She rested her face against the crook of his neck and willed him not to push her away after her reminder. When she kissed him, he shuddered. They were soft, almost chaste kisses, not like his that had ravaged her neck.
He brought her arms behind her, clasped both wrists in one large hand, while with his other, he pressed a palm against the small of her back. Her belly felt him hard against her. Aroused.
That made her smile into his neck.
“Look at me,” he demanded, so she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “You like that, that you’ve made me hard, that you’ve made me want you?”
“Yes.” She struggled a little, which resulted in her writhing against him, but he didn’t release her arms. Lifting his free hand to her face, he held her gaze to his, palm on her cheek. With the pad of his thumb, he traced the bone just under her eye, traced her cheekbone, then ran that thumb over her lips.
“You’re beautiful.”
It made her breathe faster, these words, these intense caresses, this attention. He trailed fingers down her neck to the swell of her breast. He was watching her very carefully as he lightly palmed her breast and her sensitive nipple began to ache.
“Dev?” She wasn’t sure what she was asking.
“Hmmm?” His mouth dipped to her neck, teeth scraping the soft skin, then soothing it with a kiss. And again. His hand slipped under the hem of her T-shirt, and rose to catch her nipple between thumb and finger, rolling the nub. “Do you like that?” he murmured as he kissed her throat.
She arched against him and he swallowed her “yes”, his mouth taking hers in a punishing kiss.
Her knees gave out this time, but he caught her, finally releasing her arms, though not her mouth, as he lifted her and she wrapped herself around him. He brought her to the bed.
She tried to contain her disappointment as he set her down on the mattress. He yanked off her shirt, then his, her shorts then his, all in short order. It had been a revelation, this kind of foreplay, but now he was ready to fuck.
He crawled over her and for a moment she thought he was going to move up so he’d fuck her mouth, but he reached back and pulled her up so they were face to face again, her under him. He’d wanted to make love, she remembered, and that reassured her.
“You make me feel, Callie.” The words seemed almost to be dragged from him and she touched his face, roughened because he hadn’t shaved.
“I think you’re beautiful too, Dev.” She wanted to offer him something of her feelings, though that barely described her real emotions. Tentatively she ran a hand through his short hair, which was surprisingly soft to touch.
“Are you scared to touch me, Callie?”
“No.” The question caught her off guard, and it must have shown.
“You prefer that I touch you?” He skimmed a hand down her side and across her stomach. Her underside. It made her feel vulnerable and he seemed to notice, because he crossed his palm back and forth across her soft belly until she relaxed into the touch. “Tell me what you like,” he urged.
She didn’t know. He traced some ribs, but he didn’t release her gaze so she said, “I like you.”
He smiled then, so pleased, the smile wider than she’d observed before, like she was seeing a new Dev.
“I like everything you do. You make me feel so warm. Inside.”
His slightly bemused expression made her add, “Is that wrong to say?”
“No,” he said immediately. “Nothing is wrong to say.” He sat back and she feared he was retreating, giving up on them making love. Perhaps because he thought she didn’t like to touch him? That wasn’t it, wasn’t it at all. She was just so unsure, but she began to rise, to follow him.
He came back, pushing her down, lying atop her, that full-body contact she craved, though he took some of the weight with his elbows. He kissed her deeply, a kind of reassurance, then broke away and held her shoulders. “Stay here.”
Again he sat up. Instead of backing away, he pulled up both her legs, ran palms over her thighs, front and back. Then calves were caressed before he wrapped his hands around her ankles to place her feet down near her butt, knees pointed up. She frowned at him and he smiled, resting hands on her knees. He pushed them apart, making her legs drop open.
She felt completely exposed and very, very wet.
“You, Callie, are going to tell me if at any time you feel uncomfortable, okay?”
Her chest rose and fell as he placed the heel of his palm on her pubis and rubbed lightly. Surprised, realizing she was completely ready, she arched up to push against his hand. “Dev, I want you inside me.”
