Lollipop had sidled up to the bed and was bouncing up and down like she was a pogo stick.

  “Don’t look at her,” Sadie whispered breathlessly, her fingers in his hair.

  He dropped his head to her gorgeous bare breasts. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I don’t think I can perform with an audience.”

  Sadie snorted and pointed at the dog. “Lollipop, go to your bed.”

  Lollipop panted happily, and proving she didn’t see herself as disabled in the slightest, took a flying leap on two fallen pillows, using them as stairs to get all the way up onto the bed. Very proud of herself, she pounced on her two favorite people in the world.

  “Ohmigod, you’re so effing cute,” Sadie said.

  “Yeah, she’s the cutest cockblocker on the planet.” Caleb scooped the dog up, let her nuzzle in for a minute, hugged her tight and then . . . took her out to the hallway.

  “Smooth,” Sadie said with a laugh when he—carefully—shut the bedroom door on the dog’s nose.

  “I’m motivated,” he said and dropped trou.

  It was now even darker in her room with the door shut, just some ambient lighting coming in from the window, but he could play connect the dots with the best of them. She’d wanted to leave some clothes on to stay warm so he tugged off her boots and bunched her skirt up to her waist. “Hold this,” he said and she took the material in her hands. He admired her pretty little lace panties, before they flew over his shoulder. When he dropped a knee to the bed and crawled up Sadie’s body, he took the time to kiss every inch of her he could get to. Her calf. The inside of her right thigh. Then he turned his head to do the same for her left and caught sight of some ink. Tattoos high on her thigh, written in a beautiful script that he strained in the dark to read.

  Heart

  Mind

  And

  Courage

  Fear

  He took his time there, kissing each, feeling his own heart and mind open up to her in a way he hadn’t expected. But then he realized she’d frozen at the first touch of his mouth to the ink. Frozen, and then squirmed in a way that had him lifting his head to meet her gaze, which was filled with sudden nerves and anxiety.

  “They’re beautiful,” he said, running his finger over the words. The two tattoos were lined up vertically, one beneath the other. And beneath them both was a two-inch-long scar that was at least several years old. “As beautiful as you.”

  She closed her eyes and he knew what that meant. Sadie retreated inward when she got uncomfortable, which was the last thing he wanted here. “Hey,” he murmured, lifting himself up to rub his jaw to hers, dipping his head to press a kiss to the spot beneath her ear that he knew drove her wild.

  And indeed he felt her breath hitch, felt her arch up into him, her fingers sinking into his hair. Her mouth sought his and when they finally broke apart, they were both taking short ragged breaths. “Still with me?” he murmured, his hands cupping her breasts, causing her to bow her back for more.

  “Yes,” she gasped, wrapping her legs around him.

  “Are you—?”

  “I’m sure! I’m 100 percent sure that I’m going to kill you if you stop now!”

  He laughed against her and slid down her body again, nudging her thighs open so he could taste her. “I’m not going to stop.”

  And he didn’t, not even when she went off like a firecracker, fingers gripping his hair, body arching up into his, nearly bringing him along with her and he hadn’t even gotten inside her yet.

  And that’s when he remembered. Condoms. He didn’t have any. Shit. He couldn’t believe it. How stupid was he for not carrying a Just In Case condom? Though to be fair to himself, it’d been a while since he’d needed one.

  “In,” Sadie said in a husky voice. “In me. Please, Caleb, get inside me now.”

  There was nothing he wanted more, but he lifted his head. “I don’t have a condom.”

  She met his gaze and bit her lower lip.

  “What?”

  “I have one,” she said. “I have several, but you can’t laugh.”

  “Babe, I’m about as far away from laughing as a man can get. In fact, if you’re teasing me, I might just cry.”

  “Top drawer of my nightstand,” she said.

  Holding her gaze, which was a sexy mix of desire and hunger, along with a pinch of embarrassment he didn’t understand, he pushed up on his hands and reached for the drawer.

