I moved in closer to him. His hands came around me and I felt him pressed firmly against my mid-stomach. "Giovanni, I can't be without you for a week."

He let out a laugh. "I will still be staying here and we have gone centuries away from one another. A few days will not hurt."

"Easy for you to say! I guess this means I'm more in love with you than you are me. I can't imagine not waking up next to you. The thought of you not holding me for an entire week is killing me. I..."

He leaned down to me and kissed me. "I love you, too, and we still have tonight."

I dropped to my knees and let the hot water beat down on my back. Soap suds pooled around my legs as I reached up the length of his thigh. I closed my eyes to prevent any more flecks of soapy water from going in them. I didn't need to see to do what I was planning on doing. I ran my hand over the length of his glistening shaft that was so near my chin. I put my mouth over him and wanted to make our last night together a memorable one. As he slid his hands in to my hair and moaned, I knew it would be.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

I woke to someone knocking softly on my bedroom door. I glanced at the clock. It was only five a.m. Giovanni had gone to the bedroom down the hall only an hour ago. We'd spent the night making love and promising to be there for each other still in one week's time. He'd told me to give myself over completely to Caleb. He didn't just mean emotionally. He thought it would be wise to see how I felt about him after Caleb, and I had s.e.x again. I didn't agree with his thinking and planned on avoiding s.e.x at all costs.

"Gwen?"

I poked my head out from under the covers. Caleb was standing by me dressed and ready for the day. His hair was pulled back in a rubber band and he was wearing a white t-shirt, jean jacket and jeans. I leaned over and glanced at his feet, yep, he had on his black boots. I yanked the covers back over my head and moaned. "Come back in an hour."

He ripped the covers off of me and bent down next to my head. "Nope, it's morning and a promise is a promise."

Growling, I rolled over. He stared down at me and smiled. "You've got fifteen minutes to get cleaned up, then we're leaving."

"Where the h.e.l.l are we going now? Normal people aren't up yet."

He chuckled. "I'm taking you out for the day and first we'll start with going out for breakfast. See ya in fourteen minutes now ...."

I tried to yank the blanket out his hand. He held it tight and laughed harder. I closed my eyes and wished him away. I peeked out and found him grinning like a fool.

"Argh, you're still here ... go away! Where's a genie when you need one? I need an annoying faerie wished into another realm for a few hours."

His hands moved under my legs and back. Caleb picked me up before I had a chance to protest and carried me straight into the bathroom. He plopped me into the tub and yanked the cold water on. Screaming, I tried to climb back out. He blocked my path. The look on his face said he was happy. I hadn't seen him this way in almost six months.

My teeth were chattering and I glanced down to see that the t-shirt I had slept in had become a second skin. Caleb looked down, too. His gaze stopped when he noticed my nipples. He leaned in and turned the hot water on.

"Not that I don't like the show, but I feel bad for you," he said laughing all the way.

I pushed his head out and closed the curtain. I adjusted the water temperature and did a small dance to warm myself up. Peeling off soaking wet clothes always looks so easy in daytime soaps-it's a pain in the b.u.t.t in real life. My hair got twisted up in the shirt and I was left bending forward in the tub trying to detangle myself.

"Need some help?"

I lifted my arm and saw Caleb poking his head in. I rolled my eyes at him. There was no point in being modest. He'd seen what I had to offer so many times I'd lost count. I gave up and turned towards him.

"Help!"

He laughed and reached in to free me from my cotton capture. He accidentally pulled some of my hair out. I could sense that he felt bad, but I had more than enough hair to spare. I stood and let the water run over my head.

"Are you going to stand there the whole time?" I asked caught between being amused with him and annoyed all at the same time.

"Maybe, unless you'd rather I get in, too."

I turned and washed my face. "No, I wouldn't want to mess up your schedule. What am I down to now? Ten minutes and counting?"

"You're funny in the morning, aren't you?"

"I do try. Now, about that genie who can wish you away?"

Caleb waited down in the car while I tossed on a long jean skirt. It was low cut and showed off my belly b.u.t.ton nicely. Every so often I had it pierced but it tended to close the minute I took it out. I didn't bother with earrings anymore. What was the point? My healing power didn't seem to care much for poking holes in my body. Can't say I blamed it.

I debated on wearing a light, acrylic, red top or my navy, thin three-quarter length sweater. I went with the sweater and grabbed my black leather, ankle high boots. I had to run back into the bathroom quickly and brush my hair again. I had given up trying to blow dry it years ago, but if I didn't run a brush through it at least twice while it was drying it tended to develop a serious case of the tangles.

