Chapter 30 Between Fear and Trust #2
Calla inhaled a sharp breath. Even as she heard the words, even as she suddenly felt too hot for clothes, she rejected them.
Riley was a good liar. Better than Calla had given her credit for–the performance she’d put up for Neera had shown her that.
Of course she would lie right now. What other choice did she have?
Riley’s hold on her tightened. “I haven’t said anything because I didn’t think you’d want to hear it. That you wouldn’t believe me. Or that you’d get mad. I don’t know. But… I think you’re more beautiful than before, Calla.”
Calla closed her eyes against the sight of her own hands–against Riley’s lies.
“More you.”
Lies.
“And I know you don’t feel the same way, and I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to go about this, just–”
Riley’s arms slipped away from her. A chill settled at her back. Calla just about stopped herself from chasing the heat of Riley’s body. From asking for more pretty lies.
“Will you turn to look at me? Please?”
Calla swallowed thickly. She didn’t want to. As soon as she looked into Riley’s eyes, she would know it was all a performance, meant to make her feel better.
But what if it wasn’t?
Her grip around the bottle was so tight she had to pry her fingers away from it before she could turn to brace herself against the bar. With a quiet breath, Calla made herself look up. A shiver zipped up her spine as their gazes met. There was no hint of deceit that she could see.
“It’s because of me I’ve been keeping my hands to myself. Not you. Never you.”
At her confused frown, Riley held up her hands. Her marked hands. Understanding dawned on Calla, heavy enough to knock her held breath out.
“Yeah. I just–I didn’t think you’d want me to–with these–I–” Riley sucked in a sharp breath, then she stepped closer. Her hands came to grip the wood at either side of Calla’s hips, body pressing flush against hers. “Let me make it up to you.”
When their eyes met this time, Calla couldn’t mistake the hunger in Riley’s gaze for anything other than what it was.
She’d been a fool.
Slowly, never looking away from those eyes, Calla reached out to cup Riley’s cheeks and pulled her into a kiss.
It started slow, gentle, then Riley’s hands moved to her hips, fingertips edging beneath the hem of her shirt to find naked skin.
Calla shivered, and there was a shift, suddenly.
Riley’s mouth turned hot and seeking against hers, her lips moving like a claim.
There was no hesitating, no waiting for Calla to take charge.
Riley deepened the kiss with a demanding nip to her lower lip, and Calla gasped softly when their tongues met, turning her insides into a slow dance of molten fire.
Nothing else existed. Not the abandoned tavern around them, not the crackle of fire outside, not her crew, drinking and dancing and singing just beyond the doors.
Only Riley. The press of her body against Calla’s.
Their breaths, hot and heavy. The taste of rum on her tongue.
The sound of pure contentment in Riley’s throat as Calla’s fingers slipped into her short, dark curls, drawing her closer.
Riley’s mouth moved to her jaw, hands moving to work at the buttons of Calla’s captain coat. The trail of open-mouthed kisses went down her jaw, to her neck, and–Calla’s fingers tightened in Riley’s hair, halting her. “Careful,” she said in a gasped breath. “They’re sensitive.”
Riley leaned back to look at her, eyes flicking to her neck. She brought up her hand and, slowly, ever so gently, she stroked her fingertips against Calla’s closed gills. “These?” she asked softly.
The shudder that moved through Calla started at the base of her spine, and it made her want to throw her head back and let Riley consume her until she had nothing left to give, and then some more.
It made her ache for more of that warmth, more of the tender carefulness in Riley’s face.
She’d been so wrong about this. The way Riley was looking at her, tracking every reaction, every hitch in her breath–Calla could only describe it as awestruck.
She didn’t know how to word that feeling–that sudden urge to trust Riley with everything that she was, to put her pleasure in Riley’s hands and allow her to discover her at her own leisure.
Allow the both of them to see if maybe Calla’s body was an exciting, wondrous thing, capable of holding more than just pain and aching longing.
“Kiss me again,” Calla demanded instead.
Riley didn’t wait to be asked twice. The kiss was a long, tender press against her mouth, broken by a smile that made Calla’s chest flutter.
“Anything else I need to know?” Riley asked, warm hands sliding on Calla’s hips.
Her fingers stroked slow, gentle patterns that tugged at the knot of want stirring low in her stomach.
“I…” Calla frowned, trying to gather the frayed ends of her thoughts. It was hard to focus with Riley’s hands on her. “I don’t know.”
Riley’s fingers stilled. “You don’t know?”
Calla looked away.
Or tried to. Riley’s palm cupped her cheek, drawing her back to their small bubble of warmth and safety. “You’ve never–”
“No.”
Riley’s eyes widened, but her palm pressed more firmly to Calla’s cheek. “With no one?” she asked, and her voice went low, then. Wanting.
Calla leaned into that touch. Into that want. “Taking my clothes off would’ve felt too much like giving away my skin,” she explained, and her words came out in a quiet breath, a confession only for Riley’s ears to hear. “I’ve only ever given.”
“Oh,” Riley breathed out, pressing their foreheads together.
She was so close. So warm. So tender. Calla had never known anything like it, and a part of her ached for everything she’d missed out on.
But her heart beat strong and fast beneath her ribs, and her breath came short at the thought of everything that was yet to come.
At the promise in Riley’s voice as she said, “I can take care of you.” A gentle stroke of her thumb as she asked, almost shy, “Will you let me?”
Calla could only say one thing to that. “Please,” she whispered. Another confession.
Riley’s mouth returned to her neck. Her kiss was featherlight against Calla’s gills, and now Calla did throw her head back, moaning softly.
The need burning low in her guts ran hot and demanding, a fire stoked by every press of Riley’s lips against her skin, every gentle caress of her fingers against her hips, her waist, her stomach.
