Claiming Callie: Part two (24 page)

Maybe it’s stupid, egotistical even, but he can’t help it. He wan
ts to hear her in some way say she wants him to kiss her. He needs to hear it first.

She hesitates, her eyes darting to his mouth, and he would give anything to know what she’s really thinking right now.

“Yes. Go ahead. Kiss me.”

The words leave her mouth
and that’s all he needs. He leans in, taking his time. He wants to remember this moment. Because in the name of a charade or not, this is their first kiss. It’s the moment he’s dreamt about for so many years and he knows it will mark itself inside his hea
rt, alongside of the place where she’s resided for so long.

He strokes his thumb over her cheek, hovering his mouth just above hers. He can feel the soft hint of her breath against his skin in quick, short gasps. She closes her eyes and her face goes soft.
He’s so close now, he can feel her, sense the anticipation in the quick pulse in her throat, her firmly closed eyes. This is what he wants—her stomach in knots like his has been for years.

He rubs his thumb along her jawline once more, then moves his hand
to the back of her head where he cradles her at the base of her skull and swoops down to lightly brush his lips against hers. His scalp prickles with the charge of the contact and his stomach tumbles as he presses his lips against hers once again, this ti
me longer. Then again.

He moves his mouth and she responds. Lifting his other hand, he trails it up her back into her hair to the nape of her neck, as he takes control and gently angles her head while parting her lips with his own. His body is hardwired. T
he tension within him builds like a coil, ready to spring at any moment. As he brushes his tongue against hers, the lightest of whispers, her body turns to liquid in his arms and she leans into him, kissing him harder.

She’s like a dream, her lips incredib
le—softer than he ever imagined, sweeter than he ever envisioned. All his mind is tangled, lost in the kiss, with only two coherent thoughts coming through:
She hasn’t pulled away yet, and she’s kissing me back.

CALLIE

Holy. Crap
.

She’s
kissing Dean. And…
oh my
…

His mouth moves over hers, his hands in her hair, holding her, pressing her closer to him. He’s so sure of himself. In control.

A ball of fire ignites in her gut and her head spins. This kiss is about the sexiest thing she’s ever
experienced, which makes no sense.
This is Dean.

They’re parked in front of his parents’ house, ready to go inside, and then
BAM!
He drops this on her. She certainly never thought about kissing Dean before, but if she had, she never would’ve expected this.

Kissing him shouldn’t feel like this. This is Jinny’s little brother. Dean Michaels. Friend. Brother I never had.

This should be illegal.

Callie moves her arms, drawing him closer to her, pressing him into her chest and moaning.

I should totally stop
this.

If only I were stronger…but I’m so weak.

He angles his head, grabbing her hair in his fist and brushing his tongue against hers again. She moves her hands down to his arms and squeezes his biceps, trying to steady herself, to bring herself down from
the cloud she’s floating on, but the feel of his muscle tightening and coiling under her hands only makes her think about his chest and what it would feel like to run her hands…

Weak. Weak. Weak. Why am I so weak?

She gasps as he gently scrapes his teeth o
ver her lower lip. In the back of her head she hears a knocking sound, and for a moment, she thinks it might be her sensibility jarring loose. But in the next breath, Dean’s kisses slow, and she can feel the slight shift in his embrace before he pecks her
softly on the mouth one last time and pulls away. Eyes still closed, Callie starts to protest, then stops herself.

God, don’t beg for it. What in the H-E-double hockey sticks was that?

Trying to slow her breathing, she swallows and blinks her eyes open. He
’s watching her with slate-blue eyes she could drown in. A thick fog envelops her thoughts and she finds it hard to think about anything but his mouth.

“You’re kissing!” A voice calls from behind them.

Callie jumps in Dean’s arms, a small yelp escaping her
swollen lips.

“Oh, I never thought I’d see the day.”

