“We’ve talked about it, but we’re taking things slow. Just because we’re not making any concrete plans yet doesn’t mean they won’t be made.” Also true. Tiffeny and I might not end up making them together, but eventually, both of us were going to make some kind of plans.
“I—” She was interrupted by the insistent buzzing of her phone on the table. It struck me as strange that a woman like her would have it lying right there on the dinner table, but Tiffeny didn’t seem surprised at all.
Mrs. Hurst grabbed for the device, unlocked it, and quickly began scowling at whatever was still coming through on her screen as her phone kept buzzing. Abruptly pushing her chair back and straightening to her full height, she gave us an apologetic smile.
“I have to go back to the office. Darling, why don’t you show Callen around a little bit? I’ll ask the chef to hold our dinner until I return.” Her gaze softened slightly on Tiffeny and then turned to mine. “As I said, Callen, I’m not completely sold on the idea of you yet, but you seem honest and you’re charming enough. I’d appreciate if you could stay for dinner tonight, but if it gets too late, I’d like to have you over again.”
“Of course, Mrs. Hurst.” I untangled my ankles from Tiffeny’s and rose, waiting until her mother had given us a curt nod before hurrying out of the room to sit again.
Before I could do it, Tiffeny stood up too. She looked significantly more relaxed now that her mother was gone. “Come on. Let me show you around. Since she asked me to, she’s sure to bring it up if you see her again.”
“Right.” I didn’t miss that she’d used if instead of when when referring to me seeing her mother again, even though I’d literally just been invited to another dinner. “I am going to see her again, you know. She said she’d like to have me over again.”
“You’d actually come back after the grilling you just faced?” She walked around the table and put her hands lightly on my chest, tipping her head back for her deep blue eyes to meet mine. “If you are, I’m not the only one between the two of us who’s interesting. Unless you’re some kind of masochist.”
“I believe masochism refers to deriving sexual gratification from one’s own pain or humiliation.” I made my eyes go wide. “I definitely don’t want to receive any sexual gratification from your mother, so let’s just call me a sucker for punishment and be done with it. Because I’ll definitely be back if you want me to come back.”
Surprise flared in her eyes. Then she let her head tip back even farther and laughed. “Score one for the away team. Okay then, sucker. Let me show you around if you’re so determined to come back for another round of that.”
She led me through the expansive, opulently furnished and tastefully decorated home. It had a somewhat museum-like quality to it, but there were touches of homeliness too that made me suspect Mrs. Hurst did have a softer side.
“Tell me about your mother,” I said.
Tiffeny stiffened beside me momentarily as we walked up a flight of stairs with various family pictures mounted on the wall. “She’s always chasing more power. She practically runs the company my grandfather built now. She married a man on the brink of death, my grandfather’s business associate, and got a ton of money and her spot on the board with it. Her brother got her family’s spot once my grandfather passed away, which means it’s fully a family company now.”
“What about your father?” I asked.
Tiffeny chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. “He’s always working. My mother met him after her ex-husband passed and she inherited everything. She gave him a spot in senior management and I don’t think he’s ever felt like he’s earned it. So he works for it. Every day of his life.”
I blew out a soft whistle, my hand reaching for hers almost on instinct. She wrapped her fingers around mine, sending that same current from before through me, and then opened another door.
This one led into a bedroom. A guest room, by the looks of things. But there was a bed in it.
All it took was the sound of the door clicking shut behind us for me to forget what we’d been talking about and even where we were.
Tiffeny and I were alone in a mostly dark bedroom, only ambient light spilling in through the large windows from the rest of the house. I heard her breathing hitch and felt the atmosphere between us change, charge.
Fuck.
It suddenly felt like I had a choice to make. Did I give in to my body’s demands to make a move, or did I get the hell out before the chemistry between us made the choice for me?
Chapter 14
Tiffeny
Callen went completely still as the heavy door swung shut behind us. I hadn’t intended for it to happen. I’d just forgotten how heavy my mother’s mahogany doors were and I’d let it go to reach for the light switch.
Now we were standing there in the near dark, Callen completely immobile while I fumbled for an explanation that didn’t sound like I’d led him up there to ravish him in one of Mom’s guest rooms.
The confusing thing was that although he was standing stock still, he’d tightened his hold on my hand, and when I looked up at him, I could practically see the gears turning in his brain. God, what he has to be thinking about me right now.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“I know,” he said, but his voice sounded tighter than before. There was a roughness to it that was super sexy, though.
Not that my own mind hadn’t jumped straight to sex as soon as I’d heard that definitive click. I was alone in a dark room with a man I found extremely attractive and had been fantasizing about practically since I’d met him.
Of course, I’d immediately, briefly, imagined both being ravished by him and ravishing him on the very large bed in front of us. It was why I was trying to come up with an explanation about me not bringing him up here for ravishing purposes in the first place.
Callen’s broad shoulders shifted, pulling back. Those eyes of his came down and his head turned slightly so he was looking right into mine, a smirk appearing on his full lips. “You don’t need to apologize. I know you didn’t bring me in here to fuck me.”
