Chapter 25
twenty-five
HARLOW
“Holy shit,” Belle says the moment the video ends.
Cal stiffens against me, a small tremor going through his body. I hate how nervous he is. He shouldn’t be nervous about sharing something with the people he considers family. I hold him tighter.
“Why didn’t you tell us songwriting ran in the family?” Willa asks, looking genuinely confused by what she just saw.
“Dude,” is all Kai says, his jaw hanging open.
“Can you play it again?” Mav asks me. I nod and play the video again.
“Is your guitar in the basement?” Kai asks.
Cal nods slowly. Kai picks Belle up and puts her where he was sitting before running to the basement.
“What’s happening?” Cal whispers.
“Something good,” I tell him. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what’s happening.
“Okay, what if we change the key and did something like this?” Kai says, coming back and propping himself on the edge of the couch and playing a few notes. “Cal, you need to sing, buddy,” he says when Cal misses his spot.
I try to get off his lap to make it easier, but he holds me to him as he picks up on the change easily and sings the song he wrote for me.
It only takes them an hour to tweak the song. I loved the way Cal sang it, but I have to admit, the version they created together will be perfect on their album. The entire time, Cal kept me on his lap, singing to me. I’ve been smiling so hard my face hurts.
“I’m going to call Isla and get this on the album,” Jon says. Willa called him on the third or fourth attempt, and he’s been listening over the phone ever since.
Everyone gets up to leave, but Mav loudly clears his throat. “I’m sorry, Cal. I really am. You’re right that you were the joke, and we let you be. Because we needed to laugh, and you let us laugh at you. It wasn’t right.”
I look up at Cal. He’s shaking his head. “I let you.”
“That doesn’t matter. We’re adults. We know better,” Kai says.
“I knew what you were doing, and I let you. It was easier to laugh at you than cry with you. There’s no excuse, but we are all so sorry, and we’ll do better,” Willa promises.
Cal nods, acknowledging their words, but not saying anything. I watch them all leave, but Belle lingers. She walks up to me and hugs me.
“Thank you for watching out for my brother. He’s always been the one to watch out for everyone else.” She turns to Cal. “I’m sorry for my part. We have each other’s backs, Cal. You don’t have to hold everyone up on your own.”
Cal hugs his sister. “Love you.”
“Love you,” Belle says before turning and leaving.
“Do you have any idea what you did for me today?”
I turn to see Cal with a look of reverence in his eyes.
“I only did what I thought was right,” I tell him, trying to shrug off the weight of his gaze. There are so many emotions swirling in his eyes, and I think I could drown from the weight of them.
Cal grabs my face and kisses me, letting me feel everything he can’t vocalize. “You are everything, Harlow Ray. Everything.” The awe in his voice floors me.
“Cal, you are everything. You deserve everything,” I tell him, letting the emotion in my voice show. “Never accept less.”
“Never again,” he says against my lips, claiming them in the next breath.
I laugh as he sweeps me into his arms, bridal style.
“Where are we going?” I ask him, laughing into his neck.
“Our bedroom,” he says, climbing the stairs. I haven’t been back to my bedroom since the first night we were together. Cal declared his room as ours and there really was no going back from there. Especially after he moved all my stuff into his closet.
I kiss his neck, making him moan.
When he sets me down on my feet in front of our bed and smiles at me, it suddenly hits me.
I love him.
I’m in love with him.
His hands are under my shirt, thumbs rubbing small circles on the bare skin of my stomach. Cal dips his head to kiss me, and I pull back.
“I love you,” I blurt as he frowns. That frown quickly turns into a dazzling smile.
“You beat me to it,” he says, one of his hands moving to cup my cheek. “I love you too, Firecracker. I think I’ve loved you since you told me I sucked at singing and shouldn’t quit my day job.”
“I did not say that!” I exclaim and then laugh at the goofy look on his face.
“That’s what I heard,” he shrugs. I just shake my head at how ridiculous this man is.
Cal pulls me back to him. We undress each other slowly, savoring each moment, each touch, every kiss.
We’re laying chest to chest on the bed, Cal on top of me, careful not to put his full weight on me. He’s kissing his way along my neck and down my body. My hands are in his hair, grabbing the silky strands, trying to get him where I want him.
He laughs against me, his hot breath hitting my clit. “Please, Cal. Stop teasing me,” I beg.
“I’m not teasing you, baby. I’m worshipping you. You’re just impatient.”
I cross my arms and blow my hair out of my face, refusing to acknowledge what he said. Mostly because it’s true. My hands fly back to Cal’s hair with the first swipe of his tongue against my sex.
“You’re so good at that,” I tell him, back arching off the bed as he goes in for more. Cal eats pussy like it’s his last meal. He sucks and nips my clit with precision before pressing two fingers inside me.
“I’ll never get over how wet you get for me, Firecracker.”
“Only you,” I pant. He seems to like that because he picks up speed. One of his hands reaches up and grabs mine, interlacing our fingers. I come with the next swipe of his talented tongue, squeezing the fingers in his hair and holding his hand to my chest.
Cal kisses his way back up my body until he’s settled between my legs, the head of his erection at my entrance.
“Tell me again,” he says against my lips before kissing me. I can taste myself on him. It’s hot.
“I love you,” I say, knowing exactly what he’s asking for. He smiles against my mouth and slowly presses into me. I don’t think there’s any way to get used to the size of him.
“I love you too,” he tells me, pushing into the hilt.
The way Cal moves this time is different. It’s a slow worship. The only time his eyes leave mine is when he’s kissing me. Neither of us is racing towards the finish line. We’re walking hand in hand toward an explosion.
Cal takes my hand and holds it against his heart as he pumps in and out of me. “It’s yours,” he says. “It beats for you.”
I nod. “Mine,” I agree. “Oh god, Cal.”
My orgasm is building slowly, but I’m right there, and I can tell it’ll break me when it hits.
“It’s okay, baby. Come for me,” Cal says against my ear. His words are what it takes to tip me over the edge. I scream, my vision blacks out, and I’m vaguely aware of the way I’m clawing at Cal’s ass as I lose all sense and pulse around him.
Cal’s grunts and moans pull me back to the surface. I open my eyes just in time to see his face as he comes. It’s one of my favorite things to witness in the entire world. It’s the only time Cal completely lets himself feel.
He collapses on top of me, rolling slightly so not all his weight is on me. We’re both panting and sweaty, but clinging to each other, refusing to let go.
“I’ve never come that hard in my life,” Cal says, then kisses my sweaty temple.
“Me either. Let’s do it again.”
“I’m going to make love to my future wife every day, twice a day until I’m dead,” Cal declares. I laugh and push at his chest. “What?”
“How are we going to find time to do that twice a day? You have a tour coming up, and I have a podcast to figure out and that’s on top of taking care of the most perfect little girl to ever exist.”
Cal is grinning at me like he just won a bet. I’m racking my brain trying to figure out if we actually did make a bet that I forgot about. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, coming up empty.
“You didn’t argue the future wife part,” he says, same giant grin on his face.
I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling too.
“I love you so much, Firecracker,” Cal says, nuzzling into my neck.
“I love you too.”
We stay snuggled together. I don’t know how much time passed. The sun was slowly sinking before we moved and that was only because Jason texted that he was on his way back with Cora.
If I had known this was the last peaceful moment Cal and I would have together, I would have held on tighter.