by Amy Andrews
Hailey was no longer earthbound. There was just Callum and herself in a bubble, floating somewhere in space, no need for earthly restrictions. Sensations swirled around her like psychedelic starbursts. Energy and heat and light danced along her nerve endings and fizzed like champagne in her veins.
From the feel of his mouth on her flesh to the eroticism of his hair grazing her stomach to the way he fitted inside her like he was the key that had been made especially for her—it was perfect in every way. There was none of the awkwardness typical of first times. No shyness. No reserve. Just two people finding an ancient rhythm composed especially for them.
When the crescendo came it surpassed all her expectations. He called her name and they rose and fell together, holding each other tight, riding the ripples, spinning and spinning.
Spinning as one. Floating as one. Landing as one—gently, gently, locked together in blissful lassitude. Callum shifted, pulled her into him, spooning her, kissing her neck, whispering sweet nothings as sleep claimed them both.
Callum’s last thought was momentous. I’m not falling. I’ve fallen. His arm tightened around her as he felt sleep tug him further under.
He was in love with Hailey Winters.
CHAPTER NINE
CALLUM woke about five the next morning in exactly the same position, the top of Hailey’s head tucked under his chin. The first creep of dawn was pushing itself through the gap where the curtains didn’t quite meet and his arm had fallen asleep.
Neither of them had moved. Hailey’s neck was close and he nuzzled it, inhaling her aroma, dropping a kiss there as he slowly retrieved his arm. She murmured and rolled on her stomach, the sheet slipping to reveal the blemish-free olive perfection of her back and the cheeky rise of her bottom.
He clenched and unclenched his fist, grimacing as the blood returned and a thousand hot pins needled his skin. He ignored them, determined nothing could ruin the sight before him as he allowed his gaze to linger on Hailey’s naked form.
Normally, if Tom had sneaked into bed with him in the middle of the night, he woke to his son’s foot in his face or orchie in his ribs. At the very least he was woken at the crack of dawn by Tom’s excited voice, shaking and begging him to get up, get up.
To be able to lie here and leisurely wake up next to the woman he loved, the gorgeous, naked woman he loved, was extremely gratifying. He’d forgotten how special that could be and he wanted to do it every morning. Yes, they had some issues to resolve but it had taken years to fall in love again and now he had, he didn’t want to waste time being apart.
He trailed a finger down her spine and smiled as she murmured again. Her skin was warm and supple and he felt goosebumps against the pads of his fingers. It had been a long time since he’d felt this content, that things were going to work out OK. After six years maybe it was his time to be happy?
When he thought about it, he’d known since the beginning. Just like with Annie. It hadn’t just been the moonlight that night or the way she’d been with Tom. There’d been a…flicker…a gut feeling that she was more than sparkly legs and a pretty face. She had intrigued him, bewitched him that night and now he knew why. Because he’d fallen for her. From the second she’d taken Tom’s hand, prepared to protect a little boy she didn’t know from Adam, he had been an absolute goner.
He rolled on his stomach, his side pressed against hers, and propped himself up on his elbows. He dropped a kiss on her upper arm and another on her shoulder blade. Did she feel the same? She hadn’t said anything when he had told her he was falling for her. No I think I am too or even That’s great, let me think about it.
Saturday had freaked her out. Hell, it had freaked him out too. He had withdrawn from her, shut her out, caught up in the heart-pounding fear that something had happened to Tom. But loving her meant loving every part of her. Even the panic merchant. It meant warts and all.
Hailey had baggage that would impact on their lives. He knew that. But, then, so did he. And he would spend the rest of his life being there for her when the events of her past overwhelmed her, reassuring her. And if she was hyper-vigilant with Tom then so be it. It would be nice to have someone else to share his vigilance with as well as his fears for Tom’s future.
Still, he had the feeling she’d be skittish, especially after the events of Saturday. And what if she didn’t love him? Just because he had an inkling that she shared his feelings, it didn’t mean that she did. She was definitely attracted to him, had admitted it in word and deed. But he wanted more than a physical thing, more than sex.
