I FORCED MYSELF to pull away from Cale’s tasty lips after a few minutes to look into his twinkling eyes, which were staring right back at me.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, knowing that he must be considering we both missed dinner.
“I’m hungry for something all right,” he growled as his eyes moved lazily to my lips then licked his own.
My body throbbed at his insinuation, and the crimson flood that ran up my cheeks was impossible to stop once it started. Cale caused my body to feel in ways I couldn’t ever remember feeling before, especially since the incident three years ago. His hands, which were on my hips, began sliding up and down, causing a shiver to course through my body.
“Cale,” I began, but he stopped my words with a soft kiss as his hands trailed their way along my thighs.
His thumbs began rubbing circles on the inside of my thighs, forcing a quiet moan to escape my lips. If he kept touching me like this, we weren’t ever going to leave this couch and I couldn’t be held responsible for what I might end up doing to his body.
I finally found the willpower to pull myself off of him and quickly stood up. “Cale, we need food and it might be a good idea for us to cool off before things go too far.” I wasn’t altogether convinced that I didn’t want just that.
“Babe, one day, I will take things far. So far. And when I bring you to the brink, you will beg me to take you all the way. Now, where’s my sandwich, woman?” he teased.
I gave him a little kick to his shin as I rolled my eyes and went into the kitchen to see what I could scrounge up. He mock-limped behind me and slapped my ass once he got near. Every time he touched me, my body shuddered with need. I needed to stop reading so many damned romance novels.
As I started making our sandwiches, he spoke. “Lia, in all seriousness, I think we need to talk. Why in the world would you go out with a douche like that? Did he hurt you? What did he say to you in the car? Do I need to kill him?” he rushed out quickly.
I sighed, setting the butter knife down, “He’s my deliveryguy and brings my, uh, packages to me each week. We’ve done this routine for years now. Yesterday, he asked me to dinner as friends. I agreed because my social life hasn’t been what it should lately and I thought I could use a new friend. When he brought me roses and told me how beautiful I was, I got the feeling that he wanted more than just friendship. At the restaurant, he was even weirder and acting really possessive. I should have never gone out with him in the first place.”
“And what happened in the car?” he asked.
I shuddered at the thought of Sam’s words earlier. “He actually had the nerve to try to kiss me, knowing I only wanted to be friends with him. When I pushed him away, he grabbed my arm roughly and said, ‘You will eventually learn to love me.’ Cale, he scared me.”
I looked up at Cale, who had remained quiet as he listened. His jaw was working on overdrive, clenching and unclenching. When he spoke, it was through his teeth.
“That motherfucking psycho. If he ever so much as looks at you again, I am going to kill him with my bare hands.”
I tried to ignore the shiver that skittered down my spine at his angry response. I held his sandwich up and smiled nervously. He pulled himself from his trance and grinned at me as he took a bite while I was still holding it.
“I think this is the best sandwich I have ever eaten,” he teased as he moaned in mock appreciation.
Rolling my eyes, I shoved it at him and picked up my own to eat. “Dork.”
He laughed and I couldn’t keep the smile off my own face as we wolfed down our food. Cale was intense but could then turn around and be so good-natured. I was actually enjoying spending time with him, a man. There might never be a day when I would trust men like I should, but with Cale, it seemed like he was the only one I’d ever need to trust.
Breaking away from my happy thoughts, I reluctantly said, “It’s getting late. We should probably call it a night.”
“Kicking me out, huh?” he asked, cocking a sexy eyebrow, which caused an ache between my thighs. “I’ll pick you up Saturday around six. We’re going on a date. Dress comfortably,” he instructed, this time without question. “And please, for the love of God, don’t order any more damn shoes till that prick Sam cools off and leaves you alone,” he commanded seriously.
Dang. I guess my shoe fetish was apparent to everyone.
“See you then, Cale,” I uttered, agreeing to an actual date.
He grabbed both of my hands, wrapping them around his back, and then put his own around me. When he leaned down, touching our noses together, my heart started racing like it always did when he was near. His lips brushed against mine in the slightest touch and my lips parted, inviting him in again. But he pulled back instead, leaving me with my mouth hanging open, and pecked my forehead.
“I have to save some of my moves for our date on Saturday. Catch you later, Lia,” he said casually, like he weren’t just leaving me there to suffer from his loss of touch. With a wave, he walked out the door.
What an ass, I thought, watching as he walked down the porch steps, unsure which ass I was referring to.