The resume in front of me wasn’t coming together.

One of my clients at the shelter was trying to get a job. She had a place to stay as well as childcare, and if she could just get a job, we could make a case with the kid’s social worker.

But the job…I needed to get a resume together so we could practice her interview techniques.

We were so close. Things would get better for her once the last block fell into place.

Normally, this was the part of my job that I loved. Carol had done the hard part, leaving her husband and asking for help. But I couldn’t focus on this task to save my life.

I was distracted. By the dream, by Kaleb, by everything that had been going on in my life.

And I was miserable.

My heart hurt.

Throwing down my pen, I leaned back in my chair and shoved my hair from my face. “Focus,” I told myself. “I’ve got to focus.”

Getting up, I went to the coffee maker.

It had long since gone burnt. Disgusted, I dumped the dregs out and started a fresh pot. At the rate I was going, I wouldn’t be done before midnight anyway, and I definitely didn’t want to sleep.

If I slept, I’d dream about Kaleb again.

Once the coffee was done, I leaned against the counter, sipping the hot brew and coaxing my muddied brain into thinking. All the key info was there – I just had to get it down.

Outside, rain pounded against the window, and thunder crashed. It was a miserable night. Or a great one, depending on who you were with and what you were doing. Astra was out with a guy, probably snuggled up and doing something debauched.

And here I was alone and miserable. The storm was adding to my overall melancholy state, but I tried to block it out. Returning to my desk, I settled down and stared at the laptop.

Carol could do this. She had a solid work background.

She was trying to get on at a daycare, and she had experience with kids.

She’d left the workplace when she had her daughter, but she’d done some volunteering…I could do this.

After a brief mental pep talk, I buckled down.

A half hour later, I was done. The resume wasn’t perfect but it would do.

Now I had nothing left to occupy my time, and it didn’t take long for my thoughts to drift back to Kaleb.

What was he doing?

Had things worked out with Camry?

The phone rang, and I grabbed it, hoping it was something else that might distract me. Man, even my parents.

It was just Carlos, the nighttime doorman for the building.

“Hello, Miss Piety. Lovely weather we’re having, yes?”

I eyed the storm and smiled. “Absolutely, if you like floods. Do you like floods?”

“I like the rain. Are you having a good night?”

“Good enough,” I lied. “And you?”

“Of course. Ma’am…there’s a young man here to see you. I believe he stayed with you and Miss Astra a few nights last week. His name is Kaleb…”

I didn’t even hear the rest of the sentence.

* * *

In my rush down to the lobby, I neglected to think about what I was wearing, an oversized men’s shirt that I liked to sleep in. The cool air blowing in through the vents had me shivering, but I wasn’t about to go back upstairs.

When the elevator doors slid open, and I caught sight of him, my heart lurched.

For one moment, everything stopped.

It just stopped.

I stumbled to a halt, my fingers curling into fists so I didn’t reach for him. He was soaking wet, broad shoulders slumped, head hanging low.

“Kaleb.”

At the sound of my voice, he looked up, and I found myself lost in those pale blue eyes.

“Piety,” he said, his voice raw.

“Hi.” I sounded breathless, like I’d run every flight from the loft down here to the lobby. I felt like it too.

“Can we…?” He looked around. “Can we talk?”

“Of course.” I didn’t know what else to say, and I lifted a hand. “Come upstairs.”

He stared at my hand for a moment, and I didn’t realize what he was looking at so intently until the light bounced off the ring. My wedding ring. The one I still hadn’t been able to take off. Slowly, he accepted my hand, and I turned, knees shaking and heart racing.

Giving Carlos a weak smile, I tugged Kaleb into the elevator and pushed the button for the loft. Barely daring to breathe, I closed my eyes.

He still held my hand.

His skin was hot.

Hot and damp from the rain, and I could smell him.

I wanted to peel the clothes away and touch him, kiss him…do all the things I thought I’d never do again.

On the top floor, the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open.

We still hadn’t spoken.

We still held hands.

Moving into the loft, I slowly tugged my hand free and tried to breathe a little deeper. Rain crashed into the windows, and the electricity from the lightning seemed to be gathering inside my loft as well. Tension hummed between us, so hot and erratic, I thought I’d come out of my skin.

I finally went to grab him a towel, handing it to him without meeting his eyes. “Here, why don’t you dry off? You’re soaked to the bone.”

