puckered, instantly tight and achy. “Mmm, Ella,” he murmured in my hair before dropping a kiss against my shoulder. He was warm all over, and I loved it. I tended to be cold. All the damn time.

Much as I loved winter and I loved Alaska, I had never loved the cold that came with it. I was the kind of person who went to sleep with socks on just to keep my feet warm. That wasn’t necessary with Caleb. He was my own personal heater.

My hips shifted back against him again. I couldn’t resist rocking into the hard, hot length of him. Because I knew what I wanted and where I wanted it. I turned my head, reaching a hand up to trace along the strong line of his jaw. He caught my lips in a kiss.

On the heels of a breath, his hand slid down, sifting through the curls at the apex of my thighs and dipping his fingers into my folds.

“Fuck Ella, you’re so wet already.

I rocked into his touch as he teased me with his fingers for a moment. He didn’t make me wait. He shifted, lifting my leg over his calf and sinking into me from behind, burying himself to the hilt.

He held still for a beat, brushing the hair back from my neck and dragging his tongue in a blazing path over my skin, his thumb tracing my lips before I turned. Another hot wet kiss, and then we rocked together, the motion languid and slow. Still sleepy, it felt like a dream—one where I was caught in a shimmering web of intimacy with him. Nothing existed outside of us together. Sensation unspooling inside, I was at the edge inside of a few seconds, murmuring his name. His hand slid down over my belly again, dipping into my curls and teasing over my clit.

My climax unraveled, everything in me fracturing apart in slow motion as pleasure rocked me deeply. I felt his release as he went taut above me for a moment before he shuddered. We lay still, our breath coming in soft heaves together.

As my brain flickered back online, I thought to myself that I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe I was here.

Yet again, time collapsed. I hadn’t felt this way since before the accident. And yet, this was even more intense. As if I’d finally made it to the other side of the lingering grief and guilt. As if we’d somehow earned this by walking through fire. The burn of the pain was something else altogether now.

* * *

A little while later after we showered and dressed, I glanced across the counter at Caleb as he pushed his plate back. I’d gotten ingredients for pancakes when we went to the store last night. It was all rather domestic. While I didn’t quite know what to think of any of it because it was racing at me so fast, it felt so good, so right that I couldn’t stop it.

The easy feeling was shattered when a phone started buzzing—again and again and again. My gut coiled with dread, and I felt sick instantly.