Chapter 4 #2
“Well. I guess you don’t know me. What are we going to do now anyway?”
Cal fixed his gaze on her face, leaning one arm on the carved mantelpiece above the fireplace. “Oh, I don’t know. We could play a game? Scrabble, maybe?”
A laugh escaped Deanna’s lips. “Really? You’d take on the champion for another round?”
With eyebrows almost up to his hairline, Cal replied, “How do you know I didn’t let you win? Not sure you’re ready to play with me.”
Deanna’s mouth popped open. “For real? Are you brave enough to take me on?”
“I’ll take you on.” The low rumble of his voice in the dim lighting, his eyes glittering with mischief, high cheekbones licked by orange flame, all did things to her insides. Naughty things.
The air seemed thick with the promise of something… Something she hadn’t seriously considered. Cal was an attractive man. An attractive man who may now be flirting with her.
She licked her lower lip, “You’re on.”
Now his grin lit up his face, as if this was his real expression that he usually hid, for reasons unknown. Maybe because he was exceptionally handsome in an old movie star way, and he didn’t want women swooning all the time.
Deanna blew out a breath and walked over to the lounge. She sat on one end and found the throw blanket to wrap herself in again.
Cal crossed to a cabinet beside where the drinks were kept, and a minute later he was back with the Scrabble game and a smaller box—the card game, Uno. He placed both on the table in front of Deanna.
“Can I get you a drink?” he asked.
“Sure. I guess I should stick with wine.” Deanna counted back in her head. She should slow down on the drinks if she wanted to keep her wits. “Just the one glass.”
Cal busied himself with getting the drinks.
Deanna leaned forward, took the Uno cards out of the box and began shuffling by cutting the deck. “Uno? You afraid of my Scrabble dominance?”
A snort rang out from Cal’s direction.
Deanna bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.
“Hardly. But I think Uno might be fun. Can you count as well as spell, Michaelson? Or are you a one-hit wonder?”
This time, she really giggled. “Underestimate me at your peril, Winterbourne.”
That really was a cool name. Mister Winterbourne. Like a hero from a romance novel. “Hey, you didn’t tell me why you’re all alone at Christmas. Shouldn’t you be visiting your mother in Manhattan?”
Cal was already walking towards her with two glasses of wine, when he stuttered, “Uh, no. She’s entertaining Victor’s family and it’s awkward…
” He came and sat beside her, passing her a glass.
“Victor’s daughter is my ex-girlfriend. We broke up a couple of years ago and we’re not on the best of terms.”
Oh. “That would be an awkward family gathering. Sorry if I was out of line.”
“No, it’s fine. June was the one who ended things, but she got over me in record time, or so it would seem.” He took a long sip of wine. “She’ll be at my mother’s Christmas gathering with her husband and new baby.”
Deanna pressed her lips together for a second. “I'm sorry, that’s a lot to deal with.” She’d upset him, made him dwell on things more than he must be already, and that wasn’t her intention. “Will you visit your mum soon?”
Deanna started dealing the cards into two neat piles on the table.
Cal nodded. “Yes, in a few days when the visitors have gone.”
Deanna didn’t like the sound of the way Priya was treating Cal. Prioritising her husband’s family over her own son seemed wrong. But Deanna didn’t have the full story. “Well, that’s good. But were you really going to stay here for Christmas, all alone?”
He locked his gaze on her, his expression was suddenly stern. “So? Weren’t you going to do the same?”
Yes, he had her there. Deanna hadn’t considered holiday hibernation as strange when applied to herself. But other people? Shouldn’t everyone want to be with family and friends, celebrating and being together?
She popped the rest of the cards down and gently placed her hand on his forearm where it rested beside her on the sofa. “You’re right. I’m sorry for prying into your personal life. I just needed some peace and quiet and a chance to rest. You’re allowed to want the same.”
He didn’t say a thing for a few seconds, and the weight of her hand on his body felt leaden. It was only his arm, the touch through his sweater, but it felt warm, real, and almost monumental to touch him. The air was heavy with anticipation, at least in Deanna’s mind.
Cal cleared his throat again. He stared straight ahead at the fire.
“It was just before Christmas two years ago when June left me. I suppose she’d already been seeing Matthias, that’s her new husband, for a few months at that point.
That hurt worse than anything – the fact that she lied to me and said there was no-one else.
