Sighing, she walked over to the fridge to grab two bottles of water. It didn’t exactly go with peanut butter, but the other option was some generic-looking beer in a can, which she flat-out refused to drink.
After the night they’d spent together in Moscow, Brielle had been so sure there was something between them. Something she hadn’t allowed herself to even consider as a possibility. She’d tried to talk to him about it the next morning when they’d woken up in each other’s arms, but before she’d had the chance, Jake was knocking on the bedroom door saying they had to move fast to make the flight to America. Between the long flight and then the mission at the UN conference, they hadn’t been able to talk since.
Considering that Caleb was acting like he wished she had gone out to dinner with everyone else instead of staying with him, maybe she’d been wrong about there being anything between them. Hell, maybe he was regretting getting involved with her at all.
They stood at the kitchen island in silence, taking turns using the same butter knife to spread peanut butter on the crackers, the loud sound of their crunching as they ate becoming more uncomfortable by the second. Finally, Brielle couldn’t take it anymore. Shoving the knife into the jar of peanut butter, she picked up her bottle of water and turned to leave the kitchen.
“Why didn’t you stop when I told you to?” he suddenly asked from behind her, the soft, almost tentative tone of the question making her stop and turn back around to look at him.
“What?” she said, more to give herself time to think about what his question meant than anything else. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard him clearly.
“When you started following Harrington and I told you to fall back,” he said, the words a soft growl as he paid an inordinate amount of attention to the peanut butter sandwich he was busy making out of two crackers. “I told you not to follow him out of the main lobby. That it could have been an ambush. But it was like you weren’t listening to me at all. Even when I practically shouted at you to stop. You just kept going. And itwasan ambush.”
All Brielle could do was stare and pray her jaw didn’t fall open to leave her standing there looking ridiculous.
“What?” she asked again, not proud of her total lack of loquaciousness. But truthfully, she was baffled right now. She honestly had no idea why he was going on about something that had happened hours ago.
“Brielle,” he whispered, her name slipping out in an anguished tone as he finally lifted his head to look at her. “You could have gotten yourself killed. You nearly did.”
It hit her then what was going on, and she was almost embarrassed that she hadn’t figured it out before. This was why Caleb had been so grouchy since they’d come back to the safe house. It had nothing to do with Hudson betraying them and the possibility there was a tracking device underneath the CIA agent’s skin.
Caleb had been worried about her.
It was childish, but Brielle couldn’t stop the surge of happiness that spiraled through her at the knowledge that men didn’t get worried about another person’s actions like this unless they really cared.
Calebcaredabout her.
Brielle almost laughed she was so giddy. Until she saw the utter devastation on his face. Her heart plummeted into her stomach, and she stepped closer to him, only keeping herself from throwing her arms around him by the strongest force of will.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, reaching out and placing her hand gently on his chest. His skin was warm through his shirt, his heartbeat steady. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I freely admit that following Harrington was the dumbest idea ever. But I haven’t heard from Julian in almost two weeks, and the idea of letting the only man who might know where he is get away without learning anything…” She shook her head. “I simply couldn’t do it. I had to take the chance for my brother.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she knew Caleb wouldn’t understand. Not after all the stories she’d told him about Julian and his colossal number of screwups. Hell, sometimesshewondered why she kept risking everything for her brother when it was his own fault for getting into these situations in the first place.
Brielle was more than a little surprised when the tension drained from Caleb’s features and he stepped forward to close the last bit of distance between them, wrapping her in a hug. She hugged him back, not sure what to say.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, resting his chin on the top of her head. “It was wrong of me to unload on you like that. But when I came around that corner and saw Harrington’s guards holding you at gunpoint, I can’t put into words how hard that was on me. I nearly lost it.”
Brielle closed her eyes, breathing in his scent, once again amazed at how being in his arms calmed her down. “And I’m sorry I ran off like that. I know it isn’t much of an excuse, but part of the reason I did was because I knew you would be there if I got into trouble. It probably doesn’t make you feel any better, but knowing you’re there for me makes me a whole lot braver than I normally would be.”
Caleb pulled back, gazing down at her with an unreadable expression. “I don’t know about all of that. You seem like a pretty brave woman all on your own. But if it helps, just know that I’ll always be there for you. For as long as you want.”
Brielle couldn’t help but wonder if Caleb realized the significance of that promise. Regardless, the words had meant more to her than she could bring herself to admit.
Wanting him to know, without saying it out loud, she did the one thing she knew he’d understand—without the need for any words at all. She kissed him.
It started rather tame, as a gentle touch of her lips to his. But CalebwasCaleb, so it definitely didn’t stay that way for long. One second it was all chaste; the next second there were graham crackers and peanut butter on the floor, and her butt was on the kitchen counter.
Not that she was complaining.
She pulled the cocktail dress she still had on from the party up so she could spread her legs and welcome Caleb between them, reveling in the low growl that erupted from his throat as she wrapped herself around him.
“Damn, you taste so good,” he murmured, his tongue capturing hers.
With a sexy, animalistic growl, he moved his hands down to her butt, pulling her so tightly to his body that she could feel every flex and chiseled plane of all those delicious muscles. Felt his hard-on grinding against her core through her barely there panties. It thrilled her beyond words to know he was a turned on as she was.
Her hands worked with a mind of their own, unbuttoning his dress shirt and shoving it off his shoulders. Only then did she break their kiss, leaning back to take him all in. As she admired the way his shirt now hung from his muscular arms, she couldn’t help thinking there was nothing in the world sexier than a half-dressed man.
She took her time tracing her fingers back and forth across his chest, lightly scraping her nails across his skin. The sensation of muscles tensing and rippling under her touch was mesmerizing…as were the sounds of pleasure he was making.
