His weight disappeared, and I curled in around myself, fear gnawing at my gut and my heart pounding in my chest. Every part of my body was screaming to get up anddosomething. I felt useless, and it was the most infuriating feeling in the entire world. A few moments later, Callan reappeared. He reached down to help me off the floor.
“False alarm?”
But Callan’s frown squashed any hope that we had just overreacted. “The good news is that what we heard wasn’t a gunshot.”
Well, I don’t like that phrasing at all, I thought. “What’s the bad news?”
Callan brought me into the foyer, though he stopped me before going too far. Glass from the front door littered the floor, and in the middle of it all was a brick with something tied around it. “Did you read it?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I didn’t want to touch anything,” he told her. “I want to talk to Ethan and Foster first. Whoever is stalking you is escalating even faster than we imagined, and I don’t want to take any chances.”
I understood where he was coming from, but I hated the idea of leaving a hole in my front door and glass all over the floor. Turning on my heel, I went back to the kitchen. If I continued to stand there, I would have picked up that brick.
Callan followed after me. I could feel him like a shadow at my back. “Dammit,” I yelped, rushing to take the burnt chicken from the stovetop. I threw the pan in the sink.
“Are you okay?”
I whirled on him. “No, I am not okay,” I snapped. My skin felt itchy and tight, like it didn’t quite fit anymore. I couldn’t pull enough air into my lungs.
“Adrianne.” I could feel Callan coming closer, and I held up my hand, though to ward him off or to beckon him closer, I didn’t know. He held up his hands. “I think you’re having a panic attack,” he said, but I could barely hear him over the sound of my own labored breathing. “Let me help you. Please.”
There was no way he could help through this. Something was squeezing me from the inside out. How could he possibly help with that?
Callan crossed the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulling me back against his chest. “Feel how I breathe,” he instructed. “Feel my inhales and exhales.” He sucked in a deep breath, and I tried my best to focus on it. When he breathed out, I followed him instinctively.
For the next few minutes, we breathed together, and all the while, he murmured encouragement in my ear. “You’re doing so good, look at you. That’s it, one more deep breath, and it’s all over.”
I came back to myself and felt him like a weighted blanket around me. I had melted back against him, and he was the only thing keeping me on my feet. “Thank you,” I said, reaching up to touch the arms banded around me. His skin was hot under my palms.
He feltgoodagainst me, and all the confusion that I’d felt since meeting my new security team just... didn’t matter anymore.
I turned in his grip, glad when he didn’t automatically let go. “Where did you learn all that?”
Callan’s smile could compete with the sun for warmth. “My mother has a lot of anxiety, and she hates taking medication for it. I’ve watched my father do this for her more times than I can count.”
I reached up and cupped his cheek. His jaw clenched beneath my palm, but he didn’t pull away from the touch “That’s sweet.” I pushed up on my toes and pressed my mouth against his, much like he did out in his truck.
Callan startled, but he didn’t back away. Instead, one of his hands came up to cup the back of my head. My mouth parted on a sigh, and his tongue dipped into my mouth. Fire roared through me, and I whimpered into our kiss, curling my fingers into the hair at the back of his neck.
“This goes only as far as you want it to. Tell me what you want,” he said when the kiss broke.
His voice was low and ragged, and it tightened things low in my stomach to hear how wrecked he already sounded. “Be specific,” he said before I could respond.
He began kissing his way down my neck, sweet, tickling touches that made my whole body shake. “I want,” I gasped when he nipped me, just a hint of teeth scraping against my pulse point, “I want your hands on me.”
Callan hummed against my throat. “Where?”
Instead of answering, I grabbed his hand and put it on my breast. “Start here?”
He groaned. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He reached behind me and found the zipper on my dress. “Can I take this off?” He punctuated the question with another soft nip of his teeth, and I gasped out loud.
“Please!”
Callan unzipped my dress, and together, we pushed it to the floor. “Fuck,” he breathed, eyes traveling down my body. “You’re the most perfect woman I’ve ever seen.”
I wanted to laugh it off, but the heat in his eyes sent a throb of need through me. I needed him to touch me.Now.I reached behind myself and unclasped my bra and dropped it to the ground.
Callan looked at me like I was the only glass of water in a desert. He cupped my breast again, seeming to weigh its heaviness in his hand, before he bent and took my nipple into his mouth. “Oh,” I sighed, back arching toward the attention. He switched sides after a moment, lathing my other nipple with the same attention. “Callan,” I gasped.