They worked together at a law firm, spending hours working overtime together.
And my dad was sick, so I was driving up here from the city all the time. I was under so much stress.”
He shook his head and let out a low sigh that tugged at something in Deanna’s chest. “She said everything was normal, but she was acting off. Later she made out she hadn’t done anything wrong.
June said it would’ve been worse if she loved someone else and stayed and pretended with me. I don’t know, maybe she was right.”
Deanna squeezed his arm reflexively, then he turned to her with eyes shadowed in the low light.
She slid her hand down until her palm covered the back of his hand, then watched as she threaded their fingers together.
Their hands looked good together, his large with blunt fingertips, hers smaller and delicate in comparison.
Opposites attract.
Glancing up at him, she couldn’t help it when her gaze drifted from his eyes to land on his full lips. Her attention snagged there and wouldn’t shake loose.
“Cal.” Deanna didn’t know what she intended to say. She couldn’t think clearly through the haze of hormones or whatever vital force there was between them. Because she could feel it. So real and alive and present in the moment.
Real and alive and present in the moment.
Deanna wanted that, wanted to feel and experience everything good in life.
So, she leaned in close and kissed him. With their hands still linked, Deanna’s mouth brushed Cal’s with the softest touch.
He was right with her. His lower lip tempted her to bite, to taste.
She sampled him, nibbled at his lip until the sweetest sound arose from deep inside his chest. A groan that practically set her hair on fire.
Pressing her lips to his, she turned towards him to kiss him deeper, to press her body closer.
Cal angled her head with his hand on her jaw, then his grip shifted so he could run his fingers through her hair.
It was her turn to sigh. And to move her hands to his chest and start feeling her way down, inching up the hem of his sweater and t-shirt.
When Cal tugged her hair a little her sigh became a moan, and she rocked against him until he pulled back and broke the kiss. His forehead creased as he stared into her eyes and examined her face.
“Tell me you want this.”
She nodded. “I want this. One hundred percent.”
Cal stroked his thumb across her cheekbone, idly, as if he had all the time in the world. “You’re so beautiful, Deanna. I can’t believe you just dropped into my life out of the blue.”
“Out of the snow, you mean. Lost and confused, needing a rescue.”
“Like something out of a dream. The good, dirty kind.” His lips quirked upwards, like a maniacal grin coming from him. “It was my pleasure to rescue you, princess.”
Her heart thumped wildly out of control as he moved his hand back into the cascade of her hair and then grasped her scalp.
Tilting her head to one side, he placed a row of kisses down her neck, including that sensitive spot just above her collarbone.
On a gasp, she reached under his clothes, splayed her hand on his stomach, and pushed up his sweater until he took the hint.
Cal pulled back from her for a second to yank his sweater and t-shirt off over his head in one motion. He threw his clothes towards the other end of the sofa and then glanced back at her, one eyebrow raised. “Your turn.”
Deanna registered his words but was busy staring at his chest. As she’d suspected, all the wood-chopping had created the type of sculpted muscles she loved but didn’t often find in real life.
Not a gym-junkie with veins popping out all over, just fit and solid, with thick planes of muscle under his smooth brown skin.
She ran her hands over him from biceps to pecs, enjoying the chance to study him up close.
“Deanna.” Her name was dry and jagged in his throat.
As she looked up and met his eyes, she understood. He was on edge.
Deanna shuffled back and removed her own cardigan and long-sleeved shirt, leaving her in a barely-there camisole.
When she went to push down her PJ pants, Cal’s fingers suddenly replaced her own and she leaned back to let him undress her.
Goosebumps raced over her bare legs. His fingers trailed up from her ankles to her knees, stopping right there as he watched her intently.
Deanna whispered with a husky voice, “Hey, keep me warm?”
She didn’t have to ask twice.
Cal covered her body with his larger one, gently urging her to lie down on the sofa. He was still wearing jeans and the texture grazed her skin, until he pressed fully against her. Damn, he was big. All over. The hard length of him pressed into her hip, making her gasp.
“Mmm. Up here.” Deanna pointed at her lips and Cal grinned in response.
He kissed her harder than before, sweeping his tongue along hers until she moaned. His hand wandered upwards, cupping her breast through her camisole. God, she liked that, the possessive way he held her, rocked against her and kissed her like his life depended on it.