Part 10 (1/2)

Chapter Sixteen.

I woke to find a warm arm draped over me. I stretched and let out a small yawn. The arm tightened around my waist. A scratchy chin nuzzled my neck and I felt the tiniest of kisses being placed near my jaw.

”Hey, I thought I was dreaming,” Caleb said, his voice smoky and heavy from sleep.

I froze. I hadn't remembered falling asleep with him. He had pulled me close to him and held me for a while. I must have dozed off. I turned a little and looked up into his face. It was still strange to see him sporting a goatee. It was a little darker than his light blond hair and in truth it looked nice on him. He'd always been one who seemed comfortable with a rugged appearance-even though he was destined to be baby faced from the get go.

His hand moved across my stomach and slid under my t-s.h.i.+rt. I caught his wrist and smiled up at him.

”How are you feeling? Do you have a headache?”

He'd been so drunk when he got in I was amazed that he was even conscious.

”No, I'm fine. You know how it is for us, we heal fast. Did I do anything stupid, or did we just kiss and make up?”

I didn't know what to say to him. We had hardly spoken let alone sorted out our differences. He tried to slide his hand under my s.h.i.+rt again and I pulled it away.

”Caleb ....”

His mouth came down on mine. I let out a tiny grunt in protest then felt my leg wrap around his. His hand moved up and found my breast. He hardened against my thigh. Stripping him down for bed seemed dumber and dumber as the kiss went on. A naked h.o.r.n.y faerie was not what I needed next to me at the moment.

Caleb let a smidge of his magik up and over me. I carried a piece of his magik within me and he mine. When he'd asked me to marry him we had exchanged a part of our magikal essence. This took the place of rings for fairies and gave us the ability to share magik completely someday. He yanked on that little piece of him that would forever remain in me and I felt my body turn in to meet his.

Making love to Caleb was so very different than Giovanni and Pallo. Giovanni and I had fiery pa.s.sion and love. Pallo and I shared something based on being soul mates. Caleb, now that I'd been brought back, was also my mate, but being a faerie meant that magik could be exchanged between us during s.e.x and there was a lot to be said for magik in the bedroom.

Caleb moved his hand down towards the top of my underwear. I sucked my breath in and my stomach muscles tightened with delight. I pushed on his shoulders and dropped back against the pillow.

”Stop,” I said.

”You don't sound so sure about that.”

”Caleb.”

He gave up and looked at me. ”I could raise my power in you again, it answers to me .... you are going to be my wife soon, you know. I'd be within my rights.”

I turned and stared blankly at him. He looked the same, except for the beard thing, but he wasn't acting the same. ”What's with you? You never tried to pull that wifely duty c.r.a.p on me before, what gives?”

”I was joking, Gwen.” His lips drew in.

”I'm sorry, I just ... well, after everything I've been hearing about you lately I'm not sure what to expect from you.”

He lay back on the bed and put his arms out. I watched his nude body as the morning sun hit it and wondered again where it was that I'd let it all go so very wrong. He caught me staring at his body and gave me a not so innocent grin.

”Have you talked to your father since you got home?” he asked. I shook my head. ”You know, after you left, I tried to get him to change his mind about the wedding. I explained that we were taking a break.”

My heart sank. I knew that we were taking a break. I was the one who had decided to call the thing off. Too bad my father hadn't gotten that memo before announcing to his Kingdom that Caleb and I were going to get married. I knew full well that when I left Caleb hated my guts, but hearing him say that he had tried to talk my father into letting us out of the wedding stung. It shouldn't have. But it did. I turned and stared at the door. I had to blink several times to choke back my tears.

Caleb leaned over me and saw the emotion on my face. ”Gwen, what's wrong?”

Licking my lips, I tried my best to not burst into hysterics. ”So, what did my father say? Did he agree to cancel the ... wedding?”

Caleb let out a tiny laugh. ”No, he told me that we had exactly six months to enjoy our little break then we were to meet back in the Dark Realm to wed.”

”And, how do you feel about having to marry a woman you hate?”

He moved his body over me. His long straight hair fell all around our faces. He bent his head down slightly. ”Gwen, I have never hated you, ever! I was hurt by what you did with Pallo, but I don't hate you for it. I was being an a.s.s, and I'm sorry for that, I am. I've been thinking a lot about us for the last few months and I can understand your attraction to Pallo. I can understand ....”

I sat up and he grabbed hold of my waist. ”Gwen, s.h.i.+t I'm pouring my heart out to you here and you try and leave.”

”No, it's not that, Caleb. I think you should get dressed. Things are different now.”

He pulled me down onto the bed and kissed me. I pushed on his shoulders to get him to let me up, but he refused. His hot magik called to mine. I found myself caressing his tongue back with mine. My fingers dug at the back of his arms in an attempt to get closer to him. He let his power fade and pulled away from me.

”See, nothing is different,” Caleb said with smug smile.

I rolled out from under him and fell onto the floor. He laughed as I sprang back to my feet. I flipped my hair back out of my face and let out a sigh. ”Caleb, you've been running around drinking, starting fights and ...” I couldn't accuse him of sleeping with other women. I'd lost my right to judge him on that.

He climbed out of bed and came towards me. ”Let me guess, Pallo sent one of his slackies to fill you in on me?” He didn't wait for me to answer. ”James, yeah, I bet it was James. Whatever he told you is right. I'm sure he wouldn't exaggerate. Vampires are real trustworthy.” He put his hand out towards me and I backed up into the door. ”What the h.e.l.l do you want me to say? I wanted to forget you, Gwen. I wanted to make myself numb. I tried, Lord knows I tried, but nothing's worked.”

Caleb was quiet a moment. ”I thought I found ....” He closed his eyes and tipped his head.

”Found what?” I thought back to the words he'd whispered before falling asleep. Had I heard him right? Had he found someone else? ”Caleb?”

He touched my cheek and I turned my head away. ”James told you about all the women, didn't he?” I nodded. ”Did he give you any numbers?”

”No.”

”Do you want them?”

The last thing I wanted was to know exactly how many women Caleb had been sticking it to. I turned my head and closed my eyes. I didn't want to cry. I couldn't bring myself to. I had Giovanni now, and I couldn't love more than one man with all my heart, could I?

Caleb ran the back of his hand up my stomach. ”You look hot. Taking a break from this mess did you good.”

I blinked, positive my hearing had gone haywire. ”Did you just say that I look hot? Who are you and where the h.e.l.l is my Caleb?”

He smiled. ”Your Caleb? Hmm, I like the sound of that.”

I pushed him off me. ”Forget it. I need to get a hold of my father. This can't happen. I can't marry you. You're a stranger to me now and from what I've seen of you, I don't like you anymore.” I stared into his green eyes and wondered what he been doing to himself all these months. ”Caleb, I tried to fix things with you and you pushed me away. I tried to make it right and you spit in my face. Now, I come home to find you a mess and a jerk to boot. This isn't you and this certainly isn't something I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

He put his nose to mine and locked gazes with me. ”I am what you made me, Gwen.” His tongue came out and licked my closed lips.

”This is not you. When you decide to start acting like yourself again, let me know. Until then, I can't help you, no one can.” I pushed him away from me and walked out of the room. I headed across to my room and opened the door slowly.