He wanted what he’d had with Annie. A deep and abiding commitment to each other. A wedding ring. Maybe more children—that little brother for Tom. Despite the tragic end to his marriage, he would never not have done it and he was sure he and Annie would have been together for ever had fate not dealt them a rotten hand. Some of the happiest years of his life had been in his marriage and he was a firm believer in the institution.
He certainly wanted another shot at it. With Hailey.
‘Why are you watching me?’
Callum smiled against her shoulder, nuzzling his face into the roundness of it. ‘Because I can’t believe how lucky I am,’ he murmured, his voice muffled as he scattered kisses on her skin.
Hailey smiled and gave a languorous stretch. ‘Good answer. What time is it?’ she asked, rolling on her back, turning her head to look at the clock.
Callum feasted his eyes on the view that just got even better. His body acted predictably and he felt his pulse rate pick up in anticipation.
‘Ugh! Five a.m.?’ She turned back to face him. ‘What a perfectly indecent hour.’
Good. It matched his perfectly indecent thoughts.
Hailey caught him ogling and felt her nipples grow hard beneath his very sexual gaze. There was no awkward morning-after moment—she felt like she’d been waking up next to him for ever. She was tempted to stretch a bit more, tease him a little. ‘You didn’t hear what I said, did you?’
He pulled his gaze away from her breasts and grinned. ‘You spoke?’
Hailey’s toes curled at the streak of pure naughtiness in his voice. She raised herself on her bent elbows thrilled by the way Callum’s gaze was glued to her every movement. ‘Why are you so far away?’ she murmured.
‘Good question.’ He grinned again and pulled her over on top of him.
Hailey was happy as she cradled her cup of tea in her lap out on the deck with Callum a couple of hours later. It was a glorious Monday morning, the sky was cloudless and the sun sparkled on the Brisbane River below.
Callum was munching on toast, dressed in just his jeans from last night, sitting opposite her, grinning like the cat that had swallowed the cream. She was sitting wrapped in her bathrobe, her combed, wet hair drying in the sun, her face turned towards the still mild rays, her eyes shut. Her feet were propped on his lap. They’d just showered together and she was reliving every sexy detail.
‘You know those lapels gape and I can see a good amount of your chest?’ Callum mused.
Hailey opened her eyes and looked directly at him. ‘Yep.’
Callum laughed. ‘Tease.’
She laughed and shut her eyes again. Callum was massaging her feet and she felt like a big old tabby cat, warmed by the sun, stroked by its owner, content and very, very happy.
‘Well, I’d love to play hookey for the day like some, but I have to go to work and I need to go home for a change of clothes.’ Callum removed her feet reluctantly.
Hailey opened her eyes and sighed. It had been a perfect twelve hours and she didn’t want it to end. She’d deliberately not thought about what happened next. She didn’t want to have to go back to reality so soon.
‘You could just wear that,’ she suggested, lifting a foot and tracing her toe down the centre of his stomach, drawing it lightly across his fly area, grinning when he blasted her with a sultry look and grabbed hold of her foot so she couldn’t create any more havoc.
He stood, upsetting her p
osition, picking up his mug and plate. ‘I’m feeling objectified.’
‘Yeah, I know how you guys hate that.’
Callum laughed and skirted her chair, evading her hands. ‘I’m going to be late.’
Hailey sighed and gathered her dishes, following Callum inside. ‘Here, give them to me,’ she said. ‘Go get your stuff together.’
Callum passed over his crockery, kissing her hard and brief on the mouth as he did so. She opened her eyes, dizzy from the surge of desire licking at her body, and found him looking at her.
‘I like it when you look like that.’
‘Like what?’ she asked breathily.
Thoroughly kissed. Glazed. Maybe even, in love? ‘Starry-eyed.’ He grinned.
She was about to protest his description, not liking how…how…teenage-girl-with-a-crush it sounded but, then, she had been staring at him stupidly and grinning at him since five a.m. And as she’d been studiously avoiding calling it—what had happened between them—anything, a crush sounded pretty damn good.
