Chapter Ten
Kevan brushed at her face, but the annoyance was back. Her hand lifted, batting at it again, sleep pulling at her, only to have the annoyance brush her face again. It was back, touching her, and her eyes fluttered open, taking in her surroundings before she settled on Caleb’s face.
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” he whispered, his hand caressing her face gently.
“Uh, morning,” she smiled sleepily, lifting her head up, kissing him quickly. Caleb could see her mind racing, cheeks flushing red as the memories of last night flooded her.
“What?” he asked.
“Oh, I can’t believe I, we, did that,” she told him.
“I hope that wasn’t a complaint, I rather enjoyed what we did, and was hoping to do it again soon, very soon.” Lifting her hand, he kissed her palm.
Kevan’s entire body tingled with anticipation. “I can’t believe … I’m not usually so impulsive, and I certainly don’t make a habit of jumping into bed with men I’ve only known for 24 hours.”
Caleb’s mischievous smile burst out, “Technically speaking, I don’t think you did any jumping.”
“Ha, ha, you’re such a comedian, Mr. Funny Guy. Be serious.” Kevan was unsure how she should feel, but regret was not on the list. “I can be impulsive, but not like this.”
“I’m very honored.” He smiled wider at her glare. “Relax darling, what are they going to do, kick you out of the women’s club for changing your mind?” Kevan groaned, swatting at his shoulder, struggling to sit up.
Caleb leaned down, nibbling at her lips. She resisted for all of ten seconds before her need took control of her body, her hands reaching up, threading into his hair, pulling him to her. Caleb attacked her mouth, dueling with her tongue, before finally pulling back, leaving them both panting with need.
“What have you done to me?” she asked him, staring into his dark brown eyes that sparkled with desire.
“I think they call it making love,” he smiled, “all night long.”
Kevan shook her head, her own smile springing up. “Be serious,” she laughed.
“Better?” he wanted to know, as she watched him make a serious face, that wasn’t very serious.
“You’re an ass, you know that?” Kevan accused him. “What’s everyone going to think?” she moaned, burying her face in his shoulder.
“Who cares, we’re both consenting adults.”
“But …,” stopping when she looked at his face. “You’re right,” she finally admitted.
“Now you just need to remember that,” he told her, leaning down to kiss her again. Moaning, she poured herself into the kiss that devastated her senses, and she reached for him, rolling onto her back.
Taking one last look in the mirror, she wondered if she looked as different as she felt, and it scared her a bit. Glancing around the room, seeing the rumpled sheets, the large oversized bed seemed out of place amongst the light modern sleek furniture.
“You look beautiful,” Caleb told her, walking up from behind, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her back against him. Kevan sighed, leaning back into his warm strong body, loving the heat it put off, and the sound of his heartbeat.
“Oh gods, they’re going to know,” she groaned.
“What!” His gasp a lesson in over acting, “How are they going to know?”
“I wasn’t exactly quiet last night,” she hissed at him, pulling out of his arms, trying to figure out a way out of the house without letting anyone see her.
“They didn’t hear a thing,” he reassured her. “What we do behind closed doors is for us alone,” he encouraged. “Besides, I wouldn’t give a fuck if they had heard us,” tipping her chin up so she could see how serious he was. “Last night, and every night to come, is nothing to be ashamed of. I won’t let you act like what we did is shameful, or wrong. If what we did was wrong, I never want to be right again.” He leaned down giving her a quick kiss.
“But Caleb,” Kevan whimpered.
“Who is this person standing in front of me, where is the Kevan who stood up to her entire family yesterday? Where’s the strong independent woman that turns me on?”
“I’m so out of my comfort zone right now, it’s not funny. Hell, the last 24 hours feels like I’m a character in one of Kaitlyn’s books. Oh god, Kaitlyn is never going to let me live this down.”
“Do you regret what we did?” Caleb questioned, as he caressed her cheek.
“No,” she admitted. “No!” she stated with more conviction, “NO, I don’t regret one second of it.” She looked at his smiling face. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure, now come on. I’m starving for some reason this morning.” He grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the stairs. Kevan mentally groaned at the thought of confronting everyone.
