Chapter 10
ten
CALLAN
Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to pick her arse up and haul her to my truck like some damn caveman. It’d be reckless. Wild. And yet…it’s all I can think about.
But I don’t move. Not a step. I know better than to act on the desire without thinking about the fallout. I know what it’d mean if I pushed, how fast we’d burn through something that’s already hanging by a thread. I don’t want to be another decision she regrets.
So I stay rooted, even though my hands are twitching at my sides and my heart’s thudding like it’s trying to knock itself loose from my chest.
I need her to look away, sit back, laugh it off. Hell, shove me if she has to.
She doesn’t. She stays.
And fuck me, she’s closing the space between us. I swear if she tilts her head an inch more, I’m done for. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to make a move this badly in my life.
I can’t. Not unless she does.
This has to come from her.
Her eyes are locked on mine. “What are you thinking?”
I swallow hard, the dryness in my throat almost painful. “I’m thinking you should probably back away,” I say, but the words come out like a growl, a sound I barely recognize as my own. It’s rougher than I meant, but hell, it’s impossible to hide how much she’s messing with me.
Her lips curl into that teasing smile, and damn, it should’ve been a warning. “Probably,” she says, but still doesn’t move. Instead, her hand slides up my forearm, slow and deliberate, the touch sending a shock of electricity straight to my groin. “But what if I don’t want to?”
My jaw tightens, my pulse thumping so loud in my ears I can hardly hear anything else. Every fiber of my body is begging me to pull her closer, to breathe her in, to feel her body against mine. I resist, and instead grit my teeth, the heat from her hand spreading through me like wildfire.
“Then you’re going to make this a whole lot harder for me,” I mutter, the words scraping out of my throat like gravel.
Her smile widens, mischievous and knowing. She’s aware of exactly what she’s doing to me. And then, just when I think I might lose it, she leans in a fraction closer, her breath warm against my ear. “Maybe I like making things hard,” she murmurs, and hell, I damn near lose it right there.
I don’t even have time to fully process what she says before a booming laugh bursts from me. It’s ridiculous, helpless. I’ve completely lost control of the situation. And the sparkle in her eyes? Hell, it’s driving me absolutely mad.
It’s like fate gave me everything I’ve ever wanted…and then laughed in my face, making her so damn impossible to reach.
“Kiss me, Callan,” she dares. “Before I lose my patience and start kissing you myself.”
Well, now she’s really done it.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
I don’t waste any time. My hand finds her face, my touch gentle, but everything else about me?
Far from it. My mouth crashes into hers, desperate and ravenous, like I’ve been starving for this for far too long.
She gasps against me, and that sound…god, it’s like a spark to a fuse, sending a rush of heat straight through my veins.
Her lips part, giving me just enough space to dive in. I taste and explore every inch of her with a hunger I don’t want to fight.
I lose track of time, place, all of it. The only thing that matters is her. The way her fingers tug at my collar, how she bites down on my lip hard enough to make my blood burn.
I pull back to meet her eyes. She’s lost in this, too, her pupils blown wide with desire, and fuck, it drives me crazy. “Careful,” I murmur, my voice rough and barely holding on. “I might bite back.”
She presses her lips together in this teasing, innocent pout, but there’s no hiding the devilry dancing in her eyes. “Is that a promise?”
A low groan rumbles deep in my chest, and hell, every part of me wants to pull her right back to me, to taste that wild, intoxicating energy between us again. Then reality crashes in like a cold bucket of water, and I’m reminded of where we are.
We’re smack dab in the middle of my brother’s wedding.
I shift my gaze to check where the hell we are. Knox and Juliette are staring at us, jaws hanging open like they’ve never seen two people kiss before. Lucy’s looking like she might pass out, her eyes wide with shock, while Rose is barely holding it together, amusement written all over her face.
Then there’s Bree. She follows my gaze, sees the audience we’ve unintentionally gathered, and what does she do?
She laughs. Not just any laugh, but that genuine, carefree kind that makes everything else fade away.
Her head tips back, and the sound hits me like fireworks going off in the dead of night.
Bright, explosive, and impossible to ignore.
And hell, if I’m not laughing, too. It’s contagious, and before I know it, we’re both sitting there, grinning like a couple of fools. Her eyes are shining, her smile lighting up the darkness around us, and for a second, I forget everything. She’s perfect.
But damn it, as much as I want to pull her into my arms again and kiss her senseless right here, right now, I need to get a grip. This is a wedding. There are guests.
As she wipes away the tears from laughing so hard, there’s a shift. There’s that look in her eyes again… The one that tells me she’s not afraid to bend a few rules if I’m game. If she keeps looking at me like that, I’m going to need to find something to hide the bulge in my kilt.
“Come home with me, lass.” The words spill out before I have time to think, but it feels right. So damn right.
Her smile turns wicked. “Took you long enough to ask.”
I chuckle, leaning a little closer. “Had to make sure you were actually up for it, Sunshine.”
“Well, now that you’ve finally figured it out…” she trails off, leaning in just a bit closer.
The real question is, can I keep my hands off her long enough to get us out of here?
I don’t waste another second. I pull her to a stand, my grip on her hand tighter than it probably should be, but hell if I can help it. I’m already addicted.
As we weave through the crowd, I catch the looks on Knox’s and Jules’s faces, wide-eyed, probably trying to piece together how the hell this escalated so quickly. But I don’t care. I don’t care about anything except the woman at my side.
We stop to say our goodbyes, but it’s all just noise. A blur of nods and half smiles while my mind stays locked on the heat of her hand in mine and the way she leans into me ever so slightly.
