Chapter 18-Callie
Holy Sugar Honey Iced Tea…
The vulnerable man who was standing in front of me a second ago? He’s been replaced by a sexy beast, all toned muscle with a sizzling hot mouth, a walking-talking seduction. He’s wielding the most addictive drug on the planet with that kiss of his.
His arms circle me, hands cupping my ass and leaving my panties a mess. My thighs are on fire as he sucks at my pulse point. He moans and my ovaries are already in orbit somewhere over the Rockies. He thrusts his hips against my belly with that monster in his trousers and...
“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” I gasp, pushing him back against the wall. “Ezra, a minute ago, you could barely draw a breath. Are you really okay?”
“I am when I’m kissing you.”
Oh help. He’s staring at my mouth like a hungry wolf stares at a steak. Someone has to keep their head on straight here. “How long have you struggled with this?”
He glances down at his evident erection straining against his pants and smirks. “Well…”
“With panic attacks and crowds, you fool,” I clarify, putting my hands on my hips.
He shrugs, obviously not in the mood to talk about it. “Since middle school, first big championship game when there were more people there than I’d ever seen in one place in my life.”
“Just all of a sudden that day?”
“My mother had just left us,” he mutters.
“Oh, Ezra.”
“I’m fine, Callie. She didn’t love us. Whatever. I can deal with it. They just caught me off guard tonight.”
Ah, Prickly Ezra is making an appearance. Just like when Wyatt first wakes from a hard nap, I decide to tread carefully. “I know you can deal with it but you shouldn’t ignore your pain.” He scowls at me and I know he’s not ready to talk about it. “Do these panic attacks only happen at busy venues?”
His chin drops to his chest. “Mostly but sometimes just a standard gathering is enough. I don’t know precisely what will set it off and I hate that. The night of the ball when I met you in that stairwell, I’d gone up to the roof for air because-”
“Because it was so crowded?”
He nods. “Fresh air or a pleasant distraction helps put it behind me.”
“And, kissing me was a pleasant distraction?”
“Don’t misunderstand me, Callie. You’re the biggest fucking distraction I’ve ever met but you’re much more than a mere distraction, too.”
Oof, there he goes getting my butterflies all flippity-flappity. “What about Amber and your assistant?”
He smirks again. “You were jealous.” I could smack him.
“Lipstick on your collar less than twenty-four hours after you made me come on your sofa, asshole.”
“I don’t give a fuck about that reporter and my relationship with my assistant is purely professional. But, she was crying yesterday. I listened. I told her to go home and feel better. She hugged me. There’s nothing more to it.”
“Okay…”
Do I dare believe him? Chase is his brother. Did their apples truly fall on opposite sides of the tree?
He tilts his neck, leaning forward until our foreheads are touching again. We draw a deep breath as one. “Callie…” he rasps and there goes the final threads of my logic because I want another kiss. “Do you know how much you frustrate the hell out of me sometimes?”
“Excuse me?!”
He chuckles at my irritation, his hand rising up to stroke my hair. That intense way he stares at me, it makes me weak in the knees. It always has.
“You’re stubborn to a fault and wary as hell when it comes to me. Yet, I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone. Knowing you could be jealous over me, even for a few minutes, makes me happy. Because I wanted to knock Dud’s teeth out every second I saw him near you. I wanted to tear Dean Culver in two the other day simply because he’s got to spend so much more time with you the past five years than I ever did. Same goes for the other partners at Golden Gate.”
I snort back giggles. Right or wrong, I’m undeniably charmed by Ezra’s jealousy. “There’s never been anything between me and any of them. They intimidate the hell out of me and I’m sure they’d never look twice at me.”
“You shouldn’t be intimidated. You’re so fucking strong and smart and full of brilliant ideas. They’re lucky to have you. And, I’d bet money, if they’ve got working eyes, they’ve probably looked twice at some point because you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
I shake my head. All of them except Grant are desperately in love with their ladies while I worry sometimes that Grant doesn’t understand the meaning of the word. “Well, you’re wrong. You’re the closest thing to a boss I’ve ever crossed lines with, too, Big Bird.” I nip at his biteable bottom lip to sweeten the teasing nickname and we move closer together.
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not really your boss. I’d never get a damn thing done.”
He wraps those strong arms around me, lifting me up. All restraint is washed away. My legs circle his waist and he’s carrying me down this darkened hall to places unknown. We kiss as he walks, soft pecks, playful bites. And, his hard-on is centered right where I want it, every step bringing me the most delightful friction. Distractions like this really are the best.
A door is shoved open and I catch sight of some weight equipment, a training room for the team. Ezra turns to kick the door closed and lays me down on a padded table, something the trainers use to assess injuries and massage sore limbs, I think.
“Ezra… anyone could walk in here and-”
“I need to hunt that guy from the bar down, too. The ex-neighbor who was clearly more than neighborly with you in the past.”
My cheeks grow hot at his possessive tone as he yanks his jersey over his head. He’s wearing a fitted black tee. My mouth starts watering while gazing at his muscled arms. My mind is busy picturing the rest. “Do you mean Leo?”
I yelp when he climbs onto the table, hovering over me with dark green fire blazing in his eyes. “Say his name one more time, darling, and I promise you’ll be screaming mine before I allow you to get up again.”
I’m stunned by his fierce desire. And, so turned on. “I don’t understand how you can say things like this when you didn’t even like me back at Princeton.”
He chuckles but it’s a mirthless sound. “Callie, I was a fucking idiot every time I came near you back then. You left me breathless and incapable of saying one goddamn thing right, worse than any crowd ever managed. Do you know why?”
