“You don’t?” It didn’t seem as though he meant it. He had the fingers of one hand in her hair while the other hand urged her knees up and positioned his cock at her entrance. “What do you want?”
His response was to move inside her, one slow, shallow stroke after another, deeper and deeper until he was all the way in.
“Christ, you feel amazing.” He let out a ragged breath against her neck and propped himself up on his elbows. His eyes were hot and shiny, sparkling with pleasure and something that might have been mischief. “I want you, Ellen. I want you to be my wife.”
She let out a weak laugh, so overwhelme
d she couldn’t begin to absorb such an absurd statement. “What is it with you and the big revelations right in the middle of sex? Like I’m not knocked flat enough as it is?”
He withdrew nearly all the way, then sank back inside her with a groan that she matched with an extremely unladylike oath. Caleb kissed her, deep and hot, and said against her lips, “I’m playing to my strengths. You don’t have so many defenses up right now. It’s kind of a sneak attack.”
“Very clever.”
“Thank you.”
He withdrew again, slid a hand beneath her to tilt her hips up, and plunged, harder and deeper. This time, the noise she made wasn’t even a word. But her lips found their way to his name, so she latched onto it, saying “Caleb” as he began to move faster, “Caleb” as he took possession of her in his own bed, passionate and intense. “Caleb,” watching his face as her climax approached, fingers interlaced with his on either side of her head. They came together, one blindingly sweet, hot flash, and she didn’t look away this time, because there was nothing to be afraid of. This was the man she wanted to be with.
As their breathing slowed, she stroked his back and kissed him everywhere she could reach. His mouth, his face, his neck and shoulders. He held his weight on his elbows and looked down at her.
“I’m pretty sure I love you,” she said. It was easy to tell him. Astonishingly, ridiculously easy.
Caleb grinned. “What?”
“I love you.”
He cupped one hand to his ear. “Come again?”
She smacked his shoulder. “I love you, you big goof.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Tell me some more. I’m not tired of it yet.”
“You first.”
This time, he kissed her mouth gently, almost reverently. “I love you, Ellen Sydney Callahan. I want to marry you and take care of you and help you raise your son. I know you probably think it’s too soon for me to be sure about all of that, and I’ll have to give you time to hem and haw and drag this out for about five years until you agree, and that’s all right. I can survive it. Just say you’ll think about it, okay?”
“Okay.”
Caleb smiled, but then his forehead furrowed. “Wait, was that okay, you’ll think about it, or okay, you’ll marry me?”
Ellen shook her head, laughing at him. “That was ‘Okay, Caleb Mortimer Clark, I think you’re pretty great, and it’s possible that someday, maybe, eventually, I’ll want to marry you.’ Okay?”
“Mortimer?”
“I don’t know your middle name. It’s probably a sign that it’s way too soon for you to be talking about marrying me.”
Caleb smiled and rolled them to the side, wrapping his arms around her so tight she could hardly breathe. “Andrew,” he said against her neck.
“Nice to meet you, Caleb Andrew Clark.” She pushed her fingers through the soft bristles of his hair. “That’s going to look nice on the wedding invitations five years from now.”
“Yeah?” He kissed her again, as happy as she’d ever seen him. Happy, sexy, wonderful, and completely hers.
“Yeah. Hey—” She sat up, struck by a very appealing vision. “Would you get married in uniform, by any chance?”
He shook his head. “I’m not in the army anymore. Why, you have a thing for guys in uniform?”
“Just the one, Sarge.”
As he leaned over to kiss her again, she heard the sound of the garage door opening, accompanied by Henry’s happy babble.