Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Callie
M aybe I fell in the shower and hit my head. Or maybe I got killed in the bar fight.
Archer Dean is kissing me. Kissing me like a condemned man savoring his last meal. And I'm so determined not to second guess what's happening, that his confession doesn't register right away.
The last words he said before his lips crashed against mine whirl around in my addled brain, trying to get my attention
I am making out with Archer Dean. In his kitchen pantry. Surrounded by shelves filled with boxed mac and cheese, instant rice, cans of soup-- I think I just kicked a case of sports drinks.
And he loves me.
I deepen our kiss; pushing the heavy box of bottled drinks by my foot out of the way so that I can get closer to him for better access.
My hands aren't shy. It's like I've fantasized about touching him so many times that I feel like I've done it a million times already. God knows I've seen him without his shirt on enough times to have every bulge and plane of his hard muscles committed to memory.
The dip between deltoid and bicep, the thick lats across his back, the ticklish space where his waist narrows; my fingers run over all of them greedily now before trailing back down that decadent V where his stomach is flat below the ridges of abs before it plunges low and drops into his pants.
Except now, I know my imagination didn't do justice to the parts of him I've never seen before.
Archer's cock is big. It's impossibly hard, and I'm fascinated by how soft the skin stretched tightly over it is. My thumb runs over the head, swiping through a bead of moisture leaking from the tip. When I do that, Archer's mouth leaves mine and he groans.
"Wait." My brain finally forms a coherent thought. I don't let go of Archer's cock, but I look up to meet a tortured gaze. His breath is ragged, his hands stilling suddenly in place where they'd been so close to reaching my desperate nipples just before I spoke.
"You're in love with me ?"
The corners of Archer's mouth twitch and give in to a shy smile.
"You, Cal." He confirms. "Have been since you got back from school."
Tipping my face up to his, I silently beg for new kisses.
"You're in love with me?" I clarify when he lets me breathe again.
"Obsessed," he confesses. "Can't stop thinking about you..." He whispers near my ear, nipping at the shell and sucking on the lobe before kissing down the side of my throat. "I've spent the last two years imagining this--" the tip of his tongue drags lightly over my collar bone, pushing the neck of the t-shirt aside so he can put his mouth to my bare skin. "-- if this would make you moan--" he sucks against the base of my throat and I don't even care if it leaves a mark.
It's not a moan that escapes me, more like a squeak.
Archer's lips smile against my skin when he gets my reaction.
"Or if this would make you giggle."
His fingers slide along the bottom of my rib cage, his thumbs upward so they graze the underside of my breasts.
Definitely not a giggle. More like a strangled, needy sound at the tease. I want him to touch me. I want those callused hands on the tender skin of my breasts. I want his fingers rolling over my hard nipples. I want his mouth on them, dammit.
"Stop teasing me," I scold him hoarsely and tighten my grip on his cock in a threatening squeeze.
"Fuck, Cal," he grits out roughly. "You're one to talk."
"You didn't answer me."
I tighten my hand around him again, this time, pulling slightly and letting my fist run up the length of him. Not to tease him, exactly, but because I'm fascinated by his reaction.
Archer's head lifts and he inhales sharply.
"We need to get out here, before I fuck you up against the ramen."
How does he have this body with a pantry full of carbs? It's not fair.
Reluctantly, I step backwards and allow him to untangle himself from the shelves of dry goods and boxes on the floor.
Once we're out of the confined space of the pantry, he catches me off guard when he lifts me onto the counter of the island quickly.
"Madly in love with you."
His hands grip my hips and slide to the outside of my thighs.
The inside of my thighs is slick with wetness that's seeped through my panties. I tighten the muscles and try to ignore my need while I concentrate on his words and not his hands.
It's a challenge.
"I want you, Cal. I want to strip you naked and fill my hands and my mouth with every inch of your body."
To make his point, he moves my knees apart and stands between them, but I'm sitting too far back on the counter for us to line up together the way I'm aching to.
"I want to find every way to make you come for me, but I want to be the only man who ever makes you come, Callie. I want my ring on your finger and my name on your driver's license. I want my baby inside you..."
One of his hands lifts and splays over the roundness of my stomach. Possessively.
His eyes fall to his hand, then back up to mine.
Holy shit. He's not joking. This isn't a pick up line or sweet pillow talk.
I don't think Archer Dean is trying to seduce me, I think he actually means it when he says, "If we keep going, I'll make you mine. I won't be letting you go after that. Till death do us part, Callie, come hell, high water, or murderous brothers. You've got between here and my bedroom door to make up your mind. If you have oats to sow, you do it with me at your side-- there won't be any more solo trips to biker bars."
