by Starr, Jude
“Me too,” Calvin admitted.
“You want to join me?” I questioned with a sexy smile.
“I volunteered to help your father with breakfast.”
I pouted. I needed that closeness with Calvin and since we’d been here, I didn’t seem to be getting enough of it.
*o*o*
An hour or so later, my grandmother arrived, along with my aunt, uncle and cousin. My grandmother gave each of us two kisses, one on each cheek, including Calvin – and so did my aunt. Calvin appeared to be very nervous. He tried to hide it, but I knew him well enough that I could see it in his eyes and the stiffness in his movements.
“Is everything okay, baby?” I asked him quietly.
He nodded avoiding my gaze.
“Come with me.” I knew I needed to get him out of here because he seemed overwhelmed. He didn`t look well, and I hated seeing him like this.
“Shit, I'm not good at this,” he muttered, sounding ashamed of himself.
“At what?”
He sighed and rubbed his face with the palm of his hands. “Again, I've never done this and it freaks me out, Iris. What if they don't like me?” he asked quietly.
“They already do.” I circled my arms around his waist. “You make me happy and it’s all that matters to them, okay?”
He nodded slowly. “The stress is playing with my head. I've never wanted to make a good impression so badly in my life.” He chuckled. “I’m more nervous now than I was before my first NFL game. This is all new territory to me.”
“Stop worrying about it. Dad will convince anyone in this family who might have any doubts, he obviously adores you.” I kissed his chin. “You’re doing great, baby.”
“The stress has been eating at me all night. I’m so tired. It took everything I had to wake up this morning.”
“Follow me.” Telling Mom on the way to my bedroom that Calvin and I needed a few moments alone, I watched as she simply smiled, no questions asked.
As soon as we got into my room, I locked the door and got under the covers of the bed. “Come on.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “What are you doing?”
“You need to rest, baby. We’re going to take a nap together.”
A small grin appeared on his lips. “Do you mind if I take off my top?” He chuckled, knowing I would never mind such a thing.
He joined me in the comfort of the bed. With his tall frame, the bed was awfully small, but all it meant was that we had to cuddle a little closer together. Within seconds, he had fallen asleep; his head on my breasts and his arms wrapped around me, not letting me go.
I let my fingers swirl through his hair until I fell asleep. We both needed to catch up on sleep and now seemed like a good time. The sound of his breathing calmed me. I felt at peace and happy to have him here with me. Everything was rushed with us getting together, but maybe it was meant to be that way.
A few gentle knocks at the door woke me up. “Iris, it’s been two hours now. Everyone’s out here and anxious to meet your God,” Rose whispered from behind the door.
I chuckled. “I’m going to try to wake the God up, now. Thanks.”
By the creaking of the floor, I knew she had definitely gone and wasn’t standing outside listening.
“Baby, wake up. We have to head back downstairs to the party.” I kissed his hair and slowly, he started waking up, stretching his legs and arms.
“Jesus Christ, that nap felt good.” He blinked up at me with tired eyes. “Thank you, kitten.”
“Are you ready to face a few more people? I really don’t want you to get stressed out.”
“It’s okay. I think I can handle it,” he said, pulling me on top of him. “I missed you, feeling you against me like this.”
“I know, I do too,” I whispered. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment while I asked myself if I could or couldn’t control my fervent desires.
The answer came when he crashed his lips onto mine. It seemed we were both unable to contain ourselves. “Can we, kitten?”, he muttered.
“Yeah, I can’t stop now, but we have to hurry.” His hands went immediately to the belt of my shorts. He touched my bare skin and I loved it. It hadn’t been that long since the last time, but I had missed him, nonetheless.
I held on to his hair, kissing every inch of his bare chest. Every part of me craved more and I moaned when his finger slid under the elastic of my underwear. I knew what was to come. His finger stroked deep inside me and my muscles constricted.
“Calvin…” I wanted him to stop, because I feared I wouldn’t be able to control myself from moaning too loudly. “You can’t do this now. You know what’s going to happen if you do.”
