14. Mason #2
A second bite is on its way to my mouth when Callie lets out a soft moan.
“So good,” she mumbles as I turn just in time to see her eyes roll back.
The hand on my thigh squeezes as I try to control what that reaction does to me. I’m getting turned on by a woman eating. I can’t seem to pull my eyes away as she licks her bottom lip, making my dick twitch.
“Do you do this every week?” I ask, trying to steer the conversation back to a place where blood is in my head and not my…
Her head drops back with a sigh, exposing the long length of her neck. How can a neck look erotic when it swallows—Oh, never mind.
“No, I just needed comfort food tonight.”
“What’s tonight?”
She looks at me, unsure if she wants to answer.
“Oh, that time of the month?” I ask. “Beth needs chocolate and sweet tea—she puts, like, six spoonfuls of sugar.” I shudder, then go in for another bite.
I really shouldn’t have sweets at this time, it’ll keep me up, but it’s not like I’ve been getting much sleep lately as it is. Not when thoughts of my assistant keep creeping in unannounced.
“No.” Callie laughs, then it fades away, snatched by the breeze along with her smile. “Some family stuff.”
I got the impression earlier in the week that she perhaps doesn’t have the best relationship with her parents. I can’t imagine fighting with any member of my family. They mean everything to me. “Anything I can help with?”
She shakes her head as Navie starts to fuss in her pram. Callie takes another bite of her cookie before she reaches for Navie and sits her on her lap instead.
“My dad has never been a stable figure in our lives, and Mum has always loved him too much. It was the main reason I was so adamant about legalising full custody of Navie with my ex.” Full custody?
As in, Navie’s dad doesn’t see her at all?
“I didn’t want another guy popping in and out whenever he felt like it.
Turns out my dad had a good reason for being so absent, though, and it explains why he never asked Mum to marry him despite her always hinting it’s what she wanted… He was already married.”
“Your dad was married but in a relationship with your mum? And she didn’t know?”
Callie nods, then wraps her cookie and puts it aside to grab a bunny toy from under Navie’s pram.
“Shit, Callie. I’m sorry.” My hand acts on its own, reaching out to rest a comforting touch on her thigh. Thankfully, I stop myself before I make contact.
My hand hovers in the air, slowly retracting until Navie reaches forward, clutching my wrist.
“Thanks.” Callie smiles as she watches Navie study my hand, abandoning her bunny toy.
I flip my palm over, thinking she might want to play with my fingers, something Briony does all the time, but she whimpers instead and reaches both hands towards me.
“Can I?” I ask Callie, pointing my gaze down at her daughter.
“She seems to think so.” Callie chuckles as she hands Navie to me.
I hold her to my chest, a little more upright than I can with Briony since she’s only a few weeks old.
“Hi,” I say, bouncing her as she takes me in. Navie seems content to watch me, so I turn back to her mum. “So what’s happening with your parents now?”
“Mum is staying with my brother. She didn’t want to be in the house she shared with my dad. She’s always been closer with my brother, but I offered to drive down this weekend, and she told me not to come.”
Fuck. I’m so close with my family, I can’t imagine what it’d be like to not only watch them struggle but not be let in to help.
Gage has been in therapy for a decade after he lost his best friend, and we only learned recently just how well he masked the grief that never left him.
He always made sure to look after us, so we didn’t realise he hadn’t healed quite like we thought.
Over the years, he found a way to balance his emotions and still be present, but meeting Isabelle is what truly brought him back to life.
“I bet your mum’s feeling a whole lot of emotions that she doesn’t know how to process.”
“She’s always processed internally. I think I’m just finding it hard because I’m a fixer. I want to make things better, and she won’t let me in.” God, I feel that.
“Does she live far away?”
“Trevally Falls. Beth said your brother is moving there?”
“Yeah. I’ve been there a few times while we’ve been working on his house.”
“Small world.” She smiles.
I’m stuck staring at it again, that smile. Those eyes. Everything about Callie pulls me like quicksand. There’s no fighting it, you just give in.
Navie starts fussing, burying her head into my chest, and making sounds like she doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“I should get going,” Callie says, looking down at her daughter still in my arms. “She normally feeds around this time, and she’s very strict with her routine.”
