Page 45 of Holiday Star
Call out my name. Ask me to come back.
But he doesn’t.
25
Ican’t sleep that night. Tossing and turning. Upset with myself for being so foolish. Upset with Caleb for being so irresistible. Upset with both of us for kissing. What was the point of that if we were only going to do it for one night?
Finally, past two a.m., I give up and pad downstairs to get a glass of water. On the very last step, the floorboard creaks under my weight.
Caleb’s head pops up from the couch, his hair tousled. “Gwen?”
“Sorry,” I whisper. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I wasn’t asleep.”
Without thinking, I take a step toward that raspy voice, drawn to it like a moth to flame.
“Me either,” I admit. “Could you not sleep because you were worried some creepy little twin girl ghosts were going to murder you with an ax?”
A sandpaper laugh from him, the sound scraping down my spine. “No, that’s not it.” There’s a long pause, and then he asks, “Do you…do you want to come over here?” He whispers it so softly that for a minute I wonder if I’m back in bed dreaming. That’s how this moment feels.
Dreamlike.
The Christmas tree lights are on, sending their rainbow of colors over the room, casting a stained-glass pattern across the floor. The light shifts over Caleb’s face as I move closer, painting him in shades of red, blue, and green.
There’s a hush in the air. Like the house, the whole world is holding its breath, waiting to see what happens next.
I stop a few feet away, uncertain. We stare at each other warily, the only motion the rise and fall of our chests as we breathe. Caleb’s the first to break that tension.
“Please.” He holds his hand out to me…and I take it.
He pulls me down onto the couch next to him. His hand comes up to gently brush my cheek. “Please,” he begs again and then bends over me, placing a delicate kiss on my lips. I reach for him, sliding my hands up his neck and slipping my fingers into his feather-soft hair.
“I can’t sleep. Haven’t slept in days,” he murmurs into my mouth. “You. It’s you. Keeping me up.” He kisses me, soft and sweet. “Can’t stop thinking about you.” Another kiss, this one harder. “Dreaming about you.” The next kiss is searing. The sensation of Caleb is all around me. His tongue strokes mine, a concoction of heat brewing between us. He kisses me until I’m dizzy. Until I lose sense of time and self. I’m a bee, drowning in his honey and not even minding because it tastes so sweet.
Voice ragged, Caleb groans softly and says, “Now that I’ve had a taste of you, I want more.” This time when he moves in to kiss me again, I wake up enough to ask the questions I need answers to. With gentle pressure, I push him away, far enough that I can look up into his face. “I don’t understand. You didn’t touch me all day. I was starting to think you weren’t interested.”
The shadows in the room exaggerate his grimace. “That just shows what a good actor I am. I was worried you wouldn’t want me to. That it would be awkward if you said no since we live together, but I’ve been lying awake thinking about it. I kept wishing I could do the night over. Except this time, after the movie, I would kiss you like I should have. Like this.”
He kisses me passionately. His mouth exploring mine, like he wants to know all of my secrets.
Before I can get lost in the sensation, I push him away. “You need to quit doing that.”
It takes a minute for him to respond. His gaze is heavy, lust dazed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean acting with me. Hiding how you feel or what you think. I don’t want you to do that anymore.” I’m still upset with him for how tortured I’d been during the movie.
Caleb moves back, gazing down at me in the moonlight, his eyes clearing like he’s really seeing me. “You’re right,” he agrees. “So,isit okay? This?” He gestures to where our bodies connect. “I can stop.”
I pull him into me, growling, “Don’t you dare.”
White teeth flash in the darkness and the thrill of it, of witnessing him truly pleased, has my heart singing.
I did this. I’m the one making him happy.
Pride, joy, and lust tangle together in my head.
This time I take charge. I press him down into the cushions so I can lean over him and stare into his ocean eyes. “I don’t want this to stop,” I whisper fiercely. I kiss him, letting my chest fall heavily against his.
