"Yes, Stella.Yes," Cal answered.
He sucked in a breath as my lips ghosted over his neck, jaw, shoulders. I kissed every inch of skin I could reach and then went back for more, for every bit of him I could keep for myself.Mine. I squirreled away each rumble and grumble that slipped past his lips, all his sighs and hums and growls.
I edged onto the bed, planting my knees on either side of him. He nudged at my opening and I groaned at the feel of him, hot and hard andmine. But then, "I don't have any, um, I don't keep any because I don't, I mean, I never, not here—"
"In my wallet," he gritted out.
I blew out a frustrated breath and leaned into Cal, our foreheads pressed together. "Okay," I murmured, nodding. "I'll do that, you get comfortable."
"The only thing I need for comfort is your cunt so hurry up."
Oh, my rumbly-grumbly man-brick.
I hopped off his lap and went in search of his jeans. They were on the other side of the room because I couldn't simply strip his clothes off and leave them nearby, I had to fling them away like an insult. I dropped to the floor, patting the fabric for his wallet and then holding it in both hands when I found it.
"I meant what I said, Stella," Cal called. I spared him a glance and found him kicked back on the middle of my bed, voluminous pillows at his back and blankets like an avalanche around him. The rigid line of his jaw refuted his casual pose. The hand curled around his cock too. "Hurry up."
Flipping his wallet open, I smiled at the driver's license announcing his full name but went straight for the condom tucked in with the cash. I made a quick dash for the bed, straddling his legs as I opened the packet. I tipped my chin down, toward his shaft. "Yes?"
He gave me a slow nod as he shifted his hands to my hips. "Yes," he said. The way he gazed up at me, it was the most magnificent heat I'd ever known. Like he could warm me through with nothing more than a stare.
And hell, I wanted to do that for him. I wanted to fill him with all the things he needed.
His hips bucked when I reached for him, rolled the condom down his length. Once it was in place, I shifted, dragging my breasts over his chest, up to his mouth as I crawled to him. He sucked my nipple into his mouth as I guided him into me. He rested his hand on the small of my back, holding me in place and then pulling me down as he surged into me.
I looked down, watching as his body met mine. I'd never felt as powerful and beautiful and desired as I did when he was inside me, his grumbles and growls mixing with my sighs and whispers until we were one sound, one body. I closed my eyes, focused on the rasp of his teeth on my nipple and the fullness of his cock and the need in my blood and the love in my heart. And I stopped thinking. Stopped looking for my panic, my escape hatch. Stopped bracing myself against the inevitability of heartbreak. Stopped holding back, keeping safe.
I pushed up to straddle his hips, my hands flat on his chest and his cock fully seated inside me and his gaze burning me, branding me. My body moved on its own, knowing what we needed without direction or thought.
Cal's eyes drifted shut and then opened again, searing right through me as he thrust up, stole my breath, stole everything I had to give.
"I think," I said, my words panting out in jagged syllables and tears filling my eyes, "I think I love you."
A snarl sounded in his throat. He reached up, thumbed away my tears, saying, "I think you do too."
30
Cal
Stella rolledoff me with a high-pitched "Whoa" as she hit the mattress.
"Yeah," I agreed, reaching for her. "Whoa."
My hand connected with her belly, the underside of her breast. I wanted to look at her, see the damage we'd done to each other. But that required turning my head and I'd spent the last of my strength on blasting into the condom like I was trying to incinerate the thing.
I'd thought about it, more than once. Thought about what Stella would feel like with nothing between us. What she'd look like with me spilling out of her. And I thought about it now as I eased the rubber down my shaft and deposited it in a wad of tissues.
There was no explaining my desire to bite her, to watch my seed splash on her skin. Never had these urges presented themselves before this woman. When I really thought about it, nothing before Stella was worth remembering. It'd been satisfying, a bit basic. I'd never felt starved for a woman, never wanted to possess a woman in every way possible, never felt unleashed by her nod, her "yes."
But even at forty-two, there was a first time for everything. There had to be, because I'd never wanted to rip off a condom and pound into a woman while she told me she loved me before tonight.
I'd heard the words before but they sounded different this time around. Felt different too, as if there was a space deep inside me meant to hold them, keep them. A space I'd never accessed before.
Stella curled into my side, nestling her head on my chest. Her cheek was still damp. They seemed like good tears, happy tears, great sex tears. "Are you all right, sweet thing?" I ran my knuckles down her face. "What's happening here?"
"I don't know," she whispered. "I might be dying. Maybe it's a heart attack. I don't know."
I reached across my body, pressed my hand between her breasts, just over the organ hidden behind layers of tissue and bone. It pounded fast, steady. "You're fine," I said. "Just well-fucked."
