“Do it,” I said, and I finger-fucked his ass, grazing his prostate over and over. He gave himself half a dozen more frantic pumps and then shouted against my hand as he spurted over his fingers.
I took him through it, my palm clamped hard against his mouth. Then I yanked him up and into a kiss every bit as breathless and messy as we were. I tasted my cum on his lips as he lifted tentative arms and then slid them around my neck, returning the kiss.
After a minute, I eased back. He stared at me with clear blue eyes and swollen lips. Sunlight from the tall windows caught the hint of golden stubble on his jaw.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Better.” He blinked, seemingly startled by the admission. “A lot better, actually. I haven’t felt this good in…a while.”
I pushed a wave of blond hair off his forehead. “Your wolf is settled. Without your beast influencing your mind, you can relax.”
He shook his head, a humorless-sounding huff escaping him. “Man, this is so weird.”
“But you believe it now, right?” I put a palm on one plump pec. “You admit you’ve been turned?”
“Yeah,” he rasped, swallowing thickly. “I’m good at denial, but I can’t afford to be that dumb.”
I drew my thumb over his full bottom lip that was most definitely going to drive me crazy. “You’re not dumb. I know the kinds of challenges you’ve overcome. Don’t downplay your accomplishments.”
“Or what, you’ll spank me again?”
He’d probably meant it as a bit of bravado, but the husky note in his voice betrayed him. Of course, he’d given himself away thesecond he dropped to his knees, submission in every line of his body.
“Any time you need it,” I said, fighting the urge to kiss him again. As pink dusted his cheekbones, I tucked my dick away and zipped my jeans. Then I found tissues in Welch’s desk and thrust a handful at Caleb. He cleaned himself up and dressed quickly, stealing glances at me from under his lashes. When he pulled his T-shirt over his head, I nodded toward the door.
“We should leave separately. My car is behind the football stadium. Meet me there, and we’ll go straight to my place.”
He stiffened, his forehead creasing. “What about school? I have one more semester until graduation. I can’t quit.”
“Who said anything about quitting?”
“My parents will notice if I don’t come home. They don’t give a shi— crap about me, but they love controlling my life. They’ll report me missing. I can’t just disappear without telling them.”
His football coach’s filing cabinet had contained a lot more than just training stats. I’d read Caleb’s file front to back. But even a cursory read made it clear his parents were irredeemable assholes. They’d waged a long and stupid battle with the state to continue homeschooling him even when his test scores showed he was several grade levels behind his peers. It was a testament to Caleb’s intelligence that he’d caught up with just one year of remedial instruction.
He must have interpreted my silence as refusal because he lifted his chin. “You’re a teacher, right? I wouldn’t put it past my mother to accuse you of kidnapping me. You really want the cops showing up to your house? At the very least, my parents will make your life difficult.”
Just what kind of garbage had they put him through? His posture was beyond stiff now, like a single touch might shatter him.
“I haven’t taught in a while,” I said. “I’m not worried about my reputation.”
His gaze sharpened. “How long is a while?”
We both knew what he was asking—and I wasn’t quite ready to give him the answer. He was just coming around to the idea that he’d been turned into a supernatural creature most of the population considered a myth. His wolf was calm, and his human side was firmly in charge. For his sake, it needed to stay that way.
I put my ball cap on and pulled it low over my eyes. “A few years. And I don’t live on a teacher’s salary these days. I can help you finish school, and I’ll replace the clothes and other things from your parents’ place.”
His features settled into a stubborn expression that was quickly becoming familiar. “Some of my things are irreplaceable. My grandmother passed about a year ago. She and I were close. She gave me money over the years, along with some books and a few of my grandpa’s sweaters. I can’t leave that stuff behind. And even if I could, I want to tell my parents where I’m going.” His mouth tightened. “I don’t want to live my life looking over my shoulder. If I’m going to leave, I want it to be a clean break.”
My wolf stirred in my chest, its displeasure radiating through me. But my human side acknowledged that Caleb had a point. It would be a lot easier to ease him into his new life if he didn’t have to worry about his parents trying to drag him back into his old one. And I couldn’t ask him to abandon the sentimental items his grandmother had given him.
“What time will your parents get home tonight?” I asked.
“No later than four-thirty. They both leave the office early on Fridays.”
I glanced at my watch. It was approaching eleven. He could handle five hours away from my wolf’s influence. “I’ll park at the end of your street. If you start to feel angry when you talkto your parents, you leave immediately. Don’t worry about your belongings. Just come find me, understand?”
Relief shimmered in his eyes. “Yeah. Absolutely.”
