Chapter Nine
The drive back to town is spent with my hand on Callie's thigh.
She laces her fingers through mine and thank fuck I don't need to shift because I don't think I could bring myself to pull my hand away.
She leans sideways in her seat so she can see my face, her free hand propped on her elbow and fisted under her chin.
The first few minutes of the drive are quiet.
I feel like I should be panicking about that, but it's a peaceful quiet. Not an "I regret that" quiet.
Every time I glance over at her, her smile gets a little bigger. I give her thigh a light squeeze and turn towards her.
"So," I start, dragging the last letter out a little longer than necessary.
I'm definitely procrastinating. She tilts her head, waiting for whatever dumb shit is about to fall out of my mouth and surprise us both.
Suddenly my mouth is drier than the fucking Sahara.
I clear my throat and try again. "It's not too late.
Is there... uh... anywhere else you want to go tonight?
" I immediately wince because are you fucking kidding me?
That's the best I could come up with? Whatever, it's too late now.
Please say my house please say my house please say my house please say
"Well, I'm off tomorrow too, so I don't have to be up early," she muses, unfurling a finger from her fist and tapping it to her lips. "Oh, I know! We could do the Seven Wonders!"
Not what I had in mind, but definitely better than calling it a night. I can work with that.
"Well, the park closes at dark, so that knocks out the trail, the gazebo and the dog park.
We already ate, so we can save the Mexican restaurant for next time.
" I realize too late how presumptuous that last part was.
I steal a quick glance at her to gauge her reaction, but there is none. Just her eager smile.
She mentioned earlier that she wanted us to go see the cows, so I guess it wasn’t as presumptuous as my anxiety is telling me it was.
Not to mention the fact that I was inside her ten minutes ago.
But she spent an entire evening with me and she's still anticipating a next time.
Something in my chest squeezes tight. Haven't fucked it up yet, lover boy.
"You've obviously already been to the bookstore," I continue, but she interrupts me.
"The cows!" She's practically vibrating with excitement, and I can't help but laugh.
"The cows unfortunately have a bedtime, unless you want to add a B&E to your record," I explain. She sticks that bottom lip out again in a pout and my brain ever so kindly graces me with a mental image of her wrapping those lips around-
SPRAY BOTTLE. NOW.
I manage to downgrade the ensuing groan to a heavy sigh. I adjust my jeans as discreetly as possible but of course she clocks the motion again. Her eyes shoot back to mine and her pout morphs into a smirk, one eyebrow arching. Damn it.
She slowly unlaces her fingers from mine and glides them up my forearm. I stop her with a look, and she halts, her eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. Shit, this is the second time I've stopped her. She thinks I'm rejecting her.
“Callie, listen,” I say with a sigh. "If you so much as look in my direction like that right now, I have absolutely zero faith in my ability not to wreck this car and kill us both," I blurt out, sliding my hand under hers and lacing our fingers back together.
I lift our hands up and press a kiss to her knuckles before laying my palm back on her thigh.
I've decided it lives there permanently now.
I'll file the change of address tomorrow.
"Oh," she exhales, pink creeping up her cheeks again. I'm starting to worry about her blood flow at this point.
"Yeah, oh. Troublemaker," I tell her with a smirk, and she gives my fingers a squeeze. "Anyway, that leaves us with one option."
Her eyes widen as she realizes where we're going. "But, how? I thought you had to check with your cousin first?" I toss her a look of mock offense.
"Please. If you think for one second that I didn't text him as soon as we got to the arcade, then you're thoroughly underestimating me." She lets out a little squeal and leans forward, planting a kiss on my cheek.
I think I'm starting to worry about my own blood flow, too.
We pull up to the bowling alley and the lights are off.
I park in the back of the building and use the door code my cousin gave me, holding the door open for her to step inside.
I walk ahead of her, leading the way to the electric panel that turns the whole place on.
Callie eyes the darkness warily, but I've always had great night vision.
