Page 27 of The Agent
He didn’t get under the covers, just lay on top of them, flat on his back with his arms pressed to his sides.
She was on her back, too, suddenly feeling nervous and slightly upset with herself.
Her fingers tingled with the need to touch him.
From the corner of her eye, she saw his bare chest rising and falling with each breath he took.
And his masculine scent wrapped around her, spicy and musky and totally intoxicating.
She curled her fingers into fists to keep from reaching over and touching him.
Staying completely still, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but her mind refused to shut off.
She suddenly remembered something, and rolled onto her side to look at him.
“What did you say to Hernandez in the hall?” she asked.
“Nothing important.”
“It seemed important,” she said. “And when he came back to question me, he was actually being kind of…nice. So either hell froze over or you got him to change his mind about me.”
Caleb went quiet for a moment. “I reminded him that you’re not Amanda James.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “Who?”
“AJ got me a copy of Hernandez’s file, which included the last case he worked.” Caleb paused. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this.”
“Don’t you think I deserve to know why he’s treated me so badly?”
He paused for a second beat, finally letting out a breath.
“Amanda James was the girlfriend of a guy Hernandez was trying to pin a series of bank robberies on. She insisted she had no idea what her boyfriend was doing, that she played no part in the robberies, and she was inconsolable when Hernandez brought her in for questioning. She was just a kid, barely nineteen, and Hernandez felt protective of her.”
Marley propped herself up on her elbow. “What happened?”
“The boyfriend was arrested but the judge let him out on bail. The day he got out, he and the girl robbed a grocery store, trying to get money to skip town. They ended up killing three people, including a ten-year-old kid.”
Marley sucked in a breath. “Oh, God, that’s awful.”
“Yeah, it was,” he agreed. “It turned out James knew about the robberies all along, she’d even participated in some, and Hernandez looked like a total fool.”
Despite herself, she felt a pang of sympathy. “And then Patrick and I came along, and the Bonnie and Clyde thing was happening all over again.”
“He didn’t want to make another mistake, but he took it to the other extreme. Too lenient on the first suspect, too harsh on the second.”
“I still don’t like him,” she said. “I get now why he was so hard on me, but I’m not sure that’s a good enough reason to totally railroad someone.”
“I agree.”
They fell silent, and she lay there watching the rise of his chest, the way he stared directly at the ceiling as if he couldn’t bear to look at her.
“Was it honestly real?” she whispered.
That got his attention. Very slowly, he turned to face her, looking into her eyes. “It was real,” he murmured. “I lied about my job, but I didn’t lie about who I am.”
“And who are you, Caleb?”
“I’m…I’m just a man. I make mistakes. I obsess over the job sometimes. I’ve never been in a serious relationship, probably because I’m used to being alone. I’ve always been alone.”
Each word sent an ache to her heart, until it squeezed so tight in her chest she could barely draw a breath. His voice was heavy with emotion, his face showing vulnerability she knew he hated to reveal.
“But not with you,” he said, so quietly she had to lean forward to hear him. “I don’t feel alone when I’m with you.”
She couldn’t help herself—she moved closer to him. Their faces were mere inches apart. Alarm bells rang in her head, warning her to stop this insanity before she fell into the same damn trap as before.
“It was real,” he said again, his breath warm against her face. “More real than anything else in my life, sweetheart. All these years I’ve gone through the motions, done my job and made conversation with my coworkers. I pretended to be normal, all the while knowing I wasn’t quite whole.”
She shivered as he lifted his hand to touch her cheek, tenderly caressing her skin. “I wasn’t pretending with you,” he finished. “I lied, but I didn’t pretend.”
God, what was she supposed to do, to say? This was the most open he’d ever been with her. His gruffness and cool composure was stripped away, leaving him bare and raw and honest.
Was she an idiot for wanting so badly to believe in that honesty?
Sensing where her thoughts had gone, Caleb’s voice became desperate. “I’m not lying to you, Marley. It might be better if I was, because then I wouldn’t have to feel…whatever it is I feel for you. It scares me. You scare me.”
