stood in front of her. Jake knew what she wanted without her even needing to tell him. He stepped back and gave her a crooked smile. “I have to go get a condom.”
Caley grabbed his hand and shook her head. “It’s all right,” she said. “You don’t have to worry.”
“Are you sure?”
Caley nodded. She’d been on the pill for years and it had always seemed like such a practical thing. But now, it was liberating. She trusted Jake and he trusted her. She wanted to experience him without any barriers between them. And if they had this one night together, this chance to possess each other completely, then it would be enough. Caley didn’t care what came later as long as this came now.
She turned off the shower, then pulled him along to the bed, their bodies dripping water on the carpet. She lay back on the mattress and Jake braced himself above her. Gently, she guided him to her entrance and he closed his eyes the moment they touched.
Slowly, exquisitely, he pushed inside of her, filling her inch by inch until he was buried deep. Caley felt the muscles in his body tense, but he didn’t give in. Instead, he began to move.
She closed her eyes and focused on the sensations that washed over her body. She was already so close, but this seemed to take her to a higher level, the need growing more intense with each stroke. This was paradise, she thought. There was nothing more perfect. Every year that had passed since that night of her eighteenth birthday had led them to this moment.
“I want you,” he murmured. “Come for me.”
He increased his pace and Caley felt herself dancing on the edge. And when her release came, it came so fast that it caught her by surprise. She cried out and the pleasure shook her body, stealing her ability to think.
It was enough to send him over the edge and Jake surrendered a moment later. It was simple, uncomplicated and pure, the two of them searching for release and finding it with each other.
He was like an addiction, a craving that she could only satisfy for a short time. Though she felt sated now, Caley knew she’d want more, each time searching for that certainty, that knowledge that this was something that might last. He rolled over, gathering her in his arms and nuzzling into the curve of her neck. “Can we stay here forever?” he murmured.
“I think the maid will probably discover us when she comes to make the bed and do the vacuuming,” Caley joked.
Jake pushed up on his elbow. “You’re supposed to say yes,” he teased. “Or I’ll feel as if you weren’t well satisfied.”
“I was,” she said.
They lay together, wrapped in each other’s arms, for a long time. Caley listened to his breathing. He wasn’t asleep and she wondered what he was thinking. But she was afraid to ask. They’d so carefully avoided the subject of the future, but it was coming at them quickly.
“What are we going to do about Emma and Sam?” she asked. “We’re going to have to figure out a way to get them back together.”
“I know.”
Caley nodded. “I think they might actually love each other. And if it weren’t for our meddling, this wouldn’t have happened. So we have to fix it.” She drew a ragged breath. “We have to.”
“All right,” Jake said, his hand slowly caressing her breast. “How are we going to do that?”
“I don’t know. We have to make them want each other, the way we want each other.”
“I don’t think there’s another man on the planet who wants a woman the way I want you,” Jake murmured.
“Don’t you wonder?” Caley said. “Is this unusual? Are we an … aberration?”
Jake answered before he even considered her question. “This is the way it was meant to be with us,” he said.
“What are we going to do when this is over?”
The question seemed to take him by surprise and this time, he didn’t have a quick and easy answer. “I don’t know, Caley,” he said. “I don’t want to think about that.”
“Promise me this,” she said. “Promise me that before either one of us begins a life with someone else, that we’ll meet back here and be together, just to be sure.”
“I promise,” he said. “We can come every summer and we can stay at Havenwoods. No one will know we’re here. And it’ll be just us. For as long as we’re both … free.”
Caley snuggled up against his body, pressing her face into his warm skin. It was enough for now, she thought to herself. She would have time to figure out how she felt, time to see if this need for Jake would fade with time and distance between them. And if it didn’t, then Jake would be there for her. He’d promised.
JAKE AWOKE WITH A START. Caley shook him again and he turned to look at her. “What?” he murmured, rubbing his eyes.
“Wake up. It’s nine in the morning. We overslept.”
Jake rolled over on his stomach and snuggled into the pillows on Caley’s bed. “I’m going to sleep in. I had a late night last night.”
“And what are you going to tell your mother when she finds you missing?”
“I’m going to tell her that I drove into Chicago early to check up on things at the office and then stopped for breakfast on the way home. So we actually have the entire morning to spend in bed. It’s a two-hour drive each way plus an hour at the office and another hour at breakfast.”
Caley smiled. “And what if they see your truck in the parking lot?”
“I parked in back,” Jake said.
“All right. I give up,” Caley said. “We can spend the morning in bed.”
Jake grinned and dropped a kiss on each naked breast. “Good. I knew you wouldn’t need a lot of convincing.”
She curled back up beside him, wrapping her arms around her waist. Suddenly, she drew in a sharp breath. “We can’t stay in bed. We have to fix Emma and Sam.” Throwing aside the covers, she stumbled to her feet, then searched the room for her clothes.
Caley’s hair was wild around her face. She’d gone to bed with it wet and it had dried into a mass of waves and curls. “Emma said she was going to leave this morning. She may already be gone. And Sam has probably spilled the beans to the family. We have to fix that first, then we’ll deal with us later.”
Jake closed his eyes, his mind skipping back to the events of the previous evening. He wondered how long it would take for news of the canceled wedding to work its way through the Burtbert grapevine. Sam was probably sleeping off his hangover, but once he got up, he’d inform everyone of the details—including the roles Jake and Caley had played in the breakup.
Jake tossed back the covers. “What do you suggest we do?”
“I was hoping you’d have an idea. We don’t have a lot of time left,” Caley said.
Jake smoothed his hand over her thigh,