  Her gasp stopped him cold and he twisted back. “What?”

  She covered her mouth, no longer looking dazed with lust, but like she was going to smile. “Your shirt hem rose up when you stretched. You’ve got a tramp stamp!”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Dropping her hand, she laughed outright and pointed to just above his right ass cheek. “Then explain that.”

  “If you’re referring to the very regal, perfectly rendered—”

  “—Turtle,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “You have Raphael the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tramp-stamped on your ass!”

  “Hey,” he said. “Raphael and Nintendo got me through some really difficult times when I was sixteen, okay?”

  “Someone tatted you when you were sixteen?” Her smile faded. “That’s against the law.”

  “I lied about my age and I had a fake ID,” he said.

  “And some regrets?” she guessed.

  He shrugged. “The incident might be the reason why I’m no longer friends with vodka. Are we done discussing my early digressions and stupid mistakes yet?”

  “Not by a long shot,” she said, reaching into his opened trousers and wrapping her hands around the part of him that was currently harder than any of his other parts. “But we can certainly agree to table them for the moment.” She stroked him.

  His eyes nearly rolled up in his head. “Oh, this is going to take more than a moment.”

  “I certainly hope so . . .”

  He opened her nightstand drawer. There was a phone charger cord. A lip balm. A box of cookies. Correction, half a box and a few scattered crumbs. A People magazine. And . . .

  A string of neon-colored condoms.

  “From a friend’s bachelorette party,” Sadie said. “I won a gift basket. Seemed like a waste to just throw them away.”

  “Waste not, want not,” he said with a smile.

  Her mouth curved. “Exactly.”

  He tore off a condom, an eye-popping pink. Not exactly what he’d imagined for his first time with her, but he was the master of invention and making the best of any situation, so he rolled it on, incredibly aware of the way Sadie watched his every move, her breath catching in the back of her throat. At the sight of his erection encased in glow-in-the-dark pink, she laughed, low and knowing and eager, and he felt something inside him click.

  Just as he knew Lollipop had been meant for him, so was this woman.

  She lifted her smiling eyes to his and pulled him down to her. “Now, please,” she said, the words so sweet and so utterly contrasting with her tone, which was an absolute order.

  With a low laugh of his own, he slid in deep, making her gasp in gratification. He did the same, staring down at her, into those deep blue eyes, filled with the same mix of shock and pleasure.

  Like coming home, he thought, and almost lost it right then. He had to force himself to go slow. Long, slow, deep thrusts that had her fingers digging into his ass as she rocked up to meet him stroke for stroke. Reaching back for her hands, he slid them above her head, fingers entwined, so that his entire body caressed hers with their every movement. He felt her start to tremble, heard her panting his name just before she shattered.

  Watching it happen, taking in the sweet shudders that shook her body, how her head flew back, her eyes drifting shut, his name on her lips . . . he let himself go.

  After, not wanting to lose the connection, he rolled to his back, taking her with him. Limp and sated, she went willingly, in a way she never did when she was fully aware and in charge of her faculties. But for now, he took advantage of that, loving the way she curled into him, her heart beating in time to his as their breathing slowly returned to normal.

  Sadie had no idea how long they lay there after, Caleb stroking his fingers over her cooling body, before he spoke.

  “I’m curious,” he said softly, his touch making her stretch and purr like a cat. “You’ve got the small tats on your left upper thigh, and one on the back of your shoulder and around your ankle, but that’s it.”

  She understood the question. Most tattoo artists sported much more ink than she did. But she was as naked as she planned on being tonight. A further reveal wasn’t going to happen. Knowing he’d most likely expect more than she could give, and then leave when she wouldn’t give it, took down the warm afterglow quite a bit, replacing it with a wave of sadness. Rolling away, she pulled the covers up over her shoulder.

  He was quiet a moment but not still. He rolled too, so his heated, sinewy body hugged up against her, his chest to her back, his legs interweaving with hers, an arm coming around her waist. “Where did you just go?” he murmured.

