“Aw,” Callie said. “How romantic.”
“You think?” Gene drew his brows together. “I can’t imagine proposing in a restaurant. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if the girl turned you down.”
He’d not given much thought to marriage before, but he decided that when he eventually proposed, it would be just the two of them, him and his chosen girl, somewhere quiet.
His brain transplanted Callie into the picture, giving him a vision of kneeling before her. Her words rang in his head: we’re not exactly sweethearts, are we? It made him sad, and he looked away.
The waitress returned for their order, and Callie requested the ice cream trio, while Gene just wanted coffee.
When she’d left, Callie leaned on the table again. “Tell me about Lisa,” she said.
That startled him. He was surprised she even remembered Lisa’s name. “What about her?”
“What was she like?”
He played with the salt shaker, turning it around in his fingers. “Shortish. Long, dark hair she wore in a bun most of the time. Pretty. Feisty. Brave. She loved animals—dogs, cats, horses, anything we met went straight to her.” He knew why—she’d had a magnetic personality that had pulled everyone and everything toward her.
“How long had you been dating?” Callie asked.
He stared at her. Then he put down the salt. “What makes you say that?”
“It’s obvious, Gene. It doesn’t take a mind reader to see your pain.”
“I’d have been upset at the loss of any colleague.”
“Sure. How long?”
He sighed. “Only a few months. It wasn’t serious—it had only just gotten going, really. Maybe that was worse, never having the chance to discover whether it would have worked. I don’t know.”
Callie covered his hand with her own. “I’m sorry.”
He left it there for a moment, but he was too worried that Ian—the agent who’d preceded them to Napier to carry out a threat assessment, and who’d be keeping an eye on the surroundings—would see them, so he carefully slid his hand away and picked up his drink. “Thanks.”
He hated doing this, pushing her away, and cursed himself for being so weak. She finished off her drink, though, and smiled at him, suggesting she wasn’t upset.
“Let’s change the subject,” she said. “Where are we off to after Napier?”
She kept the conversation light after that, talking about the towns they were due to visit and places she’d been to while she dipped her spoon into her ice cream and ate it slowly. Gene was content to listen to her and watch the spoon filled with creamy mixture slide between her lips, her tongue occasionally protruding to remove any drips.
He wished they were a couple, and she would ask if he wanted a taste of her ice cream, and feed him spoons of it, looking into his eyes with adoration. But she didn’t ask, and although she smiled a lot and her eyes were friendly, she was careful to keep her hands to herself, and to steer the conversation away from anything too intimate.
But it was as if the more he tried to remain professional, the more he hungered for her. By the end of the evening, he ached with longing.
After they’d eaten, they went for a short walk through the streets of Napier to let their dinner go down, and it was all he could do not to take her in his arms, strip her of the dress right there in the street, and feel her hot skin against his.
“It’s going to rain any minute,” Callie said, looking up at the heavy gray sky. “Jeez, it’s humid.”
He couldn’t even take her hand, because he knew Ian would be following them at a distance, keeping a watch out for any suspicious characters. This really was like torture, and even though he hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol, he felt slightly dizzy, consumed by lust and need for her.
Something landed on his cheek—a large drop of rain. “You’re right,” he said. “We should get back.”
They began to walk more quickly, but Callie was wearing high heels and couldn’t stride out as fast as him.
“We’re not going to make it,” he said as the raindrops increased and began to turn the pavement a dark gray.
“Hold on.” She stopped walking and bent to ease her heels off, then squealed as the heavens opened. “Quick!”
She ran beside him in her stockinged feet, but they were still soaked by the time they reached the steps to the hotel. “So much for the elegant makeup,” she said, dripping onto the tiles as they walked across the foyer. “I bet I look like a panda.”
“You look wonderful.” It wasn’t false flattery. Her cheeks were flushed and strands of wet hair clung to them, but she looked young, fresh, and full of life. It was only at that point he realized that, in spite of his relationship with Angela and a few other girls, Lisa had haunted his memories for a long time, and it was nice to be with someone who banished his dark thoughts, at least for a while.
She didn’t reply, and they made their way to the elevator, just catching a half-filled cubicle about to go up. They stood to one side of it as the doors closed, and she looked up, meeting his eyes. She was quite a bit shorter than him without her heels, and he discovered he could see down her cleavage from this angle.
Heat flooded him, and it must have shown in his eyes because her lips parted. Their gazes locked, and suddenly Gene knew that in seconds she’d be in his arms, naked, and it wouldn’t be much longer afterward that he’d be sliding inside her, losing himself in her warmth.
The elevator dinged at their floor and they broke their gaze and walked out. There was another couple in the corridor, talking, and so they walked straight to their rooms, not saying anything. Callie swiped her card and opened her door, went in, and waited.
He glanced over his shoulder. The couple had disappeared. The corridor was empty. Ian would have taken a room on the same floor, but he would continue to keep an eye out in the foyer for a while before retiring for the night.
Turning back, Gene followed Callie into the room, and the door closed behind him.