He didn’t answer, but instead traced the folds surrounding her pussy. She was slick with her own juices and it seemed to make him smile.
He laid his face against her belly, his rough cheek scraping her skin. He slid one finger into her and her bones began to melt. “I’d like that too, Callie.” His finger slid out, back in and she thrashed, her throat vibrating, even as she tried to recall what he could like. “But I can’t be inside you.”
“Why not?” she asked in total bafflement. No guy had ever balked at this point in the game.
“I have no condoms.” There was regret in his voice, even as he continued to touch her so intimately.
She gripped the sheet in order not to arch off the bed, but he didn’t stop. In fact, he slid two fingers in which made it both better and worse, because she wanted more.
“Doesn’t matter,” she panted. “I…” can’t get or give disease. Explaining that shifting to cat and back to human got rid of all diseases, that it healed her, was too complicated for the here and now. He hadn’t exactly accepted her statement that she was a cougar, and besides her brain was too muddled to explain it properly. “I’m clean.”
“I’ll make you come, Callie, don’t worry about that.” Again he rubbed his cheek against her belly. Then his hand crept up to touch her nipple and she thought she was going to explode. “I’m clean too, but I won’t risk pregnancy.”
She couldn’t think. He rolled the nipple, just this side of painful, and sank those two fingers deep, held them there as his thumb rubbed against her clit.
She couldn’t breathe, her chest tightened and tightened, and she was shaking.
“Callie, Callie,” he murmured as if she were everything in the world to him. He kissed her belly.
“God!” She shattered, out of nowhere she seemed to crash into a sharp white bliss that rocked her body, and for a moment she wasn’t quite there…
When she floated back, languor was invading her body and Dev was sucking her breast, his two fingers still impaled in her, like they belonged there.
It was an effort to lift her eyelids. But she wanted him. “My tubes are tied.”
He lifted his head and stared at her, clearly doubtful.
“I don’t lie, Dev, and I wouldn’t lie about this.”
“Be careful. You may convince me. You don’t know”—he swallowed, perhaps because his voice sounded so rough—“how long it has been, how much I want to be inside you.”
She moved down a little to position herself so that his cock was at her entrance.
He closed his eyes and she had the impression he was about to make some kind of heroic effort to withdraw.
“Please don’t leave me like this, Dev. Please trust me when I say you can’t make me pregnant.”
His eyes grew even darker. “Callie,” he warned, but it wasn’t just a warning it was a promise, and she said, “Yes.” He thrust into her, filling her, stretching her, and she gasped at the suddenness of it. He didn’t move then, which shocked her even more. He stayed motionless, trembling slightly with the effort as she adjusted to his presence. He cupped her head in both hands, a strangely tender embrace, and forced her to look at him.
“Okay, Callie?”
That sensation was building again and suddenly everything felt like brand-new territory, overwhelming, and yet something she could not do without. “Don’t leave me.”
> “I’m not going anywhere, babe.”
She smiled at his endearment and he took it as encouragement, because he began to move.
“Oh my God,” she said. He moved within her and she arched into him as he continued. “Oh my God, Dev,” she repeated as white heat moved through her like a sweet burn. She climaxed again, this time clenching his cock, which felt so completely right, and emptying her mind.
She was dimly aware he’d gone still above her. His throat vibrated, part groan, part purr, which she adored, and he filled her. His head fell forward at a curiously vulnerable angle to his neck. As he began to sink down on her, she kissed that throat, licking at the skin covering the cartilage of his voice box, extraordinarily pleased at how satisfied he’d sounded when he groaned during his climax.
He rested there, on top of her, using his elbows to bear some of his weight, but seemingly unable to move. She idly stroked his back, exploring the muscles, the spine, the shoulder blades.
She wanted to say “don’t leave me” again, but twice had been more than enough for her pride. So she settled for caressing him and laying kisses along his collarbone.
