“B
ut you know I can handle it now.”
“You should have screamed. I’d have been able to try and castrate him a lot earlier.”
“True, but we got out of there in one piece and without any nosy reporters the wiser or any foundations ruined. That’s what matters.”
He squeezed my hand. “You never have to be that selfless.”
“I think me or a foundation’s reputation, one that can do so much, is an easy choice.”
He shook his head and stroked my cheek with his free hand. “Very few things are worth you in danger, believe me on that.”
“But you understand I’m your partner in all of this, not some junior party. We’re in a relationship together,” I said, bracing for him even now to say I wasn’t in his life like that, that he was changing his mind. “We have to be fifty-fifty.”
He nodded, and when he spoke, his voice was that same low rumble that made heat flare through my belly. “I care about you, and I trust you. I just want to do more to take care of you.”
I smiled back at him. “Then that you can do. I…it was scary…terrifying even, but you did protect me. Maybe this is my loopiness talking or the worry, but I need you, Cal.”
He quirked his head at me, his intense eyes studying me carefully. “When you say that, do you really mean it? You’ve had a terrible night, luv.”
“I just need to feel safe, and no one makes me feel safer than you. Please, I mean it.”
“If you’re sure.”
I kissed him then, my tongue tangling with his and promising so much more after this. “I’m positive.”
Nodding, he stood first and then, reaching down, gathered me into his arms. It was like being a bride on her wedding night, and that wasn’t exactly on my mind, but I needed something more. It wasn’t just fun for me anymore. I needed some sign of commitment, some sign that he meant more to me and that I meant more to him in return.
Callum carried me over the threshold and set me down on the bed. I unbelted my robe and let myself be laid bare for him. My hair was still a wet, floppy mess, and I was sure my eyes were swollen from crying. I must have been a mess. But I was his mess as he was mine.
“You’re one hundred percent.”
“Yes,” I said, smiling up at him. “I just want you, Cal. I just need to feel anything else.”
He nodded and reached into his pants pocket for a condom. “Not to seem like I was planning this when I came over or anything. I’ve had this on me since this morning at dictation in case things got more wild than usual in the office.”
I blushed. There was something flattering in knowing he was so turned on by me that he wanted to be prepared in case. I’d been better since our torn condom scare about being sure with my birth control on time, but it was best to be as safe as possible. We just couldn’t have a baby. It would doom everything.
“That’s fine.”
Callum grinned that roguish expression at me and stripped. Like always, his body was a revelation, as if a Greek god had come down from the heavens and decided to make love to me and only me. He made short work of slipping on the condom and was soon striding to me, like a hungry jungle cat stalking his prey across the savannah.
I was more than happy to be caught.
He hovered over me, the heft of him firm above my body and the intoxicating scent of his musk and cinnamon circling in my nose. More heat flared from my stomach down through my core. Wetness began to touch my legs. I was ready for him. Maybe because of the fear and the almost tragedy tonight. I just needed to know we were together in this, that we were partners.
“I care about you so much, luv. I know that we’re usually carried away with everything, that it’s the fire and the passion and I’m domineering and you’re my vixen, but there’s more to it than that. If I haven’t made that clear enough, then I’m so sorry about that.”
He bent lower and kissed my lips. He tasted of chocolate and maybe a hint of spice, whatever he’d eaten as far as finger foods at the gala. He tasted like home.
“I care about you too. And I’m glad we’re partners.”
“Yes, partners,” he said, and then Callum pressed his length inside me, through my core and deep into my innermost channel.
As always, I hissed at the heat of him and the way he stretched me, the way he made me feel fuller than I could have ever thought possible. He slid in slowly, still mindful of the fact that I was only a few weeks into having sex, that I was still so tight. Callum could be rough, and sometimes I wanted that. There were times when our animalistic passion made us go at it so fast and furious that everything almost seemed like a blur. But I was always amazed with how gentle he was with me too. I wasn’t porcelain, and I wouldn’t break. At the same time, with him cradling me, with his hips making slow thrusts into my body, I felt like the most valued thing in his world.
I pushed up my hips to meet his and moaned as he bent his head down to capture my mouth with his. The moaning didn’t last long, not when we were locked in erotic kisses just as our bodies were interlocked with each other. The waves of pleasure started cresting through me as he pumped harder. Then Callum shifted just right, and the waves turned into a tsunami. I screamed loudly and dug my heels into the mattress. My body shook, and everything overcame me so strongly that I almost passed out.