  “I’m right here.”

  “And yet you’re a million miles away. You don’t want to talk about your tattoos, just say so.”

  Even though he couldn’t see her face, she closed her eyes. “I thought guys didn’t like to cuddle after or talk. I thought they liked to get down to business and vámonos.”

  His hand, flat on her belly, slid up between her breasts, over her throat to gently cup her jaw and turn it so she was looking at him. “Do you want me to go?”

  She opened her mouth to say yes, but she knew that he’d do it, he’d respect her wishes and go. And though she didn’t want to talk, she also didn’t want him to leave.

  “Sadie.”

  “No,” she said, turning to face him, letting her fingers do the talking southbound from his chest. “I don’t want you to go.”

  He sucked in a breath when she wrapped both hands around him again. “Because you want . . .”

  “You,” she said. And then she pushed him flat and straddled him to do some more of their special brand of show-not-tell.

  Chapter 16

  #LiarLiar

  Shockingly, Sadie slept deeply the rest of the night and woke up at . . . She squinted at the time. “Nine o’clock?” she gasped. “What in the . . . ?” Okay, so it was Monday, her day off, and she didn’t need to get up, but she hadn’t slept this late in . . . well, ever.

  She didn’t have to roll over to know she was alone in the bed. Scratch that. Lollipop lifted her sleepy head and wagged her tail in greeting.

  Sadie had no idea when Caleb had slipped out. After round two—no, make that three—she’d been dead to the world. Normally, her cold fingers and toes and nose woke her up, but not this morning, and suddenly she realized why.

  Her heat was on.

  Slipping out of the covers, she headed straight for the thermostat in the hallway, followed by a sleepy Lollipop.

  The furnace, which she’d left off, was on now and set at sixty-eight degrees.

  Sixty-eight.

  Panic gripped her. She couldn’t afford it that high. She opened her laptop and went to her account to see the usage and saw that someone had paid her bill.

  For the rest of the year.

  Seeing as it was February, this was a huge deal and her eyes narrowed. “Oh no he did not,” she said to Lollipop, who smiled up at Sadie and sat.

  On Sadie’s foot.

  Since Lollipop was finally putting some meat on her bones and was getting too big for Sadie to easily pick up, she dropped to her knees and cuddled the dog close. “You love me more, right? Even though he’s handsome and smells good and just paid to keep us warm for the next year?”

  Lollipop licked her chin.

  “Thank you.” Sadie moved to her fridge for the leftovers she’d gotten from Rocco, but when she opened the door, she froze in shock.

  The fridge was stocked. Like fully stocked with fruits and veggies and a whole assortment of goodies that had her just staring in disbelief. She turned to find her phone, which she knew damn well she’d left on the counter last night, as usual forgetting to plug it in.

  It was still on the counter but plugged into her charger. She stared at it for a full moment and then called Ivy. “Question,” she said when her friend answered. “If a guy you’re not dating pays one of your bills and then sneakily fills your fridge with food and also charges your cell phone, do you freak?”

  Ivy was quiet for a beat. “I think,” she finally said very gently, “you take a deep breath and then another one, and then you set aside your pride and ego to make the decision.”

  “What decision? Whether or not to get a restraining order?”

  “No,” Ivy said patiently but heavy on amusement, “the decision on whether the fact that he’s trying to take care of you in probably the only way he knows how makes you feel cared for and special, or does it make you want to set up an alarm so you can zap his very fine ass with a stun gun if he tries it again?”

  Sadie sighed. He did have a very fine ass . . . “Maybe a combo? What do you think?”

  “I think you’re feeling cared for and special, and that freaks you out.”

  “I’m not freaked out.”

  “You’re practically hyperventilating,” Ivy said.

  Oh God. She was. Because she did feel cared for. And maybe, dammit, special. “He can’t just do this sort of thing,” she said. “I’m a big girl and I take care of myself.”

