Hot Blooded (16 page)

All I could do in response was whimper as he lowered his head again and circled his tongue gently around my clit.

Callum knew what he was doing, too. He knew exactly how to start slow and gentle and work me up so I could feel the orgasm that he was going to give me approaching. I trusted him to get me there. He made sure the groundwork was well and truly laid before he even thought about going a little bit harder or faster. He looked up at my face when he sensed I was getting close.

"Are you going to come, Lily? Are you going to come for me, gorgeous?"

He knew I was too far gone to answer so he just lowered his head between my legs again and started using his whole tongue, pushing it hard against my clit and not stopping until I could feel the explosion was imminent.

"Callum!" I cried, just before he got me there.

"Come, Lily. Come for me."

He slid his arms underneath me and pulled my hips up just as I felt myself falling over the cliff. I sank my nails into his scalp helplessly, my body seizing with pleasure. I moaned his name over and over as his tongue wrung every last quiver out of me and then I lay there, unable to think or move, just panting hard and stroking my hand over his head.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked, noticing that he was looking down, almost like he was in pain.

As soon as I saw his face, I knew he hadn't heard me. His jaw was tight and his eyes were completely focused on my body.

"Lily, I need-"

Of course. "I know what you need, Callum," I said, opening my legs for him.

He moved up my body, bending to kiss my mouth and reaching down to wrap his hand around himself and rub the tip of his cock up between my lips.

"Oh Jesus, Lily," he moaned when he felt my wetness.

The only thing in the room that afternoon was Callum's need. He didn't need to warn me because it was all there was. It was completely and utterly intoxicating, like being under a spell of some kind, compelled to give him what he wanted. When he pushed himself into me, groaning and not stopping until my breath was catching in my throat, it was perfect. I loved feeling full of him - too full, the sensation verging on pain but not quite.

"Baby," he said, looking down at me, his voice ragged, "are you OK? Am I hurting you?"

He knew how big he was. I got the feeling he also knew he no longer had the self-control to hold himself back. He was asking for permission. I turned my face up to his and kissed his mouth.

"I'm OK, Callum. I don't want you to hold back. Not at all."

He exhaled heavily when I said that, pulling almost all the way out and then thrusting back in again until his forehead creased and his jaw tightened.

"Lily, are you - I mean, I-"

"Callum." I took his face in my hands. "I want everything. Don't go slow. Don't hold back."

He started to reply, but his voice got caught in his throat when he looked down to where our bodies met. He hunched down over me until my face was pressed into one of his shoulders. He stayed in control as long as he could, wincing and digging his fingers into the flesh of my hips as he held back, but I knew it wasn't going to take much. And seeing him like that - so completely at the mercy of desire, so lost in how sweet it felt, just got me there again.

"Mm, Callum. Callum, I'm-"

"Oh fuck, Lily. Are you going to come again?" He groaned, baring his teeth."Are you - Lily, I'm, oh shit, ohh-"

The second he started to come, I came again, my orgasm seemingly an automatic, inbuilt response to his, my sex contracting around him, my whole body desperate to give him as much sweetness and pleasure as I could. He was loud, too, leaning his head back and shouting my name as he spilled himself into me. It was only later, remembering it, that it crossed my mind to wonder if the neighbors had been home or not.

I watched him pull out of me and wrap his hand tightly around the base of his cock before sliding it all the way up to the tip one last time.

"I love that, Callum."

"What, this?"

"That thing you just did - that squeezing thing. It's so fucking sexy."

He looked up at me with one of those 'are-you-completely-nuts' expressions on his face."Really? You crazy little thing, why do you like that?"

I shrugged and rolled over on the sofa, making a face at the sudden sharp pain in my thighs when I closed my legs. Callum noticed.

"Oh, Lily, are you hurt? I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop my-"

I put my hand on his thigh and shook my head. "No, Callum, I'm fine. My thighs just feel a little sore. And just to reiterate, I never want you to hold back. OK? Ever. Not one bit."

He looked at me for a few seconds, working out how much of what I was saying was the truth.

"That's a dangerous thing to say, Lily."

"Maybe it is," I agreed, "but there are more dangerous things in this world. I'm a big girl. I know what I want."

He sat down on the couch next to me and pushed my hair off my face, tucking it behind my ears and searching my eyes before kissing me.

"You," he whispered, "are perfect. Even if you're wrong about there being more dangerous things that this."

I lay back, my limbs feeling like they were made of warm Jello. "What about great white sharks? What about grizzly bears? Or what about grizzly bears with great white sharks riding on their shoulders?"

Callum stroked a lazy hand up my bare thigh. "Nah, not as dangerous."

"Not as dangerous as Callum Cross with a hard-on? The grizzly-shark might take issue with that ego," I teased.

He leaned in very close to my face and kissed my neck just below my ear.

"Not you, though, right?"

I grinned and conceded. "No, not me."

He gave me a little smack on the leg. "Just as I thought! Now, tell me what you mean."

"Hm?" I asked, "What do you mean what do I mean?"

He rolled over on his back and lay his head in my lap, gazing up at me. "What you just said a minute ago. That you're a big girl and you know what you want. What do you want, Lily Parker?"

"Oh God," I said, balking almost instinctively and trying to get up. He refused to let me.

"No, Lily. Answer the question if you're such a big girl. Tell me what you want."

I was silent for a little while, trying to think of some way to respond without sounding like I was avoiding the topic but also without having to give anything away.

"What are you so scared of?" Callum asked, before I could think of anything to say. "Why can't you just say it? I said it."