Oh my. Should it do things to me to hear him say the words “fuck me”? Because it does. It really, really does.
My blood rushed south, but then he released my hand.
Stupid, Tiff. He wasn’t actually asking you to.
I’d known that, but I couldn’t deny there had been a spark of hope between my legs that my dry spell was about to end in the most spectacular way possible. Well, with the most spectacular man anyway.
“Why are you walking to the bed then?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as I watched him move across the room.
A shadow appeared on either side of him as the mattress dipped when he sat down. Then he kicked off his shoes and lay back. He folded his arms behind his head on a stack of pillows, biceps bulging against the constraints of his black button-up shirt.
His eyes stayed on mine the whole time. It was too dark to see the expression in them from this distance, but it was almost like I could feel the heat in them on my body. Maybe it was because his voice still had that same sexy quality to it.
“It’s a bed,” he said simply. “I’m lying down. It’s what these were made for, right?”
“Right.” As if some unseen force was pulling me to him, I found myself slowly moving to the bed. “It is, in fact, among other things, what beds are made for. This particular bed, however, is in my mother’s guest room.”
“I’m a guest of hers, aren’t I?” He unfolded one arm to use his hand to pat the space beside him. “So are you. Therefore, I think we’re allowed to lie down in her guest room.”
“No.” I shook my head, trying not to let my mind wander to what it might feel like to take him up on his offer and crawl in next to him. Maybe make use of the bed for one of those other things it had been made for. “We should go. Come on, Callen. Let’s get on with the tour.”
“I like this room. I think we should hit pa
use on the tour and hide out here for a little bit longer. When will your mom be back?”
“Not for hours,” I answered automatically, reaching down for the hand still resting on the mattress beside him and tugging on it. “Why aren’t you budging? These beds aren’t even comfortable. They’re too hard and the bedding is too starched.”
“Doesn’t bother me,” he said, dislodging my hand on his to move it to mine, then sharply tugging me toward him instead.
I was caught off guard and fell to the bed, the upper half of my body suddenly covering his. “What the hell was that?”
He shifted beneath me, acting so fast that before I could comprehend what was happening, we were lying side by side, our chests touching and my head cradled by one of those biceps I’d been admiring earlier. There was no mistaking the heat in his eyes now, not when my face was only inches away from his.
“I want you to know that you can stop me any time, but there’s something I want to try,” he said, his voice even raspier than before. “Hold still, okay?”
“Okay—” His lips slammed into mine before I could finish murmuring my agreement, his hand coming up to cup my face as he kissed me.
My mind spun out in confusion for a second before I realized this was really happening. Callen freaking Grimes was making out with me, and he was good at it too.
A low moan sounded from the back of my throat as my body came alive against his. It made my lips part, and Callen took advantage of the opening, his tongue sliding inside when I met the tip of his with mine.
A groan rumbled out of him, and the way he angled his body forward so his head and shoulders were on top of me, pressing me deeper into the pillows while he kept kissing me, flooded me with need.
My panties grew damp fast and my fingers wound their way into his black hair, tangling into the soft strands while my fingertips trailed over his scalp. Another pleasurable sound escaped him and I briefly remembered where we were.
But then I also remembered that my parents’ staff didn’t come to the upper levels of the house at night unless they were summoned. This was where the bedrooms were, and God forbid anyone outside of myself or my father ever see my mother without her being perfectly groomed and dressed.
My parents themselves wouldn’t be back for hours, as I’d told Callen earlier. That was if they even made it home tonight. She might have told us to hang around and that we’d eat later, but that was only because she knew she couldn’t just throw us out minutes after we’d arrived when she’d invited us over.
Whatever crisis they were facing at the office had to be bad for her to leave so abruptly just as the appetizers were being served. So no, she wouldn’t be back soon.
There was no doubt in my mind that once we made it back downstairs, the chef would have packed us our dinners to go and there would be apologies from my mother.
Which meant Callen and I were alone, not to be disturbed, and he was kissing me like he’d been craving it for months. I responded to every kiss, every touch with a fervor of my own.
My dress had ridden up almost to my waist and Callen’s hand was on my thigh, his kisses urgent and his cock hardening against my leg. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought he was almost starved for this.
Then again, I didn’t know any better.
I certainly wasn’t reacting any differently to our make-out session, but I actually was starved for this. I hadn’t been touched by anyone but myself in months, and I’d never been touched by someone who made me feel the way he did.
When he’d mentioned to my mother that we’d had an instant connection, my eyes had popped wide open. I thought I’d been the only one who’d felt that tingle the first time we’d seen each other, the first time we’d touched.
Lust at first sight still counted as an instant connection, though, even if it wasn’t one I’d ever explain to my mom. Either way, it seemed like he hadn’t been lying to her or saying what he thought I wanted to hear.
When his hips rocked into mine, it felt involuntary, like he just couldn’t help himself. A hiss tore out of him, breaking off the kiss.
