by Celeste Raye
Stephen didn’t have an answer for that, even though he wanted to. He wanted to have all of the answers that she needed so that she would be his sooner. He would make it all better for her if that would have been an option.
“I will keep you safe, Calypso. I will stand next to you and make sure that nothing ever happens to you.”
Calypso was touched by his declaration and offer, but at the same time, she knew that there was nothing to stop what was going to happen next. She didn’t want Stephen to be in the crossfire. There was no need for him to get hurt as well. It wasn’t like it was written that he had to die.
“I can’t ask that of you, Stephen. I don’t want something to happen to you. It is my fault that I have to run, so I could never ask the same of you.”
“You don’t have to ask anything. I want to be with you. If you know the prophecy, you know why.”
“I have heard enough about it to know that I am going to have some crazy witches come after me as the last Phoenix. My mom was the last one for a while, and they didn’t get her.”
“Because your dad was there to keep her safe.”
“Maybe, I don’t know what happened. I’ve gotten most of the information I’ve picked up from everyone but my family. Does Frank know?”
Stephen agreed that he did. “He told me. He’s worried about what happens after you are gone. I can’t think about that. If something were to happen to you, I don’t know what I would do. I would lose it; I know that much for sure.”
“What happens afterward?”
“Yes, that is the part of the prophecy that has everyone freaking out.”
“Oh, well, I’ve only heard that the last one in my line will have witches and other things coming after them. They would want to take me out.”
“Yes, so that the prophecy would be complete.”
Calypso was starting to wonder if she was going to be able to take it or not. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing tall. What could be worse than her death? What was it that made everyone fear her? She’d always known that there was more to it and Calypso realized that she was finally going to figure it out.
“What is the prophecy?”
He didn’t want to tell her. It was written all over his face, and that made her nervous. Stephen was usually pretty straight forward, maybe more so than he needed to be.
“That once the last Phoenix has fallen, something will rise up and end all dragonkin. Like all of them.”
“Oh.”
Calypso wasn’t sure what to say to that. She’d known that it would be bad but wiping out all of her kind wasn’t something that she would have considered an option.
“What am I supposed to do with that?”
“Nothing, it’s just a prophecy. They almost never come true.”
Calypso had not heard that, but Stephen doubled down on the lie.
“I am serious, Calypso. It’s probably just stupid. It was so long ago. I am sure that the witch spell has long since run out. Don’t you think?”
“I don’t think that is how it works.”
“Yeah, I know. But it sounded good. We will just have to see what happens. I am going to be there by your side, whatever it is.”
Calypso liked the sound of that because, at the moment, she was scared out of her mind. The idea that there was more than just her death to worry about was hard to handle. She thought she knew it all, but now the fear that she saw in everyone’s eyes started to make sense. But Stephen wasn’t worried about himself or his kind; he was worried about her, and Calypso needed that right now.
“Like by my side?”
He agreed, but he wasn’t getting the hint. She frowned to herself and moved back towards him.
“So, what about tonight? How can you be my side then?”
“I will sleep on the couch in here if you want. I don’t want to leave your side, not until we figure out some sort of plan to keep you safe. Maybe we can go to the witches and do something. I don’t know. It’s always a witch that has to fix another witch’s spells. It keeps them in business I hear.”
Calypso wasn’t thinking about tomorrow. She was thinking about tonight, and while Stephen was giving her the speech that he was always going to be there, she wanted to think that he wasn’t lying. She needed to believe that he was, in fact, going to be there for her, in all ways.
“Well, let’s get some sleep if we are going to leave early in the morning.”
He smiled at her a little brighter and said something about finding some extra blankets.
“You should sleep here with me. It seems silly for you to hurt your back on that couch when there is a king-size bed in here. I am sure that it is more than enough room for the both of us.”
Stephen was unsure for two seconds and then agreed.
“You’re probably right. It would be better in the bed.”
Calypso caught his look and wondered if he was thinking about the same thing that she was. She really hoped so.
Chapter Sixteen
Stephen was finding it hard to deal with Calypso and not go back to what they were doing before Frank had come and turned their lives upside down. Stephen would have given anything to go back to that bench in the clouds with her. It wasn’t as comfortable as the bed underneath him, but it wouldn’t have mattered. He wanted to go back to a time when it was a lot simpler than now.
“Are you coming to bed?”
After what he had learned about Calypso, Stephen knew that going to bed with her was going to be hard. Part of it was because he wanted her so badly and he knew that he probably wouldn’t get her. She was untouched, and he didn’t think that she was going to want to change that. Maybe then, but now… There was too much going on now. She probably wouldn’t even be thinking about that.
He went to the bedroom and tried not to look at her too much. She had some kind of robe on, that was very thin satin. He could see her curves even better in the get-up and was thankful that she got into bed and covered herself up.