She walked to the bed, flicked on the bedside lamp, then turned to face him. He closed the distance between them, until they were standing only an inch apart. Outside, the rain hammered on the streets and pounded on the window, but inside the room it was warm and quiet, the only sound their fast breathing and the tick of the clock on the wall.
Callie looked up at him. “Can I touch you now?” she said softly.
He undid the buttons of his jacket, slid it off, and hung it over the chair. Then he did the same with his waistcoat, because he didn’t like her touching it in case she discovered how thick it was and started asking questions.
Then he came back to her, cupped her face, and lowered his lips to hers.
Oh… it was heavenly to kiss her after an evening of having to keep his distance. She gave a little moan, and he slid his arms around her and pulled her against him, reveling in the feel of her soft body against his. Brushing his tongue across her bottom lip, he was rewarded when she opened her mouth, and they exchanged a long, slow kiss, his hand sliding down to her bottom, hers beginning to unbutton his shirt.
Reaching the hem, she thrust the sides of the shirt aside and slipped her hands underneath, onto his skin. “Aaahhh,” she sighed, scraping her nails lightly across his ribs. “I’ve wanted to do this all evening.”
He shuddered, and suddenly everything was taking too long. He needed her naked, wanted to feel her against him, to have her beneath him. Turning her, he caught hold of the zipper at the top of her dress and slid it down, then eased the dress off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor in a whisper of material.
Eyebrows rising, he turned her back to face him. An impish smile crossed her face. “Happy birthday. And happy Valentine’s Day.”
She wore a set of Four Seasons underwear he’d seen in the catalogue, made from black lace with a shiny red ribbon threaded through the tops of the demi-cups. The same red ribbon wove through the fabric of the panties, culminating in a neat bow at the front. It was grown-up and se
xy at the same time—not the cheap sort of underwear a girl bought and wore once before relegating it to the back of the drawer because it was too uncomfortable, but the type a woman bought and wore all the time because she wanted to feel good and look sexy for herself as well as for her man.
“Wow.” The erection that had been half there all evening now sprang to attention. Turning her away from him, he moved closer and slid his hands from her hips up to cup her breasts. “You look fantastic,” he murmured, kissing down her neck to where the pulse beat, and covering the spot with his mouth. He sucked, and she groaned and leaned her head on his shoulder, arching her back to push her breasts into his hands. Taking the hint, he took each nipple between his thumbs and forefingers through the fabric and tugged a little, and she moaned again and covered his hands with her own.
“I need you,” she whispered, turning to throw her arms around his neck. “I want you, Gene. I’ve wanted you all evening. I can’t bear it any longer. Make love to me.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He pushed her onto the bed and gestured for her to climb onto the mattress, which she did, lying on the pillows, her breasts rising and falling fast with her rapid breaths. He let his shirt drop to the floor and quickly removed his trousers and his underwear, then went to his jacket and took out a small velvet pouch before returning to the bed.
Her lips curved up. “Is this my present?”
“Well, it’s a present for both of us.” He climbed on and stretched out beside her. “I wouldn’t have bought a toy without consulting you, but I thought these might be acceptable.” He handed her the pouch.
She unclipped the popper, opened it up, and took out the two small bottles of lube. “Oh!” Her face lit up with pleasure. “His and hers!”
“Yeah. This one is a warming gel. This one makes things… tingle. And together they combine to provide some interesting sensations, apparently.”
She met his gaze and smiled. “Thank you.”
“Not that I think you need it,” he teased, laughing when she blushed prettily. He moved close to her, pulling her thigh across his so she was practically wrapped around him. “God, I want you,” he said huskily. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about.”
“Have me, then.” She pulled him on top of her and hooked her ankles behind his back. “Take me, Gene. I’m all yours.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Callie was so fired up that she would have been happy if Gene had slid straight inside her and thrust her all the way to a blissful conclusion. But even though he was obviously as turned on as she was, he appeared to have other ideas.
He started off by kissing her, long, slow, deep kisses that started a fire in her belly and fanned it until it became a roaring inferno. His hot, hard body only increased her desire, and she rocked her hips against his, aching for fulfilment.
He lifted his head and kissed her nose. “Slowly,” he said, amused. “I haven’t waited all day to have this over in seconds.”
“But I ache,” she said with a groan.
His gray eyes surveyed her for a moment, and then he lifted off her and moved to the side. Puzzled, she went to rise, but he pulled her against him, and, before she could say anything, covered her mouth with his and moved his free hand down her body. Lifting the elastic of her panties, he slid his hand underneath and pressed his fingers into her folds.
“Oh…” She inhaled sharply, her mouth opening under his, but he just plunged his tongue inside, his fingers mimicking its thrusts as they gathered up her moisture and then circled over her clit.
Already turned on, it took only moments before all her internal muscles tightened, and she gave in to the orgasm, exclaiming against his mouth while his fingers teased her until she lay gasping and spent.
He lifted his head, withdrew his fingers, and kissed her lips. “There,” he said. “Now we can start properly.”
“Fuck,” she said, heart pounding, her chest heaving.
“Give me a chance,” he scolded, rolling her toward him so he could undo the clasp of her bra. “Talk about demanding.”