A knock interrupted their conversation and Hailey stared at the door, trying to fathom what to do about it, while her hormones were still directing impulses away from her brain.
Callum laughed. ‘Take the dishes.’ He kissed her and then turned her round to face the kitchen. ‘Snap out of it.’ He gave her a gentle push. ‘I’ll get the door.’
Hailey walked automatically, one foot in front of the other. How did he expect her to snap out of it when he kept kissing her all the time? She got to the sink and looked at the dishes in her hands. What had he said she was to do?
Callum was smiling as he opened the door. It was one of those moments. The moment when your life was perfect and you had absolutely no idea that just around the corner, or on the other side of a door, things were about to come crashing to a halt. He’d lived through two of those already and had no reason to doubt that, having been dealt his fair share, he was in line for another.
‘Er…oh!’
Callum blinked at the nonplussed-looking man standing on Hailey’s doorstep. He didn’t have to enquire who it was. It was the man from the photo. Paul.
‘I’m terribly sorry. I’m not sure I have the right address. I’m looking for Hailey Winters.’
Callum nodded, the clipped English accent bothering him more than it should have. ‘No. No, you have the right address.’
They stared at each other for a moment or two, trying to get the other’s measure. Callum could see Paul was confused to be met by a man. A half-naked man at that. He felt his hackles rise. Had he thought she was going to pine away for someone who’d driven her away?
‘Do you think I could…come in? Maybe see her?’
Callum detected the faint note of impatience, maybe even arrogance. He wanted to like this man—heaven knew, he felt sorry for him. He could certainly relate to him. He could have been him, after all. There but for the grace of God and all that. But at the moment all Paul was was a fly in his ointment.
‘Of course.’ Callum gave himself a shake and stood aside to admit…who? His rival? The man who Hailey had loved and lost? He noted the sizeable suitcase by Paul’s side and felt a creep of alarm. ‘I’ll just go and…see what she’s up to.’
Callum walked to the kitchen, his brain grappling with the implications of Paul’s appearance. Hailey was standing at the sink, her back to him. ‘Hailey,’ he called.
Hailey turned, grateful for the distraction. The water was running and the dishes were in the sink but she was just staring at them, smiling goofily at the rainbows in the bubbles. ‘Hmm?’
‘You have a…visitor.’
Hailey frowned. At seven-thirty in the morning? The look on Callum’s face brought her quickly out of her daydream. She wiped her hand on a teatowel and covered the distance to the doorway quickly. Something was wrong.
She looked up to see Paul standing in the middle of her lounge room. ‘Paul?’
Callum shut his eyes at the strange note in her voice. There was surprise, incredulity and something else, something harder to hear. Joy. One word yet full of so much…hope.
Hailey crossed the room in seconds. She threw herself into Paul’s arms, amazed to see him, grateful beyond words that he was there. His arms pulled her close and she almost cried it felt so good be held without reserve. Without censure.
She pulled back slightly, so happy to see him she accepted his quick kiss on her mouth without any thought. In fact, she gave him one back. And then kissed each cheek before pulling him back for another long, lingering hug.
Callum clenched his fists, the urge to rip them apart overwhelming. He wanted to break things. He understood that this reunion was always going to be an emotional one but this was on a whole other level. She was in her bathrobe, for crying out loud. She was naked underneath. He’d just been ogling her breasts. Paul had missed his chance. He didn’t get to hold her so intimately.
They pulled apart and shared a look so private that Callum despaired about their future.
‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe you’re here,’ she whispered.
‘Maybe I should have called first?’
Hailey frowned up at him and then turned when Paul indicated behind them. Callum was still standing in the doorway to the kitchen, his chest bare, his eyes shuttered, his jaw rigid.
He was tense. She could see that. But it was too much. All too much to take in. She’d hoped for this moment for a long time, for Paul to come to her, to absolve her, and now it was here, it had to take precedence. She couldn’t think about Callum and what had just happened. There was unresolved stuff between her and Paul, closure to be had. Paul had lost a child, a son the same age as Tom, he needed her more. Surely Callum would understand that?
