Caleb’s dark gaze held mine. The room was quiet, save for the soft sounds of our breathing. My heartbeat, pounding fast and true, echoed through my body. His hands slid down my sides to curl around my hips. With a flex of his hips, his cock stretched my channel. The feeling was so delicious, it sent a hot shiver through me.

It had been three long weeks where I’d been holding back. But right here, right now, everything else fell away. Everything but the feel of him filling me. My eyes started to fall closed on the heels of another arch of his hips into mine.

“Look at me.”

His gruff command drew my gaze to his again. I started to rock with him, rising up and sliding down, sheathing him in my core again and again. I felt pulled tight inside as pleasure spun within me.

I couldn’t look away as he gripped my hips. My clit, slippery and wet, rubbed against him as we rocked together. Pleasure splintered through me, hot slivers of fire with every flex of his hips into me. This moment felt wild and out of control, spiraling madly. Yet, it also felt suspended in time— in a haze of passion and intimacy that ran so deep, it struck me straight at the heart.

This wasn’t just sex. The scars on my heart and those on my body were mementos of everything we’d walked through together. We’d walked through our own fire and come out to the other side where the flames of this new fire could rise from the ashes of the old.

He slid a hand free from one of my hips, stroking up my back in a heated pass and levering me closer. His lips caught mine in a slow, sensual kiss. He drew back as I rocked my hips into him, every spark of sensation feeding into the pleasure flashing through me.

His palm slid down over my belly, dipping into my curls and pressing on my clit. Everything inside drew together tightly and then unraveled in a burst of pleasure. My channel pulsed around his cock, clamping down tightly. I felt the heat of his release fill me when I collapsed against him, dipping my head into the curve of his neck as I struggled to catch my breath.

Pleasure pinged through my body in little aftershocks. Caleb’s skin was damp, as was mine, but he was warm and he smelled so good. He smelled like him—a woodsy scent mingled with a crisp freshness that I loved.

One of his hands rested on my back and the other curled over the dip at my waist. Once again, I felt that strange sensation where his thumb stroked back and forth over the soft skin of my belly and then along the edge of the scarred skin on my side. I doubt he even noticed it. I did.

After a few moments, I managed to lift my head. Before I realized it, my question slipped out. “Do you even notice them?”

He adjusted his shoulders against the pillows and opened his eyes. “Notice what?”

There was my answer.

He arched a brow in question. “My scars.”

His gaze flicked down, his thumb stilling where it was. “No,” he finally said, his eyes rising to meet mine again.

I lifted a hand, tracing my thumb along his jaw. “Well, you got what you wanted.”

He laughed softly and shrugged. “See, I’m completely fine. I bet I’ll sleep better than I have in weeks tonight.”

* * *

The following morning, it was Saturday, and I was in the kitchen starting coffee while Caleb showered. I’d woken up on the sofa bed with my head tucked into his shoulder. His arm was wrapped around me and held me close against him. In that hazy, dreamy time, I felt completely safe, as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Even with my old doubts, Caleb managed to make me feel as he always had. Just right.

Pulling out the eggs, I heard a thump and then a muttered swear. Setting the eggs on the counter, I hurried across the room and into the downstairs bathroom, pulling open the glass door to the shower. Caleb sat there, his hips resting on the corner seat in the shower.

“Are you okay?”

He glanced over to me, his eyes annoyed. “I’m fine. Just slipped.”

“Do you need help?” I asked, stepping in the shower, not even paying attention to the damp floor until the moisture seeped through my socks.

He curled his hand into mine. I helped him to standing and got him out of the shower onto the less slippery surface of the dry tile floor.

“Have I mentioned I can’t fucking wait to get this cast off?”

“You might’ve mentioned it,” I said with a laugh, realizing he was perfectly fine. “When do you see Charlie again?”

“Not soon enough. It’s been three weeks, and I get my first checkup next week. She warned me it would be six to eight weeks, but it feels like forever.”

Stepping back and tossing my now wet socks in the hamper, I rested my hands on my hips and eyed him. “You keep saying you’re fine.” I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

“I’m fine, but this sucks,” he muttered as he dried off.

I left him as he tugged a pair of sweatpants on, while I jogged upstairs to find a dry pair of socks. I returned to making omelets. After we finished eating, he asked me to drop him off at the station for the day. It was Saturday, so I cast a puzzled glance his way.

“Are you sure?”

“You’re running errands, and for fuck’s sake, I am so sick of hanging out at the house.”

“Are you…” I bit back my question. For the third time this morning, I’d been about to ask him if he was okay.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “I’m fine.”

I stepped to where he sat on one of the stools by the kitchen counter. Without missing a beat, he tugged me between his legs. Shamelessly, he slid a hand down my spine and cupped my bottom. Need rolled through me in a flash.

“Oh no, you’re not starting that now.”

Lacing his free hand in my hair, he pulled me within an inch of his lips. “I might be a little cranky, but it’s pretty awesome to have you fussing over me.”

“Does that mean you’re going to stop complaining about being laid up?”

A bubbly joy spun inside of me, mingling with a clench of my heart, so tight the emotion almost made me cry. He shook his head, murmuring no against my lips just before he kissed me. His kisses slayed me—every single time. Inside of a hot second, I felt as if I was caught in a flame. Then he was drawing away, his eyes catching mine.

“Don’t forget I love you.”