18
18
Callum
Hey speaker, play: “Black Magic Woman” by Fleetwood Mac.
Juniper coughed, whisky staining her lips.
“Shit – give me some warning next time.”
“Well?” I demanded, too desperate for her answer to be polite.
“No one you know.”
My teeth clacked.
I didn’t know if that made it better or a hundred times worse.
A sneaking, jealous part of me expected her to say Jamie Stewart, while another had been terrified she’d say Alistair.
“And you?” A touch of curiosity lilted her tone.
“No one you know,” I mirrored.
I knew rumours around the village suggested I slept about, but the truth was, a monk had seen more action than I had in recent years.
The last time a woman so much as touched me was so long ago, I couldn’t even recall her face.
Not that I’d tell Juniper that, I had some pride left.
“Well, that was fucking stimulating.”
I laughed.
The sound felt odd after the depressing as fuck afternoon.
“Okay, how about this, why have I never seen you with a boyfriend?”
Her nose wrinkled.
“I don’t date on the island.”
It wasn’t exactly an answer, but I let it slide and she nodded that I should respond.
I chose my words carefully.
“I’ve never met anyone I wanted to be with.”
She paused long enough for me to know she understood my meaning, then didn’t look at me when she said, “It’s not like you don’t have plenty of contenders.” I searched her face for the barest hint of jealousy and found it in the tightness around her mouth.
“I suppose the more they try, the less I want it,” I teased.
She scoffed, just like I knew she would, and snatched the glass back.
“You’re such a man.”
“Not denying it.” Drawn into this game we were playing, I leant closer, knees slotting between hers.
“How many men have touched you since that night?”
“Probably fewer than you think.”
“That’s all you’ll give me?” My voice was low.
Rough. And if she glanced down at my sweats, well …
there’d be little hiding what this conversation was doing to me.
She sipped the drink, though it was mainly ice at this point.
“It’s all you deserve.”
“And what we had …” I cleared my throat, choking on memories of that night that fucking haunted me.
“That’s always how you like it?”
I was man enough to admit she’d struck me stupid, following me to my car, tempting me until I could scarcely remember my own name.
I’d been half crazed from a single taste.
If I’d hoped it would be enough to cure my need for her, I’d been sadly, foolishly mistaken.
My balls were still blue five years later.
I’d dreamed of it, letting the memory consume me over and over, until I was coming in my own hand before I woke up.
“Sometimes.” Her coy shrug said always.
“I like to be in charge, I don’t see why that’s a bad thing.”
It wasn’t.
Fucking hot was what it was.
The change in her posture, however, told me she hadn’t always been made to feel that way.
I shut the thought down, before the image of my brother and her together could surface.
Even that wouldn’t be enough to make me walk away this time.
“And let me guess, these boys you grant the privilege of being in your bed, they don’t like letting you take the lead?”
When her mouth tightened and she studied the darkened television, I knew I’d hit the nail on the head.
Fucking hell.
Knowing Juniper wasn’t getting what she deserved made me all the more desperate to be the one to give it to her.
“Anything you want. I’m game for it,” I promised.
She jerked, brown eyes almost black in the low light.
“Whatever you need, sweetheart … I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.” I shifted closer, breathing in the dizzying lightness of her scent.
It wasn’t overpowering and clawing like most perfumes.
Juniper Ross knew true temptation lay in subtlety.
“Do you want me to kiss you?” I asked, just like I had the day in my bathroom.
“No.” She didn’t shift away.
“You’re looking at me like you do.”
“There’s something in my eye.”
There was something in her eye, all right, something that might have scared a lesser man.
I imagined it was the same look a siren bestowed upon a sailor at the precise moment they realised they’d fucked up and were dragged to a watery grave.
I inched closer. Testing the boundaries.
“You wanted me to kiss you once before.”
“A colossal mistake.”
“Right now, I’m thinking it might have been the best idea I’ve ever had.” I studied her expression for the slightest give, the slightest hint that she wanted my mouth on her, my hands on her.
“What do you want, harpy? Tell me and I’ll make you come better than they ever did.”
“A bold statement.” Her pupils were pinpricks.
Words little more than a rasp.
“It’s only bold if I can’t back it up.” I had every intention of doing that and more.
I allowed the cocksure smile I knew she hated stretch over my features.
A challenge issued.
“Is Simon really a therapy bunny?” Her lips curled inward, as though she hadn’t meant to ask the question aloud.
“Yes,” I said, doing my best to keep up.
“Ugh! Why do you have to be so kind? It’s bloody irritating.” Her head fell back, exposing her throat, and I broke, chuckling as my nose found the dip in her collarbone where her pulse thundered.
“Are you turned on by my soft side, sweetheart?”
“Absolutely not!”
“Hmm. Then why are you suddenly all sweet for me?” I licked the skin of her neck and she shivered.
“I could show you my other therapy bunny if you like.”
“ Shut up . You’re ruining it.”
