Page 40 of Steamy Dreamy Hearts

“Yeah. This is okay. It’s normal to have this.” He pointed at the framed pictures. “You made it sound as if…”

“What?”

He snorted. “I was expecting a giant shrine to Dan. The way you spoke outside—I was worried I couldn’t get romantic underneath an altar built to Dan.”

“Hardly that.” I ran a finger down the picture of Dan holding Erin. “But I did shut down after he died. First in grief and then…I don’t know, it felt wrong to try and date. Like I would be…cheating on him.”

“It’s not, though.” His voice was soft.

I stared, so grateful for him. But I wasn’t quite ready to let myself off the hook.

“Logically, I get that. It’s just…I haven’t dated.”

“You mean before Dan?” Caleb took a step closer to me.

I went stubbornly silent.

Caleb stopped walking and tilted his head, his mouth falling open. “Sean?”

“I meant at all.” I licked my dry lips. “Dan was really it for me. I’d spent some years denying who I was, then some others focused on my job. Then Dan came along…but my experience is really limited. But then…you.” Our eyes met. “At the fire, I was high on emotions and desire, and I wanted to kiss you so badly I couldn’t not kiss you… But now, I’m so fucking nervous. I’m trembling. What if—it might not be all that good? It’s been so long, and I?—”

Caleb kissed me. His warm mouth pressed to mine as he stroked my back, and I sighed into the kiss, letting go of the fear for a moment, simply feeling. His taste was so damn good my toes curled. Regardless of what happened next, I wanted this.

“It will be good. Because it’s you and me,” Caleb whispered.

“You and me,” I murmured. We kissed some more. Our tongues tangled, and we moaned in unison. I thrust my hips at him, letting Caleb feel my hardness. “I’m so ready for you.”

In answer, Caleb began to undress me, kissing my collarbone, my chest. I followed his lead, kissing the places I exposed. The scars. I ran my hands over their shape. Caleb, for once, didn’t seem to hide them. When I kissed one ridged area, he even let out a soft sound. I made my way to his firm stomach. Caleb’s burns started at his forehead and went all the way down to his lower chest on one side. After that, the scars stopped, and the skin was even and unblemished.

I kissed the skin near his navel. I wanted to touch him everywhere, make him get off, make him come.

Caleb got out of his jeans, wrestling them down over his legs.

“What’s this?” I skimmed my fingers over the revealed silky material.

“Underwear.” He raised his eyebrows.

“Funny.” I pursued my lips. “I’mwearing underwear. This is something else.” I gulped. I circled my hands around his exposed ass.

“I know you’re old, but I thought thongs were invented by your coming of age,” Caleb snickered, then gasped when I pinched his pretty left cheek.

“Just seems impractical. You wore these on fire days?”

“It’s not fire day.” He gave a cocky grin.

“No, but why on earth would you pack them?”

Caleb stilled, his smile fading. “Because they remind me of who I was.” He chewed his lip. “My back and my ass still look good—the burns are in the front—so wearing a thong…I don’t know. I try to wear them often and remind myself that at least part of me is still sexy. Even if I don’t wear them, it helps to pack them.”

“You don’t need special underwear for that. You’re sexy as fuck. Just as you are.”

Caleb’s mouth opened. Then he grabbed my face with both hands and kissed me. Hard.

“Sean…you make me feel more beautiful because before you, I dated a lot of wrong guys. Guys who didn’t treat me so great. Even before the fire, I always stayed with them out of some fear I wasn’t enough. And I see now it was bullshit. That I had to find my worth without them. I’m still working on it, to be honest. I can be a thickheaded idiot. About guys. About my value. But today? I’m so grateful to have dated Tanner and all the other creeps. Because it made me able to break free and find you.”

Our mouths met again, a softer kiss this time. I stroked the skin of his neck.

When we parted, Caleb smiled and touched a finger to his lips. “That was a perfect kiss.”

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