I frowned, less sure of myself. He called me his vixen, but I was so new to the role I was playing at. I’d worked my best to protest, to present the image that I wasn’t just an inexperienced virgin. But sometimes I was still lurching between shutting up my overactive brain—and its consummate worry center—and listening to my inner come-hither side.
Right now, I wasn’t sure if the nickname was too much.
“I…well, Cal seemed to roll off the tongue a bit easier than Callum. Besides, what is with British—”
“I’m Irish. Big difference.”
“Fine, with UK guys and crazy names: Callum, Rupert, and don’t get me started on Clive. That one sounds like a garden spice.”
He chuckled, and my core clenched deliciously at the sound. The things this man’s very voice did to me. “Well, luv, I can’t argue with you there. I always thought Clive was a tosser’s name.”
I winked at him. “And I’ll pretend to understand what a ‘tosser’ is? Anyway, Cal’s an okay nickname?”
“Fine by me, and you don’t have to second guess. If I hated something, believe me, you’d know it.”
That was true. Callum was no stranger to making his opinion known; that was clearly the dominating, alpha male side of him. The side that made me weak-kneed and had me saying yes to so many dirty things in his office. But good, at least I hadn’t made another goofball mistake.
“What do you have planned then, Cal?” I ask
ed, my voice stretching out into a sing-song rhythm.
“This weekend: a reservation at the finest hotel in Dublin, a tour of the best sites I know you haven’t seen yet, not like this, and hot, passionate sex.”
“We have sex,” I teased, leaning back in my chair.
“I tease you, finger that sweet quim of yours, or lap from its juices. I make you scream, vixen, but I haven’t made you beg. I want to be inside you, and I want to do it up right with the best views in the city. My penthouse is great too, but I wanted to make this truly special. First time and all.”
I swallowed, trying not to focus on what he wasn’t saying, that this would be something special for him too. Callum O’Brien had probably bedded all of the A-list actresses around and half the royal family in his own place. That hurt, and I didn’t miss the allusion to a first time. I knew he was going to play it off as a first time for us as a couple, for a full union, but I was still painfully aware of myself. And my shortcomings. I was naïve, but I was eager. If just being fingered by him or only having his lips eager and bold sucking on my clit made me come in a blinding haze, then I couldn’t imagine having all of him deep inside me.
I didn’t want to.
I craved the real thing now, as soon as possible, and the thought that it could all start tomorrow night was intoxicating.
“So where are all the big things going to start?”
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out, luv.” He flashed me a smile that seemed to only highlight the indent on his chin. I wanted to lick it then and there. “Tomorrow, I’ll meet you at your apartment and then show you everything, do the town up right in a way a college student can’t. Do things to you that you can’t even imagine too.” His voice was low and commanding when he said that last part, like a promise and a threat.
I hoped it was a bit of both.
Reaching my hand out across the table, I said, “You, Mr. O’Brien, have yourself one hell of a deal.”
“Oh, Miss Kilshimer, you have no idea all the things I’m going to do to you.”
***
Callum
That night, I was in such a good mood that I was humming to myself. A habit I’d always chided Symone over, and yet I couldn’t stop it now, a few bars of an old Sex Pistols song buzzing from my lips. It lasted until I passed my doorman and was confronted by the irritating sight of Seamus McCartney grinning at me by my private elevator.
“Callum, imagine running into you here.”
“Yes, how odd seeing me at the building I own and have the best apartment in. I didn’t think we had any dinner plans this Friday.”
Seamus stroked his mustache. “I have great plans. I made a reservation with that club I was telling you about. In fact,” he said, slapping me on the chest. “I have a reservation for two waiting for both of us. I knew you were being an odd duck when you refused earlier. You’re going through a downturn, mate. It happens. That’s no reason not to get back on the horse or the whore again.”
“Are these women of the night?”
He shrugged. “Way I hear it, the club serves all kinds. It has a staff of a few ladies and gents, too, who service any customer. If that’s your sort of thing. But it also attracts adventurous sorts too. I was looking for the willing and easy to seduce. No challenge if I have to pay for it. Not my type of fun.”