The voice registers and Callie’s eyes shoot open to the size of meteors.
Oh. My. God. No-no-no-no…

She swallows. “Is that?”

“
Yeah
. It’s my mother.”

Turns out it wasn’t her sensibility knocking. 

The co
rner of his mouth turns up into a grin and he stares at her, the heat from his gaze unnerving. But the mortification setting in is far worse than the intensity emanating from his stare.

She feels her face burn, and knowing his mother is standing right behi
nd her, just outside the window, takes her mind off the mind-boggling, toe-tingling kiss she just had. Still, she doesn’t have the strength to turn around. “She saw us—”

“Yep.”

Callie closes her eyes and listens as his mother calls out. “Come, you two. It’
s freezing out here. You have plenty of time to make out later. Dinner’s waiting.”

OMG. Did Mrs. Michaels just say they had time later to
make out
?

Callie opens her eyes to see the grin on Dean’s face spread into a full-on smile.

Yes. Yes, she did.

She hea
rs the subtle squeak of the Michaels’ front door opening, then closing. Why couldn’t she hear that initially?
Like, before Mrs. Michaels caught me sucking face with her son. Of course, if I hadn’t been so caught up...

The enclosure of the car grows quiet.
It
’
s just the two of them again. The steady beat of her pulse is the only thing she can hear in the silence, and she wonders if Dean can hear it, too. Her nerves dance as she realizes that she
’
s still in his arms. He
’
s cradling her, in fact, and the memory
of his hands tangling in her hair, kneading the back of her neck, and cupping her face, along with his velvet mouth don
’
t fit with the boy she
’
s known forever.

Is this really the same Dean I’ve known all my life? And how did I not notice this sexy side of
him before?

She clears her throat and nods toward his arms. Releasing her, he leans back into his seat. “Sorry,” he says.

“
Well
…” She tries to think of something to say, something that will thin the air between them that seems to be growing thick by the s
econd. “I guess she certainly believes we
’
re a couple now.”

Dean laughs, leans his head back, and rubs his face. “You should
’
ve seen her face. I don
’
t know whether to be completely creeped out to see my mom so excited about me making out in front of her or
glad because she
’
s happy and buys our story.”

Callie grins and shakes her head. “We
’
re insane.”

That kiss was insane. Insanely hot!

“We might just be, but are you ready?” He nods toward the house. “We better go in before she comes back out here and yanks
us from the car.”

Callie takes a deep breath, steeling the nerves doing jumping jacks in her chest. “Okay. Let
’
s go.” She steps out of the car and waits as Dean comes around to meet her. He grabs her hand and squeezes.

“Here goes nothing.”

#

Jinny smiles
at them as they enter the dining room and raises her brows at Dean. “Hey, guys. Whatcha doin’?”

Callie widens her eyes and grits her teeth at her best friend. But she
’
s unstoppable. Tipping her head back, she laughs. “Man-oh-man, I can
’
t believe you let Mo
m catch you making out like that. You shoulda heard her, too. She came busting in here, saying how cute it was with you two pawing all over each other.” Jinny makes a gagging noise. “Talk about sick.” She laughs once more, then walks over to Callie as her
mother enters the room with a giant bowl of salad in her hands.

“When did all that start?” she asks, her voice a whisper.

Callie shrugs, then awkwardly glances at Dean. He
’
s still holding her hand, looking completely at ease, pretending he can
’
t hear their
conversation.

Her mother sets the salad on the table and swoops in between her and Jinny, saving her from answering the
question.

Dean breaks off and lunges toward the table. “
Food,
” he says, grabbing a chunk of carrot from the salad. Mrs. Michaels swats
at him, but he pops it into his mouth along with a cucumber before she can stop him. He chews, and for a minute Callie
’
s mesmerized. Her eyes linger on his mouth, his lips. The ones that just minutes ago were on hers...

Lips. Lips. Lips.

Fluttering her eye
s shut for a moment, she shakes her head.
Focus
.