Her breath hitched as he slid closer, so that their bodies were touching. She felt his heartbeat vibrating against her breasts, which grew heavy with need. His eyes dropped to her mouth, and her surroundings faded as Caleb kissed her.
She couldn’t pull back, couldn’t push him away. Goosebumps rose on her bare arms, which twined around him. Her fingers touched the soft hair at the nape of his neck.
“We shouldn’t… I shouldn’t…” Her words got lost in the kiss, swept away as he teased her lips with his tongue then slipped it into her mouth, where she met each greedy thrust, swirling and exploring until they were both breathless.
“Can’t you feel it?” he rasped against her trembling lips. “It feels right, Marley.”
She wanted to disagree, but the objection refused to leave her mouth. She didn’t want him to be right. She didn’t want this to be right. But she couldn’t stop kissing him, couldn’t stop the need that rose inside her like a tidal wave.
She reached between them and slid her hand under the elastic waistband of his boxers. She grasped his erection, stroking it as he let out a husky groan. She couldn’t fight the crazy urge to touch him. He nuzzled her neck, his mouth latching onto the soft flesh there.
A slow-burning fire spread through her body, pulsing between her legs and making her breasts tingle. When Caleb groaned against her throat and moved his hips to meet her hurried strokes, the fire burned even hotter.
“I need you inside me,” she whispered.
Both his hands suddenly cupped her chin. He searched her face, looking hopeful and anxious and unbelievably aroused. “Are you sure?”
She nodded, shifting onto her back and parting her thighs. God, this was insane. She should hate this man, not want him. Kick him out, not pull him close. But the fire inside her refused to cool. Every nerve ending she possessed crackled with urgent need.
Caleb leaned over her and yanked open the drawer on the nightstand, rummaging around for the condoms they’d stashed there.
He had his boxers off and a condom on before she could blink, and then he peeled her tiny boxer shorts and tank top off her body.
He tossed them aside, along with her panties, and covered her body with his.
With a slow and delicious thrust, he was inside her, eliciting simultaneous groans from each of their throats.
Pleasure gathered in her belly, intensifying as Caleb began to move. There was nothing rushed about his thrusts. He slid in and out, out and in, an indolent rhythm that made her whimper.
His warm hands stroked her face, his lips peppering kisses on her jaw, her neck, her shoulder.
“This is real,” he murmured. “It’s real, sweetheart.”
His pace remained lazy, and not even the restless lift of her hips deterred him. He made long, slow love to her, and when she looked up at his gorgeous face, the emotion she saw took her breath away.
Real. Yes, this felt real. She wrapped her arms around him and dragged her fingernails up and down the hard muscles of his back.
The gentle tempo he’d set wasn’t enough anymore.
She wanted more. Needed more. With a little moan, she urged him to go faster, arching her back to take him deeper.
When he still didn’t comply, she raked her nails down his back and resorted to begging. “Please, Caleb… please. ”
Whatever restraint he’d been holding onto snapped like a bungee cord, and then he was driving into her like a man possessed. “Christ,” he choked out. “You’re… I…”
He gave up on talking and kept moving, plunging into her until she could no longer bear it, until all her muscles tensed and…
oh, yes . All thoughts drained out of her head as her body fragmented in sweet release.
Flashes of light blinded her, while bursts of ecstasy went off in her body.
She felt Caleb let go and she held him as he shook from release.
When the waves of her orgasm finally ebbed, common sense returned, urging Marley to push him away.
She’d experienced a momentary relapse, a foolish lack of self-control, but now was the time to come back to reality.
Caleb had lied to her, he’d hurt her, and even though she’d trusted him with her body just now, could she really trust him with her heart?
Yet her arms refused to let go of him, her legs refused to unhook from their perch on his trim hips. And her heart…her heart implored her to hold him even tighter.
So she did.
* * *
C ALEB HAD NEVER BEEN ONE to question good fortune.
Even that one Christmas when his current foster mom presented him with a brand-new baseball glove, he’d forced himself not to ask, “Why?” In his experience, people didn’t give gifts without expecting something in return, but Marley…
she’d given him something so incredibly important last night.
He wasn’t about to ruin that by spitting out all the questions biting at his tongue.
Do you forgive me?
Can you ever trust me again?