He chuckled. “Right.” But he wriggled down beneath me and added his tongue to my sex and I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep from letting go. “You know how much I love you…”
“Yes, baby.” I told him.
“You know you want me. Let me love you. We both need this.”
“Calvin, we can’t,” I hissed.
He let a long sigh escape from his mouth. “You don’t want to disappoint me, I’m pretty sure, sweetness.”
God, I was back to being sweetness. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop him at this point.
His soft velvet tongue went straight back to my sex, applying a gentle pressure on my clit. I could feel my pulse beating right beneath his tongue. Jesus Christ! My hands turned into fists, my breathing grew sporadic.
“Hum, it’s so good to taste you again, sweetness,” he whispered against my skin.
How could he do this to me? His finger meant business, he knew what he was doing and what he wanted. “So ready for me.” His tongue drew circles around my clit and it was better than ever before. My back arched, and I couldn’t control my own body anymore, so I snatched up my pillow and covered my face with it.
“Calvin… baby…” I moaned as quietly as I could. “I can’t do this.”
“You can, sweetness, I know you can.” His voice was soft and seductive. He suddenly rolled us so he was on top and he parted my legs and pulled me closer to him. His erection rubbed against me, teasing me. “Take me, baby, I’m yours to take.”
“I’m not quite there yet.”
His body covered mine, his cock pushing against my thighs; he lifted my tank top and covered my breast with his hands. Every part of me screamed for more. He pushed his cock against me, tempting me while his mouth covered my nipple. My body jerked when his fingers went back to my sex and he tried to please me. “Calm down, vixen.”
“Cal, we have to hurry,” I urged him.
“When I get inside you, sweetness, it won’t be long. I’ve been thinking about having you since I saw you in that dress last night.”
He played with my clit, and my insides stiffened to the point of coming and he suddenly stopped. He let go of my nipple and my clit and just watched me. “Look at you – your cheeks are flushed, your pussy’s calling my name and your whole family is in the house. Aren’t you excited?”
“Yes,” I muttered, desperate for him to touch me again.
“Now, let me show you how much I need you.”
He lifted my legs and placed them over his shoulders before he pushed inside of me delicately.
“I own you, sweetness. Now, let’s hope your bed can cope with this.”
He pulled out slowly, making sure I felt every inch of him before he slammed back into me. He kept my legs in place against his chiseled abs with his hands.
“Please, Cal,” I begged.
He smiled his seductive grin and thrust into me again, hard. I had ever been fucked like this in my childhood bedroom and for some reason, it aroused me even further.
“Come on, sweetness. I want to see you come for me.” He murmured almost as if he was thinking out loud.
The tension inside of my core was on the verge of exploding. I tried to hold it a little longer but I couldn't. The rubbing of his cock against my walls set me on fire as I came hard and strong. My whol
e body drowned in the ecstasy of my orgasm.
Calvin kept pounding into me, his expression serious and the vein on his forehead swollen with effort. He groaned louder than I would have liked, before his body covered mine for the last few thrusts. The warmth emanating from his body filled me while he sucked hard on my nipple. Both of his fists held a handful of my bed sheets.
“Fucking good, sweetness. We're fucking good together.” He kissed my lips with love and lust. A few beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.
“Now, we have to face the family.” Would they know about what we had just done? I hoped not, or I would never be able to face them again.
He nodded, offering me a huge smile. “We weren’t even loud.” He drew out, his dick still hard. I wanted more and gripped his hips, unwilling to let him go.
“Later, maybe,” he said, before getting out of bed. What a tease!
He picked up our clothes from the floor while I went into the bathroom to clean up and washed my face with cold water. I was thankful for the ensuite bathroom; it meant I still had a few minutes before I had to face the family. Calvin entered the bathroom and simply stared at me.
I lifted an eyebrow in question. “What?”
