Page 95 of Untouchable

She shook with amusement, just on the edge of grief. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, you might consider it.” The corner of his mouth twitched and his eyebrows slanted up in irrepressible irony. “This is my grand, dramatic gesture, and it would be nice to have such a profound response from you for my efforts.”

Kelly laughed for real, and then she couldn’t seem to stop. After a minute, it mingled with tears, and he pulled her into his arms so she half laughed, half sobbed against his chest.

Eventually she got herself under control and was able to straighten up. He loosened his arms, but his hands still rested on her hips.

“So was that a yes?” he asked, searching her face with brown eyes. “Do you think we could… try?”

She nodded, ecstatic and despairing at the same time. “Let’s try.”

With a muffled groan, Caleb pulled her into an urgent embrace. He clutched at her desperately, finally unleashing a little of his pent-up feelings. She was shaking against him and fisting her hands in his shirt. He was murmuring against her neck. His words were incoherent, but she thought that maybe she could understand them.

The moment couldn’t last forever, so eventually they pulled apart. They were still standing in the lobby of Reese’s building, and her doorman was giving them the eye.

“So what now?” Kelly asked, having absolutely no idea how she was supposed to feel at this moment.

Caleb smiled, looking like himself again—cool, confident, intelligent, so sexy he took her breath away. “Well, I was wondering if you might want to go out on a date.”

20

Caleb couldn’t remember ever really beingwith someone. Genuinelywiththem—in heart, not simply body.

Well, he did remember. And then he’d lost her when he was still just a boy. And he’d certainly never felt that way with anyone since.

Until now. Until Kelly.

He wasn’t fool enough to think that one experience—one person—would change the whole course of his life. It might feel that way occasionally, but he wasn’t really any different than he’d been just yesterday, than he’d been a month ago. Nothing had softened or weakened about him in the past two weeks since he’d shown up on Kelly’s door in an act that had surprised even him.

He’d been miserable in the two days she’d walked away from him, but he’d never dreamed he’d want someone enough to work to get her back.

He wasn’t really different now. He just felt something new when he woke up in the morning, when he went to check his phone, when he got his stuff together after work.

Like there might be someone to talk to.

He’d gone out with Kelly a lot in the past two weeks, taking her to the movies, to dinner, to the ballet. They’d had lunch together several times, and she’d come out to his place on Saturday, taking the trip to the park with Ralph, and then just hanging out for most of the day. She’d even allowed him to have Pete stick with her to keep her safe.

But they hadn’t yet had sex.

He had no real idea why she was hesitating, although she’d said several times that she wanted to take it a little bit slow. He was willing to do that. He could almost understand it. But she’d never been reticent about sex before, and he was ready to get back into it. The constant frustration—from being around her, surrounded by her, for two weeks, without being able to bury himself inside her—was putting a bit of a damper on his mood.

He was trying to be patient, but he wasn’t used to holding back from what he wanted. And he wanted her. So much. More now than ever.

A few days ago, they’d been kissing after dinner, and he’d gotten so hard that she’d slipped her fingers in his pants and gotten him off with her hand.

It wasn’t bad. Not at all. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

So when, on the second Saturday after they’d gotten back together, she spent the day with him and stayed on into the evening, watching a couple of old movies, he was starting to get his hopes up.

It was late when the last movie ended, and he asked if she wanted to stay the night.

“Really?” she asked, hiding her eyes behind her hair in a way that was tantalizing, irresistible.

“Of course. I’ll even give you one of my shirts to sleep in if you want.”

Twenty minutes later, she was sitting on his bed with her legs tucked up under her, wearing nothing but one of his blueOxfords that managed to look both innocent and sexy, and asked him if he was sure it was all right that she sleep with him when she wasn’t yet ready for sex. Caleb hid the surge of disappointment and said that of course she could.

He was rewarded when her worry transformed into smiling, tender warmth. Her hair was a lovely, erotic cascade all over her back and shoulders. And her smooth, graceful legs were folded almost provocatively, leading up to the sensuous curve of her hips.