I shake my head though, somewhere deep inside, I think I do.
“I never disliked you. I liked you too much. From the moment we met, I wanted you… but you were my brother’s girl.”
His brother’s girl and oh so blind. I recall the spark that was always there between Ezra and I, the blunt truths and fumbled longings a stark contrast to the saccharine words Chase would feed me. Ezra would never have needed me to help him pass his classes either. He might not have always agreed with me but he wouldn’t have used me.
I cup his cheek, staring into his soul as his words light up mine. “Ezra, kiss your brother’s ex-girlfriend. Make me forget I ever knew his name.” Never have I ever seen a man burning up with hunger this way. “I’ll also expect you to be true to your word...”
“I’d never cheat or-”
“....when I say a certain name.”
“What do you-”
“Leo,”I whisper, my eyebrows raised in challenge.
He snarls and lunges forward but there’s humor in his eyes when our mouths crash together. A deep, claiming kiss, it has my back arching off the table even with Ezra pinning me to it.
Yet, that one kiss is all I get before he slides off the table at my feet. I whine in protest. “Hush, darling. I’m kissing your other lips now,” he rumbles.
Oh, hell. His hands roughly grip my leggings and panties, tearing them down over my hips, exposing my legs and what’s between, until the clothes are twisted around my ankles. He yanks me down the table, bringing my pussy right to the edge and licks his lips. Fuck me, the hungry wolf is back.
My leg muscles burn as he wraps one strong hand around my ankles and pulls them up at a ninety degree angle. What the hell? My hot cheeks burn hotter realizing how intently he’s studying my body. “Look at that beautiful cunt, darling, wet and wanting. So sweet, I can’t wait to lick up all your cream.”
“Jesus, Ezra,” I whisper, shocked and rocked to my core.
He kneels and, with his height, this table’s the perfect height for his feast. A firm push to my knees and he’s got me opening my thighs, spreading myself for him. He pulls my bound legs over his head and shoulders, like a safety harness on a roller coaster. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster as need thumps through me, the click-click-click of the chain pulling me up the hill before that first breathless fall.
His hand slips between my legs, touching me there. I buck and gasp, already drawn so tight. His tongue replaces his hand, tracing a wet, hot trail along my slit. He’s barely started and I can already tell he’s good at this. Much better than whatshisname ever dreamt of being.
His thumb finds my clit, gently circling and applying pressure. When I glance down between my thighs, he’s staring back at me, gauging my reactions, figuring out what pleases me most. He sucks one puffy lip into his mouth and then the other. His chin and stubble shines from my arousal when he turns to kiss the inside of my thigh.
Then, he settles down and gets serious. I try to squirm away and he locks me down with one powerful arm over my hips. Lord, I’m going to lose my mind. I beg him to end my torment but he takes his time, his tongue lazily flicking my clit and then sucking lightly. Stars start to appear behind my eyelids.
He fingers me and then his mouth is there, drinking me up. He hums and moans as he licks me and I remember how he came the other night from one touch. More arousal pools in my core with the memory. “That’s right, little hummingbird. Let me have all your sweet nectar.”
“Ezra…” I whimper, ready to come and also begging for more.
He gives it. Shoving my legs as far apart as he can get them with my pants still around my ankles, his hands snake up the jersey I’m wearing, the one with his name branded on the back. His. I feel like his.
He slips under my bra and tugs at my nipples, making them pebble. He gives a little pinch and a low moan breaks through my clenched teeth. A million nerve endings spark and dance, joining the party happening down below. He buries his face between my folds, wholly devoted to the task of getting me off. Darkness and light stretch out before me, the crash and high I want so badly.
Another expert flick of my clit. “Look at me,” he growls. I couldn’t look anywhere else if my life depended on it. “This pussy is mine. All I’ll ever need and only for me, do you understand?”
Like I’ve been hypnotized, I nod and, when he flicks my clit again with his tongue and his fingers plunging into my heat, I reach for his hair and scream his name. “Ezra!”
Holy shit, I’ve never come so hard. The pleasure radiates from my core to all my extremities. My toes are curled and my mouth falls open.
I float in a gossamer land of contentment as he continues gently kissing and nuzzling me, lapping up the last of my juices for his own and not even complaining about the death grip I still have on his thick, soft hair.
“Ezra, that was…”
An insistent buzzing noise cuts off my words and the things I want to admit. Grumbling, Ezra frees my legs from his shoulders and stands to answer his phone. His phone. Here at his arena. Where his hockey team is playing in front of twenty thousand fans.
“Yes, I’m here, Dad. No, I can come up in a bit to greet them. I just… got preoccupied with something else.”
Preoccupied by pussy when he’s got other things to do. So, do I. Guilt smashes through the last of my orgasmic bliss. I’ve left my little boy and my stepdad for who knows how long now. They must be worried about me while I was only focused on what I wanted in the heat of the moment. Selfish, Callie. How could you?
“Whatever is spinning in that head of yours, I’d like to know,” he murmurs once he’s hung up.
“I’m thinking I need to get back to my son.”
“I could drive you all home after-”
“I think it’s better if you don’t. Not tonight.”
“Let me have a car take you home at least.”
“Alright, a car. Wyatt’s first game is next week and I know he wants you to come see him play.”
With a heavy sigh, Ezra nods, saying he would love that. He helps me to my feet, kneeling to pull my panties and leggings up for me. His lips brush my thigh before I’m covered, making me shiver with longing all over again. “Don’t regret what we did, darling. I won’t.”
“I’ll try not to,” I promise.
Don’t make me regret the fact I’m falling for you.