If the elevator had been a minefield, this room waved the white flag of surrender. The battle was over, and we’d both won.
Cal reached for my top and pulled it over my head. I helped him, knowing I had another layer underneath. The fitted tank top that was left molded to my body like a second skin, and I froze when he sucked in an audible breath.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
His gaze followed the curves of my body, looking me up and down before returning my mouth. “Nothing. You hid this from me earlier,” he said, running his hands along the curves of my hips as if in total appreciation.
I smiled. “Yeah, I guess it was under my other top.”
“Stand up,” he said, and although I thought it was odd, I did as he asked. When I started to turn toward him, he said, “Don’t move, Jules. Please.”
Standing next to the bed wearing a skintight tank and jeans, I had no idea what was happening behind me. “What are you doing?”
“Looking at you. Memorizing the shape of your body. That ass—it’s perfection. And I had no idea it was there this whole time.”
My cheeks warmed at his brazen compliments. Before I could say anything, he stood up and pressed his body against my back without warning, every part of him molding against me. He touched my shoulders to turn me around to face him, his eyes locking onto mine the way they’d done all night, as if he saw right through me to the real me. It was as unnerving as it was intriguing.
Cal’s fingers grazed across my stomach as he reached for the bottom of my tank and tugged it over my head and discarded it, leaving me in just my lacy bra and jeans. An appreciative sound escaped his lips, and it did something to me to know that I turned him on in this way.
“Sorry. I can’t help the way I react to you,” he said, and I found myself speechless again.
He crouched to his knees before pressing his lips against my bare belly. I stood there, finally allowing my hands to rake through his soft hair as I’d wanted to do all night, while he alternated between planting kisses on my bare stomach and licking a trail along my ribs. I sucked in a quick breath and shuddered slightly as chills raced through me.
“I need to lie down,” I said, his attention throwing me off-balance.
My legs couldn’t be trusted to hold me up any longer, and I moved toward the bed. I stretched out on it again, my excitement warring with a touch of fear of taking things too far, too fast.
Cal lowered himself on top of me, peppering me with kisses as his warm hands explored my body. I welcomed his touch, reveled in it.
“I want you, Jules.”
I closed my eyes, knowing that this was the moment in which everything would change. If I crossed this line, there would be no going back; I could never uncross it once it was behind me.
The reality of the situation was that Cal and I had just met; we were perfect strangers. Granted, I’d willingly come upstairs with him and had practically mauled him in the elevator, but actually having sex with him when we’d just met hours before wasn’t something I typically did.
One-night stands weren’t for me. I was far too emotional, feeling things way too deeply to just give my body away to any guy who wanted it. I learned that the hard way back in college after I’d given myself to a guy who had halfheartedly pursued me for months. I thought he really liked me, but when I slept with him after a party one night, he never spoke to me again. I was traumatized by his actions and quickly realized that I wasn’t the type who could sleep with someone and have it not mean anything to me. Tami, my best friend back home, could do that—the friends-with-benefits, no-strings-attached, fuck-buddy thing—but not me. I honestly wasn’t cut out for it emotionally.
“I want you too,” I admitted. “But . . .”
When I hesitated, he pushed up on his elbows. “But?”
“We just met. And if I have sex with you, it will mess me up.” I shook my head, not liking the way my words tumbled out. They were too raw, too honest.
“Mess you up how?”
“I can’t sleep with someone and not feel anything for them. I know you probably think that’s stupid because we’re both adults and we should be able to—”
Cal’s finger pressed against my lips, stopping my words. “I don’t think it’s stupid. I understand what you’re saying.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I’m not a complete dick, Jules.”
I huffed out a quick breath. “Obviously I didn’t think you were, or I wouldn’t be here with you now. It’s just that I’m sure you thought you’d get lucky, and it’s not like I didn’t give you that impression. I know that I did. But if we have sex tonight, I’ll only end up getting hurt.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He leaned over and
pressed a kiss against my forehead before rolling off of me and lying on his side, propping himself on one elbow to give me his full attention.