‘Oh, no, Callum was just leaving,’ she assured Paul quickly.
Callum felt as if she’d punched him in the solar plexus. This couldn’t be happening. She’d just dismissed him as if they were casual acquaintances. Mere friends. Last night they’d been as far removed from friends as possible. Five minutes ago she’d been teasing him with glimpses of her flesh and now another man was touching her. Touching her with familiarity. With a casual ease that spoke of greater intimacy.
She wanted him to go, he could see that. Her eyes were pleading silently with him and he battled with himself to do her bidding, to realise what this meant to her. He forced himself to nod, his gaze firmly fixed on Paul’s hand at her waist. ‘Yes. I’ll be out of your hair in a moment.’
Callum stalked out of the room and Hailey nearly sagged against Paul in relief. She didn’t have time for a macho male showdown, for ego. This was big. This thing that had just happened was big. Bigger, right now, than her and Callum’s night of carnal pleasure.
There was so much she wanted to ask Paul, to catch up with. So much was unresolved. She wanted to know how he was. How he’d been doing. Paul and Eric had been such a big part of her life and there was no denying she’d left a part of her heart behind in London.
When Callum came back into the lounge fully dressed he discovered Paul and Hailey on the lounge, talking quietly, sitting close, their knees almost touching, her still in her bathrobe. He clenched his fist around his keys, wanting to drag her away, to demand she get dressed, order her to stand by his side.
They looked up as he entered the room. ‘I’ll ring you tonight,’ he said.
Hailey saw the stormy conflict in his gaze, the whites of his knuckles. She stood and moved until she was standing in front of him. ‘Thank you,’ she mouthed. She wanted to reach up and touch his jaw, place her hands on his chest, but felt too awkward in the circumstances.
‘We need to talk,’ he murmured.
She nodded. ‘Not now. Soon.’
Callum looked into her deep brown eyes. He saw the pitch and roll of emotion as she grappled with the situation. He saw her sincerity but also saw her struggle. ‘I’ll call tonight.’
He lowered his head to kiss her. Whatever the hell had just happened in the last fifteen minutes, i
t didn’t seem right not to. He’d fallen in love last night and he wasn’t going to pretend that hadn’t happened or he hadn’t kissed every inch of her body because her old boyfriend was back in town.
Hailey averted her face and his lips fell chastely on her cheek. Like the first time. Except nothing had ever been chaste between them. Even that first time there had been an undercurrent, a foretelling of the future. She could sense his disappointment, his disapproval, and she squeezed his arm, begging him to understand.
Callum bade Paul a curt goodbye and left. So not how he’d pictured that this morning would go. So not the way he’d wanted them to part.
Having the day with Paul was cathartic for Hailey, to say the least. They talked a lot about Eric and that day and the days that had followed. And about them and their breakup and Donna. He told her about his new job and rebuilding his life. He also made no secret of the fact that he wanted her to be part of it. That he’d forgiven her, absolved her and was ready to love her.
Which was what she’d wanted all along. To hear him say those words. At the time she’d have stayed without hesitation, been part of his life, and helped him through the dark times. She’d begged him to. Pleaded with him to allow her to take care of him, despite how he had betrayed her with his ex. But he’d sent her away.
And she’d understood that. He had been a father who had just lost a son. He hadn’t been capable of worrying about anyone else’s feelings or needs. So she’d comforted herself with the fact that he was grieving and she’d left, come back to Australia to lick her wounds and hope that he would come for her some day.
And so now he was here, telling her all the things she had wanted to hear back then. So, what was the problem? This was what she’d wanted, wasn’t it? But things weren’t as clear cut as they had been back then. A lot of water had flowed under the bridge and she was a much stronger person.
Her confidence as a nurse, which had taken a massive battering, was slowly returning. Her days that had had no direction other than survival had purpose and structure, and a man had come into her life wanting her, accepting her.