“Do you want to stop?” I asked, bringing my eyes up from his slightly swollen lips to look into his half-lidded ones.
“Fuck no,” he bit out. “You?”
“Not even a little.”
Another emotion broke through the heat in his gaze. Vulnerability, I thought, though I couldn’t imagine why. Some of the lust receded to make space for whatever this new emotion really was just before he screwed his eyes shut.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice breathy and rough. “Because I know I said you could stop me anytime, and I will stop, but I want you so fucking bad that I don’t want to have to.”
“I want you too,” I breathed and put my hands on his cheeks, feeling the stubble of his five o’clock shadow on my palms. For some reason, even that turned me on about him. “So no, I don’t want to have to stop either.”
He licked his lips as his eyes opened, landing on mine with whatever else he had been feeling erased. Only need remained. “Thank God.”
His lips crashed into mine again, his kisses more passionate and hungry than before. Lifting his shoulders off mine, he rolled us so I was on top of him, and he reached around my waist. Long, deft fingers found my zipper and pulled it all the way down in one go. Then he was sitting up to help peel it off.
Leaving me in lacy black underwear that I might have chosen especially for him in what I’d thought was a moment of unrealistic optimism at the time, I stayed still as his gaze explored every inch of my skin he could see.
His chest hitched on a breath and a much louder groan ripped out of him. Then he was back on me. He devoured my lips and touched my bare hip, my stomach, the sensitive parts of my ribs just underneath my breasts.
The places he was touching weren’t necessarily where I wanted to be touched, but every brush of his fingers over my skin left a trail of heated bumps in their wake. I was so wet, I felt my panties clinging to me, drenched and transferring my juices to the insides of my thighs.
Callen’s hardness ground into me as we kissed, his body pressing mine into the hard mattress once again as he flipped us over. He deftly got rid of my underwear while I writhed and squirmed underneath him, bucking my hips and chasing my release even though he was still fully clothed.
Spurred on by my own blind need, I reached for his shirt. It had already come out of his jeans from all the making out like teenagers. Callen’s hand left my ribs to yank at his collar, pulling the shirt clean off.
His pants came next, both of us clawing and kicking to get them and his briefs off as fast as we could. All that yummy, inky skin finally pressed up against me, and I couldn’t even appreciate it. I needed him too badly to stop him now to explore and adore his body the way I wanted to.
Next time, I promised myself. With as explosive as things were between us, I was pretty sure there would be a next time. I would make sure of it.
Running my hands down finely toned muscles in his back, I settled for touching instead of looking. Not that it felt much like I was settling. The guy was damn fine to touch.
As he came back to the position he’d been in before, I felt his hot, heavy cock sliding between my slick folds and whimpered. When his tip ran over my clit, I didn’t even try to hold back a cry.
“Callen. Fuck. I need you. Inside me. Now.”
He moaned too, his muscles quivering with restraint as he drew back. “Do you have a condom?”
Everything inside me screamed, but I forced my body to quiet down so I could hear myself think. “I think there’s one in my wallet. It’s pretty old, though. It was given to me as a joke once by a friend when we went out.”
His jaw clenched. “Think it’ll work?”
“It should, but maybe pull out too. To be safe.”
Nodding before planting another lingering kiss on my mouth, he lifted himself off me and grabbed my small purse. He handed it over, and I rifled through it, my fingers event
ually sliding over the jagged edge of the foil packet jammed in between old receipts.
I pulled it out and presented it to Callen between two fingers, my legs spreading farther open as I lay back and tossed the wallet on the floor without taking my eyes off him. Since it was still dark, I couldn’t make out the exact shapes of his tattoos. They were nothing more than whorls of ink on his skin, but what I could see was way better.
His leanly toned muscles rippled as he moved, his stomach dipping as he gripped the base of a very impressive erection to sheathe himself. There was a tremble in his hands, though I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t been looking at him so intently.
“You sure you’re okay?” I asked. “You’re shaking.”
He lifted his head and spread his big body out over mine again, his broad, latex-covered tip pushing at my entrance. Looking into my eyes, he brought his hands to my hips. “I’m shaking because I want you so goddamn much and it’s been a really long time since I’ve wanted anyone the way I want you right now.”
Surprised by the sincerity in his words as much as I was by the words themselves, I looped my arms around his neck. There would be a time to ask why, but this wasn’t it.
Hooking my legs around his hips, I clung to him like a spider monkey as I angled my pelvis up. “I want you just as much, so take me, Callen. I’m all yours.”
“Hardly,” he groaned, taking me in one fast, powerful thrust. His cock split me open in the best way, touching every part of me inside. He hissed again, dropping his forehead to my shoulder. “Jesus. Fucking. Fuck. Oh God. You feel so good. Too good.”
Threading my fingers through his hair, I held him to me until I felt him relax again. Then I brought his lips to mine and kissed him as I urged him to start moving with small thrusts of my own hips. It was obvious from his reaction he’d been telling the truth about how long it’d been since he’d wanted anyone the way he wanted me. I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t really need to.
Keeping Secrets Page 10