“I can wait with you if you want to feed her now. We’re both walking back in the same direction anyway.”
“You don’t mind if I feed her in front of you?” she asks, unconvinced as she reaches to take Navie back from me.
“Of course not.” Jesus, who would mind a mother feeding her baby?
I stretch my legs in front of me, looking out to the water as I take another bite of my cookie.
“Izzy does it all the time. I’ve helped feed my niece, too,” I say, looking over to her now, and holy fuck, her boob is out.
HER BOOB. IS. OUT! Of course it’s out. She’s breastfeeding her daughter.
When she asked, for some reason, my mind imagined a bottle because Izzy mix feeds and I clearly can’t think straight around Callie.
It’s not like I can see her nipple. Navie’s in the way.
I mean, not in the way; she’s right where she should be, so she can feed.
But my assistant just whipped her breast out, and I didn’t think that would be the first time I’d see it.
No! Wait! She’s my assistant—there’s no situation in which I would see her breasts.
Except, clearly, this one. Fuck, no one else better have seen this.
“Oh, damnit, I forgot to grab my drink bottle,” Callie says, unaware of my internal freak-out. “Would you mind? It’s just in the basket under the pram.”
I nod, scanning the area as I search through the pram basket, making sure no one else is looking.
Passing the drink back to her, I keep my eyes trained forward.
This is weird. Isabelle has fed B heaps of times in front of us, and I couldn’t have cared less.
Why, with Callie, is the only thing my brain can focus on is: Her boob’s out. Her boob’s out. Her boob’s out.
Get a grip, Mason.
“I think I might get a drink myself. That cookie made me thirsty.” I chuckle, throwing a thumb over my shoulder as I race back to the cookie stand. Callie’s only a few meters away, so I can still keep an eye on her as I pull my phone from my pocket and bring up a text thread with my brother.
ME:
Question… did you freak out the first time you saw Izzy breastfeed?
While I wait for Gage to respond, I decide to do a quick internet search.
That is a rabbit hole I never thought I’d go down, and I’m not sure I’ve come out better or worse for it.
Focusing on the parts that my brain can somewhat handle, I’ve learned women’s nipples are more sensitive.
Some partners get turned on because the act is so nurturing, it makes them feel more connected, admiring how their partners provide for their child.
Others feel a powerful attraction to the sight of the milk production, a primal part of the brain linking it to femininity.
My cock twitches at imagining a bead of milk as it slips down the curve of Callie’s breast, and that settles it—I’m clearly a caveman.
Thankfully, a notification drops down that Gage has texted me back. Maybe he has some reassuring words.
GAGE:
Are you looking to get slapped?
ME:
I’m being serious!
GAGE:
Okay then, seriously, don’t ask me about my wife’s breasts!
ME:
Come on!!! It’s not appealing, like, at all???
I pocket my phone when the lady behind the register greets me, and I grab a bottle of water.
By the time I head back to Callie, her tank top and overalls are back in place, and Navie is totally milk-drunk.
Her little mouth is popped open with milk gathered in the corner, eyes shut, and one arm stretched over her head—she looks so fucking adorable.
And Callie… well, Callie looks hot. Is it the nurturing thing? I haven’t seen her in mum mode before.
“So she was just hangry before?” I chuckle.
“Yeah,” Callie says, with a smile that’s all for her daughter. She stares down at Navie like she hung the moon, and I hope I’m not half as obvious when I look at Callie—like she hung every damn star.
She brings Navie to her shoulder and stands from the bench, then lowers her carefully into the pram.
“Time for us to head home, and for you to make your club appearance.” She releases the brake on the pram and starts heading back slowly in the direction we came.
I fall in step beside her, forcing myself to move because I have no desire to go to the club anymore. If I had my choice, I’d keep sitting here with Callie.
“Thank you for walking with us, and for the cookie.” She holds up her half-eaten cookie before taking a bite.
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I ran into you.”
“You are?” She chuckles. “Why?”
“It’s just nice getting to know each other better.
” I shrug, shoving my hands in my pockets.
“Especially now I know you’re going through some stuff at home.
It helps me know how I can support you, I mean not just you, like, my friends in general.
You said you’re a fixer? I get that, I think I’m a little like that too. ”