Chapter 27. Callan
Callan
Lenore burrows her fingers into my hair, kissing me with meaning. Even after stumbling through this conversation, struggling to figure out whether we could ever make things work, there is a blinding clarity in how well we go together like this.
My hand skims across her back, spanning between her shoulder blades, dragging her down with me as we sink into the pillows. I want to kiss her until she forgets about her worries, until she can hardly think at all. I want her, and I’ll take however much she’s willing to give me.
I slant my mouth against hers to deepen the kiss and she opens up for me with a quiet moan that makes my nervous system fire on all cylinders. I reach for her waist, hauling her on top of me.
Lenore breaks the kiss to look down into my eyes. Dark hair, damp and scented with rain, tumbles around my face. “We keep meeting like this,” she says impishly.
A laugh gusts out of me and she bites back a smile. “You keep climbing onto my lap.”
Pretending to sober, she says, “I don’t really think it’s fair that you’re placing the blame on me when you keep encouraging it.”
“Oh, is that what I’ve been doing,” I say, grinning.
“Yes,” she says, punctuating her words with a kiss, “it is.”
I fist my hand in the back of her hair, tugging her back down to me and kissing her with renewed urgency. I touch her through the loose T-shirt she borrowed, my thumbs skimming beneath the contours of her breasts. Her tongue licks the inside of my mouth, sending a surge through me.
My fingers find the hem of her T-shirt and lift it over her head, mussing her hair along the way. I look at her, straddling me and topless, and my tongue feels heavy. I can’t seem to find the right words to tell her how beautiful she is. I can hardly think.
Lenore bends and kisses my neck, her tongue skating across my pulse. “Please stop staring, and put your mouth on me,” she says, her breath warm beneath my ear.
I nod dumbly and do as I’m told. My hand skates around her back.
Her skin is a little cold to the touch after being caught in the rain, but it warms beneath my palm.
I lean forward and press a kiss between her ribs, lick the curve of her breast. Lenore lets her head fall back and her dark hair tumbles around her shoulders.
“Your body is a fucking dream,” I tell her, words that still fall woefully short.
Her hands slip beneath my shirt and she tugs it over my head and tosses it aside.
I pull her flush against my bare chest and kiss her hard.
My hands slide down over her ass, still wearing pajama pants, and move her hips over me.
The friction drags a string of filthy words from my mouth, whispered like a plea against her skin.
In one fluid motion, I roll us over, pinning her beneath me. Her legs tighten around my waist. “Careful,” she says. “Your ankle.”
“I don’t care.” I bury my face in the crook of her neck, laying kisses there.
“You should care,” she says while laughing, which transforms into a breathy moan as my mouth moves down her body.
I push up onto my knees, cautious not to put any weight on the ankle in question, and tug the knot in the drawstring on her pajama bottoms free.
She lifts her hips from the bed so I can ease the pants down her thighs, and then she’s lying in front of me, naked and perfect.
Blood pounds through me as I crawl back up to kiss her mouth, sliding a hand between us. At the first brush of my fingers, she arches off the bed, pressing into the heel of my palm. A whimper escapes her. “So beautiful,” I whisper, kissing beneath her ear, down the slender line of her throat.
“Please tell me you have a condom this time,” she gasps.
I rest my forehead against hers. Her hips rock into my hand, coaxing pretty, impatient sounds from her. I feel drugged, my thoughts thick and sluggish. “I do.”
Her hands fumble with my sweatpants and she shoves them down my hips. I reach across the bed to slide open the drawer on the nightstand and grab one of the condoms I bought yesterday, tearing open the foil wrapper and shifting onto my back to slide it on.
I start to roll back on top, but Lenore pushes me back against the pillows with a rough kiss. “You,” she says against my mouth, “shouldn’t overexert yourself.”
“It’s an ankle,” I say, laughing. “It’s not like I’ll be using it.”
“Mm.” One lithe, smooth leg swings across my stomach, her knees sinking into the mattress on either side of me, effectively pinning me to the bed. “Doctor’s orders, I’m afraid.”
No need to tell me twice. I stretch up to kiss her, one hand sinking into the crease of her hip, the other moving down between us to guide us together. The first slide of our bodies is achingly slow, and our eyes lock, mutual disbelief mingling with wonder. This is really happening.
We take our time, finding our rhythm. Her hips roll over me and I grip them to steady her, blowing out a breath that sounds more like a groan.
“Go slow,” I plead. Her smirk is knowing as I drag her down to kiss me, even that simple motion making our bodies shiver with pleasure.
Lenore holds all the power here. I’m willingly handing it over.
“You’re incredible,” I murmur against her skin as we begin to move together, unhurried.
Her breath fans over my ear. “So are you.”
I wanted her to forget her worries with me, but instead it’s my thoughts that seem to fracture, falling away until there is only her, only the slide of her body over mine. Rain patters against the house and pings in the metal gutter outside the window.
In a rare moment of clarity, I slip a hand between us again, desperate to drag her down with me. Her back arches and her head falls back, putting on a beautiful show. My other hand grips her waist, my hips matching her tempo like a man possessed.
A moan rocks out of her as pressure mounts between us, and her body shudders and tenses, and I get to watch as she falls apart. So fucking beautiful. I sit forward to kiss her breasts, my free hand fisting in the back of her hair, holding her against me as she rides out her pleasure.
At last, our shared rhythm falters. I clutch her tight, our mouths finding their way back to each other, our hips locked, until we slump against the bed, breathless and sated. I kiss her shoulder, tasting salt and rain and warm skin.
Lenore slides off me but doesn’t roll away, instead hooking one leg around my thigh, twining our sweat-slicked bodies together.
For a long time, we don’t exchange a word.
We lie atop tangled sheets, catching our breath, stormy light sinking beyond the window, my stomach tangling into knots with the creeping knowledge that I could never want space from her.
It’s the complete opposite. I want to keep her, and there’s a chance that I can’t.
I won’t stop her from going back to New York. But this time, she’ll be taking my heart with her.