  “Noted,” Ivy said. “But you’re telling the wrong person. And Sadie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Have some faith. Remember my spicy chorizo and fried egg breakfast tacos?”

  True story. She’d had some faith and then eaten every bite and licked up the crumbs—not so unlike what she and Caleb had done to each other in the deep dark hours of the night . . .

  There were many things Caleb loved about his job. Mostly that it rarely felt like an actual job. Yeah, he had fingers in a lot of areas. Space. Energy. Climate change . . . But he’d been lucky with his investments, very lucky, which meant that he was able to push profits to areas that weren’t necessarily profitable but needed to be explored, like infrastructures for developing nations, rebuilding after natural disasters . . .

  If there was a downside to the job, it was that the more he diversified, the more time he had to spend managing everything. Which was the reason he’d just been to Idaho, London, then New York, and D.C. It was a week past the incredible night he’d spent in Sadie’s bed.

  Idaho had been just a stopover to check in and see Kel. His cousin had been quiet lately, too quiet, and Caleb sensed a restlessness in him.

  Something Caleb could understand.

  They’d ridden horses, shot the shit out of a few boxes of clay targets, and then gone at each other in the gym until neither of them could move. Kel had sisters, two of them, and Caleb thought of them as fondly as he did his own sisters, but neither had been in town so Caleb and Kel had spent the evening drinking each other under the table and swapping stories.

  The rest of the trip—New York, London, and D.C.—was a blur of work. Sienne had met him in D.C. They’d had several long but productive meetings and had then flown home. After landing, they’d met up with his team in his office for a debriefing, after which everyone but Sienne left. Exhausted, Caleb leaned his head back in his chair, closing his eyes for a minute.

  A flash of Sadie’s lips on his skin came to him, her breath hot on his neck, followed by the remembered sensation of her legs wrapped around him, her hardened nipples pressed tight against his chest as she arched up into him. The gasp that escaped her mouth when he finally slid into her with one smooth stroke . . .

  Great, and now he was getting hard at work. His eyes snapped open and he shook it off. He had decisions to make about where this was going with her, and though his heart had already made those decisions, his brain kept reminding him to be cautious.

  In his pocket, his phone buzzed a text. It was Sadie and he felt a smile curve his mouth. They’d been texting during the days, calling at night.

  Sadie: I’m having dinner with Ivy. Ham and pineapple pizza. I took some grease off with my napkin, so if you see me looking skinny next time you see me, don’t be alarmed.

  Caleb: Only monsters put fruit on pizza.

  Sadie: That’s pretty discerning from the man who has a cartoon turtle on his ass.

  Sienne picked that exact moment to look over his shoulder and her brows vanished into her hair. “How does she know about that tattoo?”

  He stood and he slid his phone away without comment and headed to the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m done for the day,” he said.

  She stared at him as if he’d just announced he was the tooth fairy. And for good reason. He never took off without a close-the-day one-on-one meeting with her. “You don’t have a dinner meeting . . .” On her iPad, she thumbed her way to his calendar. “I don’t see anything—”

  “It’s personal.” He’d meant it when he’d told her that he was looking to get more of a life. Or at least better balance. He knew that was what was playing into the odd restlessness he’d been feeling. Although spending the night with Sadie a week ago now had done a number on that restlessness . . .

  He wanted another night.

  A lot more nights, lost in her arms, her touch, where he felt . . . well, a whole lot of things he hadn’t in a damn long time, and not a single one of them related to his work.

  He brushed a kiss to Sienne’s cheek. “You’re off too. Go see your big sexy husband and have dinner together before midnight for once.”

  Now she was concerned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. And we talked about this. You’re always after me to get a life. That’s what I’m doing.”

  He watched her go from concerned to annoyed in two point zero. “If this is a date,” she said, “you didn’t let anyone vet her.” She brought up her notes application. “Is it Sadie?”