Chapter 16
Callum
Her fingers make quick work of the clasp of my pants, and she shoves the fabric to the floor, leaving me in just my undergarments. I hook my thumbs in the waistband and lower them, watching her face as she watches me.
She sucks in a breath when my cock springs free, and I can’t help but preen under her gaze. Her eyes drift up to mine. “You were really going to keep this from me?”
My cheeks heat, and I have to close my eyes to try to tamp down the flush I don’t need overtaking my whole body.
She laughs and her hand slips into mine.
With just a gentle tug, she pulls me down onto the bed.
When my eyes open, she’s perched over me like some sort of mythical goddess.
Her golden hair tickles my chest, the citrus scent of her fills my nose, and how perfect—the thought crosses my mind—would life be if we could just stay in this bed forever.
I want more than anything to reach up and pull her lips to mine. But Caterine has done nothing but respect my boundaries, and I will do the same with hers.
Instead I watch her fingers as they trail over the bared skin of my torso, as they skate around my body, touching me everywhere but where I need her most. Which I guess is payback for teasing her earlier.
Finally, her hand finds my aching cock, so tight with wanting I have to force myself not to buck in her grasp. She strokes me slowly, her thumb gathering the wetness at the head and smoothing it down over my shaft. Her skin on my skin is almost otherworldly.
I trail my hand down the length of her arm, needing to feel the softness of her under my palm, needing every part of us to be joined.
“Does this feel okay?” she asks, her pace still slow, like she wants to drag this out for as long as she can. Like she too wants to stay trapped in this pleasure-filled bubble for as long as we can.
“It feels incredible. You know it does.”
She flashes me a wicked grin. “How about this?” She leans down, letting just the tip of her tongue trace the tip of my cock.
I hiss. “I thought today was hands and fingers only?”
“It was. For you.”
Without further warning, she takes me in her mouth. My hips thrust of their own volition, but Caterine doesn’t flinch. She takes me deeper and deeper until I hit the back of her throat.
I groan, fisting my hand in her hair. “Don’t let me hurt you.”
She releases my cock from her mouth, her fist continuing to pump me slowly. Her eyes meet mine and there’s something more than lust there. “I know you won’t.”
I sit up, moving so I’m on my knees, my weight resting on my heels. “I need to touch you.”
She studies me for a second before shifting her position, turning so that when her mouth returns to my cock, I can stroke her from behind.
The vibrations her moans send through my dick almost cause me to come on the spot, but she knows exactly when to pull back, exactly how to keep me from reaching the pinnacle.
Her pussy is still dripping. I slide three fingers into her as she works me with her tongue, bringing me to the edge and pulling me back again.
I know without her having to say it that she won’t let me come until she finds her own release, so I pump harder and faster, curling my fingers inside her while I thumb her clit.
She whimpers as she starts to tighten around my fingers, but she never lets up.
She takes me deeper, even as she cries out her release and my hips buck.
I lean back on one hand, the other still tight in her hair. My balls clench, and the familiar tingling starts low in my belly. “Fuck, Caterine, I’m going to come.” I release my hold on her hair, pulling back slightly, giving her space to move away.
But she doesn’t stop, sucking me deeper until the orgasm barrels out of me and I choke on her name. There’s a tightening in my chest, my lungs compressing so for a second I can’t breathe, but the sensation passes. In its wake there’s only a certainty, a sureness about the woman kneeling before me.
Caterine’s fist strokes me through the aftershocks, her tongue lapping at my cock, cleaning me of any remaining seed.
She places a kiss on the tip before straightening and sitting back, a shy smile on her gorgeous lips.
Neither of us speaks for several seconds, the air around us heady and hazy.
I want to pull her into my arms and burrow under the blankets, tucking her in for safekeeping.
I want to fall asleep with her head on my chest and wake up in the middle of the night to watch her at rest, at peace.
I want to know that whatever is binding me to her isn’t one-sided.
She stands before I have the chance to reach for her.
She crosses to the bathing chamber and I hear the faucet turn on.
When she comes back, she has a damp cloth in her hands.
She pushes me back on the bed so I’m lying flat and carefully wipes the lip prints from my skin.
