Chapter 18
VICTORIA
He was watching me. He’d been watching me for the last ten minutes.
And it was very literally making me hot.
My skin was tingling. And then there was the throbbing somewhere I didn’t want to think about.
I shifted on the couch. I thought maybe it was in my head, but no way.
That man was looking at me like I was on the menu.
He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, container of fried rice forgotten beside him. He was staring at my mouth. I could feel my heartbeat speeding up.
I closed my notebook.
“Victoria,” he said in that voice that was all honeyed whiskey.
Goosebumps covered my body. A tingling sensation started in my toes and spread through me. And then he was up and moving toward me.
He reached for me. His hands cupped my face and gently pulled me to my feet.
His mouth slammed against mine. My arms immediately wrapped around him and pulled him closer.
I felt as if he was devouring me. His mouth was everywhere.
Sucking on my neck and then using his teeth.
I didn’t know where to touch him first. My body felt electrified.
And then his mouth was back on mine, swallowing every breath and moan.
I pulled back just far enough to breathe.
Me legs shook with the intensity of his kiss. He brushed his knuckles across my cheek. My lips felt swollen. He lowered his mouth to mine again. “I can’t get enough of you,” he murmured against my lips before he kissed me again.
This one was slower. He took his time. His hand slid from my waist to the small of my back and drew me closer and I went. Then we were dropping to the couch. I ended up half in his lap with my hands pressed flat against his chest. I could feel his heartbeat. Fast, like mine.
I kissed him harder and felt him exhale through his nose. I worked the top button of his shirt open and then the next one. His head dropped back slightly, giving me a better angle, and I pressed my mouth to the side of his throat and felt his pulse against my lips.
“Victoria.”
“Mm.”
“Tell me what you want.”
I lifted my head and looked at him. His shirt was half open. His composure was thoroughly gone. He looked at me with so much desire it was almost terrifying. I had never felt so wanted.
“You,” I answered.
He reached up and pulled the elastic from my hair, which fell around my shoulders. He ran his fingers through it and smiled as it sprang back. “Natural?”
“Yes.”
“I like it.”
I kissed him, running my tongue over his jaw and down his neck.
“We need a condom,” I whispered.
“I have one.”
I laughed. “Of course, you do.”
He pulled the condom from his wallet. I watched him set it on the arm of the couch.
His eyes never left mine as he stood and finished unbuttoning his shirt, shrugging it off his shoulders.
I’d seen him without clothes before but the sight of him still took my breath away.
All that muscle and the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing.
Getting to my feet, I reached for the hem of my sweater and pulled it over my head. His eyes tracked down my body. He ran one finger along my collarbone, so light it was barely a touch. My entire nervous system short-circuited.
“Turn around,” he said quietly.
Something in his voice made every nerve ending I possessed stand at attention. I turned.
His hands slid around my waist from behind. I felt his mouth on the back of my neck. He kissed his way down my spine while his fingers found the clasp of my bra. It fell away. I caught it before it hit the floor, dropping it somewhere to my left.
His palms slid around to my front and cupped my breasts. His thumbs circled my nipples, and then gently pulled and pinched. I dropped my head back against his shoulder.
“Callum.”
“Right here,” he said against my neck.
He walked me forward the two steps to the back of the green couch.
His hands moved from my breasts to my hips, fingers curling into the waistband of my jeans.
He popped the button, lowered the zipper, and pushed them down over my hips with no patience.
I stepped out of them. His hands ran back up the outside of my thighs, unhurried, like we had all the time in the world.
We didn’t. I was going to explode.
I heard the tear of the foil wrapper behind me. My fingers gripped the back of the couch. A second later, I could feel the entire length of him pressed against me. I pushed back instinctively, needing more.
“Easy,” he murmured. I could hear the cocky smile.
His hand moved to the small of my back, pressing gently until I bent forward over the arm of the couch.
The position was new and oh so perfect. I felt completely exposed and I didn’t care even a little.
I had stopped caring about things like that the moment he’d pushed me against his front door that night at his mansion.
His hand slid around to the front of me and his fingers found the place that was already desperate for him. I gasped with my fingers fisting into the fabric.
“God, you’re so wet,” he growled.
I moaned because I lost the ability to speak.
He worked me until I was shaking with need. My breath came in sharp bursts. My thighs were trembling and I was keening. Actually keening. Just when I thought I couldn’t hold on another second, he withdrew his hand and positioned himself at my entrance.
He pushed in slowly. So slowly.
I groaned and relaxed my body to accept him. He was large and I felt every inch of the stretch. I reveled in the fullness and the overwhelming sensation of him filling me completely. My fingers dug into the cushion.
“Okay?” he asked.
I moaned in response.
He pulled back and thrust forward. The angle was different and deeper. Shockwaves rolled through me. He found a rhythm and pounded into me over and over. His hands gripped my hips to anchor me. I was going to feel it tomorrow. Good. I wanted to feel it tomorrow. I wanted to feel it for a week.
His right hand slid around to the front of me again and I nearly came off the couch entirely. His fingers worked me while he drove into me. There was nothing left in my head except the heat of him and the pressure building at my core. The sound of his ragged breathing washed over me.
“Victoria.” My name on his lips was too much.
I shattered. The orgasm rolled through me in waves, one after another. Just when I thought it was over, another wave hit me. I pressed my face into the velvet and let it happen. He followed me over the edge with a low roar I felt as much as heard.
His forehead dropped between my shoulder blades.
Neither of us moved. His heartbeat pounded through his chest against my back. He pressed a kiss to my skin. Then another, softer. Then he straightened and stepped back gently.
I stayed bent over the arm of the couch for another few seconds because my legs had stopped working.
“You okay?” he asked.
I managed to push myself up and turned to face him. “Never better,” I said.
He laughed and handed my sweater to me. I pulled it over my head and tried to remember how to be a normal person. Once again, we dressed in silence after an earth-shattering experience.
I was terrified. Not of him but the way I felt. The fact I didn’t want to leave and go home alone. That was the terrifying part. I wanted to stay or go home with him or take him back to my place.
I didn’t let people in because letting people in meant they could take things when they left. I didn’t want to lose a part of myself. I lost my family. I didn’t think I could stand to lose my heart. And I honestly wasn’t sure he didn’t already have it.
I was in serious trouble.
I turned around. He was fully dressed, his shirt rebuttoned except for the top two. He looked way too good for someone who was also disheveled.
“I should get going,” I said. “I have an early morning.”
He didn’t argue. He just nodded once and started gathering the food containers back into the bags. I helped him clean up and cringed when my eyes landed on the couch. I really hoped that never made it onto the showroom floor.
We carried the bags outside together. He locked up and then insisted on walking me to my car. I dug for my keys and hit the key fob.
“The auction idea is good,” he said. “I want to move on it.”
“Good. You should.”
“I’m going to need your help,” he said. “Can I call you?”
“Sure.”
He kissed me before I could think of a reason not to let him. When he pulled back, his thumb traced a line along my jaw.
“Goodnight, Victoria,” he said.
“Goodnight.”
I got in the car and drove home in a complete fog of leftover lust. The man had rocked my world like no one had ever done before. I probably shouldn’t have been driving. My brain was entirely occupied elsewhere.
It’s too fast. I know it’s too fast and my sense of self-preservation is throwing up red flags.
Caution lights. I knew deep in my soul he was the kind of man I could love, but I also knew he could destroy me.
He made me feel safe and cared for and that was dangerous.
I had been fighting for my independence for years.
Did I really want to jump back into that world?
It was so hard to leave the first time. I didn’t know if I could do it again.
At least not with my heart intact.