Chapter Twelve
He had to end this right. Dev rolled, taking Callie with him, and she ended up atop him. She’d said he made her warm and she felt warm right now. He lightly touched her hot cheeks, her swollen lips, and her eyes closed at his touch, so he tucked her head into his shoulder and ran fingers through her silky hair.
That she looked and acted utterly sated pleased him. A long time ago—he’d kind of forgotten since the idea of being asexual had invaded him—he’d liked women. A lot. Women had liked him. The memories had been shuttered closed and they were still vague, interfered with by many of Scott’s instructions no doubt.
He stroked her hip and buttock. She was surprisingly muscular, in a sleek, sexy way. Ruth had said Callie liked big cats and he thought of how Callie moved with a strange, silent grace.
He would miss her. Given they’d only known each other three days, the harsh regret was a little absurd, but it sat there, inside him, very real, very painful. She had opened up his past for him. He wasn’t asexual. Scott was, and wanted Dev to be.
His mind shied away from the no-doubt-complicated reasons for that. Later, he could explore them. Dev had other things to discover about himself.
She slid off, but remained in contact, curling around him, now tracing patterns across his chest. She’d been unsure at first, after he’d kissed her, had seemed not quite certain about where to place hands or what to do. Probably related to her idea that sex was uncomfortable. He had to wonder about which assholes she’d gone to bed with. They hadn’t deserved her and maybe he didn’t either, but he could treasure her.
He kissed the top of her head and finally forced his thoughts to where they had to go. Hard work when he was never entirely sure which thoughts were his. But still necessary. Even now. Especially now.
“Callie?”
“Mmmm,” she murmured, sounding as exhausted as he felt.
“I need you to do me a great favor.”
Her finger that had been circling his nipple stopped moving.
“I’m sorry I have to ask you now, but, well, we don’t have much time.”
“Okay,” she said in an encouraging if cautious way.
He nuzzled her temple, to soften the request. “I want you to take Madison and Ruth away from here first thing tomorrow morning.”
She stiffened against him.
“Would you do that for me, Callie?”
She shook her head against his shoulder.
His heart sank. He’d hoped she would see how important it was that they go to safety. If his brain were working better, he could find the words to convince her this was the right action. He would simply have to work with what he had. He swallowed before speaking. “It’s not safe here. I need to know you’re all safe. It’s very important to me. If you care about me at all, you’ll do this. I think you care a little.”
“I care,” she said softly.
He pulled in a breath. “There’s someone named Ian. He once lived here and I know where he lives now. I believe he would take you in. Help you all. He would recognize Madison, and you could tell him your story.” He paused, not sure how to beg, though he would beg for this. “It would mean the world to me, Callie.”
“I will take Madison and Ruth to Ian.” She rested her palm on his sternum, right where the rib cage ended and the soft tissue began. “Then I’ll come back. I won’t leave you. In fact, it would be better if you came with us.”
“We can’t leave Scott like this,” he said flatly, and he had to regret that the afterglow of sex had completely vanished. As pillow talk, this was terrible.
“I agree. But I’m the one he can’t control, remember?”
He was too tired to rise up, but he rolled to the side so they could gaze at each other, even if it was hard to see her clearly in the darkness. “Why is that, do you think? As you well know, I assumed you were one of them, a Minder,” he clarified, though he hated uttering the word, “when I saw that Scott didn’t have you under his sway.”
“I’m a puma, Dev.” There was no teasing in her delivery. She seemed to regard this as a fact about herself and the cougar-as-sexually-aggressive-older-woman was obviously not what she was referring to. If he hadn’t been so fog-brained from living as one of Scott’s, he would have realized that from the beginning.
“What does being a puma mean?” he asked.
She hesitated and he could feel his eyelids droop shut. After this hellish day after a hellish year, followed by this startling sexual connection and the sex itself—well, he wasn’t going to stay awake much longer.
