Caleb's POV
The lights were bright enough to make me squint, but they were oddly comforting as I stared into them. I felt like I was suspended somewhere between heaven and earth.
On some level, I knew that whatever this was, it wasn't real. Even though it felt as real as the life itself.
As I stared into the light, a tall, willowy silhouette appeared that looked like it was holding hands with another, smaller one. An otherworldly glow emitted off them that made them appear angelic.
Something was warming a part of my chest, right where my heart beats. It had been laying cold for so long that I had forgotten it even existed until then.
The outlines became clear and I watched an all too familiar face of my mother as she stepped out of the light and walked up to me with a beautiful smile on her face.
This was new. This sight, and the feeling that came with it. It felt as if she had cocooned me into a warm embrace even though she hadn't even touched me yet.
Not to mention that her hands occupied as she held hands with a tiny girl with sky blue eyes and angelic blonde hairs. Ana.
I waited - even braced myself for the lights to turn into shadows, for that all-too-familiar pain to lance through me at the thought of what was, and what could have been, but it never came.
All I felt was a dull ache in the pit of my stomach and peace as I watched my mother smile at me in approval and for Ana to look at me with all the love and hope that she once held in her eyes so long ago.
Even though some part of me knew that this was not real, it never had been, I couldn't help but feel my heart melt at the sight of two women whom I had loved the most in the world. And surprisingly, I still did.
The realisation was so startling that it pushed me over the edge of consciousness and I opened my eyes into the bright lights filtering in through clear glass.
For a moment, I couldn't move as the dream lingered before slipping back and out of my grasp.
As I stared at the purple and pearly streaks of dawn in the sky outside, I tried to understand how I felt.
Waking up from a surreal dream wasn't new to me. But rarely - if at all - had I ever struggled to keep a hold onto it and never had it ever left me with a pleasant feeling that I felt right now.
Something felt different. New. I tried to remember exactly what it was that I had just dreamt of, but it felt like I was trying to unearth a distant memory instead of trying to remember what I had just seen a few short moments ago.
I blinked, taking a stock of my surrounding. I was lying on my side and over a soft mattress that was big enough to fit four people comfortably on it.
Seattle skyline was visible on either side of the bed with a panoramic view of early morning sky through floor-to-ceiling glass windows at either sides of the room with the bed dominating the center.
The thick velvet drapes were pulled back to let the early morning light pour in and it gave me a peaceful sense of standing over the edge of precipice.
The lights on either side of bed were muted, casting dim shadows in the corners of the room even though there didn't seem to be any need of them at this time of day.
The sky outside was brightening very slowly, but dark clouds were gathered, waiting to cast their shadows back onto the city that lay below.
I shivered at their ominous presence more than cold and looked down to find a thick duvet gathered around my hips. It covering me from waist below, and it took me a moment to realise why I couldn't remember these details of this room from yesterday.
At some point last night, Ruth and I had migrated from the swing bed in patio to this master bedroom upstairs.
But my memories were too blurred to remember much about the journey here, or the room itself considering the fact that I was too focused on the activities we were immersed in.
The reminder was enough to wake my senses up, making me abandon the survey of my surroundings and look at the woman that was sound asleep next to me.
Just like the dream, she had an unreal quality about her. Wanting to make sure that this moment right now was real, I reached out and ran the tip of my fingers against one of her cheek, feeling reassured of her existence.
Ruth. Just her name echoing through my mind was enough to set my body on fire and soothe my soul at the same time. She didn't even stir from my touch, but her rosy, slightly swollen lips parted on a delicate sigh in the most delicious invitation ever.
Neanderthal as it sounded, I felt some satisfaction at the knowledge that I was reason for her cherry red, puffed up lips and that hint of shadows staining under her eyes from being up so late last night.
Slowly, I edged closer to her, drawn to the innocent beauty and grace that glowed off her. Up close, I could feel her breath fan over my face, and I wound my arm around her waist, feeling her satin soft skin glide against my arm.
She slept on her front with her face turned to me, her arms folded and tucked under her pillow. Her back was exposed, the sheets gathered onto the curve of her lower back.
The lights filling in from the window cast a halo on her glossy hairs making her look like a sleeping angel. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman that I had ever laid eyes on, and I couldn't believe that she was here with me.
"I so love you, Caleb."
Her words from last night echoed in my mind again and I tightened my grip on her waist, pulling myself firmly against her. She exhaled and stirred, her eyelids fluttered open unfocused before coming to rest on me.
"You're awake," she whispered in a husky voice.
It sounded so deliciously irresistible that it brought back some of my most fond memories from last night when she had called my name out in that same tone of voice.
"I am," I whispered against her lips, and rubbed the tip of my nose against hers, breathing her in. She really must have put a spell on me to turn me into such a mush.
Her forehead wrinkled in concern as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and tried to focus on me.
"Why? Something happen?"
"Yeah," I paused and looked her in the eyes and replied.
"There's this beautiful woman that I fell for. Pretty hard. And she's turned me into this simpering fool who can't tear his eyes away from her."
It took a moment for my words to sink in, but when it did she blushed, but played it off by narrowing her eyes.
"Maybe you were always a simpering fool, and she just brought it out for all to see."
I grinned. That's the Ruth I knew and loved. "Nope. Its the Ruth effect."
"The Ruth effect," she repeated and turned onto her side to face me.
"I like the sound of it." She let her hand fall onto my shoulder, before gliding them down to my chest in a ticklish caress while my gaze took in the the pink tinging her neck.
The urge to follow the warm trail of her blush grew as I took in all of her exposed skin and I realised that I didn't have to resist that urge anymore. She was here. She was mine. And she was no longer off-limits.
I raised myself on my elbow as her curious hands drifted down to my stomach and abs, her caress becoming more and more arousing with each stroke.
My heart beat kicked up as she looked up at me with those seductive eyes that brought back the memories of last night when she had looked up at me like that.
I twisted around until I had managed to manoeuvre her on her back with my body pressed up against her.
"So do I. Now, let me show you how much," I responded as I hovered over her, making sure to brush my lips against hers while I talked but still holding it back just so.
She squirmed beneath me causing all kinds of reactions in my body until her arms wrapped around my neck to pull me down to kiss her. Never had I ever felt this wild and content all at the same time. This girl was turning me into a walking paradox of feelings and I was loving every step of the way.
"You're driving me insane, Caleb," she breathed the words out as I caressed a particularly sensitive part of her and I ran the tip of my tongue all the way up to her neck until I reached the hollow behind her ear.
"Now you know exactly how I've felt since I met you," I whispered and watched her body heaving for breathe entranced. She was a beautiful sight to behold, writhing beneath me, pink tinging every bit of her exposed skin, hairs mused up and spread out on the pillow around her.
She threw her head back and arched upwards and into me as my strokes became more fervent. Her nails were digging into the skin of my shoulders but I couldn't bring myself to care even if she managed to break the skin.
All I cared about right now was to watch her shatter into that blissful space where time and reason seized to exist.
"Caleb. Caleb... Oh God." She trembled violently, her back arching up and lifting completely off the mattress as she let out a loud cry that echoed off the walls of the room.
I held her as she shivered, feeling both of our heart beats hammering away in a synchronised rhythm as she calmed and recovered.
"Good morning, Ms. Brooke," I murmured as she opened her eyes and looked at me with lust filled gaze.
When she didn't respond, I caught hold of the back of her knees and spread her out fitting my hips in the space between and lowering myself to her.
"I hope you enjoyed that appetizer. And now for the main course...."