Chapter 26
COLT
For a split second as I opened my bedroom door and walked us through it, I wished I’d taken the time to decorate. Wasn’t really my thing. I had a bed, and that was pretty much all I needed the room for. Fucking and sleeping. I’d never had another reason to spend time in there.
But Callie…sweet, delicious, hard-as-nails Callie made me want to give her a space where she could feel at home.
My heart pinged with a burst of longing that stole my breath. That, and Callie’s kiss. She never did anything halfway. Case and point, as soon as the door closed behind her, she yanked my shirt off and reached for my belt.
Fast and furious hands tugged at my clothing, then hers, until she’d stripped us down to nothing but skin. God she felt good beneath my hands. Was it just a day ago that we’d been together in the kitchen? So much time had passed but with so much chaos that time stopped having any meaning.
I wrapped both hands around Callie’s waist and pulled her flush against me.
Her nipples hardened, the peaks pressing into my chest and drawing out a groan from the back of her throat when I rubbed side to side.
Nipping her bottom lip, I pinched her ass and laughed when she smacked my spine with the flat of her palm.
A heartbeat later, she pinched my ass hard enough to bruise.
I bucked my hips forward, sliding my cock between her legs.
All the history between us, the heartbreak and the running away, didn’t hurt as much when I held her in my arms.
I turned enough to guide her onto the bed, breaking off the kiss long enough to help her settle in the middle of the covers.
She propped herself up on her elbows and watched me through hooded eyes. “This still doesn’t mean anything.”
“I know.” I winked as I followed her down and nipped the underside of her breast. “Just two people trying to blow off some steam. I need something to feel real. You?”
She nodded, her throat working in a series of swallows that if I didn’t know any better meant she struggled to speak. The great Callie Jameson at a loss for words?
I almost teased her about that too, but now wasn’t exactly the time. Instead, I nudged her legs apart and settled between them. “This is just for you, Callie. Turn off that wonderful brain of yours and let yourself feel instead of think.”
We both needed that. I lined up my cock with her entrance and pushed forward. She wouldn’t let this drag out all night, not with what happened outside and our combined need to protect Cody. I wouldn’t dream of asking her to stay with me when our son might need her at any second.
Hell, I’d sleep outside their room again just in case Cody decided to sneak out like he had before.
But for now, right this instant, I had her full attention.
I rolled my hips and lifted one of her legs over my shoulder, deepening the thrust and hitting an angle that caused her head to drop back onto the mattress with a gasp.
Her fingers spasmed on the covers, and when she reached for me, I filled her completely.
My cock throbbed. Callie lifted her hips to meet me when I withdrew and thrust forward.
We found a rhythm that locked our bodies into motion and edged us both toward release.
“I could watch you like this forever.” I rubbed my hand up and down her thigh, using my free hand to brace my weight on the headboard and lengthening my thrusts.
Her eyes fluttered, the lashes sweeping her cheeks before she met my gaze. “I wouldn’t complain.”
It was the first time we’d danced around the subject of the future. I let it go before I said some bullshit and ruined the moment, using my body to tell her all the things my mouth didn’t know how to say.
I loved her. I’d been in love with her for a while. It was why I’d left. How could someone like me think for even a second that a woman as wonderful as Callie would let me stick around? So I’d busted out. Then she’d left and I hadn’t been right since.
Callie shifted beneath me, her body tensing and releasing as her orgasm spiraled closer. I needed to see that, needed the fulfilment on her face and her body’s reaction to mine. It was the only thing I had going for me.
Shifting my position, I looped her knees over my arms and buried my cock in her, then backed out and repeated the process. My muscles tensed in time with hers. Not yet. I couldn’t give in yet.
“Colt.” Callie ground out my name and reached for me. Her fingers dug into my arms and she pulled me down and kissed me.
Her scent filled my head and stole every thought except one. Make her happy.
She slid her legs off my arms and locked her heels in my thighs as they tensed and quivered.
Any second now. She nipped my bottom lip and gasped when I snapped my hips forward. She shattered on the next thrust, a string of gasps mingling with her groans of pleasure. I’d never heard a sound so sweet. It made me want to stay right here forever. I pumped my hips again, chasing my own release.
Callie scraped her blunted nails down my spine and grabbed my ass, hauling me against her. “Come on, Colt.”
Like I’d been waiting for that exact moment, my body contracted as my cock swelled and emptied, pleasure exploding across every nerve until I trembled almost as much as she did.
We lay there, panting and slick with sweat, for several seconds. I’d have stayed longer, but Callie nudged my hip with her knee, a silent request for me to move. How many nights had I lain awake dreaming of holding her? Too many to count.