“I joke when I’m nervous.” I bit down on her earlobe.
“Shutting up now.”
She drew my chin away, face lowering to mine.
So close, my mouth watered at the prospect of finally tasting her lips again.
Just when I thought my heart was about to explode, she stood.
“Get on your knees.”
I couldn’t be sure if my groan was real or imagined, but I followed – I followed with such embarrassing speed, the thud echoed off the walls.
“Are we going to play, harpy?” I skimmed my nose over her waistband, gazing up like a love-struck dog at her feet.
“If you can stay quiet long enough.”
My tongue brushed the tantalising strip of skin between her shorts and jumper.
“I think you like my mouth – in fact, I think you’re about to love my mouth.”
“You’re talking a big game, Macabe.”
“Perhaps.” Her hand brushed over my cheek with surprising gentleness, fingers splitting into my hair where she gripped the roots, snapping my head back.
“Take off my shorts.”
Fuck .
Like they’d been released from tight constraints, my hands clasped the backs of her calves, curving into the dents behind her knees and up her thighs.
Our breaths stuttered in near perfect harmony.
When I reached the hem of her shorts, I had to remind myself to go slow, to not fuck this up again.
My fingers dipped beneath, and I swore at the first brush of her delicate inner thigh.
She might be in charge, but that didn’t mean I’d follow her command to the letter.
Instead of removing them, I pushed them higher, until the fabric bunched between her legs.
There’d be time to play later, right now, I needed to see her.
Needed to know if she was as pretty as I—
I paused.
Attention arrested by a delicate tattoo, half hidden by the scrap of pink lace.
“Well, well, well … this is a beautiful fucking surprise.” My hand moved with a mind of its own, thumb pushing the silky lace in, baring half of her to me as I read the word in its entirety.
I didn’t know where to begin.
Couldn’t form a single thought.
The colour. The word, permanently etched onto her skin.
Lucky.
I brushed a thumb over it and felt her tremble.
“ When —” my voice broke on a hoarse grunt.
“When did you get this?”
“I don’t know … Three years ago, maybe?”
If I hadn’t already been on them, relief would have sent me crashing to my knees.
Head spinning, I skimmed my nose from her inner thigh to the band of underwear, letting it brush over the neatly etched word I fully planned to worship.
Lucky.
“The clock’s ticking,” she hummed, though I could feel her muscles turning pliant in my hands.
My steady grip the only thing keeping her aloft when my face nestled into the lace between her legs, memorizing her scent.
A possessive rumble built in my chest. “Does this thing have teeth?”
She huffed a laugh.
“Only one way to find out.”
I licked the word this time and her head dropped back on a low moan.
Shedding her shorts, I collected her into my arms, laying her out on the rug before the fire.
The light danced off her skin and I drew back to take her in, mouth gaping in awe.
Juniper stared back at me, breasts rising and falling with laboured pants.
This is happening . Fuck …
this is actually happening .
Eyes locked with hers, my shaking fingers grazed from her knee to the little crease at the top of her thigh, where I paused, waited for her nod of consent.
“Touch me,” she sighed and pushed the lacy triangle to the side, far enough for me to fully see her.
Swear to god , I fucking whimpered.
“The prettiest little cunt I’ve ever seen, sweetheart.” Fingers curled, tugging the fabric tight as my eyes roved her body, from her glistening thighs to her nipples, straining through the knit of her jumper.
This is fucking happening .
I couldn’t believe it, even as I hooked her leg over my shoulder.
“Still hate me?”
“Absolutely.”
I smiled into her skin.
“Then let me hear it, harpy.”
At the first touch of my tongue she breathed, “I hate you.” Fuck , I barely even registered the insult, too busy savouring the taste of her on my lips.
“Not very convincing. How about you say my name instead.” I licked her again and her nails scraped across my scalp, fisting my hair like reins.
“That’s not how this works.” Another sharp tug.
“I’m in charge, remember?” And I loved it.
I never imagined I’d get off on being told what to do, but my cock was hard enough to crack rocks, aching for the slightest touch.
With one hand I reached down to rearrange myself, half tempted to slide it inside my sweats and pump until we were both screaming.
But I needed this to be all about her.
Long nails clawed at me, and I grinned and grunted at the same time.
“I remember, sweetheart … but when you come, you better say my fucking name.” I dove back in with a mindless ferocity.
Trying to categorise every nip that made her shudder, each touch that made her drag me closer.
But I was getting swept up in her reactions.
In the fact that her panting little moans were the precise tenor I’d imagined them.
“Now stop.” Her heel pressed into my shoulder, pushing me away.
Breathless and dazed, it took me a moment to catch up, to gather my rattled sanity enough to ask if everything was all right …
if I’d hurt her somehow.
But then she tugged her underwear down her legs, curled them into my palm and drew my head back between her legs.
Holy shit . She was having me edge her.
“Fuck, sweetheart.” I grunted against her wet thigh.
If perfection existed, it was this woman.