I turned to head out and walked past Giovanni's suitcase. I missed him already and we'd only been apart hours. I wasn't going to make it a whole week. I knew he'd be in to grab some clothes later today and I wanted him to know that I was thinking about him. I ran back into my bathroom and rummaged through my medicine cabinet. I found a pack of honey scented bath crystals and I set them on the top of his suitcase.

I was pleased with myself for coming up with a clever way to let him know that I was thinking of him. I headed downstairs to find Caleb. I opened the front door and found him sitting in his red truck waiting for me. He climbed out and walked around to get the door for me.

I wasn't one of those women who liked having doors opened for me, but I didn't see the point in pitching a fit about it. We had bigger problems. I got in and buckled up. He climbed back in and looked over at me.

"You look nice."

"Thanks and that's definitely better than telling me I look hot."

He put the truck in drive and headed down the long driveway. "That's odd. I thought most women liked to be told they were hot."

I gave him a sideways glance. I'm sure most women did like that, but I wasn't one of them. It wasn't even so much that he told me I looked hot. It was the fact that the comment was so very unlike him. I stared out the side window and decided it was best to just ignore him. Saying nothing at all was better than saying something I'd regret later.

"Come on, Gwen. I was joking. I don't know what came over me the other night. You just caught me at a bad time."

I let out a small snort.

"What the h.e.l.l is that supposed to mean?"

Turning, I stared at him. "Caleb, from what I hear, h.e.l.l, from what I've seen, your bad time has been going on for four months and what was it Justin told me about you? Hmm ... I know, that you liked the ladies." I should have felt bad about tossing things I'd heard about him from a co-worker of mine in his face, but I didn't. Justin, a friend of mine, had known Caleb for ten years or so. I, if you count the life I could remember, had known Caleb for less than a year. Justin had told me all about his buddy, Balec, which was Caleb's name jumbled around. He told me that Balec had a real thing for dark haired women. If I hadn't seen Caleb making out with another woman I'd have never believed him.

Caleb pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He put his hand on my knee. "Defending myself is pointless. I was an a.s.s and I know it. But can we please try and get past all this c.r.a.p? We're supposed to get married soon and I'd like to be on speaking terms when it takes place." He didn't sound pleased about the prospect of marrying me and I almost opened my mouth to ask him more about the mysterious woman he had mentioned. I should have been jealous. The me of six months ago would have been, but a little piece of me wanted to know more about the mystery woman if for no other reason than to know Caleb was okay without me.

f.u.c.ked up way of thinking. I know. Story of my life, really.

Caleb looked a little uncomfortable, and I realized I hadn't answered his question yet.

I moved his hand off my knee. "I'll get past this c.r.a.p when you tell me what you've been doing for the past four months."

His shoulders dropped down. Reaching up, he gripped the steering wheel tightly. "I left, shortly after you did, on a job in California." He glanced over at me to see if I was interested in hearing this. I was, so I nodded. I knew that his bounty hunting took him out of town. I hadn't realized it took him states away.

"Well, I found my target there and brought him in. Since I had no one to come home to I decided to stay and ... play for awhile." He continued to tell me about his trip as I sat with my hands clutched into a tight ball. He'd gotten himself involved with a pack of Paranormal Regulators out there. They were supernatural law enforcement officers. They were good people, or so he thought. Turns out, the lot he fell in with were rogue-killing for sport and killing indiscriminately. The Caleb of old might have gone along with their ways. One dead vampire or lycan was as good as the next-or at least that had been close to his way of thinking before I had come back into his life.

He didn't agree with what they were doing and when he threatened to go to other Paranormal Regulators, or, Para-regs, who were on the level, all h.e.l.l broke loose. He ended up getting into a showdown with several of them. He came home, only to find out that they had ties in our area, as well. He had ended up getting jumped again and dumped off in front of Necro's World.

I tried to make sense of what he was saying. "So what does this have to do with you and other women?"

Biting his lower lip, he glanced sideways at me. "They were kind of like groupies for the Para-regs out there. I found out later that most of them were supernaturals who had decided to join up with the Para-regs or risk death."

I must have appeared lost because he went on.

"Think in terms of a pack of shifters or a den of vamps. That kind of size."

My eyes widened. "Caleb, how many women did you ... sleep with?"

He averted his gaze. "Almost all of them."

I thought about Mikhail telling me that his pack consisted of over four hundred members. As I stared at Caleb my stomach twisted into a knot. "How many exactly, Caleb? I want a number."

When he seemed more interested in the upholstery than me, I knew he was trying to decide whether or not to tell me the truth. I opened the car door and he grabbed my arm. "I know that it was over ten, but no more than twenty. I think ... or, I hope."

