Maisie The moment Callum’s lips claimed mine, everything else just vanished from my brain. The truth had been right on the tip of my tongue and I knew I should’ve pushed him away instead of pulling him closer. I knew I should’ve broken the kiss and gotten on with things. I didn’t, though. For the last eight years, that was all I’d done. I’d gotten on with things, making the responsible choices and never allowing myself to drop the ball. Right now, I didn’t want to do that. Callum’s kisses reminded me of what it had been like to just be a girl who wanted a boy more than anything. With every stroke of his tongue against my own, I felt more like a woman than I probably ever had, and maybe it was selfish—hell, it definitely was selfish—but I didn’t wrench my mouth away from his. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck. What had happened that night, the reason I’d walked away with a tiny little part of him taking root de ep inside me, was just as much my fault as it was his. I didn’t resent him for that. I also had never complained about the sacrifices I’d made. I’d made them willingly and that had been that, but just for tonight, I was going to be selfish. Callum groaned into my mouth, cementing my decision when the sound made me feel things I hadn’t felt for years. Fully surrendering to the intimacy of just getting to be with him tonight, which had been a surprisingly romantic date for a Halloween festival, I stroked my fingers into that thick dark hair, like I’d been itching to do again for almost a decade, and held him to me. I kissed him back just as eagerly as he was kissing me, moaning when I felt his knee dip into the cushion as he positioned himself to lay me back. He pressed me down until my back was sinking into the couch, pressing his chest against mine but holding most of his weight on his elbows. Everything he was doing made me tingle with desire, from the way he was nipping at my lips between kisses to the way he held me so I could feel the strong muscles in his arms flex under the fabric of his shirt. He ran the flat of his hand along my side, sliding a thigh between both of mine. I gasped into his mouth when he let it settle between my legs, the solid muscle hard and warm where I needed it most. If I’d been in my right mind, I probably would’ve held back, but I wasn’t and I didn’t care to go looking for logic or inhibitions right now. Callum had made me feel this way that first time we’d been together too, like absolutely nothing else mattered. The man had a way of robbing me of every thought and leaving me with only fiery desire coursing through my veins. Especially when he kissed me like he was now, like he was so completely consumed by me that a bomb could go off next to us and he wouldn’t even notice. He just had this way of making me feel like nothing existed outside of us and honestly I was here for it. “I want you,” I whispered into his mouth, tightening my grip on his hair and opening my eyes to look at him.
Surprise registered in his eyes. He groaned and buried his face in the crook my neck. “I want you too, Mais, but we can wait. There’s no rush.” “There is a rush,” I murmured, rolling my hips against his and gasping at the spark of pleasure that raced through me when I felt him rock hard under his jeans. “You want this. I want it. Why wait?” Another throaty groan rolled out of him, but when he lifted his head, it wasn’t to argue or try to talk me out of it. Instead, he pressed another hot kiss on my lips and then sat back, but only for long enough to climb off the couch, bend over, and pick me up as if I weighed nothing. Surprised laughter bubbled out of me. I grabbed hold of the back of his shirt to steady myself. “What are you doing?” “Taking you to my bed,” he responded as his long legs ate up the distance between the living room and the bedroom. “I’m not fucking my future wife on the couch. In fact, I’m not fucking you at all.” “What?” I frowned. The disappointment racing through me was a lot more intense than I thought it might be. “Why not?” He chuckled, bringing a hand up to land a stinging smack on my ass. “I’m making love to you. Or something like that, anyway. Give me a break. I’m trying to be romantic here.” Desire surged through me, not at all lessened by the heat that had remained on my skin after that spank. “I don’t know much about romance, but I think you might have to ke ep trying. Somehow, I don’t think saying that you’re not fucking someone on a couch counts.” I felt him shrug underneath me as he strode into a huge bedroom I assumed was the master. “Hey, it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it?” “I don’t think so.” I barely had a chance to take a glimpse at his space before he’d gently lowered me onto his mattress and claimed my attention fully when he pressed another searing kiss to my lips. His lips were hungry, his hands roaming across my sides. I moaned into the kiss, finally getting to run my fingertips all over the broad planes of his back and the strong muscles in his abs. We made out like that for a long time, until I was practically burning with need for him. He started slowly removing my clothes. His clothes. They were so big on me that it took him no time at all to peel them off. He sat up to look at me, those blue eyes so bright and heated even in the low light that I felt myself tingle under his gaze. When a shiver rolled through me, he groaned and pulled his own shirt off with one fist behind his neck. The fabric slid away easily. Callum’s abs had always been a work of art. I remembered them so well from college, how all the girls would clamor around the jogging trail they knew he preferred, hoping to catch a glimpse of him shirtless. Time hadn’t changed that. Clearly, the guy still took care of his body and now all those abs were exclusively for my viewing pleasure. My teeth sank into my lower lip as I ran my gaze over him, taking in every defined muscle and every dip in between. Callum must’ve noticed because he suddenly let out an impatient growl and slid down on the mattress, not hesitating to push my knees apart.
