Page 177 of Untouchable

“On what?”

“Letting go,” she admitted.

“How are you doing with that?”

“It’s not my natural inclination, but it’s… it’s helped. Some.”

“That’s good.” Caleb’s brown eyes had been focused on her face, but now they shifted down to watch her hand as it still stroked his thigh.

Something about the adjustment in focus made her suddenly conscious of his body. Not just his presence but his body. His strong, lean, virile body.

A body she’d always loved.

Her eyes drifted down to her hand too, and she realized it was farther up his thigh than she’d intended. Then she saw Caleb’s response to her touch in the bulge she could see in his trousers.

Her own body responded to seeing how he’d responded to her.

“I guess that doesn’t go away,” Caleb murmured in a thick voice she well remembered.

“What doesn’t go away?” Of its own accord, her hand had slid a little closer to his groin.

“How much I want you.”

Kelly gulped and flushed hotly. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t touched her. All he’d done was say those words and give her that intense look.

But it was enough to cause her pussy to clench in excitement. “I still want you too,” she admitted. “I don’t think it’s ever going away.”

The words were true, and she realized how true they were as she said them. She dropped her head, suddenly pained at how hard it would be to go through the rest of her life wanting Caleb and never being able to have him.

He leaned over and pushed her hair back over her shoulder so he could see all of her face. “I haven’t been able to sleep. I stay awake all night thinking about you, and no matter how futile I know it is, my body won’t stop wanting you.”

“My body wants you too,” she whispered, her breath quickening as she raised her hand from his thigh to his chest. This felt right. This felt like them.

This felt real—in a way it hadn’t when they were together before.

Like she knew who Caleb really was now—in all his strength and weakness and light and shadow. And like he knew who she really was too.

Her hand rested on his chest, the soft texture of his suit oddly sensual, particularly when paired with the solid strength of the chest beneath it. She fisted her hand unconsciously, her fingers clenching around a handful of fabric.

“I’d convinced myself this would never happen again,” Caleb murmured.

“It can. If you want it.” She slid her hand down his chest toward his belly.

His abdomen was hard too. All of him was hard. And tight. And masculine.

And exactly as she’d known it would be.

“I do want it.” He reached out and slowly stroked down the long fall of her hair. “But this isn’t a happy ending. If we do this, you can’t be hoping for that.”

A tiny part of her had been hoping for that, but it wasn’t the deepest or most important part.

She could have this with Caleb now, and it would be good. It would be so much better than the way they’d parted before.

That alone would be worth it.

“I know what this is,” she told him.

She could feel the tension in his body as he leaned toward her. “Then we’re agreed.” His words were a simple statement, but his thick voice sounded more like a promise.