I sat there and tried to absorb what he'd just told me. My hands picked then to begin to shake. He tried to touch me and my temper flared. "Don't! You're disgusting!"

"Gwen, I'm a faerie. I can't catch anything. I can't even catch a d.a.m.n head cold. It's not like anything could happen. You're my only match, so I can't even produce a child unless it's with you." He was quiet a moment and I could have sworn a 'so they tell me' fell from his lips. Did he know something I didn't?

Another thought struck me and the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach grew worse. "Are you telling me you slept with that many women and didn't use protection?"

He reached out to me again. "No, Gwen. I used it with most, but some ... some I woke up with the next morning and had no idea what I did and didn't do. But I told you that it doesn't matter. I lost my mind. I don't know what came over me. The same thing happened after you died. I spent the next two hundred years ...." He stopped talking abruptly.

"You spent the next two-hundred years doing what, Caleb?" I opened the door and went to get out, needing to put distance between us. The truth was more than I could bear, yet I still found myself longing to hear more. "Did you spend it f.u.c.king every woman you could find?"

"No," he said, softly. "Only the ones who reminded me of you."

I jumped out and ran to the side of the road. Bending over, I clutched my gut, positive I was going to vomit. He came over and put his hand on my back. I pushed it off me and tried to hide the hurt on my face. I had no reason to feel betrayed. He had every reason to. I'd hurt him in more than one lifetime. Maybe it was our nature to self-destruct. I didn't know and didn't care. It had to end. The ticking time bomb otherwise known as Caleb and I couldn't continue on the same path. If only my father would understand.

"Gwen, I'm over four-hundred years old. I've had roughly eighty to a hundred partners in my lifetime. That's not that many if you figure how long I've been alive."

I turned and pushed him hard. He fell backward onto his b.u.t.t. I stood over him and glared at him. "I've had five in my twenty-five years here and as far as I know I had three of them last time around and if we're adding that life in then I've had five total in three hundred years ... so you do the math Caleb."

He looked up at me and I saw him tighten his lips. "Gwen, I can't take it back. I lost my mind. Please don't let this change things between us. I'm not the same when I'm with you. But when you're gone I can't seem to fill this void and I try, I try anyway I can, but nothing works. It's like ...." He shook his head and touched his chest. "It's like something hard is pressing in on my chest. Like magik."

That was the second time he'd brought that up. I stared down at him waiting for him to go on.

"Like, power is pushing on me, forcing me to think of you. Then I have to find other things to thrust my mind onto. Anything other than you. I don't understand it." He mumbled something else, something that sounded like another woman's name again and I leaned down. He grew quiet and stopped whispering to himself.

"You know, Caleb, I could have accepted an affair or two. We were done, not in my father's eyes, but done in every way that mattered. But sleeping with up to twenty women in four months, I can't forgive that and I sure the h.e.l.l won't overlook it. Our deal is off, do you understand me, off. I will not marry you!"

He got to his feet and came storming at me. "You don't care if I slept with a thousand women. You're just looking for excuse to get back in the sack with your newest pet vampire."

I brought my fist up hard and fast and caught the corner of his jaw. I felt my pinky finger snap and I didn't care. It'd heal before the end of the day. Caleb's head flew back and he ended up shaking his head in disbelief. He brought his hand up to his chin and stared at me.

"Gwen?"

I rubbed my hand and glared at him. "Don't... don't stand there and tell me that I'm looking for excuses to screw Giovanni. There was a time that you had all of my love, Caleb, and I was willing to spend my life with you. You're the one who acted like you hated me, not the other way around." I took a step back, wanting to put some s.p.a.ce between us. "You think you can play on my sympathies? I wanted you to forgive me for sleeping with my soul mate, for crying out loud, not half the d.a.m.n population of California!"

Dramatic much? Me? No.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. "You should feel honored, Gwen, I keep coming back to you. I keep trying to find that perfect replacement for you."

"I don't feel honored, Caleb. I feel sick."

He put his lips to my ear. "And now you understand how I've felt since the moment you ran off with Giovanni all those centuries ago. Try carrying that around with you for three-hundred years. Yeah, Gwen, now you can understand it." His breath was hot on my ear and I turned my face into his. His lips grazed mine and sent a flare of hot s.e.xual craving down to my toes.

I parted my lips slightly and his tongue pushed in to meet mine. I could feel the morning sun rising and its rays touching us. It had been a long time since I had kissed someone in the warmth of the daylight hours. Since I kissed someone who didn't have the faint taste of sweet copper on their breath from having a liquid diet of blood.