By the time I realized what he was doing, he was already face to face with my most intimate part, his hands wreaking havoc on me as they glided up and down the length of my thighs. “Callum...” He glanced up at me, those sharp features drawn tight and his arms quivering a little like he was struggling to restrain himself. “Why wait, right?” “Right,” I whispered, sliding my fingers into his hair. He licked a line through my slick folds. My hips nearly flew off the bed, the sensation of having another person’s mouth down there so foreign, yet so blissful that fireworks started going off behind my eyes almost immediately. “Oh!” I felt Callum smile, but I was already too lost in his hands, his lips, and his tongue to ask if something was funny. Instead, I just hung on, probably tugging his hair so hard that it must’ve hurt, but he didn’t complain. No one had done this to me—ever—exc ept for him, and honestly, the guy made me understand why so many women raved about it so much. I had no idea how long it took before an orgasm was thundering through me, shattering my every thought and perhaps even my very existence, but it couldn’t have been very long. Callum saw me through it, even licking me clean in the aftermath, but then his mouth was back on mine and I hadn’t seen him take off his pants, but I felt his cock against my stomach as he kissed me. Another moan slid out of me at the feel of him there, so hot and so hard that it should’ve been impossible. “Are you okay?” he whispered between kisses. “We can stop now, if you want.” “Don’t you dare.” I hooked my ankles around his hips, breaking the kiss to look into his eyes. “I want you to... you know.” A devilish smile spread on his lips. “Yeah, I do know, and that’s definitely not going to be a problem, but we don’t have to—” “We don’t have to, but we want to,” I whispered, though it sounded more like a question. Callum caught my face in one hand, reaching for something further along the mattress with the other. “You never have to doubt that I want you, Mais. It’s a given. Always has been. Always will be.” With that, he brought a condom between us and I got to watch, up close and personal, as he tore it open with his teeth. As he sat up to roll it on, I saw a bead of wetness at his tip and it was like a switch tripped inside me, making me feel just as needy and aching for him as I had been before. He r epositioned himself on top of me, bringing his mouth back to mine, and he slowly started pushing into me. It had been a very long time since I’d been with anyone, but if he noticed anything, he didn’t say so. Just taking it slow, he kissed me until I was breathless, toying with my nipples. He sank in one delicious inch at a time. When he was fully seated, I felt him trembling above me. He stopped moving and gave me some time to adjust until I gave my hips a roll to let him know I was ready. Callum felt incredible inside me, making me feel so full that I almost couldn’t take it, and when he started thrusting for real, pushing all the way in before slowly withdrawing, I nearly started crying it felt so good.