“You realized how turned on I was and I still am, because of you. That’s it for me, you own me completely. I won’t ever be able to forget how hot you were two minutes ago.”
I dried my face with a towel. “It’s the Calvin charm effect.”
“I'm pretty sure it has something to do with this, too.” He grabbed his dick in his hand.
I chuckled. “That too, I love you.”
We kissed, but I stopped him before we lost control again. With Calvin, control was definitely the key.
Despite my concerns, meeting the rest of my family turned out great. My mom introduced Calvin to everybody and I thought she sounded very fond of him. My uncle asked Calvin details about his football career and I listened to him carefully. He had told me little pieces about his football past but I never asked much. There were so many things I still had to learn about him. I loved him, I craved him but we had so many things we still didn’t know about each other. Apart from the undeniable attraction, so many mysteries had to be solved.
“Being in the NFL is serious. I had no time to waste. I was in the best shape of my life when I was accepted onto the team. I had a very specific diet, a workout schedule and I had to maintain my concentration in the game. My first year, the season flew by. There’s not a day in my life where I had been as proud of myself as I was back then. I worked hard to get there, I’m still very thankful that I was part of such a good league,” Calvin was saying.
My cousin stared at Calvin, with his eyes wide. “So you’re like a super star, right?”
Calvin smiled bashfully. “Not really a star, but I’m in the public eye. People know me, they recognize me.”
“Even paparazzi follow you around New York,” Rose added. She had a habit of following numerous bloggers and celebrity webpages.
“Sometimes, but it’s a lot less now than it was before.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Although, one of them enjoyed taking pictures of the girl who stole my heart. Was that one of the headlines?” He kissed the tip of my nose.
“Yes,” I blushed. “Something like that.”
“Being in the public eye can’t only have its advantages. It’s a tough life, but I try to keep a low profile and that helps me a lot.” He sighed. “My past, my story was told around the world, so some people feel like they know me because of that. I can deal with it, as long as they don’t camp out on my door every morning.”
“I can live without that,” I chuckled.
“My life, these days, is very simple. I work a lot, I invest in things I care about. I’m a simple guy.” He gave his audience his most charming grin. I swore I heard my mom “aww” at him. I rolled my eyes at her and it made my sister laughed aloud.
Calvin shared quite a bit of his life with my family. I could tell he didn’t like to be in the spotlight, but I thought he preferred being honest with them about who he was. He must be used to people asking questions, it had been happening to him for years.
Dinner went really well. I got to spend more time with my sister and it was great to see the rest of my family. During dinner, I asked my sister to visit me soon. I had my own identity, my own life in NYC – but I missed her dearly.
“You can stay at my place when you visit, Rose,” Calvin suggested. “I don’t think it’s possible to have more than one person in Iris’s residence. It’s freaking small. Smaller than Iris’s bedroom here.”
Rose accepted right away, even as I objected. “It’s not that bad.
“Trust me, Iris. It is.” Calvin hooked his arm around my shoulder, chuckling.
Did that mean he wasn’t ever going to spend time with me there? “Will you visit me?” I asked, and my voice broke. He knew instantly what I meant.
“Anything for you.” I heard all the promises in his words, the low tone of his voice seductive. These words were only for me to hear. This man loved me and I loved him, just as much. The emerald green of his eyes displayed the love overtaking the bad memories from his life. I wished to always be the one making him happy again.
*o*o*
After another night spent in my childhood home, I helped my parents with the morning chores down at the stables. Calvin attempted to help as well, but he ended up playing some football again with my father. Dad was obviously enjoying having another man around the house.
I went out on the track with Polo one last time, before leaving for the airport. I missed riding my horse it was something I used to enjoy daily. The cool air of the morning against my skin made me miss Calvin’s arms around me, but I had to take this moment for myself.
My last morning here saddened me. As much as I enjoyed my life in the big city, the calm of the ranch was still engraved into my soul. Prior to moving away, it meant everything to me, was all I knew. A few tears were shed, while my heart ached.
