didn’t get your voice mails.”
It hadn’t even dawned on her to check her phone.
“Hot date or something?” As Cait struggled to answer that one, he cursed softly. “I’m sorry. It’s been a horrifically long day, and I’m probably over-reacting. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. Home safe, as a matter of fact.” She frowned. “What went wrong today?”
“Everything, but I didn’t call to bitch to you, honest. I really was concerned.”
“That’s kind of you—except now I’m the one who’s worried.”
There was a pause. “It’s good to hear your voice, how about that?”
“Did rehearsals not go well?”
“The director was being a dick, ’scuse my French. And there was some weird stuff with other staff people. The good news is, tomorrow is a new day, and—”
A beep cut in. Someone else was calling.
“Hey, G.B., give me a sec—hold on.” She hit
“Tell me you made it home all right.”
Cait closed her eyes at the sound of that deep, husky voice. “I did.”
“What are you wearing?”
“Cotton PJs.”
“Are you going to make me beg for you to take them off?”
Cait bit her lip, eyes closing as her head fell back. “No…”
Her body was instantly ready again, needing that connection it had found with this man on her phone—
“Shit—I mean, crap. Hold on, Duke?”
“Yeah.”
She clicked over to G.B. and felt like throwing up. “Hey, I’ve got to take this.”
“Okay … but are you sure you’re all right? You sound funny.”
“No, I’m fine. Honest.”
“You want to do lunch again at the theater tomorrow? That was a great break in my day, and I have a feeling I’m going to need the company.”
“Yes, sure. That sounds good—I’ll see you at one?”
“Noon’s better, if that’s okay with you? Or do you have class.”
“No, that works fine.”
“Great. It’s a date. See you then.”
As he ended the call on his side, she stared across the room and wondered if she’d done the right thing. She couldn’t keep stringing him along if she wasn’t really interested. But … she didn’t know where things were going with Duke, did she? And if the two of them didn’t work out, maybe something could develop with G.B. over time. She just didn’t know.
One thing was clear. If she clicked back over to Duke, she knew exactly what was going to happen.
Pushing the complicated mix of emotions to the side, she reopened the connection, thinking, Shoot, she just couldn’t say no.
“Duke?” she breathed. “You still there?”
“You think I’d go anywhere?” His voice dropped even lower. “Now be a good girl … and get naked for me.”
Oh, God, she loved it when he talked like that.
Cait put the phone aside and swept everything off. As her PJs fell to the floor, she pushed herself down under the covers, the warmth and weight a pitiful substitute for his body.
The second she picked up her cell again, he said, “Touch yourself. Pretend it’s my hand, my mouth …” A groan replaced the words—which told her exactly what he was doing on his end. “I need more…”
She did what he asked, and as she undulated, the soft cotton sheets were rough against her tight nipples.
“… want to be in you…”
Cait could barely hear what he was saying as she jacked further into the pillows and her body contorted, the orgasm rolling through her, heightened by the memories of where they had gone before … and the anticipation that there was more to come.
Literally.
As Duke growled, she could picture him with his teeth clenched, his head also kicking back, that incredible, hard body surging as he came into his own fist.
“More,” he said, almost as soon as he’d finished orgasming. “I want more of you…”
Insatiable had never been so satisfying.
And it was the perfect ending to a perfect evening.
After God only knew how many more rounds, he said, “I might be done tonight, but I’m still not finished with you.”
“Is that a promise?” she drawled.
“Hand over my heart, ready to die.”
As she got ready for the inevitable good-bye, she was stunned to find she wanted to say, “I love you”—not because she’d thought about it, but because it seemed so natural.
And wasn’t that a cold dose of reality.
“Good night, Duke,” she whispered instead.
“Sleep well. Or not. And if it’s the latter, dream of me.”
“Always.”
Hanging up and turning out her light, she feared that was true. If she had thought Thom had done a number on her? What Duke could do was much worse…
Or better, God willing.
Chapter
Thirty-eight
Jim went back to Earth in a daze. Maybe it was from blood loss—but more likely it was the fact that whatever you believed about God, however you worshipped, ignored, or otherwise approached Him or Her, nobody was prepared to meet the Creator face-to-face.
The impact of that persona had been an orgasm on top of death throes draped in a free fall punctuated by a bone-shattering, hot asphalt, buck-stops-here slam.
Even Colin had felt it, and that had been the only thing that could have made the archangel stop—well, short of Jim bleeding out entirely.
And as for a description of the Maker? No words, no syllables, not even memory that was still short-term could bring it forth. The only thing Jim kept coming back to was that the Bible was right in one respect—the Divine was so much greater than man, Mount Everest to a molehill, the Atlantic to a fishbowl, the cold of space compared to that of an ice cube. And even those comparisons failed.
Then there was what had happened afterward … and Jim still didn’t know what to make of that.
Back at the house, standing at the base of the stairs, he didn’t know how in the hell he was going to make it up to the second floor, much less over to the bathroom to clean his sorry ass up—
The grandfather clock started to chime, that gonging stabbing right into his skull.
But at least the annoyance at the goddamn thing got him going. He refused to keep count, however— although when he finally got on its level, he shot it a glare and a half.
As he arrived up at the foyer, he stared down the hall toward Sissy’s room. He wanted to go in there, lift her covers, slide in next to her and hold her. It seemed right to reconnect—for fuck’s sake, he felt like he’d been gone forever.
Then again, nearly being dead again would do that to a guy.
Maybe that sense of an eternity passing was what Hell had been like for her? A blip on Earth, but forever in