Archer
Everything I've been wanting to say to her comes tumbling out of my mouth at once. Along with several things that would probably have been best left for later.
But as soon as Cal put her hands on me, she claimed me just as surely as if she'd branded her name into my hide. She needs to know what I have in store for her. In case she thinks this is just burning off some adrenaline from earlier.
"There's no going back from this," I warn her, "I won't be able to let you go, Cal."
My body craves hers with every cell, but I'm fighting the urge to yank her ass to the edge of the counter and press my hard shaft into the cleft of her pussy.
No. Fuck teasing us both like that. I'm want to strip her down and bury my face between those soft thighs; get her laid out on kitchen island like a fucking late night snack and feast on her till we have to mop the counters off.
"Really?" Her voice is all breathy, sounding every bit as keyed up as she's got me feeling-- and completely shocked at what I'm saying. "You've really thought this through, Archer? All the way? Are you sure?"
"I know you're young, Cal. You didn't date in high school, I haven't seen you going around with anyone since you've been back...maybe you've been focusing on getting your business established. Hell, maybe you haven't thought about getting married at all, maybe starting a family's something way far off in your mind still."
Reminding myself of the age gap between us-- thinking about where my own mind was at her age-- it's enough to cool me down to a high simmer.
Hell, I didn't even know Cal was attracted to me at all till a few minutes ago.
I'm rushing. I'm reading into all this. I'm making demands I got no business with.
But when I try to step back to give her some space, Callie doesn't let me budge. Her hands are wrapped around my arms, gripping tight with a strength that surprises me. Her legs lift and wrap around my waist with her feet locking together behind my ass and forcing me forward till my shaft is pressed up against her exactly the way I'd wanted.
I can feel her heat through the two layers of thick cotton fleece between us and sense quickly seeps right back out of my skull.
"Yes, Archer Dean," she whisper-yells at me, her lips brushing mine as she talks. "Yes, I've thought about getting married. Yes, I want a family. Yes, I want to start while I'm young because I'm hoping for a big one. And no, I never dated in high school-- and not because my brother's an overprotective asshole: I didn't date while I was away either, Archer. Because the only person I ever wanted those things was you ."
"Me? I'm the reason you never went with any of the guys that asked about you? I always thought Rowan was the reason...thought you would have finally had a chance to let your hair down while you were away at school...shit, Calla--"
A new thought burbles up through the noise inside my head, one that has my dick surging impossibly harder, jumping in an involuntary spasm like a bull about to charge.
"You didn't date at all? Ever ?" My fingers tighten, itching to feel her tightness, crazed at what I think she's telling me.
"You're the first man I've ever touched, Archer. You're the only man I've ever wanted to touch."
Fuck me.
I'm going to hell.
I'm going to hell for betraying my best friend.
I'm going to hell for betraying my family and putting our business in jeopardy.
I'm going to hell for not giving a damn about any of that-- because Calla Lillian Maye has her hot little cunt pressed tight to my cock with her whisky gold hair all messed up from my hands raking through it while I kissed her and those big, hazel eyes of hers staring straight into mine while she tells me she's been saving herself for me.
"I went out there tonight because Rowan told me you were in love with someone and Ginger's with her man and I felt so stupid, Archer. I thought I had to accept that I didn't have a chance with you-- that I never had a chance with you. I just wanted to feel...like I'd be able to get over it. Like it didn't mean my life was over."
My hands move up to frame her face again, pulling her head up so I can kiss her again. It's slow and deep, but it's far from soft. Sliding my tongue along hers as our lips move together until neither one of us has any air left.
"Just beginning, baby," I promise. "Life is just beginning. For both of us."
With the next touch of her lips on mine, my patience snaps.
Pulling Callie's hips forward, I slide my hands over her plump ass, both of us groaning at the feel of my hands filled with her softness. Then I have her off the counter. Her thighs tighten against my hips, her body pressed so close to mine that I'd be inside her if we weren't both still wearing too many damn clothes as I carry her back to my bedroom.
There's no need to kick the door shut behind us, no one else is going to be in the house. Not till we fill it with children.
Cal lands on the bed and I make quick work of getting her out of my borrowed clothes. Then I pull the t-shirt over my head and drop between her legs.
Spread out on my bed like a goddamned angel, Callie looks up at me expectantly. Her hands fold over her bare breasts with an uncertain modesty until I move them aside.
"Let me see, Cal."
She lets me place her hands up by her head and watches me look my fill.
"You're so fucking beautiful," I tell her. "I can't believe you're really here. Really naked for me; really going to be mine. Finally ."
Then I fall on her, ravenous, and whatever her response was going to be-- it's nothing but sweet sighs and little gasps that drive me insane.