New York City
May 1
Tox knocked on the door, hesitant to use the key Calliope had given him. She hadn’t given him a key. She’d simply lent it to him. He’d need to return it, but after her recent brush with the intruders, he was happy to hang onto it for the time being. From behind the door, Calliope tilted her head and looked out the sidelight, not checking her visitor but rather scanning the street behind him. Tox turned around and did the same. The sidewalk was empty. When he turned back, Calliope was standing in the open doorway wearing a sultry smile and a dab of Gucci Bloom... and nothing else.
“Where’s the dog?”
“Outside. Digging a hole. She’s fine.”
Calliope had been to Pamplona for the running of the bulls. She’d never really faced one coming right at her though. With a squeal she turned and sprinted for the stairs, Tox hot on her heels, shedding clothes as he ran. By the time they got to the bedroom, Tox was stumbling over jeans caught on combat boots as he staggered after his prey.
“We made it to the bed this time.”
“Not yet we haven’t.”
Tox freed himself from his boots and jeans then lunged. He roared. Calliope screamed as he hoisted her up and slammed her against the closet door. Tox staggered around the room holding Calliope up by her ass as he kissed and fondled her. He set her on her high dresser knocking over framed photos and a small clock. He wasn’t practiced or suave. He wasn’t precise or methodical. Tox buried his face between the apex of her thighs like a starving man.
Calliope held his stubbled head in her hands and wrapped her legs around his shoulders. He was skilled but his control had snapped and the combination was intoxicating. She shattered and clenched, begging him to stop, then to never stop.
He kissed her inner thighs, nipped behind her knee, then picked her up like she weighed nothing, face still at her center, legs on his shoulders, and carried her over to the bed where they fell with a bounce.
“Now we made it to the bed.”
Calliope scrambled out from under him and shoved Tox onto his back. He conjured a condom and sheathed himself as she straddled his narrow hips.
“Easy does it.”
Calliope gave a brief nod. Their eyes locked and she lowered herself inch-by-inch…by inch, by inch, by inch onto Tox. She stopped. Retreated. Lowered. Widened her knees. The feeling of fullness was indescribable. In an enormous pantry of pots and lids, she had found the perfect match. She squeezed her inner muscles in pleasure at the realization, eliciting a series of thrusts beneath her. With her hands on his chest, she began to move in earnest, Tox syncing his hips in perfect rhythm. She circled her hips, finally accommodated to his size. Her ebony hair brushed his stomach as he urged her forward to cup her breasts. He pinched her nipples and held them in the vice of his fingers, eliciting a gasp. When he released the buds, a searing burst of pleasure surged through her. He stayed her movement, lifted her gently then leaned forward. She ran her hands down the glistening ladder of abdominal muscles as they tilted until Calliope was on her back. Tox repositioned himself, pushed her knees back to her chest, grabbed her ankles, and draped them over his shoulders all the while continuing a relentless rhythm. His milk-chocolate eyes never left hers. He swelled within her as he licked his thumb and pressed it to her clit. She detonated with an incoherent shout drowned out by Tox’s own roar of completion.
He collapsed on top of her, buffering his weight only slightly with his forearms. Calliope loved the crush, loved feeling the weight of her man. His face was buried in her neck and she cradled his nape. When he regained the use of his muscles, he deftly rolled them until Calliope was sprawled across his chest boneless and replete.
“Remind me to answer the door for you naked more often.”
“I’m in no way discouraging that practice, but it wasn’t the naked. It was the look.”
“What look?”
Tox smoothed a hand down her back. “You get this look on your face, like a sexy challenge. I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”
Calliope lifted her head from his chest.
“That’s the one,” he rumbled.
“I’ll go let Coco in. She’s barking.”
They climbed out on opposite sides of the bed. “Oh, I meant to tell you, Ren’s friend called from Columbia. The sketches are real.”
“You waited this long to tell me?”
Tox’s eyes took a leisurely walk down her still naked body. He cocked a brow.
For a long moment, they stood facing one another on opposite sides of the bed. Their thoughts seemingly floating from their heads, colliding in the air and fluttering down to the tousled sheets.
I could fall in love with you.
I’ve never felt this way before.
You heal my heart.