Standing there, kissing Caleb reaffirmed how alive he and I both were and how very much a part of me still wanted him. His hand moved around and he used it to push upwards on my back, bringing me to my tiptoes and closer to him. He and Giovanni both stood close to six foot four inches tall. Pallo was three inches shorter, still over six foot, but definitely easier for me to kiss while standing.

I ignored the crick in my neck and concentrated on that little piece of my own power I could sense running through his veins. As I pushed with my tongue, I pulled with my mind. Caleb returned the favor and tugged on his power, as well. My legs shook and my knees threatened to give out. He held me tight to him as we made tiny moaning sounds. My body neared its point of climax. Drawing on our powers reached places that we weren't physically touching at the moment.

Caleb's mouth pulled off me fast and he backed away and made an odd noise. I reached out to him and he put his hand up. "No, Gwen, if you touch me now I'm likely to finish before we even start." His gaze fell to the bulge in his jeans.

I made another move to go to him, knowing it was wrong but feeling driven by a force I couldn't explain. He was right. It did feel as if a heavy weight was pressing in on us, some sort of magik.

Reaching out, he smiled. "Gwen, either we go to breakfast and see where the day takes us or we skip it altogether and head back into the woods, because if you touch me right now I'm going to need to be in you."

Hearing him describe the exact way I was feeling served as another reminder of how wonderfully in tune we were to one another. The thought of eating seemed so secondary to my body's need for his touch. I took another step towards him and ran my hand up and over the front of my sweater. Caleb watched as I traced the large mounds of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, hidden under the navy sweater. I moved down and pulled the sweater up, driven by an outside force, exposing my flat stomach to him and my low rise jean skirt.

I'd fallen prey to a l.u.s.t spell once and this felt similar to it. My mind fogged, and try as I might, I couldn't focus on anything other than the feel of being in Caleb's arms. This was wrong. I knew it was yet I couldn't stop myself. Was this his doing? Was he yanking the mystical cord between us, demanding I react to his touch?

He was on me in an instant. He picked me up and twirled me around. He pinned my body between his truck and himself. I wrapped my legs around his waist and looked up into his dark green eyes. I watched as he moved in to kiss me again. I could sense that his eyes were changing along with mine. I closed my eyes and let him lead. His lips found mine again. Warmth splashed over my closed lids as I returned Caleb's kisses.

He slid his hands under my sweater. I pulled at his jacket, trying to touch any piece of his skin that I could. He pulled back from me and I moved my head forward to retrieve him. Opening my eyes, I saw that his were now ablaze with green light. He looked into mine and I knew he saw the same thing.

"Gwen, do you want to do this? Can we?"

I knew what he meant by that. There was no way after not sleeping together for four months that we were going to be strong enough to control our magik to avoid getting pregnant. I'd been taking what I thought were birth control pills while we were dating, but it turned out the doctor who prescribed them was a psycho enchantress from h.e.l.l who had illusions of me carrying her power c.o.c.ktail to term. Needless to say, I wasn't taking those anymore.

Just another day in my life.

"Caleb, I can't control myself right now and I'm not on anything."

His forehead came down onto mine. He let out a sigh and I could sense him trying to control himself. His eyes held only the slightest hint that they could glow. It was a valid try on his part and if I could get mine to do the same, then we'd be covered, but I knew I couldn't. Not to mention a niggle in the back of my mind kept trying to tell me I had something or someone else to worry about. But what and who and why in the h.e.l.l did it still feel like power was all over me?

"Caleb, I can't. I want you to take me and make me yours again right here against this d.a.m.n truck where anyone pa.s.sing by can see. There's no way I can bring this need down a notch."

Caleb's mouth came down on mine. Our tongues dove in and out of each other's mouths as he pulled my skirt up. I knew I should protest, tell him we weren't acting very responsible, but I didn't. I let him yank it up and over my hip. Cool morning air found my moist mound and Caleb pushed his body against mine.

I moaned, wanting to feel his c.o.c.k buried in me, not his jeans pressed against me. I reached down and tugged hard at them. Caleb's hand moved over mine and he freed himself from the confines of his jeans. My magik, my power, my body needed Caleb now. Four months without faerie s.e.x and I was on the verge of losing my mind being this close to him.

"G.o.d, Gwen .," Caleb said as he pushed my underwear to the side. I pulled on his face and felt the head of him press against my wet opening. I thought of Giovanni and tried to stop myself. I tried to put my legs down, but they didn't want to budge. My magik wanted to be satisfied and it would not be taking no for an answer. I put my forehead against Caleb's and willed my body to stop its craving for him. I prayed for divine intervention, because I knew that I did not have the strength.