She laughed and kissed him again, letting him draw the bra down her arms and toss it onto the floor. Then he removed her panties, leaving her lying there naked, before he reached for the velvet pouch.
“This is fun.” He pulled out the bottle of warming lube and popped the top. “Like a scientific experiment.”
“So I’m a guinea pig, am I?” Her body felt like a guitar string, still thrumming with her orgasm, and when he smeared a small amount of the lube on each nipple, it was as if he’d plucked at the string again, sending a vibration that rippled all the way through her.
“Yep.” He closed the lid of the bottle, folded his arms, and leaned forward until his mouth was an inch from her breast. Taking a deep breath, he blew out over her nipple.
“Ooh!” She squirmed beneath him at the strange sensation of warmth.
“Nice?” He leaned across her to try the other one, doing the same, blowing out across the sensitive skin.
“Mmm. Oh yes.” She closed her eyes in bliss.
He chuckled and covered the nipple with his mouth, and her eyes flew open again. “Aaahhh.” The lube intensified the heat of his mouth, making the skin ultra-sensitive and sending tingles through her all the way down to her clit.
He concentrated on her breasts for a while, licking and teasing them and fanning the flames inside her until the ache began to build once more. Then he shifted down and reopened the bottle of lube. Pouring a little onto his fingers, he stroked it through her folds.
“You really don’t need this,” he said, his fingers sliding easily through her already wet, swollen skin.
“Gene…”
“Not a complaint. Just stating a fact.” He moved two fingers deep inside her, and her hips lifted automatically, pushing toward him.
Leaning over her, he blew a soft breath from her clit down between her legs, then ran back up with his tongue.
Callie groaned and covered her face, feeling as if she’d stepped into a warm bath. “I can’t take much more of this.”
He tutted, continuing to blow on her skin and following up with light strokes of his tongue. “This is too easy. You’re not much of a challenge.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” It was just too lovely, and she was going to come again if he didn’t move away. She pushed at his head and rolled over. “Stop it!”
Laughing, he moved back. “Lightweight.”
“Yeah, well, the shoe’s going to be on the other foot now.” She took out the other bottle of lube from the pouch and flipped open the top. “About time I had some fun.”
Gene sighed, lay on his back, and tucked his arms under his head. “If you must.” His eyes met hers, hot and amused. “Help yourself.”
“Mmm.” What an offer. His erection stood proud of his body, the top glistening, begging to be licked. “I intend to.” She poured a decent amount on her hand, made sure her fingers were well lubricated, and then closed them around him.
He closed his eyes, his eyebrows rising as he gave a helpless groan. Callie’s lips curved up, then she turned her full attention to her hand. His erection was thick, her fingers barely meeting as she circled the shaft. And he was hard, so hard, like rock, covered in a sheath of fine, soft skin.
Gently, she slid her hand down, revealing the swollen tip, and rubbed her thumb across it, smearing the lube all over him before beginning to give him long, slow strokes. He held his breath for a moment, then blew it out in a rush.
“How does that feel?” She twisted her fingers as she stroked, massaging him carefully, covering him in lube until her hand was sliding with little effort, slick and smooth.
“Aaahhh… It tingles. Feels hot and… sensitive…” Not so relaxed now, he moved his hands from under his head, linked his fingers, and rested them on his forehead. “Jesus. That feels good.”
Glad she was giving him pleasure, she stroked him for a while longer, then—making sure his eyes were closed—she lowere
d her head and covered the tip with her mouth.
“Fuck!” He jumped beneath her, and she had to stifle a laugh as she slid her lips down the shaft. “What the… Jesus… Oh fuck.” He lowered a hand to rest on her head, and threaded his fingers into her hair. “Callie… That’s amazing…”
The lube tasted of strawberries, and Gene tasted of hot, musky male, and Callie would have groaned herself if her mouth hadn’t been full. She washed her tongue around the head, teasing the slit at the top, then took him deep inside her mouth again, her thighs growing wet with her own moisture the longer she spent arousing him.
He bore her touch for as long as he could, but eventually he tugged on her hair, and she lifted her head and looked up at him, catching her breath at his expression. All humor had gone now, and the heat and desire in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine.
Lifting up, he reached for his wallet. She put a hand on his wrist, though, stopping him as he went to retrieve a condom.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Isn’t it supposed to be extra nice when the two lubes combine?”
He tipped his head at her. “Yeah…”
“You want to try it? Just briefly? It’s up to you.” She knew she was clean, and she trusted him and knew he wouldn’t attempt it if he wasn’t.
“You’re sure?”
She was on the pill, so there was little-to-no chance of getting pregnant. “Go for it.”
Eyes blazing, he rolled her onto her front and then pulled her up to her knees. Callie rested on her elbows, steadying herself as he moved behind her and positioned the tip of his erection between her folds. She closed her eyes, biting her lips as he pushed his hips forward.
Both of them were so slippery that there was no friction at all, and he slid right inside her in one easy thrust.
They both let out a long, heartfelt sigh. The heat from her lube combined with the sensation from his, making everything feel sensitive, hot, and tingly.
[4 Seasons 01] Seducing Summer Page 19