I’ve known Bree for almost a year now, but every time I look at her, it’s like discovering her all over again.
The beauty was obvious from the start. Anyone with eyes can see that.
What got me above all else was the way she could make me laugh without even trying.
The way she carried herself with this impossible mix of lightness and strength, like the world could throw whatever it wanted at her, and she’d still find a way to smile through it.
Right now, all I can think about is how I could love her fiercely, endlessly. Maybe I didn’t realize it at first, but I feel it now, burning deeper with every second I spend with her. And hell, if that doesn’t terrify me.
But I’m done holding back.
By the time we get to my place, the tension between us is a living, breathing thing.
It makes it damn near impossible to think straight.
I try to keep my hands to myself, but every time I glance at her, every time her fingers brush against my back in those slow, teasing patterns, I unravel a little bit more.
I fumble with the keys, cursing under my breath when they slip between my fingers.
It’s pathetic, really, how just being near her turns me into a complete wreck.
But then I look over, and she’s watching me with that knowing little smirk, like she enjoys seeing me struggle.
Like she’s perfectly aware of the war raging inside me. It only makes me want her more.
I finally get the damn door open, and the second we step inside, the air shifts. We’ve crossed into a place where the rules are different and none of them involve keeping our hands to ourselves.
The heat between us roars back to life. I’ve got her pressed against the wall before I can think better of it, my hands already moving and greedy to memorize every inch of her. Her body fits against mine too perfectly, like she was made for me.
Her lips hover just shy of mine, and that’s all it takes. The need crashes into me, messy and overwhelming. All I want is her. Just her.
Her skin’s warm under my fingertips, impossibly soft, and when she shivers? Fuck. That tiny reaction nearly unravels me.
I tilt my head, deepen the kiss, swallowing every soft sound she gives me like they’re fuel. My hands tangle in her hair, pulling her closer, like if I hold her tight enough, I’ll finally quiet the ache that’s been clawing at me since the moment we met.
I already know it still won’t be enough.
“God, I’ve wanted this for so long,” I murmur against her skin, my lips tracing a path down her neck, each kiss making it harder to hold on to what’s left of my restraint.
She angles her head, granting me more access. When a soft moan escapes her lips, it’s music to my ears. “Me, too,” she breathes, her fingers threading into my hair.
And I do. I need her in a way that borders on desperation, but she deserves more than just urgency, more than the heat threatening to consume us whole.
So, with every ounce of control I have left, I pull back just enough to find her gaze.
My fingers slip between hers as I tug her gently toward the stairs.
She follows me without hesitation, her fingers laced tightly with mine. As we reach the top, she halts, stopping me. Did I misread this? Am I rushing her?
I turn, searching her face, but there’s no uncertainty in her eyes. Just pure, unfiltered desire.
“Race you.” She blows a kiss in my direction, and then she’s gone, sprinting down the hall before I can even react.
For half a second, I’m rooted to the spot as I watch her take off like she didn’t just have me on the verge of completely unraveling.
Then it clicks.
“Oh, you’re in for it now, Sunshine,” I growl, taking off after her.
She’s fast. I’ll give her that. But I’ve got longer legs and a whole lot of motivation. She lets out a breathless laugh as I close the distance, her smile wide, eyes shining with pure, reckless delight.
I catch her just before she crashes into the bathroom. One arm wraps around her waist, and I spin her clean off her feet, hauling her against me. She lets out a breathless yelp that turns into a laugh, and then turns on her heel, looking up at me with flushed cheeks and bright, triumphant eyes.
“I had no idea where I was going,” she admits.
I can’t help the bark of laughter that rips from my lungs. “You, what?”
“I’ve never even been in your house before!”
“So your plan was to start a race you couldn’t finish?”
Her breathing’s uneven now, lips parted as her gaze flickers to my mouth. “Just…keeping you on your toes.”
I lean in, my lips ghosting over hers, our breath mingling. “Sunshine, you have no idea what you just started.”
Without another word, I sweep her into my arms, cradling her against me as I carry her down the hall. Her arms loop around my neck, fingers playing with the hair at the nape of my neck as I nudge open the door to my bedroom with my foot, not willing to let her go for even a second.
And then we’re falling into the room, onto the bed, and into each other, a mess of tangled limbs and breathless laughter.
For a moment, neither of us moves, hearts racing, chests rising and falling in sync.
Bree’s hair is a wild halo around her, her cheeks flushed, her smile nothing short of devastating. She’s never looked more beautiful.
I inch closer, slow enough that she can feel every fraction of space between us disappear. Her breath catches, her body tensing ever so slightly. It’s barely noticeable, just the faintest shift, but it’s enough.
And then I see it.
Fear.
It flickers in the depths of her gaze, raw and unguarded. And it fucking guts me.
Her hand drifts toward mine, slow and cautious, like she’s testing the waters, uncertain whether she’s ready to take the leap. I stay still, letting her make the decision.
I can almost hear the internal battle that’s holding her back. And when her fingers finally brush against mine, a small breath of relief escapes her as her body relaxes, her shoulders releasing the tension that’s there.
My voice is a quiet murmur. “I’m right here.”
They’re more than just words. They’re a promise I know she hears. I’m not going anywhere. Not until she knows, deep in her bones, that she’s safe with me.
Our eyes lock, and in that instant, I think she sees it, too. The promise, the silent vow I’m offering. That I’ll take care of her heart, of her body, of everything she’s willing to trust me with.
She breathes me in, her lips brushing tentatively against mine, soft and gentle. Trusting. It’s not just a kiss. It’s a quiet surrender, like she’s letting herself believe good things are still possible.