Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
LIVIANNA/LILY
Now
The Warmth That Doesn’t Quite Reach Me
I cling to how safe this feels, even as something inside me starts to shake without a name.
The way Callum is staring into my eyes tells me everything I need to know. He loves me. My insides grow warm, love seeping into every cell of my body.
“Callum, I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He lowers his mouth to mine.
His tongue slips between my lips in a way that makes me believe he’s asking for permission. I pull him closer, my hips rolling to entice him.
He breaks the kiss to stare at me, and something in his expression makes my breath catch. There’s hunger there, but also reverence, like he’s trying to memorize every detail of this moment.
His palm slides over my skin, careful and worshiping, but when his fingers brush over my left ribs, I wince. The bruises are healing, but they’re still tender.
“Did I hurt you?” Concern floods his features.
“No, I’m fine. Just a little sore.” I pull him back down to me. “Don’t stop, Callum. Please.”
He searches my eyes for a long beat before kissing me again, this time with a controlled intensity that makes my toes curl. His mouth moves down my throat, across my collarbone, and lower.
Every touch is electric, like my nerve endings have been waiting years for exactly this. But something shifts in the way he touches me.
He moves with a confidence I don’t remember from before, like he’s learned my body in ways that should feel familiar but somehow don’t.
The pressure of his fingers, the rhythm of his movements, the places he lingers; it’s all slightly different from the Callum I remember.
More assured. More knowing.
I push the observation aside because this isn’t the time to question anything. This is what I’ve wanted since the minute I came home from the hospital. This is us, finally together again after too long apart.
He unhooks my bra with practiced ease, and I arch into him as his mouth finds my breast. Heat pools low in my stomach, building with every stroke of his tongue, every gentle scrape of his teeth.
“Callum…”
He lifts his head, and the care in his eyes nearly has me in tears. “Tell me if anything hurts, Lily. I need to know you’re okay.”
“I’m more than okay. It’s been over two weeks since my accident, so we’re not doing anything I’m not ready for.” I reach for the hem of his shirt, needing to feel his skin against mine. “I need you closer.”
He helps me pull it off, and then his lips are on mine again as his hands explore every inch of me like he’s relearning a map he once knew by heart. When his fingers slip beneath the lace of my panties, I gasp into his mouth.
He pauses, giving me a chance to pull away, but I press my hips up in a silent, desperate plea. He takes the invitation, sliding the lace down my legs until it’s nothing but a memory on the floor.
“Your turn.” I unbutton his jeans and slide the zipper down.
He rolls off me and takes off his pants. The cool spring air on my heated skin is a contrast, but it’s nothing compared to the passion in his gaze. He stares at me like I’m a masterpiece he’s finally allowed to touch after years of admiring from afar.
“Lily,” he whispers, his voice thick with an emotion that’s all love and lust. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
He climbs back on top of me. His muscles flex as he reaches between us and tries to work a condom on. My heart hammers against my ribs with anticipation.
He shifts to the side, messing with the condom. He strokes his length once, twice, and the sight of him, ready and wanting me, is almost enough to make me come right now.
He settles back between my thighs, the weight of him a welcome anchor, and then he’s pressing against my entrance.
“Last chance to back out,” he murmurs, though his voice is strained with need. “Tell me if this is too much.”
“Shut up and make love to me, Callum.” I hook my legs around his waist and pull him down.
He groans a raw, guttural sound, and then he pushes inside me. The initial stretch is a sweet, sharp ache that steals my breath.
He’s thick and hard, and being filled by him, our bodies joining in this most primal way, is overwhelming. I clutch at his shoulders, my nails digging into his skin as he sinks deeper, deeper, until he’s fully sheathed, his pelvis flush with mine.
He stills, his forehead resting against mine, his breath ragged. “Fucking hell, Lily. I’ve waited so long for this. You feel incredible. Better than I remember.”
“Then move,” I pant, grinding my hips against his. “Show me how much you missed me.”
He lets out a dark laugh and begins to slide in and out of me. He slips in more, then he pulls out almost completely before claiming all of me again.
I meet him thrust for thrust, my body curving to take all of him. The sound of skin slapping against skin fills the room, a filthy, perfect rhythm that’s just for us.
“You like that?” His voice is a low rumble against my ear, as if he’s holding himself back. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”
“No.” I gasp, my fingers tangling in his hair, pulling his head down for a bruising kiss. “Harder. Don’t hold back.”