When he got close to the bed, she pulled the blankets back for him to get in and he could see a large expanse of her thigh. It was done to throw him off, and it worked. His eyes were pinned to the pale skin exposed to him. He could do nothing else but stare at her.
“Are you getting in or just standing there all night?”
She was prodding him along, but he pulled the sheet back down. “I will sleep on the top.”
Calypso frowned for a moment but got her composure and shrugged. “Suit yourself. If that’s how you want to sleep, I am not going to stop you. I was just hoping that you would keep me warm.”
As much as he wanted to slide in next to her, Stephen knew that it was a bad idea. She was untouched, and he wanted to sully her in every way that he could think of. It wasn’t the right thing for the situation. She was delicate, and there was no way that he was going to be able to handle lying next to her if her body was rubbing up against him. Stephen was sure that it was going to be some slow hell the whole night. But he wanted to be by her side, no matter how uncomfortable it was going to be. He had promised her, and he didn’t intend on breaking his promise.
He got onto the top of the blanket and laid back. He was stiff, as he was trying not to touch her, but he knew that he was going to have to do something. It was only making things worse, the awkward silence that enveloped them.
“Are you sure that you don’t want to get under the covers with me, Stephen? I am really cold.”
Stephen looked over at Calypso in the darkness, and he was sure that if he could see her face, there would be mischief in her eyes. Calypso was up to something, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He tried to figure it out, what she was trying to do, but he kept going back to the beginning. If she had never had sex before, she might not even know how badly she was messing with him. It was rather easy to believe that.
“I don’t think that is a good idea, Calypso.”
“Why not?”
Her voice was pouty, and he wished he could see her ex
pression. He wanted her to see the desire she was sparking inside of him. Maybe if she saw what she was doing to him, she would chill out, because at the moment, she was killing him.
“Because it’s just not a good idea. I don’t think that rubbing up against your naked body is going to help anything.”
“I am not naked.”
“Trust me, Calypso, you might as well be.”
Calypso wasn’t sure what he was talking about. She knew that she was trying to figure things out, but at the same time, it was easy to imagine that he was going to tell her. She wanted to hear the words come out of his mouth.
“Come on, Stephen, why are you acting so funny?”
“Because I want to finish what we started, but I don’t think that it’s an option. So, lying next to you and not touching you is going to be impossible. I am trying to do the right thing.”
“And what is the right thing to do?”
Stephen sighed and just shook his head at the darkness above him. The woman just didn’t get it. She could probably take down a man twice her size with no problem, but Calypso didn’t seem all that aware of how she affected everyone else. She certainly didn’t seem to get what she was doing to him in particular, and that was all Stephen was worried about at the moment.
“I don’t know, but taking advantage of you right now is certainly not the way to go.”
She made a pouting sound. “You don’t get it at all, do you?”
“What?”
“I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. What if we don’t get another chance?”
She was being serious, but Stephen was still sure that she was just wrapped up in the moment. She couldn’t be thinking right, not after everything that had happened to her recently.
“We will have plenty of chances.”
“If the prophecy is right…”
“I told you, Calypso, I am not going to let anything happen to you.”
“How would you be able to stop it? You can’t stop fate.”
Stephen told her that he didn’t believe in fate. He believed in it enough to know that she was put into his path for one reason or another, but at the end of the day, he also knew that there was still something about her that he was never going to be able to look past. He was drawn to Calypso inexplicably.
“I think that sometimes love and the desire to be with someone and keep them safe are far more potent than anything the universe can throw our way.”
She giggled. “You know that you’re talking me out of wanting you to be my first, right? Here I am, trying to get you to make a move, throwing myself at you, and you’re talking about why we shouldn’t. I don’t know what to say, Stephen.”
“You are throwing yourself at me?”
“Well, yes, what does this look like to you?”
He shrugged and shook his head. “I didn’t see it like that.”
“What did you think?”
“That you were accidentally driving me crazy.”
“This nightgown, inviting you to bed, that’s a lot of work for an accident.”
“I guess so.”
She sighed out loud and Stephen got the hint that time.
“You told me that you’ve never done that before, so I didn’t think that you would want to. After all that time saying no, I never thought that you’d be ready to say yes.”
“Well, I don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring, and the best thing that I can do is live for the moment. You know?”
That wasn’t quite the answer that Stephen was looking for, but he knew that there was a lot going on in her mind. He convinced himself that she felt the same as he did. It was easier that way.
“Yes, I guess I can see your point, but nothing is going to happen to you. So, you don’t have to worry. I want it to be the right time.”
Calypso moved towards him and laid her hand on his chest. “Any time with you is going to be the right time. I don’t want to go another moment without us being together. Not another minute.”