When Calla’s breaths turned to deep, shuddering things, Riley captured her small sounds of pleasure with her mouth.
“Up on the counter,” she demanded in a hot breath.
Calla obeyed, and she was immediately rewarded by Riley stepping in between her legs, her hips a solid pressure against her thighs that made her breath come out in a strangled gasp.
The heat turned molten, a hot pulse of need and want between her legs.
She couldn’t help herself. She grabbed Riley’s waist, pulling her closer, wrapping her legs around her.
Her hips bucked. She tried to grind, release some of the building pressure, but Riley’s hands grabbed her thighs and stilled her with a cocky little grin.
“Not so fast,” she said, her hazel eyes full of warmth and mischief as she leaned in. Close enough to kiss. Calla tried, but Riley pulled back just a fraction, and her laughter fell in warm puffs of breath against Calla’s lips. “Do you remember how you teased me?”
The look on her face must’ve been stricken, because Riley laughed again–no, she giggled, and the sound made her stomach flip, almost painful in its intensity.
She wanted to press closer, feel the friction of Riley’s body against hers, but Riley had her pinned against the counter, and she looked so pleased with herself that it made her heart race just to see it.
With a smirk, Riley reached to stroke her thumb against Calla’s lower lip. Her breath caressed Calla’s face as she talked. “Don’t worry,” she said, voice low and gravelly. “I just want your clothes out of the way.” She tugged at the hem of her shirt. “Okay?” she asked, softer.
Calla nodded, and Riley didn’t waste any time.
She got rid of the rest of her clothes with a few expert tugs.
Then she stopped, and stared, fingers digging into Calla’s now-bare thighs.
Her pupils grew dark with hunger, and Calla shivered under that look.
She tracked the movement of Riley’s throat as she swallowed.
She was pretty sure that if Riley kept looking at her like this for much longer, like she wanted to devour her, her pleasure would start dripping on the counter beneath her ass.
Her need was hot and throbbing and demanding, but Calla waited.
She kept still even as Riley finally reached out, her touch a soft whisper of skin on skin as she cupped Calla’s breast. Her nipple stiffened against Riley’s warm palm.
“You’re fucking gorgeous, Calla,” Riley breathed out, meeting her gaze.
Never taking her eyes off her, Riley leaned down and captured her other nipple in her mouth. Calla gasped. Then Riley’s fingers slipped between her legs, meeting her slick heat, and a breathy moan shuddered out of both their throats. Calla had never heard a more delicious sound.
Riley bit on her nipple, drawing a deeper, needier moan out of her, and Riley hummed, low and pleased against her breast. Her fingers drew tight circles against her clit as she came back to press her cheek against Calla’s, her hot breath caressing her finned ear. Her fingers dipped lower, paused.
“Can I?” Riley asked in a rasp of breath. Her voice was thick and raw with want.
By this point, Calla was ready to do anything Riley wanted.
She was very much not in control of anything anymore.
Not her reactions, not the sounds she was making, not the heat of her desire, running hot and all-consuming through every fiber of her being.
She pressed herself into Riley’s touch, trying to draw her in, but Riley’s fingers slipped back up with a chuckle, slow enough to drive her wild, close enough to be torturous.
“Use your words, gorgeous,” Riley teased.
The hot breath rolling against her neck raised her skin into goosebumps. Calla wasn’t sure she could wait any longer, not without combusting.
“Yes,” she breathed out, pleading. “Fuck, yes.”
She felt Riley grin against her skin. “Oh, so you do know how to swear. How scandalous.”
Whatever Calla could think to reply to that, it all went away in a strangled moan as Riley’s fingers slipped inside of her. Riley leaned back to look into her eyes as she filled her, licking her lips. Then she started moving. Slow. Deep. Careful.
“Does this feel good?” Riley asked, a glint in her eye as she watched Calla coming undone beneath her fingers.
Calla could do little more than nod, clinging to her. Drawing her closer. Deeper.
When she thought this couldn’t get any better, Riley bent down, trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses against her collarbone, between her breasts. Every press of her lips, every stroke of her tongue against Calla’s heated skin, every graze of her teeth felt like being worshipped.
Then Riley dropped to her knees. “Open your legs for me, captain. Let me taste you.”
Calla’s breath hitched in her throat. “Riley,” she warned.
Riley grinned up at her. “My fingers are in your cunt. You can’t pretend you don’t like it anymore.”
Calla flushed all over. Her legs fell open wider.
Riley’s mouth was on her before she could draw a full breath in, and Calla nearly came right then.
She threw her head back as Riley’s tongue stroked her, and she couldn’t wait anymore.
She couldn’t. She grabbed Riley’s hair and pressed herself against that mouth, that lapping tongue, her body taking a mind of its own.
Riley groaned in appreciation as Calla ground down.
She quickened the pace of her fingers when Calla’s breaths came faster, more urgent, until her pleasure climbed and climbed and peaked in a strangled cry.
When Riley looked up at her, her lips shone with her wetness.
Calla tugged her back up, breathless, and tasted herself off Riley’s lips, still shivering from her climax. Their bodies molded together as if they were meant for each other, and Riley’s hand came between them to press against Calla’s chest, against the strong thud of her heartbeat.
“I love you, Calla,” Riley murmured into their kiss, and then she startled. Drew back. A soft laugh of realization fell from her lips, and then she looked into Calla’s eyes, growing shy even as her palm pressed more firmly against her chest. “I love you. Just as you are.”
Calla believed her now.
Before she could say anything back, Riley’s push turned more insistent. “Lie back,” she said, voice husky. “Let’s see how many you can take before you need me to stop.” At Calla’s sharp breath, Riley smirked. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”