“Come on, Polo.” My heels pressing against his flanks signalled him to go faster. No more sadness, no more tears, I had to enjoy this moment and stop being so emotional. Calvin said we could come back at some stage, I had to trust that he meant what he said.
Polo’s crest caught in the wind. I loved every second of the speed he could reach. Rose had climbed up onto the fence and was watching us. Riding a horse was a second nature to me; I was as comfortable on a horse as if I was walking. Rose liked it, but she’d never been as keen as I was.
Our trip filled me with love from my family. Finally, after months of bitterness toward my hometown, I turned the page and was able to focus on the people I loved. My parents and my sister didn’t have to pay for my ex-boyfriend’s mistake. He couldn’t take away from me all the good memories of my life in Orlando.
Chapter 14
Sitting in the airplane waiting to fly home, my heart hurt. I missed my sister and my parents already and we’d only been apart for the shortest time. I tried my hardest not to cry, but apparently, I wasn’t that strong. Tears slid down my cheeks and Calvin pulled me into his arms.
“I didn’t think it would make you so sad to go home to New York… with me.”
“I’m glad to be going home with you, Calvin. Trust me, I wouldn’t want it any other way, but I realize now, how much I’ve missed them.”
He hugged me close. “We’ll come back as soon as we can, Iris. I had a good time, too.”
“Thank you, for everything.”
He stayed silent and dried the tears on my cheeks with his thumbs.
The plane took off, and Calvin held my hand tightly. As soon as the seatbelt light went out, he unlocked mine and drew me onto his lap. With my head resting against his chest and my feet resting on my seat, I felt better.
The sadness was replaced with a sense of comfort. I could never thank Calvin enough for bringing me home to my family. They had all loved him and that meant everything to me. I knew in my heart that I
was ready to commit entirely to him and returning to live at the residence seemed unbearable. Should I move in with him? My heart said yes, but my mind said no. It only had been days, but as my mom said to me when I left, ‘Calvin is in love with you, honey. You’re still young but I can see it in your eyes. Your body language is betraying you, Iris; you’re madly in love with him, too. I know he’s ready to share his life with you, and you’ll know when you're ready, too.’
I knew I loved Calvin, but I wasn’t certain if I was ready to take that next big step yet.
Three days from now, I’d have to go back to Broadway Hall, but I was determined not to think about it.
“Iris, what do you want to do tonight?” Lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t really reflected on anything else but spending time with him. He wouldn’t admit it, but I knew he must have had a pile of things to do while we’d been gone. He hadn’t been at the whiskey bar in a couple of days, I thought it would only be fair to propose he spend the evening there. “What about the lounge?” I suggested.
He gave me one of the cutest smile I’d ever seen. “I’m glad you thought of it. I would like to go, if you don’t mind.”
I shook my head. “Of course not.”
“I might have to work a little, though. Maybe you could ask your friend to come along, if she’s back from her break.”
“Krystal?”
He nodded.
“I will, thanks.”
Without saying anything else, I knew he was warning me that our life together was about to change. He’d mentioned before that he usually worked from sunrise to sunset. He had a hectic schedule, which I wasn’t usually part of. He had plans to include me, but I knew it would be nothing compared to the few days we had just spent together. Between working, school and homework, I realized that our time together would be very limited. I convinced myself not to think about it, because it would hurt and I was disappointed to think our future didn’t seem as perfect as I wished. I enjoyed his presence, his smile and love. The thought of not being with him constantly tore me apart.
Calvin once said he wanted me to be his first priority, but how realistic was that suggestion? His life consisted of working constantly, so where did I fit in? Could it be the reason he’d asked me to work with him? So many thoughts revolved around through my head. I might see him at the gym, but there was no guarantee. I had come to know this man, who for the first time of his life admitted he was enjoying a true and honest relationship with a woman – but the workaholic businessman would no doubt make an appearance soon. Whether I liked it or not, we would need to adjust our lives if we wanted this relationship to work.
