6. Callie
Chapter 6
Callie
I wake in the night to find myself curled in his arms. I never knew it could be like this. The intensity in Buck's eyes as he holds me makes everything I've ever experienced before seem like pale shadows.
His strength surrounds me completely—not just physical, but something deeper. Years of watching him from afar, of dreaming about those hands, couldn't prepare me for the reality of being the center of his world.
"Buck," I whisper, reaching up to trace the hard line of his jaw, feeling the stubble beneath my fingertips.
"Shh," he murmurs, his voice gentler now but no less commanding. "No more running, Callie. Not from this. Not from us."
The weight of his words settles over me like a blanket. Us. Finally, there's an us.
I've spent so long trying to get his attention, pushing boundaries, testing his control. Now that I have it—have him—I feel almost overwhelmed. His presence fills the room, fills my senses completely.
"I've wanted this for so long," I confess, vulnerability washing over me. "Wanted you to see me as a woman, not just as my father's daughter."
His eyes soften slightly, though the intensity remains. "Since you’ve been a woman, that’s how I’ve seen you, sweetheart. Far too clearly. That was the problem."
He brushes a strand of hair from my face with surprising tenderness. The contrast between his powerful presence and these gentle touches undoes something inside me.
"You can't hide from me anymore," he says, his voice a low rumble that I feel as much as hear. "No more bratty games. No more pretending."
"I don't want to hide," I whisper, feeling more exposed than I've ever been, and not just physically. "I just want to be yours."
The smile that curves his lips is possessive, primal. "You are. Always have been."
In this moment, wrapped in his arms, I feel completely owned and utterly protected. The dichotomy should be confusing, but instead, it feels right. Like coming home to a place I've always been meant to find.
"I'm not going anywhere," he promises, his words a vow that reaches something deep inside me.
All the years of yearning, of pushing and testing him, have led to this. There's no hiding now, no playing games. He sees all of me, and still wants me.
I've never felt so cherished. So claimed. So completely his.