"Did you?" I asked, sounding more confrontational than I'd intended to. "You said you thought about me a lot, but I don't recall too many specifics."

He reached up and stroked my cheek tenderly. "Lily, Lily, Lily."

"What?"

"I just want to know if this is something you're interested in, you silly thing. You play your cards so close to your chest, Lily. I mean, is it really some mystery to you how I feel? I'm completely gone on you, you know. Totally bewitched. If you told me to go out into the street naked right now and sing God Save The Queen backwards, I would."

'Bewitched.' 'Gone.' The words rang in my ears. And as soon as I heard them it dawned on me that I already knew. I already knew how he felt about me, even as that part of myself that enjoys being terrified refused to accept it. And if I already knew, surely he did, too?

"Callum," I said.

"Lily?" He replied.

"Come on, you know. You must know!"

He looked up at me with those crystalline blue eyes of his and gave me a slight smile. "I want you to say it, Lily. I want you to tell me I'm not wasting my time falling for some Canadian weirdo who's just using me for my conversational skills - and my dick."

I scrunched my face up and took a deep breath, fighting almost every single instinct in me telling me to shut the hell up.

"I feel the same way as you do, Callum. I'm scared I feel more than you do. That's why I haven't said anything. It's not just you, either. It's always hard for me to say things like this. I don't know why. It's just the way I am."

He watched me for a few seconds, saying nothing. Then he lifted himself up on his elbows and kissed me between my breasts before looking up. "There. Was that so hard?"

"No," I started, "that wasn't so hard. The hard part comes when you realize you've put yourself on the line for someone who doesn't feel the same way about you."

He kissed me again, in that little hollow just below the place where my collarbones met. "Then you have nothing to worry about, Lily. Because I do feel the same. In fact I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to be capable of anything except thinking about you ever again. It's all I do. I'm not exaggerating, either. It's getting kind of embarrassing."

I tightened my arms around Callum's head, pulling him against my breasts and flushing with happiness at what he was telling me. "Really? Callum, I mean,
really
?"

"Yes, Lily. Really."

We stayed there like that for a few minutes, basking in the warmth of each other - of being together-only to be interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a belly rumbling.

"Oh!" I said, looking down self-consciously. "Was that me?"

"Nope," Callum laughed. "That was me. I'm starving. Do you have any food in this place?"

"Uhh," I started, not actually sure if I did have any food. "Yeah, I think so. I think there's some bananas or apples in the fridge. Feel free to help yourself."

I stayed on the sofa and let Callum wander buck-naked into the kitchen and inspect the contents of the fridge on his own. Almost as soon as I heard the door open, the commentary started.

"Hmmmm. You have out of date eggs, white wine, sriracha, more white wine aaaand...nothing. Lily, how are you alive?"

I then heard the cupboards being opened and closed,thenCallum came back into the sitting room and eyeballed me.

"What?" I asked, defensively. "I'm a busy woman."

"Apparently you are. But you've given me an appetite, and old eggs and hot sauce aren't going to cut it. Let's order pizza."

I didn't really want to order pizza. It came as a shock to me to realize, suddenly, that what I actually wanted to do was prepare something for Callum. To cook for him. To serve him. Jesus, is that all it took? Two stunning orgasms and I was ready to put on an apron and start baking pies?

"What? Pizza not good enough for you?" He asked, walking over and bending down to kiss me again. I grabbed his shoulder before he could stand back up and looked him in the eyes.

"Actually, no. I was just thinking that what I really want to do is make you something. How are you doing this to me? I can't even boil an egg."

"See?" He said, reaching down and running his hand casually over one of my breasts. "Sex is more dangerous than grizzly bears -
and
great white sharks."

After considering a trip to the grocery store and deciding we were both too lazy, we did end up ordering pizza. It's amazing how spending time with someone you're extremely taken with can make even the most mundane things feel exciting and strangely brand new. After we finished eating I cuddled up next to Callum on the sofa and put my head on his chest.

"I have to tell you something, Lily," he said. Something in his tone made me look up. "I have to tell you this. I have to let you know before either of us does anything stupid."

Oh God. I really did not like his sudden seriousness.

"Callum," I asked, sitting up again as my nerves started to jangle, "what is it? You sound like you're about to confess something dire."

He rubbed his hand over his forehead. "Well, I think I might be. I have to leave Streatham. I have to move."

"OK..." I said, my mind racing. What had happened? Had there been some disagreement at the Club? "Why? Did something happen?"

"Yeah. A lot of things happened. I've actually managed to get myself into something that makes illegal fights look like nothing. Gazza's into some heavy shit, some shit I didn't know about, and he's trying to pull me into it, too. I know if I stay I'm going to get sucked in even further, and I don't want that."

"Oh?"

I tried to keep my voice neutral, not to betray an interest greater than my concern for Callum himself would warrant. I didn't even realize that that was all my interest was. I wasn't asking questions for the investigation, and I wasn't suddenly filled with worry about it. My concern was for Callum and for Callum only. The pit of anger inside me that had been there since Linda Trout's murder flared up like a fire. What the fuck was Gazza trying to get Callum involved in now? Without even realizing it I was already viewing him as a victim of his boss, not a colleague.

"Yeah. It's a long story and if you don't mind, I don't want to go into details right now. I will, but just - not right now. I don't even want to talk about this, I just reckoned you should know."

"You have to move. OK. Is Gazza threatening you?"

"No - well, not specifically and not just yet, but I'm out and he isn't going to like that."