Stephen was telling himself that he had to be strong and fight the urges that were piling up against him, but there was no reason to. It was a fight that he wasn’t able to win, and there was no point in fighting a losing battle. He’d already lost once he’d found out that Calypso wanted it as much as he did. Their reasons were different, but that didn’t matter too much. He was willing to work on the why later.
“Is this really what you want, Calypso? I never want to do anything that you don’t want to do.”
“I do want this, Stephen. I really do. I have been thinking about it non-stop for years. I said that I would say yes when I finally wanted to. I want to say yes with you. I don’t know why, but I know that we would be great together. I can just feel it; can’t you?”
Stephen agreed but he was also not sure how it was all supposed to turn out. He had never been with a virgin before, and that made him far more nervous than he ever wanted to be. He wanted to be suave and confident like he always was, but the idea of being with Calypso, untouched, was a whole lot of pressure.
“So, what do we do next? Do you want me to take off my clothes?”
She turned the light on, and he held back as she got up and undressed in front of him. Calypso did it with no shyness whatsoever, and he had to admit that she certainly didn’t have anything to be ashamed of. Calypso was gorgeous, and his eyes were taking in all of her.
For being so short, Calypso’s legs were rather long. She seemed to be nothing, but legs and hips and breasts. His eyes lingered far too long on the blonde curls below her waist, and his mind was going into overdrive. Now he was thinking about what it was going to be like to be with her, all of her. The fantasies that had played in his head for some time were now finally going to go to fruition.
“Is something wrong?”
His mouth was dry, and his voice cracked as he answered. “Nothing is wrong, Calypso; you’re perfect.”
Stephen was surprised that any sound came out at all.
Chapter Seventeen
Calypso was so nervous, but she was doing her best to hide it as well as she could. Outside, she looked confident and ready for whatever was going to come next, but on the inside, she was shaking so hard that it actually hurt her muscles. He was just staring at her, and she didn’t know what to do next.
“Well, say something, do something. Aren’t you supposed to get naked as well?”
Calypso wanted to rush it along because then it was done and over with. Then she wouldn’t have to overthink and worry about every little expression on his face.
“Yes, but it’s not supposed to be like this.”
Her frown got bigger, and she covered up her body with her hands. “Am I doing something wrong?”
Stephen disagreed with her. “There is no way that you could do anything wrong here.”
Stephen got up and he started to take his clothes off. He took them off slower than she did, and it was enough time for her to take all of him in. He was so hard and rippled that her hands and fingers begged to touch him. She had an idea of how it was going to feel underneath her fingertips, but she still wasn’t ready to give it up, not just yet.
“Then what do I do next?”
He was naked and hard. Her eyes were riveted to the spot, and her face was flaming with heat. She had to look away.
“Why don’t we start by turning the lights off, Calypso? It doesn’t have to be so in your face, you know.”
She was thankful for that tidbit because it was hard to not look; her eyes kept traveling right back to it. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t. Didn’t want to.
The darkness helped her to relax a little bit, but her body was tightening back up when he put his hands on her. She knew that there was something that she couldn’t help, and it was the way he made her feel. He made her feel alive, something that was nice at the present time.
Then his hands were moving onto her. He was lying next to her on his side, and Stephen pulled her close. His larger body overwhelm
ed hers, and Calypso didn’t know what to say or what to do. She was scared of the electrically charged emotions she had at the moment. All she wanted was more, and it was hard for her to deal with it.
“You’re shaking. Do you want me to stop?”
“Honestly, you have to stop asking me so many questions. I don’t have an answer for you, but I know that I don’t want you to stop, ever.”
That put a smile on his face, and she returned it. The darkness wasn’t so black anymore, and she could see him pretty well because she was so close.
“So, you’re telling me to stop talking?”
He scoffed, and she snickered. “I am sorry. Is that wrong to say?”
“Not at all.”
Stephen didn’t say another word as his mouth moved to hers and all that was coming from between her lips were sounds of pleasure. Calypso was trying hard to hold in the sounds. They embarrassed her, but there was nothing that she could do about it. The noise was ripped out of her, and all he was doing, was rubbing on her body. Calypso was amazed that pleasure could be derived that way. It was all more than she could handle, and before long, Calypso was begging for more.
He moved on top of her and let his hard body rest on hers for a time. He was prolonging it until finally, she had to push him on. It was just too much anticipation, and it was driving her mad.
“Please, Stephen. I need you, now!”
Calypso didn’t even fully know what she was asking for. It was just words to her that she hoped would slow down the sounds of need and pleasure that were taking over. Her body needed him, and there was a painful throbbing in between her legs. Calypso knew that it was his fault and he could just as easily fix it for her. She really needed it fixed.
“I am trying to take it slow. Make sure that you’re ready.”
She growled at him. “I am ready, trust me.”
Stephen could see that she was a bit bothered and he was turned on by that, more than he could explain. She was driving him crazy, and the more he tried to fight the feelings that she brought up in him, the worse it was.
