41 Chivalry

"Let me know if you need anything," Shy's words were the last thing I heard as the door clicked shut behind me. I had no idea whether she was talking to me or Leo, or making a general offer.

All I knew was that I was alone in my room with Caleb. It wasn't like that hasn't happened before. But I knew something was different about tonight as compared to all the other nights that I had spent in the same room with him.

Tonight, Caleb had unlocked something within me that I had been trying to keep locked for a long time. And now that it was unlocked, I didn't know what to do about it.

Oblivious to my inner turmoil, Caleb was twirling a lock of my hair, as I supported him all the way to bed.

"Your hair's so soft," he mumbled, and I suppressed a smile as I lowered him to the bed. Sweet Caleb might be an uncharted territory, but that didn't make it any less charming.

He sat at the edge of the bed, looking around in a daze and I couldn't help but notice how purple his dark circles were.

Either it was the effect of alcohol, or he hasn't been sleeping well for a while. I wondered if he was a restless sleeper and briefly, my mind went back to that chilly morning in Boston when I had found him standing by the pool looking lost and confused.

But then people sometimes felt confused when they wake up from a deep sleep. Or when they were about to go to sleep, like that night at Cross mansion.

Come to think of it, in all this time and even after sharing a room with him, I had never seen Caleb asleep.

A shiver wracking through his body pulled me out of my thoughts.

"We need to get you out of these clothes, Caleb," I murmured, sliding his blazer off his shoulders. But instead of agreeing, he caught hold of my waist, pulling me close to him.

"Shouldn't you be doing that too?" He replied, looking up at me with scorching dark eyes. Was it any wonder that I lost my sense of self and surrounding around this man? He could make me forget breathing just by looking at me like that.

"Your clothes... They are all wet," I swallowed and replied while rubbing my hands lightly over his shoulders. I was quickly losing focus again, and this time there was literally nothing to break this moment. So I swallowed and tried again.

"You need to get dry and warm, Caleb. We don't want you getting sick," I ran my hands from his shoulders, all the way to his neck, and that skin to skin contact made him exhale harshly.

"Right now, if I was any warmer, I'll burst into flames," he replied hoarsely, before bending ahead and planting a few soft kisses on my stomach. And I knew exactly what he meant. Despite the cold travelling through my clothes, my body was on fire. And I had absolutely no doubts why that was.

So I bent down and tilted his head towards me to kiss him. His breath hitched as I moved my lips against him, this time not holding myself back. To be very honest, I was tired of resisting this. Resisting him.

He groaned against my skin, his arms wrapping around my waist as he pulled me closer. I ran my fingers through his hairs, feeling his tongue circle my lips before exploring my mouth, feeling his hands travel up my back and into my hairs.

Never had the taste of whiskey felt as heady as it did right then, and I moaned feeling the heat of his body warming mine. I pulled his blazer off, this time for a very different reason, throwing it to the floor as wet slap seemed to echo around us.

His pulse was racing beneath my palms as I ran them from his shoulders to his hair and back, feeling the muscles ripple beneath his shirt.

He pried his mouth away from mine, running his lips onto my throat and collarbone as I unbuttoned his shirt. Despite our position, it was relatively easy to let him nibble onto my neck while I got rid of his shirt thanks to our height difference.

And then he was naked from waist up. Even though I had seen Caleb shirtless before, something about the way his skin glistened from the remnants of rainwater in the dimly lit room made my mouth water. I wanted to taste every ridge and plane of his body until I knew them by heart.

So I lowered my mouth to the base of his throat and licked and nibbled my way to his shoulder, making him sigh in pleasure. One of his hands at my back lowered the zip of my dress, while the other pulled at the neck so it was off my shoulder.

"God, you smell so good," he murmured reverently and buried his face into the side of my neck, breathing in deep as he pulled my dress down until it pooled at the bottom of my feet.

He pulled back then, making me moan at the loss of his warmth, and half laid back on the bed, bracing himself up against his forearms. I let my palms glide over his torso as he did, watching his eyes roam over my body.

"So beautiful. God, you're better than what I imagined you to be," he murmured to himself, his eyes taking in every inch of me.

"You've imagined me naked?" I asked, stepping out of the pool of dress at my feet.

"More times than I can count. Don't tell me you haven't," he replied without an ounce of shame in his voice. The strangest thing was, I didn't feel any urge to cover myself from his intently focused eyes. Infact, I loved how his breath was getting irregular with every second he was looking at me.

I climbed onto the bed, placing my knees on either side of him as I bent ahead to run my tongue at the base of his throat. It tasted better than I had imagined, and I squirmed sucking onto the area I had just licked.

"You sound remarkably sober," I whispered near his ear, and felt his hand tangle into my hairs before pulling my head back so I looked him in the eyes.

"On the contrary, I'm drunk on more than just alcohol," he growled, capturing my lips into another searing kiss, while my hand travelled down to the belt buckle of his pants. Though before I could undo it, his hand captured both of mine in a gentle but firm grip.

"If you go there, I won't be able to stop, Ruth," he whispered against my lips.

I bit his lower lip, making him growl and replied, "that's the idea, Caleb."

I tried to wiggle my hands free, but his grip remained firm. "I'm too drunk and too tired, Ruth. Besides, we still have a lot to talk about before going there."

"Chivalry is a virtue of sober people, Mr. Cross. We have already established that you're too drunk to be so." I licked the lip I had just bitten playfully, but he remained unresponsive.

I frowned at him, slowly coming off my fervour, realising just how serious he was about not going any further.

"Is it some sadistic hobby of yours to set me on as much fire as possible and then douse the flames like that?" For all his claims of being too drunk, rationality was something I neither expected nor wanted from him right then.

"It could easily be. Look how fun it is, afterall," he shrugged nonchalantly and I stared at his perfectly serious face with disbelief.

Taking advantage of my shock, he threw his arms around me, holding me close as he sat up, and then twisted so I was safely planted onto the bed as he stood up.

Even in my current mood, I could see exhaustion in every one of his actions as he stepped out of his pants and toes all of our wet clothes away to a corner of the room. Even his hands shook in exhaustion, his eyes barely keeping themselves open as he closed the curtains and walked back to the bed. It melted my heart to see just how worn out he really was.

"Scoot," he commanded, climbing in beside me and manoeuvring so that I laid onto my back while he pressed his body against mine and laid his head onto my chest, wrapping himself as much as he could around me.

He sighed, "I love the feel of your skin against mine. So silky, so naturally fragrant. Finally, I'll get some sleep tonight."

With every word he uttered tonight, my heart melted a little more. But I couldn't resist getting a last jibe at him as I reached over and turned off the bedside lamp.

"So you get a girl naked and then play teddy bear with her? I must say I imagined better."

I felt puff of warm air onto my skin as he gave a silent laugh.

"Did you really think I'd let you sleep with your clothes on? I'd torture myself to eternity and back again if I have to, just so I can have you like this."

"I so hate you, Caleb Cross," I replied closing my eyes with a sigh, wrapping my arms around him.

"And I so love you, Ruth Brooke," he mumbled sleepily, closing his own eyes and making mine pop open with that one sentence.