“Oh, my gosh,” Sheridan cried out happily. “You guys are destined to be together!”
A wide grin split my face, but it faltered when Callie snatched her hand back, her expression one of...was that dread? What the fuck? No, I had to be reading her wrong. She was probably just nervous.
This was the moment most daywalkers lived for. At my age, I’d begun to wonder if it would ever happen. Now, I knew it was because Callie hadn’t been born yet. My eyes swept over her, and I silently patted fate on the back. Absolutely worth the wait. Not only was she stunning, but Sheridan didn’t have friends that weren’t on her level. So I already knew Callie would be kind and intelligent. And thinking about her earlier teasing, she had a great sense of humor.
We would be an excellent pair, and not just as friends. I had no doubt that we’d be just like my brothers and cousins. I could see myself falling for her in no time.
Unable to keep from touching her, I grabbed her hand back, then tugged her into my chest when I decided to move us somewhere more private. In a flash, we were in my—make that our—bedroom.
“Wait, I still need to take care of my dress,” she protested as she tried to wriggle out of my embrace.
“Forget the dress, beautiful. I’ll buy you as many as you want.” Slipping my hand into her hair, I cradled the back of her head to hold it where I wanted it. “Later.” Then I sealed my mouth over hers.
There was no other word to explain what happened when our lips touched than magic. Sparkly fireworks burst behind my eyelids, and I felt an enchanted wind whipping around the room. I could only imagine what would happen when we made love. Although, I doubted my imagination could conjure up anything to compare with what it would be like to be inside my consort.
I yanked her head back just a little, and she gasped—which had been my intention because it gave me the opening I needed to thrust my tongue inside. Almost immediately following her quick intake of air, she moaned and stepped closer to me, her arms curling around my neck as she went up on her tiptoes.
The party had been on the formal side, and Callie had dressed for summer in a spaghetti-strapped gown that left me plenty of skin to explore with my hands as I plundered her mouth. The bodice was covered in cream lace, leaving only peeks of the pale pink that matched her voluminous skirt and sash.
As she pressed closer, her nipples poked through the fabric, and my blood thundered in my ears when my hands encountered no sign of a bra. Easy access. I would definitely be buying Callie more of these.
With one hand, I began to lower her zipper while I dragged my mouth down her silky skin until my lips touched the spot on her neck where I planned to mark her as mine when I claimed her. “I can’t wait to taste you,” I growled. “I bet your tight, virgin pussy tastes just as sweet as your mouth.” I licked the two little circles and let one fang scrape across the skin without drawing blood. “I’m told the taste of your mate’s blood is like ambrosia. You smell so delicious, I have no doubt it’s true.”
Callie froze for a moment, then began pushing against my chest. “Please, let me go, Braeden. We need to talk, and I can’t think when you’re doing all this stuff to distract me.”
I grinned until I clocked the dead-serious expression on her face without the slightest glint of humor in her golden eyes. Reluctantly, I released her and let her take a few steps away. It took a minute for our bodies to cool off—but not completely because we would burn for each other until we completed the claiming—and our heart rates to slow to a mostly normal pace.
“We, um, we can’t do…” She gestured to the bed and then to the very large bulge in my suit pants.
It was adorable how she stumbled over the words. “Sex?” I suggested with a smirk.
“Yes. That. We have a lot to talk about before we do that.” She walked over to a small, windowed alcove where I’d put a table and two comfy chairs. Glancing over toward the bed, she shook her head and muttered, “This isn’t going to work.”
Relishing the fact that she was feeling the pull between us enough to be disturbed by the close proximity of a bed, I stifled a grin as she led me into the hallway and peeked into the nearest room. Upon seeing that it was a den, she dropped my hand and stalked over to the small couch. Taking a seat, she watched me warily, as if she were afraid of the reaction I was going to have to whatever she had to say.