Walking into the breakfast room was harder than Kevan ever thought it would be. The feeling of eyes on her, knowing they knew what had happened between Caleb and herself. Even with his assertions that nobody heard them, her sisters would know with one look.
“Good morning everyone,” Caleb called out, directing Kevan to the sideboard where breakfast was laid out, helping himself to a cup of coffee, turning, leaning casually against the buffet. Mumbles of good morning mixed with knowing grins from those gathered around the table. “What?” he asked innocently.
Kevan couldn’t look at anyone, delaying as long as she could before she took a seat at the table. She delayed so long that Caleb took her plate, leading her to the table. Kevan acted as if she was completely fascinated with the food on her plate, even though she couldn’t stomach it.
“Did everyone sleep well?” Kaitlyn inquired casually, waiting for Kevan’s reaction. Seeing the nerves kick in, nervous swallowing was her tell, a smile snuck across Kaitlyn’s face. Kaitlyn flashed a look at Eve, who was having a hard time not laughing at Kevan’s sudden lack of self-confidence; it was amusing to see her like this.
“Kevan?” Kaitlyn questioned.
“What?” Kevan jumped at the sound of her name.
“Whoa, someone’s a little touchy this morning, acting like they got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar,” Kaitlyn teased her. “All I asked was how you slept?”
“Fine, I slept fine,” Kevan spat at her defensively.
“That’s good,” Kaitlyn snickered. “I’m glad.”
Kevan silently groaned. How much longer before breakfast was done? It seemed to drag on forever. Eventually relaxing a bit, she listened half heartedly to the conversations floating around her.
She jumped and blushed when Caleb touched her arm, as her body reacted to his. “What?” she asked.
“We’re behind schedule, better late than never, go get ready, I’ll meet you in the gym in 15 minutes,” he ordered.
“Ready for what?” Kaitlyn questioned.
“Kevan’s training session,” Caleb answered.
“Training session?” Kaitlyn enquired, “What training session?”
“Nothing,” Kevan told Kaitlyn.
“Not nothing,” Caleb looked to Kaitlyn. “Your sister requested that I teach her how to fight for her life, and we’re starting this morning.”
“Then what was yesterday?” Niall questioned with a smile and a wink.
“Yesterday was to ascertain her abilities,” Caleb told him with a warning tone.
“So that’s what they’re calling it now. Good to know,” Niall nodded.
“That actually sounds like a good idea,” Kaitlyn admitted. “I think I’ll join you.”
“Don’t you think you should ask before you invite yourself?” Kevan told Kaitlyn, who just stuck out her tongue at Kevan.
“I don’t think Caleb would mind,” Kaitlyn shrugged, looking at Eve. “What about you?”
“Yeah, I think it’s a good idea,” Eve admitted quietly.
“I thought you worked all night?” Kevan questioned, secretly wishing that they would all
just leave so she could deal with what she was feeling.
“I did, but I’m rotating back to dayshift, I always stay up to readjust my sleep pattern. I won’t hit a wall until later this afternoon,” Eve explained, “and I’m shocked to hear myself say this, but after what happened, first to Myrna, then at Sanctuary, I think we should know how to defend ourselves.”
Kaitlyn gave a snort of laughter, looking at Caleb. “You should be honored. Eve here is very much anti martial arts, and as soon as she was allowed to, she quit.”
“Hey, don’t make it sound like I didn’t do anything, I started yoga,” Eve pointed out. “I remember enough of my karate training that I could kick your ass any day of the week, Ms. Chips and Pop!” She wagged her finger at Kaitlyn, Eve ever the nag regarding junk food.
“Those are legitimate food groups,” Kaitlyn stated with an air of confidence.
“Oh my gods, I can’t believe you just said that,” Kevan laughed. Listening to her sisters tease each other felt normal, and normal was not how she was feeling until that moment.
“Enough,” Caleb roared, staring at them. “What is this?”
“Oh, this is nothing,” Kaitlyn warned, “Just you wait till you have all of us together and we start arguing.”
“Oh my gods,” he groaned, rubbing his head, “What have I gotten myself into?”
“So you’ll teach us?” Kaitlyn questioned.
Caleb looked to the three women watching him. “I would be honored to teach you, unless one of the guys would like to help.”
