CHAPTER THREE
* * *
TEAGAN
Later that day, I nearly fell off the chair I’d been standing on in the kitchen when Caleb came up behind me.
“Need some help?”
I trembled as I slowly climbed down. For some reason, I’d assumed he’d left the house.
It was late in the afternoon. My father was still at work, and Maura and Shelley had left for my sister’s cheerleading practice. Classes didn’t start at Northern until the following Monday, so apparently Caleb had nothing better to do than hang here. I suppose that shouldn’t have annoyed me since he lived here now, but it did.
With Maura out of the house, I’d figured this was my opportunity to raid the candy shelf. I’d seen her stashing some bags up high the other day. She had been cracking down recently on Shelley’s and my dad’s eating habits, so I assumed she’d been hiding the sweets on the highest shelf in the kitchen. But because our ceilings were so tall and our cabinets so high, I’d underestimated the ability of this chair to get up there. Caleb had appeared in the midst of my botched effort.
“Trying to reach something?”
“Yeah, actually.” I could feel myself breaking a sweat.
He pushed the chair back to the table and scratched his chin as he looked up. As tall as Caleb was, he couldn’t reach the cupboard either.
To my shock, he knelt in front of the counter and pointed to his shoulders.
“Get on.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you a lift to get what you need.”
He wants me to get on his shoulders? “That’s okay.”
He insisted. “Hop on.”
I swallowed hard and did as he said, sitting on his shoulders and wrapping my legs around his neck. The feel of his hard muscles pressing against my clit was interesting, to say the least—pretty sure this was the ultimate cheap thrill. He rose slowly, and when he reached his full height, I was exactly where I needed to be to open the forbidden cabinet at the top.
It was hard to concentrate on what I’d come up here to retrieve, though. There was no light inside the cupboard, and admittedly, I wasn’t paying close attention. All that registered was the heat of his body and the sensation of his strong hands holding each of my legs. And from up here, his musky smell was amplified. My heart was going a mile a minute as I grabbed any old thing.
“Got it,” I said, assuming I’d found some sort of tart candy or chocolate.
Anything would do to satisfy my sweet craving. The bigger problem right now was the fact that my nipples were hard. I needed to get down off of Caleb because he’d be able to read my body’s reaction if I stayed with the back of his head between my legs any longer.
Only my deprived body could get off on a piggyback ride.
He lowered himself to the ground, and I climbed off. “Thanks.”
His eyes fell to the bag of candy in my hand. He squinted. “Interesting choice.”
“What…”
I looked down at the package. What the hell, Maura? “Um…this…I don’t even know what this is.”
He nearly snorted. “You went through all that trouble for penis candy?”
The bag was filled with rainbow-colored tart candies in the shape of dicks.
I wanted to kill my stepmom. Then I remembered she’d been planning a bridal shower for her friend Darlene. She’d probably bought these as favors and had been hiding them from Shelley.
“Okay, full disclosure: I was trying to satisfy a sweet craving and wasn’t really paying attention to what I grabbed. I just wanted something sugary. I had no idea Maura was hiding these up there. Pretty sure they’re for a bridal shower she’s planning for her friend.”
He seemed confused. “Bridal shower?”
“Yeah. It’s a party you have for a woman who’s about to get married.”
“Ah. Like a hen-do.”
“Hen?”
“Yeah. A hen party. That’s what they call it back home when they take the girl out before the wedding.”
I nodded. “Bachelorette party—yeah, something like that.”
He smirked. “So that’s what you women do at those things? Sit around eating penis candy?”
“Not always.” I shook my head. “Never mind.”
Caleb reached for the bag. I handed it to him, and he examined it. Then he grabbed a chair so he could return the candy to the cabinet.
After several seconds up there, he announced, “Well, it’s confirmed.”
“What?”
“There’s definitely a dick party in the works. Massive penis piñata stuffed at the back here.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Shit.”
“Oh wait. I’m wrong. Not just a penis party. There are some pussy licker pops up here, too.” He snorted. “That bag is open already. What does that mean?”
That I’m mortified. Just mortified.
“Do you mind just…getting down, please?”
“Sure, love.”
He closed the cabinet and climbed off the chair.
He hadn’t come down empty-handed, though. “Do you think Maura would mind if she knew I stole a peach pussy pop? It was a pack of one hundred.”
My face must have been so red right now.
He pulled the wrapper off and licked it in one long swipe. That sent an unwelcome shiver down my spine that went straight to my loins. He popped it into his mouth.
“Your face right now?” He laughed as he sucked on it. “Priceless.”
When it came to this guy, I had to be cursed. “I just wanted a piece of candy,” I muttered.
He pulled the pop out of his mouth and handed it to me. “Well, here you go.”
He winked and squeezed my shoulder before heading up the stairs.
I went down to my room feeling embarrassingly worked up.
I lay on my bed and sucked on the pussy pop, painfully aware that it was still wet from his mouth and disgusted with myself for being so turned on by that.
***
Once classes started, I avoided Caleb when I saw him around campus. I wasn’t entirely sure why it felt so awkward to run into him there, of all places. He’d lift his hand and wave from across the student union or go out of his way to say hello if we passed each other. I, on the other hand, would walk the other way if he hadn’t spotted me yet.
Things with him had gotten better at home, though. No more arguments or awkward encounters to speak of. He’d eat with us a few times a week—always an entertaining addition to our dinners, and most of the time the center of our conversations. The initial shock of him being here had waned. Overall, having Caleb living with us was a lot different than I’d imagined it would be. He didn’t spend his nights taunting me or trying to get to know me better. As the days passed, he kept to himself more and more.
And that was fine, right? I mean, I didn’t need the complication of having to befriend him on top of everything else I had going on: adjusting to my classes and starting my new internship at the New England Aquarium. As a marine biology major, I was excited to gain hands-on experience that would help me toward a career as a research biologist.
So, given this cordial groove Caleb and I had found, it shouldn’t have bothered me when a girl I recognized from my biology class showed up at the house one Saturday. And yet, an unwanted, visceral jealousy hit me like a ton of bricks.