“Lily…”
“If it starts to hurt, I’ll tell you to stop.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
His pace quickens, the controlled restraint shattering into something more desperate, more needy. He’s pounding into me now, his hips snapping against mine, each thrust hitting that perfect spot deep inside.
The pleasure coils tighter and tighter in my core, a spring wound to its breaking point. It’s building, an explosion waiting to happen.
He takes a deep breath, the last of his control crumbling. He gives me a hard, possessive kiss before pulling back.
His eyes are dark, focused entirely on where our bodies are joined. He draws back slowly, almost all the way out, and the emptiness is a sudden, sharp loss.
“Lily…” He squeezes his eyes shut, stilling himself for a moment. “I need a minute. I don’t wanna come yet.”
“You can come and we can do it again.”
He pushes back in, a slow, deliberate glide that makes every nerve ending light up. He does it over and over, setting a rhythm that’s less about frantic need and more about rediscovery. Each stroke is a question, and every time I tilt my hips to meet him, I give him the answer.
“You’re so wet, vixen.” He moans. “Is this all for me?”
“All for you,” I breathe, my hands roaming over the hard planes of his back, feeling the muscles bunch and flex with every movement. “Only ever for you.”
He stops, his gaze connecting with mine. “It’s only been you. All the time we were apart… You, this is all I ever wanted.”
He shifts his angle, and the new depth sends a jolt of pure pleasure through me. I gasp, my head falling back against the pillows.
“God, I love you.” He targets that spot again and again, his movements becoming more confident.
His loving stare is so intense, like he’s trying to join directly to my soul and witness every single sensation as it washes over me.
He leans down, capturing one of my nipples in his mouth, sucking and teasing it in time with his thrusts. The dual sensations are almost too much.
“Callum…please,” I beg, not even sure what I’m asking for. More? Faster? I just know I need something to break the perfect, agonizing tension coiling in me. “Don’t be gentle with me. I’m not glass.”
He pushes himself up, hooks his arms under my knees and lifts my legs, spreading me wider and opening me up completely. The new position is vulnerable and exhilarating.
He’s deeper than ever before, and the raw power in his expression as he gazes down at me makes my heart clench. He starts to move again, and this time there’s nothing slow about it.
He pistons into me, his hips snapping against mine. Our bodies make a loud, slick, percussive beat in the quiet room.
“Look at me.” He reaches between us, his fingers circling over my clit. “I wanna watch you come apart.”
I lock onto his piercing eyes. The intensity is staggering. He pounds into me like he can’t help it.
His control is gone, and that leaves me smiling. No matter what happened in the past, a past I can’t remember, there’s no denying how much he wants this. Knowing that is enough to make me believe this is meant to be.
“Callum, let yourself go.”
“I wanna make this good for you.”
“You are. I’m right there with you, love.”
He rolls his hips, chasing his own pleasure as he drives me toward mine. The spring inside me winds tighter, tighter, until it’s almost painful. My whole body is trembling, straining, on the very edge.
“Let go, Lily,” he grunts, his rhythm becoming erratic. “Come for me, vixen.”
His words are the trigger. My orgasm crashes through me, a violent, shattering wave that steals my breath and my vision.
“Callum…” I cry out, a broken, helpless sound as my inner muscles clench around him, pulsing and milking his length.
It goes on and on, pleasure so intense it borders on pain, wringing me out. He follows right behind me with a guttural roar, his body going rigid as he buries himself deep inside me one last time. He pulses within the condom, his release a powerful, final throb.
“Fuck, that was intense.” He collapses on top of me, his body slick with sweat, his heart hammering against my chest.
“Yeah, it was.”
For a long time, we just lay there tangled together, trying to catch our breath. He presses a soft, tender kiss to my temple, and I know with a certainty that settles deep in my heart I am home.
“Good morning, love.” Callum holds out a mug. “I made you some breakfast and a cup of joe.”
“Thanks.” I take it from him and slide onto a chair at my kitchen table. “What did you decide about moving the rest of your belongings to this house?”
“I have a few meetings today, and we’re working on the new album. If I can fit it into my schedule, I’ll get everything over here this week.”
“Are you ready to be roommates?”
He slips into the chair across from me. “We’ll never be just roommates.”
“Then what do you call it?”