The sudden, scorching contact made Stella gasp out loud.

Caleb chuckled low in his chest. “Screaming so loud? Aren’t you afraid of being caught?”

Stella snapped her mouth shut. She could feel his hands shifting against her bare skin.

She quickly grabbed his arms to stop him, but the man’s muscles were like forged steel. She couldn’t budge him an inch.

Caleb’s body was completely tense. Her futile resistance felt more like a tickle, doing nothing but fueling the heavy heat pooling in his veins.

He dipped his head and captured her lips. He had wanted to do this for a long, long time.

Stella pushed against him a few times to no avail. The hands on her lower back slid to the front, scaring her so much she forgot to even try pushing him away.

Eventually, she surrendered, letting him pin her against the door and thoroughly ravage her mouth.

Caleb finally pulled back right before he completely lost control. His hands lingered on her waist, his voice gravelly. “Are you still going on that blind date?”

He had come back entirely for her.

At first, it was just to ensure her safety, but spending so much time together made it impossible to lock away his feelings.

Since he knew she still had feelings for him, and he no longer had anything holding him back, he refused to hold back any longer.

But this girl was far less obedient than she used to be; she even knew how to subtly jab at him.

Faced with his intense demand, Stella lowered her gaze. “When I mentioned blind dates in the past, you didn’t seem to care.”

Caleb thought back to those days. The gap between their statuses had been a chasm. What right did he have to stop her?

“I was an idiot back then,” he admitted. “My pride was too huge. I didn’t want people saying I was leeching off you.”

After Mrs. Waverly had subjected him to every form of humiliation imaginable, his confidence in their relationship had been shattered. He hadn’t dared to cross that line.

Hearing him be so bluntly honest, Stella stared at him in a daze.

She never expected him to actually answer that.

Caleb met her gaze. “Now, I’ve got thicker skin. I also realize that the things Mrs. Waverly said back then were just a tactic to control you better. If you’re with me, they won’t have any leverage over you anymore.”

Hearing his words made Stella feel a sudden wave of grievance.

She scoffed. “What’s the point of figuring it out now? That’s all in the past. I’m not the same Stella I used to be.”

“You definitely aren’t. You’ve definitely filled out right here.”

He leaned down and kissed her. Even through the fabric, Stella could feel the blistering heat of his lips.

She flushed wildly. “Put me down.”

“No. You haven’t answered my question. Are you still going?”

Still going on the blind date?

Hearing him press the issue again, Stella knew this man was demanding a commitment.

If it had been the old days, she would have happily agreed; after all, he was the man she had always loved.

But now? Janice’s voice echoed in her head.

She couldn’t just let a man dictate her choices.

Stella still remembered the time she

threw herself at Caleb, literally

sleeping with him, only for her confession to be rejected

her to retreat in humiliation.

He needed to taste a little of the misery she had endured.

Caleb narrowed his eyes. “You’re hesitating?”

Stella finally found the courage to look him in the eye. “Why shouldn’ after you

1?

I did love you before, but

rejected me figured it out

Caleb’s heart dropped. “Figured what out?”

“As long as you swap out the new lovers fast enough, there’s no heartbreak, only

romance.”

The words barely left her mouth

before she was tossed onto the

mattress. Before she could react, his

towering frame pinned her down trapping her completely.

Seeing Caleb visibly furious finally brought a spike of satisfaction to Stella’s chest.

She turned her head slightly. “But if you behave nicely, maybe I’ll promise not to go on that date.”

Caleb was speechless.

He stared intensely at her, sitting up just enough to pull his shirt over his head with

one hand, revealing a heavily muscled, powerful chest.

Stella instantly zeroed in on his chiseled eight-pack and the V-line dipping tantalizingly below his waistband.

Just one look had her heart hammering against her ribs.