“It’s complicated but I’ll show you some time, okay?”
He might have mumbled something. She kissed his mouth, then turned so he spooned her, and he sank into sleep.
***
For Dev, last night was supposed to have been about goodbye. He’d meant to explain to Callie just how important it was that she, Ruth and Madison get away. However, when she’d stepped into his room, his dick had become as hard as a rock and things had gotten away from him. He’d felt desperate to connect, and despite her uncertainty, she’d responded to his touch. Everything about their bodies coming together had felt right, when nothing had felt right for a long, long time.
She’d slept the night tucked against him, probably just as exhausted as he was, and though he was hard again, he edged backwards, away from her, and got out of bed. Silently he pulled on his shorts and eased open the door. Walked across to Ruth’s room and stood outside the door. The door that led to Scott. Dev couldn’t leave Scott like this, no matter how badly this past year had gone.
It wasn’t quite compulsion. Dev had it within him to fight going to the boy. Yesterday he had quite successfully chosen not to speak to Scott, or perhaps more accurately not let Scott speak to him, push him. But it couldn’t go on. It wasn’t the first time he’d tried to rescue Scott and it might not be the last. There was something called responsibility. He placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it as quietly as possible, because if Callie heard him going to Scott, she’d intervene. Dev slipped inside the room and walked over, staring down at Scott whose fair skin was bruised by Callie’s punch.
“Good morning, Scott,” Dev said in a low voice.
Scott jerked awake with a gasp, blinking rapidly as he gained his bearings, then tried to clear the sleep from his eyes by squeezing them. He gave up and rubbed his free hand over his eyes, before turning his gaze back on Dev. Relief showed plainly as Scott gathered himself to talk.
“Don’t speak yet, Scott.”
As Scott went to open his mouth, Dev held up a hand, palm forward. “Really. If you ever owed me anything, don’t speak now. It’s better for me if you’re quiet and I’m not trying to figure out whether or not I’m being pushed.” Dev waited and after a moment, Scott nodded.
Dev let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holdi
ng. He might be a fool to think he could trust Scott and he might be fool to try to rescue him, and yet, he had to try. Yes, Scott had pulled him into this mess, but the kicker was, he wasn’t the only one unwillingly caught in this hell. Scott, too, had been paying some kind of price with that fucking pod he belonged to. For longer than Dev had.
“I’m going to ask some yes-or-no questions. Nod or shake your head, okay?”
Scott nodded.
“Were you expected back yesterday? I know Eleanor keeps tabs on you.”
Again Scott nodded.
“So she’ll do something about your no-show, right?”
With a shaky sigh, Scott indicated yes.
Dev racked his stupid brain, trying to remember how the pod worked. It had been so long since he’d thought about the other Minders, mostly because thoughts about them made him even crazier than usual. He shivered a bit, remembering Max the enforcer who had liked to think of himself as their real leader, even if that role fell to Eleanor. Bile rose in Dev’s throat and he tried to keep a leash on the rage that threatened to swamp him.
He turned his focus back on Scott. “Is Max likely on his way today?” Max did Eleanor’s heavy work, Dev remembered that much.
Scott shrugged one shoulder, opening a palm to indicate it was possible. The pod was very big on obedience and rule following, and Scott not returning would be marked as an anomaly. Dev frowned, a bit disoriented by all this information suddenly available in his brain. Between Scott being restrained like this and Callie coming to his room and asking questions with her body and her voice, Dev was coming alive. It was going to be painful.
He was losing track of the crucial point of this conversation. Focus, Dev. Madison, Ruth and Callie had to get out of here before a member of Scott’s pod arrived.
“Can you call the other Minders and say that everything here is A-okay at your house? Tell them you just want to hang out with your zombies.”
Scott slowly shook his head. There was fear in his gaze and before Dev could stop him, Scott was saying, “Take these handcuffs off.”
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