A Many Splintered Thing / Day 35: “And you’re just going to stand there?”

I was up earlier than I needed to be today so I had time alone and quiet and this is what I ended up with. Today will be a challenging day for us, so if you could spare a good thought it would be greatly appreciated.

XOXO
Sommer

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Dahlia stepped back and leaned against the counter. She watched Caleb who watched her in return with a great patience. He put his hands in his pockets to show that he was content to wait for her to come to a decision.
Emotions swirled in her chest, the sensation bleeding into her belly. Fear, relief, happiness. The last one scared her more than the first. She thought it was fairly normal to be afraid of something as intense and instantaneous as what she felt for Caleb. But the happiness was foreign to her. At least on a grand scale.
She crossed her arms across her chest to hide her shaking hands. Her head buzzed and she chewed her lower lip, the tiny sparks of pain from her teeth sharpening her focus so she could think.
“See, here’s the part where I have to decide if I believe you or not.”
He inclined his head in a slow nod. “Indeed it is.”
“And you’re fine to just stand there and study me like a lab experiment as I do it?” She crossed her ankles too. Her whole body giving off a back-off vibe. She couldn’t help it. Faced with situations like this left her feeling vulnerable. A sickening reminder of a time in her life when she was powerless. Her body language, she was aware, thanks to every hippy-dippy therapist she’d ever tried on for size, gave off a control vibe.
Another nod. That nod did things to her gut. It whirled with a million imaginary butterflies. “If that’s what you need to do, I’m game.”
“Did you want this egg?” she asked.
“Nope.”
She smiled. She couldn’t help it.
“What do you want?”
It was his turn to smile. The smile was more of a bad boy smirk and she felt the heat in her cheeks reignite.
“What I want is in jeans and purple zebra socks and a black tank top. She has long dark hair and bright blue eyes and she could probably kick my ass if she wanted to.”
It pleased her, what he said, but Dahlia tried so hard not to let him see it. She raised her shoulders in a shrug and said, “Well…as long as you realize it.”
Caleb laughed outright and the sound of his laughter filled her, burst apart in her chest, quickened her heart.
Then he was back to stoic and patient. It was almost maddening.
“You swear nothing happened?”
“I do.”
“I have no hold on you, I kno—“
“Ah, but you do.”
That shut her up. Her heart had gone from quick to pounding. It beat so heavily she felt it in her temples. “I do?”
“You do. Seemingly from the get-go. Which, I’m fairly certain, makes you a witch.”
She let her arms drop. “Damn. You found out my secret.”
“It was bound to happen,” he said. A new light lit his eyes. She recognized that look as his eyes swept over her from head to toe, taking her in. She watched his pulse jump at that sweet spot between neck and shoulder.
“What?” she said, for lack of anything clever to say.
“Nothing. Just waiting.”
“And you’re just going to stand there?”
“Why not?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what to do,” she said, her eyes straying to the clock.
“What do you want to do?” he picked up his coffee and took a sip.
He must be a hell of a poker player, Dahlia thought.
She straightened up and stretched, reveling in the way his gaze tracked her movements. “I want to be late to work,” she said. “After all, the slave driver I work for said I could.”
She moved as if to go past him but the last moment she snagged his wrist and tugged. “Follow me,” she said.
“Anywhere,” Caleb said.
They both froze for a moment. She looked at him for a beat and realized, as the flock of butterflies moved through her stomach again, that he meant it.
*
She led him past her room and then past his. The very end of the hall had a room with the most windows. The biggest bed. The plushest room. Caleb hadn’t chosen that room when he moved in because it was too much, too big, it didn’t feel like him.
“Why are we here?”
“I’ll explain later,” she murmured, tugging his tee up. She paused, running her fingertips only along the ridges of his abdomen and Caleb felt his muscles and nerve endings jump at her touch. It was like being mildly and pleasantly electrocuted.
“Okay,” he said. He heard the thickness in his voice caused by arousal. His cock pressed insistently against his boxers and jeans.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Her mouth was warm and welcoming and he thanked his lucky stars silently that she’d taken him at his word. This trust thing was new but Caleb thought he could get used to it.
He cupped the back of her hair, that heady scent of Dahlia mixed with shampoo and soap hit him and he breathed it in. He pushed his tongue against hers, the kiss growing more demanding as his body insisted he move forward with this. Get her naked, feel her skin, run his mouth over any part of her he could manage. It was a consuming sensation, this want he felt for her. Like nothing he’d ever experienced, like nothing he’d ever imagined.
He grabbed the hem of her tank and yanked it up over her belly and then her breasts. He was well past the point of patience of manners. She willingly raised those long tan arms and let him pull it over her head. Her hair, loose today, flew around her face and he thought again how wild she looked at times. Like some untamed creature made of fire and light.
“Christ,” he said, his voice a growl.
“What?”
“Nothing. Just trying to tame the poetic moron in my head who won’t shut up about how gorgeous you are.” He touched her mouth and she parted her lips to suck the tip of his finger. The heat seemed to radiate up from his finger to his chest.
“I like that poetic moron.”
“You are. Not just gorgeous” he said, working on the front clasp of her bra. She kept her hands down content to let him do it. That made him even harder. “They really haven’t invented the word yet for what you are, Dahlia.”
The bra fell open and he was on her. His lips on her shoulder, sliding lower on her collar bone. He took his time, as best as he could, dragging his lips along her soft skin. When he reached her breast, he bypassed the nipple and used his teeth on the side swell of her breast. Her body grew taut and he heard her suck in a breath. Caleb pulled back to watch the magic happen. Her semi-hard nipple grew tight and pebbled as he watched. He swept his fingers over the very tip and watched her body hum with energy.
“You’re killing me,” she said, her eyes looking more than a little intoxicated.
“Nope. I’m taking my time with you.”

photo credit: lilybartlett via photopin cc