“Evidently, I do.” He circled my waist and hauled me against him. “It’s not just physical, Ellie. I keep catching these flashes of something under that serious face. When you let yourself enjoy the moment, you glow.”
“Stop.”
“I’m an artist. Do you know how hard I look for that glow? And it’s in the most random of people. A woman in her nineties I found at a park. She was feeding pigeons of all things. Greta Bloom. I’ll never forget her. She had that light. And here you are with the same one, but you also have so much more.”
He lowered his mouth to mine and I gave in. I didn’t even care if it was a line at this point. He made me feel like there was something warm and bright inside of me, and I was willing to believe to keep this feeling.
We stumbled our way up to the entrance, barely able to keep our hands off one another. There was a crush of people at the main desk, probably overflow from the festival. Because he was already settled in a room, we were able to sneak around and head for the stairs.
I wasn’t paying attention and nearly wiped out on the small caution sign.
“Shit.” He lifted me and hauled me over one of the signs that explained they were renovating.
The stairs were an old spiral style, and we kept bouncing off the railing and one another as we tripped our way upstairs and down the hallway to his room. He fumbled with his key and backed into the room, dragging me in with him. Coats hit the floor, and his sweater followed them before he went to work on his shirt buttons.
I flipped my own sweater over my head, and he stopped in the middle of the room. “Sweet Zeus.”
I frowned. That seemed like an odd phrase, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I needed to help him out of his shirt. There were far too many buttons. We both fumbled with the tiny pearlescent disks. My fingers shook and his were too large.
My goodness, he was proportional. Finally, we got them all, and I pushed the gold and gray plaid shirt off his shoulders. Before I could get it down his wrists, they were caught. We’d forgotten the buttons at his cuffs.
He was at my mercy and I kinda liked it.
He kept trying to get his wrists free as I scraped my nails through the just-right amount of hair on his chest. It covered his extremely impressive pecs and arrowed down his lean torso with a lighter and silkier texture. I brushed my cheek along the softness and kissed my way down his abs.
“Ellie.”
My name was a strangled moan as I dropped to my knees. I flicked my tongue over the little divot of his navel. “It’s been a little while since I’ve done this, but I think I remember how this goes.” I jerked the tail of his belt free from the loops and loosened his buckle.
His cock curved up against his zipper, bulging for freedom. I flicked open the button of his jeans and slowly peeled down his zipper. The chili pepper boxers I revealed made me laugh.
“Better be the boxers you’re laughing at, woman.” He finally got his hands free from the shirt and tried to draw me up to my feet.
I shook my head then reached in for my prize. His stormy eyes went heavy and dark as I dragged the flat of my tongue along the underside of his length. A hint of that cedar scent hit me just before the salty, earthy flavor of him made my mo
uth water. I took more of him, swallowing down his taste and wanting more.
His head dropped back and his throat worked as he groaned my name. Spurred on by it, I took him again and again, coating him enough for me to palm his length and suck harder until he finally raked his fingers through my hair to stop me.
“God, that feels so good. I don’t want to come in your mouth first. I want you wrapped around me. Under me—fuck, even over me. Just not like this.”
I drew him deeper until the velvety head of his cock hit the back of my throat. I wanted to make him come. I could taste the power of it. As if he was a conduit to something bigger and more important. A freedom I’d been searching for all of my life.
Taking something for myself.
Taking him for myself.
He bent over to me and freed himself with a hiss. “I’ve never wanted a woman so badly. Please.”
I wiped my mouth, but he shook his head and lifted me, kissing me with wild abandon. Dirty and deep until I could scarcely breathe around it. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he turned enough to get us onto the bed.
I wiggled higher, and he dragged at the cups of my strapless bra. “I wondered if you had one of these female contraptions under that sweater.” His eyes were almost black as he inched it down my ribs then yanked it around to get to the hooks. “Off. Off.” I tried to shimmy higher on the mattress, but he was having none of that. He bore down on me as he tossed the scrap of satin over his shoulder. “There you are.” He tugged on one nipple and dragged his beardy chin over the other before licking it lightly. “My turn.”
“Turn?” I arched up off the bed as he twisted my nipple to just the edge of pain. The blood bloomed like fire under my skin, and warmth pooled in my belly. Pooled lower as I moved my hips restlessly. His cock was right there trapped between us.
He pressed it along my thigh as he shifted lower to get the button of my jeans undone. Again, he dragged his chin over my skin. Goosebumps rose and covered me from neck to toes. “Callum.”
“Say it again.” He traced the tip of his tongue along the lace edge of my panties, just under my bellybutton.