This moment. I couldn’t get enough.
My tongue found her clit again and her moan shuddered through her slow and long and so fucking sexy I could have come just from the sound of it.
“Look at me,” she panted.
“Already am.”
I couldn’t look away, not as her hips rolled and her eyes fluttered closed with ecstasy.
Paying close attention, I caught the rhythm she wanted.
Between every few strokes, I returned to that word again – lucky – flicking over the raised ink with my tongue while my hands pressed her wider.
Giving her the briefest second to steady herself before dragging her higher.
Lucky.
Lucky.
Lucky.
I ate at her like a man possessed.
Like a man who knew he had one chance and he better make it count.
Too bad I was fucking greedy.
I wanted more than that.
I wanted to inject myself into her bloodstream.
I wanted her body pining for my tongue and this fucking moment for the rest of her life, even if her mind and heart told her otherwise.
Other than her breathy moans, Juniper remained near silent, teeth clamped down on her lower lip as though, even in the throes of passion, her pleasure belonged to her and her alone.
It was the vice grip of her legs around my ears that revealed the truth, so tight they almost muffled my own thunderous groans.
“Don’t stop this time,” she ordered, her thighs wrapping impossibly tighter.
“Didn’t plan to – that’s right, fucking suffocate me, Juniper.” What a way to go .
Her nails dug into my neck.
“Can you just shut the fuck up?”
“That’s the weirdest thank you I’ve ever heard.” Another lick to her tattoo.
Her back curved, hips lifting in an attempt to follow my tongue.
“We aren’t arguing now. Either do this or get out.”
This didn’t feel like the time to remind her this was my house.
“Yes, ma’am.” I could tell from the flush of her face that our barbed words raised her blood, made her hotter.
You and me both, sweetheart .
When she came, she did so quietly, biting her lip and arching her neck.
Her coarse inhalations weaving around me like black magic.
I drew back to watch, sliding two fingers over her clit to stroke her through the final waves.
With one final tremor, her lower lip slid from between her teeth.
Her mouth looked softer than I’d ever seen it.
Heart ready to burst through my skin, I pressed my forehead against her damp skin, urging my body to settle.
A single touch from her and I’d spill in my boxers like a teenager.
Not quite ready for that level of shame, I pressed one last, lingering kiss just above her clit that sent another shudder through her.
She curled her legs around my neck as though not quite ready to release me.
“That was better than I ever imagined,” I whispered.
Fucking understatement .
Her knuckles brushed my hair, weaving the strands between her fingers.
Her tone amused when she asked, “Did you just go down on me in front of a roaring fire, Macabe?”
“I’m a romantic.” I nibbled on her thigh until she laughed, no clue how to play what came next.
It was entirely her call.
If she wanted more, I’d let her use my body in every depraved way we could think up together.
If she wanted me gone …
well , I’d find a way to give her that too.
The familiar blaring ringtone made the decision for me.
I froze. My only movement the tightening of my fingers on her hips.
If I held still perhaps the moment would freeze with me.
But it rang again, and reality swept in.
Eyes never straying from her, I snatched my phone from my pocket with sigh.
“Hey, Mum.” Happily caught in Juniper’s snare, I barely registered Mum’s words.
Some variation of what occurred every night.
“I’ll be right there,” I answered on autopilot.
Juniper watched me unmoving through the short exchange.
As soon as I disconnected the call, I pressed my lips to that spot a final time.
Lucky. And without even trying to disguise the heavy length pushing through my sweats, I stood.
“I have to go.”
“Can I help?”
“No … but thanks.” That was the absolute last thing I wanted.
Juniper nodded in understanding but made no move to cover herself.
Her thighs glinted in the firelight, slick from my mouth, from how wet she’d been for me.
Fuck , she was exquisite.
I forced myself to look away or I’d never make it out the door.
I could tell she was waiting for me to say something.
I needed to say something.
How did you encompass almost a decade’s worth of want culminating in a single soul-shattering experience?
Thank you for letting me go down on you?
The interruption was probably for the best. It would give her time to wrap her head around what happened without lust fogging her brain.
Pulling the blanket from the back of the sofa, I draped it over her, unable to stop my hand from delving between her legs and stroking her a final time.
“Don’t forget about me.”
“Are you talking to me or my pussy?” She hadn’t once screamed and yet her voice sounded hoarse.
Laughing, I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Both.” Then I pulled her hand to my mouth, kissing those perfectly manicured nails.
“Stay as long as you want.” Was it completely delusional to hope I’d find her tucked up in my bed when I returned?
Yes, but it didn’t stop the image from seeding and growing roots.
The significance of the moment didn’t hit until I shut myself inside my truck.
When I scrubbed a hand over my mouth and realised I could still taste her there.
My hands shook so badly it took me three tries to start the engine, clamming around the wheel as I drove the short distance on muscle memory alone.
Those too short minutes I’d had her beneath me changed everything, while for her , it might have meant nothing at all.