His lack of response answered the question.
"Can you just unbutton my dress? I need to sleep."
He slowly withdrew from my throat, silent as he undid the buttons from the top down.
I held my dress up as he worked his way through them. When he was done, I stepped into the bathroom long enough to strip the dress off and shift forms.
Sable padded sleepily to the bed, ignoring the roses as she burrowed under the thick blankets.
There was only one word for the expression I saw on Callum's face as she went.
Hurt.
He was hurt that I wasn’t letting him get me off.
I wanted to, but ultimately, I had to do what I had to do. And if we were ever going to have a real shot at love, rejecting him until he was willing to take a risk with me was exactly that.
fourteen
KAT
We stayedfive nights at the Honeymoon Hotel.
The "location" we were "visiting" switched three times a day, so we spent the morning in one, the majority of the day in another, and the evening and night in a third. The meals that appeared on the table in our room were straight out of those locations.
We were still supposed to be pretending that we were in love, so we couldn't do any work that required communicating with anyone else in any capacity, but we both had things to do that didn't involve anyone else.
So, we worked.
Ate incredible food.
Watched the hotel's video tours of different locations in the cities we were "visiting".
And maintained physical contact constantly.
Callum looked like an entirely new person by the time we left. His shoulders were more relaxed, his body was looser, and his eyes were brighter.
If I hadn't believed in his pain before—which I did—I definitely would've believed after.
He tried to start something with me every day, but when I asked him whether or not he was going to let me touch him, his response led to me turning him down.
It sucked for both of us. Me, even more than him, considering what I was refusing.
He seemed frustrated after the sixth time I rejected him. When I reminded him we were only together because we were fated, and asked him why the rejection bothered him, he said he didn't know. I took a shower, and left the door open so he could listen to me get myself off.
He'd been hard the entire rest of the day.
If fate handed you a dickish fae king, sometimes you had to be a dick right back.
We missedthe second round of challenges during our work-filled honeymoon, but the third was on Thursday, so we packed our bags and headed out.
I wore a pair of floral-patterned shorts Callum must've bought for me. I'd found them in my suitcase, which was indeed not only lingerie (though there was a significant amount of that). There was a cropped t-shirt that coordinated with it. Both were from my favorite brands, a fact that did not go unnoticed.
I thanked him, but wasn't over the top about it, and he told me not to thank him again. For anything.
The guy was so confusing.
I texted Jonah during the drive to the challenges.
