22. Callie
Callie
I jumped and clutched the album to my chest. “Shit! You scared me half to death.”
He held my gaze and then looked at the couch. Time stood still as the two of us silently wondered if he should sit down or just go ahead and leave. I wanted him there. I knew it wasn’t right of me to ask him to stay, though, especially not when I was constantly telling them no.
He rolled his eyes and folded himself into the space next to me on the floor. His body was pressed to mine from shoulder to knee but it was so comforting that I couldn’t even pretend I wanted to move.
“That Ollie?” Cole stroked his finger over Ollie’s photographed cheek and smiled softly. “He came out that serious, huh? Noah flipped me off on day one. I still haven’t decided if it was an accident or not.”
I sighed as he flipped the page and my favorite picture of Oliver came into view.
We were wrapped up after swimming lessons and despite being so small and despite how much he hated touching the water, he had the brightest smile on his face while looking up at me.
I was staring back at him and I’d never considered looking at myself for flaws to hate the photo when Oliver was there, smiling at me like I’d hung the moon and stars for him.
“He was always serious and quiet. I get these moments like this one, though, and they’re that much sweeter for it.”
“He’s a good kid.” Cole stretched his arm out along the couch behind me and flipped another page. “You were just as beautiful then as you are now.”
As always when the picture of Oliver’s dad caught my gaze, my stomach sank.
It was the only picture that existed of Lane Flannagan holding his son.
Each time I saw it I could almost convince myself to move it, hide it, or, on the bad days, even trash it.
Then I imagined the day Oliver wanted to know where he came from and kept it right where it was.
“Is that Oliver’s dad?” Cole gently took the album and put it down on the table. “You just went so stiff that I’d be flattered if you were a man.”
I let out a laugh and then dropped my head back over his arm. The roughness of his arm hair felt oddly good against my neck. “That’s his dad, my ex-husband.”
“Is there a big story there?”
“Not really. We got married before we should’ve, had a shit marriage for a few years, had a baby because that’s what couples do, and then he fell into a woman named Mandy’s vagina and left before Oliver turned one.
” I turned my face to him and made a face.
“It’s nothing new; a tale as old as time.
I save the picture for Oliver, if he ever wants to see his dad, but I feel a flash of rage each time I see it. ”
“What kind of stupid fuck would cheat on you?” Cole shook his head and glared at the album. “Does he still live around here?”
I grabbed the hand not rubbing my arm and squeezed it against my chest. “I don’t even care about the cheating anymore.
Why would I? Any man who’s willing to walk away from his family is a bullet I’d always prefer to dodge.
It’s him walking away from Oliver that eats me up.
Someone who thought they were being helpful a few years ago told me that he has a new family now, one he’s raising.
I considered hunting the piece of shit down myself until I remembered what a shit dad and sorry lay he really was. ”
That brought a wide grin to Cole’s face. “He was a sorry lay, huh?”
I nudged him with my shoulder and somehow ended up with my cheek pressed against his chest and his arms wrapped around me. “Cole?”
“We’re just talking, Callie.” He kissed the top of my head and sniffed. “You smell so fucking good. It shouldn’t be allowed, not if I’m not allowed to have you.”
I slowly moved my arm across his stomach so I could hold him back. My heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of my chest and into his. “Were the boys okay?”
“They’re fine. Is it okay that I put Noah in with Ollie?”
“Yeah, of course.”
Cole shocked me by climbing to his feet like it wouldn’t have taken me an old person grunt to do the same and picked me up. He settled us on the couch with me sitting sideways across his lap and pulled my head back to his chest. “Has there been anyone else since your ex?”
I was too busy trying to process that I was on his lap to think about my words. “Not until you three. I never had time. Bigger than that, the idea of bringing someone else into Oliver’s life who would possibly walk out on him just like his father did is nightmare fuel for me.”
“What about you, though, Callie? Have you been lonely?” The look in his eyes promised he’d keep me from being lonely if I gave him the chance. It also promised bad, bad things if I didn’t get off his lap. Bad, bad things that would be so, so good.
“I…” I swallowed and looked away. “I don’t know. I don’t normally have time to be lonely. What about you?”
He slowly trailed his fingertips up and down my arm. “Do I get lonely?”
“Yes. Do you get lonely?”
“I guess I did.” His lips lifted in a salacious smirk. “Now I just get needy.”
My lower stomach tightened. “Needy?”
“Needy.” Cole put his hand on my knee and slowly slid it higher on my thigh. “Since that night. I can’t be lonely because it feels like you’re always with me, plaguing my mind. And so fucking needy because you’re never actually there for me to touch.”
I licked my lips when his hand stopped at the hem of my shorts, anticipation stealing my breath.
I held his gaze and let his icy blue eyes rule me.
When they dropped to my lips I felt like I’d been punched.
Knowing that he wanted to kiss me, feeling it so strongly, made me careless.
The only rule I could think of was whatever he wanted.
“Do you get needy, Callie?” His voice lowered enough that I found myself leaning into him so I didn’t miss a single sound he made. “Do you think of me and wish I was here to touch you?”
The hand on my thigh tightened for a moment and I paused, holding my breath to see if he’d move it closer to where I needed it.
He didn’t budge, though, and I found myself shifting my legs open even so slowly and only enough that I didn’t think he’d notice but he was as tuned into my body as I was his.
“Seems like maybe you get needy, too, Cupcake.” He pulled me tighter to his chest and put both hands on my back. I waited for his next move but he just held me. Even when his heart thumped against my cheek and his breathing sped up, he stayed respectful and followed my previous wishes. Damn him.
I stayed there, stiff as a board, with a growing damp spot in my panties that I would have to address as soon as possible. “I guess I should go to bed…”
He grunted and let go of me. When I moved to get up, though, he gripped my hips and used that grip to pick me up and put me down so I was straddling him.
My blood turned to lava as he slid his hands around to my ass and jerked me forward.
There was no hiding his erection with it trying to fight its way to me through his jeans.
I put my hands on his chest and leaned back, torn between begging him to fuck me and remembering I couldn’t do just that for some reason or another. “W-what-”
“Take what you want.”