I hung onto him, willingly giving up all control as he made me feel things I never had, slowly bringing me to an orgasm that absolutely blew my mind. My toes curled, and for the first time ever, I genuinely felt the pleasure all the way to my gums. My entire body was shaking when I felt his rhythm break. A long, sexy groan came out of him as he swelled inside me. In the aftermath, the room was quiet exc ept for the sound of our ragged breathing, still uneven as we lay tangled together in his sheets. My body was loose and warm, my mind still trying to catch up with what had just happened. For a few blissful minutes, I didn’t think about anything exc ept the weight of his arm around me and the steady beat of his heart under my cheek, but reality cr ept back in when I felt him shift to look at me. “Stay here tonight,” he murmured, his voice rough with sle ep and something softer. God, I wanted to. My whole body screamed yes, but my heart clenched as I shook my head. “I want to, but I shouldn’t. My mom just got here, and I, uh, I’ve never spent a night away from Brody.” He was quiet for a moment, his thumb brushing lazy circles over my hip. “Yeah, okay. I get that.” There was no judgment in his voice, just understanding. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. His lips moved against my hair when he spoke again. “Hey, uh, when we get married, where are we going to live? Do you still want it to be at your place?” The question made me lift my head and I blinked at him. “Really, now?” “Yeah, now.” His mouth curved, but his eyes stayed serious. “You’re still naked, so you can’t run away. Now is as good a time as any.” I groaned. “Fine, then yes. I do still want you to move in with us. This place is great, but there’s no yard or street for Brody, and your house at my parents’ estate seems amazing, but it’d be a heck of a commute for us. Plus, he loves the neighbor kids at our house.” To my surprise, he didn’t try to argue the point again, nor did he make another smartass comment or try to change my mind. “I thought you might say that, so I’m willing to compromise.” “You are?” I held those blue eyes, silvery in the dark room with only ambient light streaming in through the windows. “That doesn’t seem like you.” “Hey,” he protested, tickling my ribs and scowling at me in fake outrage. “I am willing to compromise, but I’m going to need you to do the same.” “In what way?” I asked slowly, softly, knowing the catch was coming. “What compromise am I making, exactly?” “I’ll move in with you despite having quite a few other options for us to consider, most of which you don’t even know about yet, but only if you let me pay off the rest of your mortgage. I know it’s ste ep, but I’ll wipe it clean. You’ve built a home there for Brody. I don’t want to take that away from either of you, but I do want to contribute. This is my way of doing that.” My throat went tight. I hadn’t expected him to seriously be picturing what our lives would look like under the same roof. Also, the way he’d said a home for Brody, like he already thought of it as his responsibility too, made my heart twist painfully.
In that moment, I wanted to tell him the truth more than ever before. I wanted him to know that it wasn’t just Brody’s home, but that it was his too, in a way he didn’t even know yet. The words pressed against my lips, but I couldn’t make them come out. What if he’s furious at me? What if he hates me? What if... what if Georgia was right and he tries to take Brody from me once he finds out? Callum’s words were still settling in my chest when he leaned in and kissed me again, his lips slow and unhurried, like he had all the time in the world. I let myself melt into it, holding his jaw and wishing I could freeze us here so we’d never have to go back to real life. Eventually, he pulled back with a smile. “Your clothes should be done. I’ll go grab them for you.” Reluctantly, I sat up, holding the sheet around me as he slipped out of bed. A moment later, I heard the dryer door clatter open and then he was back, a bundle of warm clothes in his arms. He handed me my pile first, then tossed his onto the chair in the corner. “Fresh from the spa treatment,” he said with a crooked grin. “I can’t wait until I get to ke ep you naked all night, though.” I laughed softly, but as we both dressed in silence, I felt the weight of a cruise liner sinking down on my shoulders. The drive back to my house was quiet, not awkward exactly, but heavy. At least, for me. My body still hummed from him, from us, but guilt pressed in hard, making it impossible to relax. Brody was only seven. I’d never left him overnight, and now here I was, about to sneak back into our house while trying to convince myself I hadn’t done something so incredibly wrong. When we pulled up, the lights were all out, but there was a faint glow inside coming from the lamp in the living room. My mom must’ve left it on for me. She and Brody were probably both out cold upstairs, but as Callum hovered at the door, I turned to him, my voice hushed. “You can stay. If you want.” He nodded without hesitation. “I’ll take the couch.” My throat tightened. I wanted him in my bed, but that wasn’t an option. Not tonight. Maybe soon though, it would be. “Okay.” We stood there, the silence of the house near deafening, and he leaned down, brushed a soft kiss against my temple, and whispered, “Goodnight, Maisie.” “Goodnight,” I managed, my chest aching with everything I was too afraid to say. So far, since he’d come back into my life, the guy had been perfect. Almost too perfect, saying all the right things and somehow being exactly what I needed every st ep of the way, but that made it even more difficult not to be terrified. Because I remembered who he used to be. I’d seen the absolute insanity of the wealth his family possessed. If there was even the faintest chance that he was still that self-absorbed guy de ep down inside, and he came after Brody with that amount of money, I would be entirely powerless to stop it—and I would lose both of them forever in the process.