Roderic laughed, but he had a panicked look in his eyes. “I don’t think so, I’ve been on the other end of one of Caleb’s so called training sessions, and I like not having bruises and sore muscles. I can give instructions from the side lines if you would like,” he offered.
“If you’re in the gym, you’re training!” Caleb stated. “Rod, you haven’t been in on a training session for a long time. We don’t want you getting soft sitting behind that corporate desk, now do we?”
“I work out,” Roderic whined.
“Yeah, in your home gym. You haven’t been in an intense training session in months,” Caleb reminded him. “Working out doesn’t count. I know we don’t need to go out and patrol like we did at one time, but it never hurts to be prepared.”
“Excuse me,” Roderic stated, “I’ve been a little busy making us all a lot of money!”
“I’m not saying you haven’t been working, but we are what we are, which is warriors who need to be ready at the drop of a hat.”
“You sounded just like Marcus for a moment,” Niall said with a laugh. Caleb turned to Niall. He suddenly realized what he had just done. “I work out!” he exclaimed.
“I’m not talking about your bedroom work outs,” Caleb explained. “When was the last time you picked up a sword, or even a dagger?” Niall tried to think of something, anything that would get him out of this, his shoulders sagging when he saw the determination on Caleb’s face.
“Alright, fine, I’ll join you,” he whined, “but I’m doing this under protest.”
“Protest all you want, you need this,” Caleb told him. “We’ve all been getting lazy of late. What happened at Sanctuary should be a wakeup call that we need to be ready for anything, at any time.” Caleb smiled, knowing he was going to enjoy this. “Fifteen minutes, in the gym,” he ordered, before strolling out of the room.
Kevan rushed into her room before she could be waylaid, but it was too late, her sisters were right on her heels.
“Kevan, freeze,” Kaitlyn shouted, as she attempted to get into Kevan’s room. “If you think a closed door is going to stop us, you’re delusional.”
“Caleb won’t like it if we’re late,” Kevan warned them, trying anything to get out of this.
“He’ll live,” Kaitlyn assured her. “We aren’t leaving here until you start talking about last night.”
“What about last night?” she asked, trying to play dumb, but she knew it wouldn’t stop them.
“Nice try Kevan, but look at who you are talking to, it’s us, we know the look of a woman who spent the night …” Kaitlyn looked to Eve for confirmation, “What would you say, making love, or is hardcore fucking a better description?”
“Kaitlyn!” Kevan gasped, shooting her sisters a look of shock.
“Look at her face,” Kaitlyn pointed out, as Eve laughed.
“I would say it was a bit of both from that look; Caleb obviously knows what he’s doing.” Kevan stood in the middle of her bedroom listening to her sisters teasing, but all she could think about was last night, and when they could do it again.
Eve noticed something different. Kevan jumped when Eve touched her, “We are kidding, you know that?”
Kevan pulled herself back to the present. “You’re both going to think I’m crazy if I tell you this.”
“We already know you’re crazy, so spill, what?” they both asked.
“I think he’s the one!” she whispered, afraid to say it aloud.
“The one, seriously,” Kaitlyn questioned, “hon, you hardly know him?”
Kevan turned, rubbing her hands on her arms. “I told you you’d think it was crazy!” Kevan reminded them, “but my gods, I can’t shake the feelings I’m having.”
“Rapid heartbeat?”Kaitlyn questioned.
“Dry mouth?” Eve chimed in.
“Is your body aching for his touch?” Kaitlyn smiled, as Kevan nodded at everything they threw at her.
“I guess congrats are in order then,” Eve teased.
“Only there’s one big problem,” Kevan remarked.
“What’s that?”
“My entire family hates the man I think I may be falling for, and they won’t have anything to do with me, or him, if I pursue this relationship.” Kevan sighed, tears welling up, but refusing to let them fall.
“Kevan, don’t take it all so seriously. We’ll deal with the family. If he’s the one, that’s all that matters,” Eve promised, giving her a big hug.
“Eve’s right. Don’t let anyone, or anything, stop you from feeling what you’re feeling, because if you do, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life,” Kaitlyn stated. “We’ll work it out, don’t worry so much.”
“I hope you’re right,” Kevan sighed.