She comes to the one on my chest last, the brightest one, stamped right over my heart.
I stop her hand. “I’m keeping that one.”
Our eyes meet, and we exchange something heavy and unsaid.
“It won’t last forever,” she tells me.
We both know she’s not talking about the lip print, but I can’t make myself believe it, even if I know it to be true.
“I know. It won’t last past tomorrow, actually.” I rise from the bed and begin to dress as the harsh reality settles in.
“Tomorrow? Does that mean you’re finally going to tell me what it is you really need me for?” There’s a hint of knowing in her amber eyes, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes.
I nod, stepping into my undergarments. “Yes. I hope that what I have to ask of you doesn’t make you think less of me.”
She watches me, perched on the edge of the bed with some unreadable emotion in her eyes. “I don’t think I could ever think less of you, Callum. Whatever it is you have to do, I know you have a good reason for it.”
“How can you know that after just a few short days?”
“You make it easy to know you, Callum Reid.” She stands and slips into her robe as I finish dressing. “There is something…”
“Yes?”
She shakes her head to dispel the thought, taking a seat on the chaise longue. “Nothing. It’s wild to even imagine it.”
I sit next to her, covering her hand with mine and raising my head to meet her gaze.
Somehow this simple touch feels more intimate than what we just did.
“Am I an idiot thinking this is even going to work? Has holding you, touching you really made it easier to ask you to do this unspeakable thing for me?” I run a hand through my hair, tempted to yank it out in frustration.
“Am I just deluding myself to think this is possible? Giving myself an excuse to keep seeking you out?” The need to see her, to touch her, is almost overwhelming, and yet I can’t fully give myself over, can’t let myself fall.
She scoots even closer to me, cupping my cheek with her free hand. “That was a lot of questions, Your Highness.”
My shoulders hunch in on themselves. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” She takes my hand in hers, flipping it over so our palms meet, linking our fingers together.
It’s another simple touch, nothing compared to the way my hands skirted over her bare skin or the way my fingers pleasured her mere minutes ago.
And yet it somehow means more. Feels like more.
“I don’t know if us spending this time together, being intimate with one another will make it easier for you to ask me what it is you need.
And to receive whatever it is once you’ve asked. ”
I squeeze her hand and push the rest of my questions aside.
I don’t need answers, I need honesty. And to get honesty, I need to give it.
I might be a fool, but if there is one lesson I’m learning this week, it’s that no words should be left unsaid.
“I’m sure you will think me an idiot for saying this, and I can’t imagine it will be your first time hearing these words, but I feel like there is something between us, Caterine.
I want you, of course. I can’t imagine there are many who don’t.
But I also find myself wanting to tell you things and hear your thoughts.
I find myself longing to just be in your company.
” It’s the first time I’ve allowed myself to give voice to this feeling, this inexplicable link between us.
The way that, even after just a few days, it’s hard to imagine a time when she won’t be in my life. “If I’m alone in this—”
“You’re not.” Her answer is quick and sharp, but laced with something soft.
“You’re not alone in your feelings, Callum.
” She hesitates before pulling away, slipping her hand from mine.
“But feelings don’t really matter. I don’t plan to remain at the club for much longer, and you clearly have much bigger plans than anything happening in this room.
” She gives me a sad smile. “There is no future for us beyond what has been paid for, Your Highness.”
I suck in a sharp breath, her words a direct punch to the gut. “Right.”
She brushes a stray curl out of my eyes. “But I will help you with whatever you need, and I will fulfill my part of the contract.”
“Sex lessons.”
She shrugs with a coy raise of her eyebrows. “Or something more, if you’d prefer.” She rises and stands in front of me.
Something more. The something more that I’m beginning to allow myself to want—the something more I’ve wanted since the moment I watched her dance across the stage of the club—is not the something more she is offering. It could never be what she’s offering.
I want to press her further, but if I stay in this room for one minute longer, I might never be able to convince myself to leave. I hesitate on my way to the door. “Thank you. For everything today. Not just that,” I gesture helplessly to the bed. “But for everything.”
She stands on a tiptoe, pressing her lips to my cheek. “It was my pleasure. Quite literally.”
I chuckle, but the sound is lacking humor. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”