Page 49

“Stop poking at it,” I gritted out.

Not heeding me, he pressed against the area the sliver had been, and I jerked. “I think I got it all out,” he murmured. “And it does look good. You’re taking your antibiotics?” I nodded, wishing he would leave the damn thing alone. It was throbbing again, reminding me that the angry tissue had been sorely abused. Cal’s touch gentled, and he smoothed his thumb alongmy shin below it, distracting me from the pain. “It does look much better.”

“Are you going to stop fussing about it?” I teased.

Cal gave me an implacable look. “No.”

A long-since buried emotion poked its head out from the ashes of my decimated hopes. That feeling of being cared for. It trilled in my chest, filling me with warmth and caressing my heart. I sat up, carefully pulling my leg away from Cal’s hands, and I fixed the blanket, which had ridden up to the crease in my legs. A droplet of water fell from one of my drenched curls, and it slid down my shoulder.

Cal watched me, his gaze practically heating the air between us. He had his hands resting on his strong thighs, and he tilted his head. “Come here.”

Apprehension and excitement ricocheted inside of me like a drum roll. I knew if I said no, or if I demurred in any way, Cal would drop it. But he was watching me with a quiet intensity that told me he knew—he knew I would. He knew I wanted to, and the barely leashed heat in his gaze told me he wanted it just as badly as I did.

I stood slowly, and the knit throw drooped over my curves, doing little to preserve any real modesty. I lifted myself onto my left leg and keeping the weight off my right, I leaned into him. Taking that as permission, Cal braced his hands on the bare sides of my waist. He eased me onto his lap, and I realized as I straddled him, putting our faces nearly level, this was an ideal position for my aching knee to rest to the side without pressureon the joint. That was so like Cal; he thought of things before I could even consider them a problem.

But it also spread my legs wide, and even with a blanket between us, I found myself blushing at how clearly it exposed me to his gaze. I knew it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen only minutes before, but I sank my teeth into my bottom lip and met his eyes tentatively. Cal reached up and pulled down on my chin until my lip released. “That’s mine. Stop biting it.”

I started to laugh, but then he framed my face with his strong hands, and his lips captured mine in a silky soft kiss. I melted, bracing my hands on his shoulders and angling my hips into him. As if to prove his point, he sucked my bottom lip between his teeth, and the heat between my legs clenched as I thought of his tongue giving me the same treatment where I ached the most. The hard length of his arousal pressed between my open legs, and I angled my hips down to meet his need for need.

Suddenly, the memories of my past sexual experiences surfaced, and I tensed. I tried to give myself over to the feel of his lips on mine, on the way he traced my teeth with his tongue and claimed my mouth. But unbidden, I was reminded of why this wouldn’t go well. It wouldn’t be as fun as Cal expected.

Like he had to force himself out of a trance, Cal broke our kiss to graze his teeth up to my cheek. “Tell me why you look like you’re on the threshold of a haunted maze.”

I screwed my eyes shut, and my fists tightened around his shoulders. “It’s not you.”

“Oh, very convincing,” he murmured with a hint of humor.He removed my glasses, and with utmost care, he leaned over to set them on my cheap, plastic side table. Even with my vision blurred, I made out the concern on his features. He held my face loosely between his hands. “Tell me, Shortstop.”

I clicked my tongue, rolling my eyes. It probably was better to get it out in the open. “Sex isn’t all that fun with me, I think.”

“Who told you that?” he asked with a hint of lethality that surprised me.

“No one. It’s just what I discovered on my own. I—” I scrunched my face, almost too embarrassed to continue.Out with it, Ruth. Come on. He deserves to know.“I take too long. Like… forever. You’ll probably get frustrated.”

“Ah,” he breathed out. His thumbs stroked my cheekbones. “I see.” He sighed. “You’re right. I don’t think we can have sex in that case.”

I froze, staring at him in shock. It was what I had suggested but…

“Ruth.” He tightened his hold, angling my eyes to his. “Can you see me alright?”

I nodded, my throat tight. “My vision isn’t that bad. I’m mostly far sighte—”

“Then look at me.” His eyes had darkened like a misty pine forest. “I will fuck you sideways, upside-down, and counterclockwise from now until sunup if that’s how long it takes to satiate you. Don’t think for one second it mattershow longI get to tease you to orgasm. You’ll get there, and I’ll enjoy every fucking second.”

My jaw went slack. “Uh…”

He reached around with his right hand, and flattening it against the small of my back, he pressed me down on his erection. “You just told me I get to fuck you longer. And you think that’s a bad thing?”

It had seemed inconvenient toothers. But the way Cal was looking at me, I didn’t have much choice but to believe him. And I had a pretty good idea that he was going to put his money where his mouth was. Or… his mouth where his mouth was. I didn’t know what to say, but I dipped a look between us, and the sight of his lean body under my soft thighs sent a gush of desire straight between my legs. “If you’re sure,” I breathed out.Please, God, let him be sure.To lighten the moment, I added, “You seem awfully confident.”

“I am confident,” he said with a crooked grin.

I puffed out a laugh, relaxing in his arms. “It’s all your experience with anatomy, right?DoctorReed.”

Cal got a funny kind of look on his face. His eyes traveled all over my features, dipping down to the drooping blanket over my breasts, and back up. “That’s… a good point. I do understand anatomy. Would you like a lesson, Shortstop?”

Chapter seventeen

Ruth