And it still wouldn’t happen. Callie didn’t cuddle. Maybe she would if she thought there was more to this whole thing than sex, but we’d never talked about it.
Talking. Ugh. I’d rather not.
Callie rolled from the bed and headed into my bathroom. She came out a few minutes later with her hair freshly braided and a languid ease to her movements. “I’d better go check on Cody.”
I nodded and stood, the two of us dressing almost as fast as she’d torn off our clothes.
Not a lot I could say to convince her to stay, even if I did have the right words.
Protecting Cody came first, and even though he was locked in a house with enough men to stop just about anything, she’d been through too much to trust us implicitly.
I followed her into the hallway and down to their room, pausing by the door to give her one last kiss before I dropped into the chair. Callie gave me a look as she closed the door, a question in her eyes. I shook my head and closed my eyes, propping the back of my head against the wall.
Diesel woke me the next morning with a tap of his toe against mine. “Hawk wants you to bring Callie and Cody in for breakfast. I’m working on retrieving data.” He walked away without a backward look, knowing good and well I’d do exactly what he demanded.
We spent the morning being told stories by Cody over plates of pancakes and bacon, then going onto the front porch and the overhang where Diesel worked on the drone.
“When can I learn to ride a real bike?” Cody scuffed his toes in the gravel driveway and frowned at his tricycle. “I like the new paint. It’s really cool, but three wheels are for little kids.”
“Excuse me?” Rally, one of the oldest guys in our club, set his hands on his hips and pretended to frown at Cody. “You see that one there?” He pointed at his bike at the far end of the lot.
Cody nodded, his cheeks flushing. “Yes, sir.”
“Old people ride on three wheels too.” Rally snorted and ruffled Cody’s hair when the boy stammered. “I’m just messing with you, kid.”
Rally and the others spread out to follow Hawk’s orders to watch the perimeter and keep club business moving. Cody watched them go until just the five of us stood beneath the overhang.
Callie kept shooting looks at the shop, the longing evident in every jittery motion. She needed something to do. We all did.
Waiting around sucked ass.
“But what about a motorcycle? Or a dirtbike?” Cody bounced back to his original topic with a literal leap forward that almost sent him sprawling when the gravels shifted beneath his feet.
I caught him before he ate dirt and righted him with a pat on the shoulder.
Callie sat on the bench seat behind Diesel and crossed her ankles. “You have to learn to ride something without a motor first.” She gave Cody a motherly look. “I’m not putting you on something that can go faster than I can run until you have the balance and the knowledge to handle it.”
“Okay.” Cody rose onto his toes and leaped toward Callie. “When can you teach me?”
Her lashes fluttered, a look passing so quickly across her face that I almost missed it. “Soon. You need a bicycle your size.”
I waited for Cody to bounce away to pepper Hawk with questions before I sat next to Callie. “I can have a bike here in an hour. If you’re okay with it.”
“You don’t have to do that, Colt.” She fidgeted, twisting her hands together in her lap.
“I’m at a disadvantage here. I want to spend time with Cody, and I want to give him everything I never had. But I won’t do anything that goes against your wishes. Are you trying to keep him from getting a bike or is there another reason you don’t want me to do this?”
Callie made figuring her out impossible. Better to ask straight out than try to work my way through her subtlety.
She rubbed a finger along the edge of her nose, her head dropping in a gesture so defeated it sent my protective instincts onto full alert.
“What?” I rubbed her back in slow, smooth strokes. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t afford to buy him a bike. I wanted to get him one for Christmas.” She raised her head and stared straight at Diesel’s back.
I’d never heard that kind of vulnerability in her voice. “You’ve been doing this alone, Callie. And I get why. You had every right to leave. But we’re here now. I’m here now, and I’d like to help.”
“Found something.” Diesel’s quiet announcement cut between us.
Callie stood so fast she wobbled and stretched out a hand. I caught it and stood beside her, bracing her with our hips together. My arm went across her shoulders. She shuddered once, then her shoulders rolled back and her chin came up. There was the badass who didn’t take any shit.
“What is it?” Callie moved to stand beside Diesel.
Hawk joined us while Cody rode his tricycle up and down the sidewalk in front of the house.
Diesel held up a tiny memory card barely the size of my thumbnail.
“Fuck.” The tightness I’d been fighting all morning broke over me in a wave as fury heated my skin.
Hawk took the card, pinching it carefully between his thumb and forefinger. “Someone’s collecting footage. Any chance they downloaded remotely?”
“Probably not.” Diesel probably meant for that to sound reassuring but it did nothing to stop me from cursing and wishing I had a target to pound into the dirt.