I consider being a gentleman and taking her hand to lead her until I get to the light switches, but where's the fun in that?
She doesn't notice as I slow down and let her walk past me. She doesn't notice when I creep up behind her and crouch down to her height. She does, however, notice when I wrap one arm around her waist from behind and lift her in the air.
The growl I let loose is entirely self-serving, but I'd bet she can feel it rumble against her back.
She opens her mouth to scream just as I clamp my hand over it.
Her eyes must finally be adjusting, because she jerks in my arms as she realizes she's face to face with someone.
It takes her a second to realize that someone is herself, one of my arms banded around her waist and the other wrapped around her face.
We lock eyes over her shoulder in the wall of mirrors in front of us and she relaxes as soon as she sees the sly look on my face.
I set her back down on her feet, and the hand over her mouth slides down to her chin.
She tilts her head back and I lean forward to capture her lips again.
She grinds her ass against me and I groan, my hand instantly tightening on her chin.
I break the kiss and push my chest against her back, walking us a few steps forward until we're almost touching the mirror.
She meets my eyes again in the mirror just as I press my knee between hers and kick one of her legs out.
Callie lets out a soft gasp as she loses her balance.
Both hands fly out in front of her and her palms slap against the mirror above her head.
I press against her back, pushing her flush against the mirror, and drag my hands down to her hips.
Her breath is heavy, fogging up the glass before us.
My hands slip under the hem of her sweater and roam over her bare skin before dipping under the waistband of her leggings.
She leans her head back against my chest and her eyes flutter closed.
My hands return to her hips, and I pull her against me, digging the hard ridge of my cock against the small of her back.
I brush her hair to the side and gently ghost my lips over the tiny tattoos trailing down her spine.
They're all symbols that I don't recognize, surrounded by a bar on either side made up of a geometric pattern.
She releases a breathy moan as one of her hands slides up my thigh.
She finds my gaze in the mirror and quirks an eyebrow in question.
"Fuck, yes please," I grind out with a nod, and she's immediately palming my cock through my jeans.
I try to suppress my groan, but then she's squeezing and it's all I can do not to fucking whimper, so self-control is obviously on hold for the evening.
Honestly, whatever. We've got the place to ourselves anyway.
Before I know what's happening, she's already spinning around to face me.
She looks up at me through her lashes, her smirk dripping sin, and she pushes me back a step with one finger.
Both palms flatten against my chest and slither down.
She doesn't break eye contact as she drops to her knees, and the involuntary whimper I let out is almost embarrassing. Almost.
She keeps her eyes on me as she undoes my belt.
When she pops the button on my jeans, her tongue darts out over her bottom lip and I swear my eyes roll back in my head.
Suddenly her hands aren't on me anymore and my gaze shoots back to her just in time to see her peeling her sweater over her head.
Another tattoo pokes up from below her waistband, curling around the ball of her hip.
Snakes, maybe? She slips it under her knees, cushioning them from the waxed wood floor, and bright blue eyes bore into me again as she yanks my jeans down enough to pull my cock out of them.
Callie's hands are warm as she wraps them both around my base.
I brace myself against the mirror with one hand and the other drifts to the back of her head as she wraps her lips around my tip.
She swirls her tongue along the underside of my cock and I'm already seeing fucking stars.
She bobs her head back and forth a few inches and then hollows out her cheeks and sucks.
My brain might actually be short circuiting, and sparks shoot up my spine with every drag of her tongue.
There's no way in hell I'm going to last any respectable amount of time if she keeps this up.
I tip my head back, breaking our eye contact and trying to concentrate on literally anything else, but sharp nails bite into the back of my thigh, and I whip my gaze back down to her.
She's glaring at me through watery eyes, mouth stretched around me, and the message is clear.
She wants me to watch. I nod and run my fingers through her hair, pulling the stray strands out of her face.
I can either look her in the eyes as she swallows me whole, or I can watch us both in the mirror, and I'm not even sure which option is less hot. Fuck.