Playing for Keeps Read online

  “And then you co-adopted Lollipop with me. And not because you were looking to get something from me, but because you wanted to do the right thing for the dog. That’s when I knew it was more than lust, and I had to walk away and plan my strategy.”

  “Always the venture capitalist?” she murmured.

  “Something like that.” His hands spread wide over her ribs, the tips of his fingers just brushing the undersides of her breasts. “You’re not an easy woman, Sadie.”

  “I am a handful,” she agreed, her pulse kicking into gear. “But that’s why you have two hands.”

  He ignored her attempt to lighten up this conversation. “You’re not easy,” he said again. “You’re something else entirely.” And while she simmered over that, he smiled and kissed her softly. “And I like it,” he said against her mouth. “I like you very much, Sadie Lane.”

  She sighed and tightened her grip on him. “I like you very much too, Caleb Parker. I didn’t want to.”

  “Do tell,” he said, voice amused.

  She rolled her eyes and then got serious, staring up at him. “I mean, I really didn’t want to. But you sneaked in under my defenses when I wasn’t looking. And now I can’t seem to shake you.”

  He smiled, gentle and warm. “I’m very grateful for that.”

  Lollipop was zooming around them like a wild woman, darting here and there and back again, occasionally tripping on her three legs, but getting right back up again, still having zero idea that she was handicapped in any way.

  Sadie had the urge to stand up and run around too. Run around and . . . hide. She was a master at hiding, she’d been doing it all her life, both physically and mentally. But actually, she didn’t want to hide from Caleb. She wanted to stay right here in his arms for as long as she could have him. Craning her neck, she stared up at the night sky. It was a tumultuous one, threatening rain, which she loved. When a few drops began to fall out of the sky, she stuck out her tongue to catch one.

  Caleb watched, his voice husky when he spoke. “If we’d been out here a week ago, we’d have seen a rocket launch sending payloads into space.”

  “Yours?” she asked.

  “Yes. The technology, anyway.”

  His world was so much bigger than hers. She’d known that. But it never failed to astonish her. “You used to travel for work all the time and be mostly gone,” she said. “Before Lollipop.”

  “Not just Lollipop. There’s a lot of reasons why I’m using SF as my home base these days. My family. And friends.” He paused and met her gaze. “You.”

  Her breath caught audibly, and a small smile curved his lips. “I knew the day I met you,” he said. “Which was just under a year ago now.”

  “Knew what?” she whispered.

  “That I was going to fall for you and never recover.”

  Her chest tightened. “I don’t want to ever be the thing that holds someone back.”

  “You don’t hold me back. You make life more.”

  “More what?” she asked.

  “More everything.”

  “Because I sleep with you?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Most definitely.”

  She rolled her eyes and tipped her head up to watch the lazy drops fall out of the sky, but his fingers stroked her jaw and turned her back to him.

  “And also because I am falling for you, Sadie. Falling hard.”

  She put her fingers over his mouth to hold in any more words.

  “That won’t make it untrue,” he said around her fingers.

  “Shh.” She closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart down. “Just shh for a minute.” Her thoughts raced in tune to her impending stroke. It was quiet around them. Lollipop was back at their feet, huffing from her exertion.

  Okay, so Caleb had a lot of pretty words and those words had thrown her. He wasn’t a man to toy with anyone’s feelings, much less someone he cared about. He cared about her. At least he cared about the parts of her she’d allowed him to have.

  But he was definitely missing some. In spite of his sisters looking into her—which they’d either not finished doing so or they hadn’t filled him in on the details yet—Caleb didn’t know her past. Because if he did, he’d be running for the hills. She knew this for sure.

  Very slowly, Caleb slid a hand to the nape of her neck, urging her in for a gentle, tender kiss that turned very ungentle in a matter of seconds, leaving her in the same condition as always when he put his mouth on hers.

  Hungry for him.

  Another few drops of rain hit, and then a few more, feeling amazing against her heated skin as the last of the daylight began to fade away.

  Caleb stood and offered her his hand, pulling both her and Lollipop back beneath an overhang to protect them from the rain. Lollipop climbed into her backpack and yawned.

  Tugging Sadie close, Caleb wrapped his arm around her waist, taking one of her hands in his, pressing it to his chest.

  “What are we doing?” she asked.

  “Dancing in the rain.”

  That he’d even remembered it was a secret little fantasy of hers had her momentarily speechless, but she slid her free hand up his chest and around to the back of his neck, and leaned into his warm hard body, completely swept away by the moment.

  She let him lead, not that they did anything fancier than shuffle their feet and sway gently to the sound of the rain hitting the rocks around them and Lollipop’s gentle snores. Sadie’s head rested against Caleb’s shoulder, her nose up against his throat. Closing her eyes, she breathed in his scent and listened to his heartbeat. “Caleb?” she whispered.

  “Yeah?”

  “Take me home.”

  His place was the closest. The front door barely shut behind them before he pressed her up against it, kissing her hungrily.

  “Arf!”

  Caleb sighed and pulled free. “Hold that thought.” He then scooped up Lollipop and vanished from the living room. Two minutes later he was back alone. “She’s in my office with a treat. She’s good for now.” He pulled her into him. “Where were we?”

  “Arf!”

  Sadie turned, and sure enough, Lollipop stood in the open doorway, eyes bright, tongue lolling and tail wagging. Leashed to Caleb’s office chair, she’d dragged it down the hall and seemed to be waiting patiently for some attention.

  “Not now,” Caleb murmured against Sadie’s mouth. “Mommy and Daddy need a minute.”

  “Actually,” Sadie said, staring into Caleb’s eyes. “Mommy needs more like fourteen minutes, and that’s only if you’re really, really good.”

  “Oh, I think we both know that I’m better than good.” Eyes lit at the challenge, he nipped her bottom lip. “But I’ll tell you what, you can have as many minutes as you want. You can have the whole night.” He unhooked Lollipop from her leash. “Don’t eat the house,” he said and then took Sadie into the bedroom.

  She reached for the buttons on his jacket and shoved it off his shoulders. It took less than a minute for the rest of his clothes and all of hers to end up on the floor. Eyes dark with intent, Caleb gave her a little nudge. The backs of her knees hit the edge of his mattress. As she fell to his bed, he pinned her down and began to explore every inch of her body with his hands, his tongue, his teeth . . . proving to the both of them that he didn’t need fourteen minutes.

  But he gave them to her anyway. And many more.

  Chapter 23

  #FightDirty

  Caleb opened his eyes a little bit later to find Sadie plastered against him, her hair in his face, an arm and leg thrown over the top of him like she’d claimed him.

  Clearly, her body was on board with what her mind wasn’t.

  They fit like two pieces of a puzzle.

  When his stomach rumbled, he remembered that they’d skipped dinner. Quietly as he could, he slid from her embrace and ended up in the kitchen with Lollipop. He found leftover mac and cheese in the fridge and put it in the microwave. While he was waiting on that to heat, he opened the la