“Yeah.” He gave a cursory rub of his hair and shoulders, then stood there, twisting the towel around his big hands. “I’m sorry, Piety.”

“For which part?”

He looked up then, met my eyes. “I’ve made a mess of things, and I needed to tell you that.”

There was hell in his eyes. Still, as he stood there, watching me, all I could think was…a mess? You call this a mess?

He’d blackmailed my parents, left me without a word…and he wanted to just call it a mess?

I didn’t know what to say, so I just nodded.

He rubbed the towel over his face, then folded it neatly and held it back out to me. I took it, feeling out of place in my own home. Everything felt out of place.

It wasn’t okay.

His sorry wasn’t enough.

But what was I supposed to do?

He gave me a tight smile. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come. I’ll go.”

Just like that?

Without thinking, I threw the towel down and got between him and the door. Reaching up, I touched his cheek. Kaleb froze.

Every muscle in his body locked up, the heat from him searing me through.

“Don’t,” he said roughly. He closed his hand around my wrist, and I could feel my pulse banging against his fingers. “Just…don’t.”

“Don’t what?” I asked. “Don’t want you? Don’t think about you? Don’t ask you to stay?”

A muscle pulsed in his cheek.

“I don’t want you to go.” Pushing up on my toes, I pressed my mouth to the corner of his lips. “Don’t go, Kaleb.”

I would have plastered myself against him, but he caught my upper arms in his hands, held me back.

“I’m soaking wet. We…this isn’t smart.”

“I don’t care. I’m tired of being smart and thinking…I’m tired of wanting you and you not being there.” I twisted my arms out of his grip and reached for him. “No matter what happened, I missed you, Kaleb.”

This time, when I kissed him, he kissed me back, his mouth opening against mine, his tongue sliding out to tease me.

I groaned at his taste, shuddered when he slid his hands down my body. Everything inside me came back to life. Color returned to the world. Everything was alive again.

Hot and frantic kisses led to hot and frantic caresses with the two of us leaning against the door, his hands sliding up under the nightshirt I wore.

When he found me naked, he groaned and swore. “Damn, are you telling me you’ve been naked under this the whole time?”

He kissed me again, his fingers playing over bare skin. “You came downstairs naked. We’ve been standing here talking, and you’re naked. I just can’t…”

He went to his knees, and I bit my lip, bracing myself as he pressed a kiss to my knee, the middle of my thigh, my hip.

When he slid his tongue between my folds, I twisted my fingers in his hair and swore, pleasure ripping through me.

“Come for me, Piety.” He teased and licked, nipped and nuzzled, slipping two fingers inside me and twisting them, working me closer and closer.

“Come…”

I did, and he didn’t wait for me to float back down before he rose, tearing at his jeans.

I stared at him, half blind as he freed his cock. I reached out and wrapped my hand around him.

Kaleb groaned and moved into my touch. When I did it again, he reached up and braced one hand on the door by my head, the biceps bulging.

He closed his other hand around mine, tightening my grip and pumping into my hand, hard and fast. “That is one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen,” he said, his voice rough. “I could fucking come all over you.”

“Do it, I wouldn’t care.”

“I’d rather come in you.” He kissed me and then let go of my hand, catching my hips and boosting me up. “Hold on.”

I gasped as he filled me, deep and hard. Then he caught my wrists and stretched them over my head, leaving my weight balanced on his cock and hips.

“I’ve never wanted anybody the way I want you. You’re like a drug.” Kaleb shuddered as he skimmed his lips across my cheekbone. “My drug.”

“You’re mine.” I tugged against his hold, but all he did was stroke his thumb across my skin. I felt completely surrounded, completely filled by him. He stretched me and filled me, and finally, that horrible emptiness began to fade away. “Don’t leave me again, okay?”

“I won’t.”

He kissed me, a deep, seeking kiss.

Each thrust had him dragging back and forth against my clitoris, the sensation so painfully sweet. I hung on the edge of climax almost from the first touch, but Kaleb wouldn’t let me fall over, instead dragging it out.

The silk of my night shirt drag back and forth over my nipples, taunting me. Everything became pleasure.

Kaleb caught my lower lip between his teeth, drawing it out before letting it go to kiss me again.

I pulled against his hold, and he finally released my hands so I could cling to him. He boosted me higher, changing the angle of my hips and it was too much. I came hard and fast, but just when I thought it was over, he started to come, and the pulsations of his cock set me off all over again.

It was unending.

It was amazing.

It was stupid.