Hot Blooded

by Lake, Jessica

  "I am very loveable, after all. But I really don't feel comfortable discussing this here. Is there a cinema around here?"

  "A cinema?" I asked, confused. "Are you sure we can't talk about this here - there's no one sitting close to us and we're pretty closed-in here. What's going on?"

  He looked around and my eyes slid slowly over the contour of his cheekbone and jawline as he turned to the side. I felt like a pervert looking at Callum, poring over his physical self with an obsessive attention to all the little details. His ears were surprisingly fine-boned, like seashells.

  "Lily!"

  "Huh? Oh, what?"

  He'd said something and I'd missed it.

  "Jesus, woman, can you stop staring at me like I'm a juicy steak for one second? I said it's probably fine if we stay here, I'm just being paranoid."

  I completely ignored the comment about paranoia, too taken with the other parts of the conversation - and him - to notice.

  "But you are a juicy steak, Callum. That's exactly what you are. A big, thick steak in human form."

  "Too much of this talk and I'm going to start feeling objectified, Lily."

  I sipped my cider and he watched my lips, not taking any care to hide it. Then he leaned across the shiny wooden tabletop and whispered in my ear, "You're making me so hard it's actually physically painful."

  Even if I'd known what to say in reply to that, I wouldn't have been able to. Words from a man had never, up until that moment, been enough to cause such a distinct physical response. I tried to smile and come up with a smart-ass comeback but it didn't work. Instead I just sat there, mute and breathless, as a flower of heat bloomed between my legs and my mind faltered. He saw - and understood - exactly what was happening.

  "Callum, what the hell?" I whispered, when the ability to form words came back to me.

  He just watched me with a little half-smile pulling one corner of his mouth up, clearly enjoying every minute of my fluster. I was done with the pub. Done with chatting. Done with everything that wasn't his hands on me and his hot, fast breath in my ear.

  "We - uh, Callum, call a taxi. We should call a taxi."

  "I drove here."

  "Well then we should take your car."

  He stayed where he was, looking at me the way a cat looks at a mouse. I loved his gaze, his eyes when they were focused so intently on me and only me.

  "Should we, Lily? Where are we going?"

  I furrowed my brow, aware that he knew exactly what was going on. "Callum, stop it! Let's go. We can take your car, stop messing with me. Please!"

  He leaned in close again, so he wouldn't be overheard. "I love the way you sound right now, Lily. So fucking needy."

  He said the last three words slowly, drawing them out: "So...fucking...needy."

  "Please. Callum."

  "Tell me what you want," he said, making direct eye contact, "tell me exactly what you want - and we'll go."

  Callum Cross was not the only person who could play the game. I gave myself a few moments to calm down a little, then I lifted my eyes up, meeting his, and whispered my response:

  "I want you so far inside me I can't breathe or think anymore. I want you to feel what you're doing to me right now."

  Callum's eyes closed, just briefly, and I watched him exhale, trying to maintain the facade of control. Then he reached out and wrapped his hand around my wrist, pulling me to my feet. His grip was so tight it hurt, but I didn't say anything, I didn't want to. I wanted him in that state, so aggressive he wasn't thinking straight. He slammed a twenty pound note down on the bar and pulled me out to the parking lot, holding his jacket in front of his midsection. Just as Pandora had predicted.

  As soon as we were inside my flat I threw my bag on the floor and turned towards Callum, wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my body into his. He actually held me off.

  "No, Lily. Not so fast. Not this time."

  I glanced down at the unmistakable bulge in his pants and raised my eyebrows as I reached down to stroke it. He caught my wrist and held my hand away, not letting me touch him, and frustration sparked up inside me.

  "Goddamnit!"

  Callum laughed and ran his thumb over my cheek. "I like you like this, Lily. I think I want to keep you in this state forever."

  When his finger found my lips I opened them and sucked it gently into my mouth, curling the tip of my tongue up underneath it, forcing him to think of other places my tongue could be. I saw him waver, but he stopped me before I could push him too far.

  "Take your clothes off, Lily."

  There it was again, that sudden weakness in my knees, the feeling that I might not be able to keep breathing unless he put his hands on me that precise moment. I reached out for him again but just looked me in the eye and shook his head 'no.'

  "Callum," I breathed, trying to step towards him and making a small, helpless sound when he continued to hold me off. "Please...I need-"

  "I said take your clothes off, Lily. You're remarkably bad at following instructions, aren't you?"

  It wasn't just what he was saying. It was the tone in his voice - serious but edged with playfulness. He knew he was toying with me and he knew I loved it. When I moved to start undressing I could actually feel the slickness between my legs.

  When I was naked, standing in front of him and convinced I was going to burst into flames, he picked me up and carried me over to the sofa, kneeling down on the floor between my feet.

  "Open your legs."

  It was daylight, but lust - and the desire to do what Callum wanted me to do - overcame my self-consciousness and I did as he asked. He lifted one of my legs up and turned his head to kiss my ankle, then slowly began working his way up while I lay there in front of him, burning up with anticipation.

  "Mmm, Lily, I could do this all day," he told me."That's not a figure of speech. I could literally do this all day."

  He kept glancing up at me between each slow, deliberate kiss. By the time he was near the top of my thigh my whole body was trembling and my breath was coming in quick gasps.

  "Callum, please," I begged as he refused to go further, "please."

  He moved his mouth closer to me, close enough so I could feel his warm breath on my aching, soaking pussy, and then backed off suddenly and stood up.

  "Callum! Nooo!" I moaned, reaching up, grabbing for his hands so I could pull him back down to me.

  He just smiled down at me and undid his pants. "Hold on, Lily, I'm almost finished torturing you. I just need to give this thing a little more room because things are getting painful."

  I watched him adjust his cock, moving it so it wasn't constrained by his jeans anymore but remained in his boxer-briefs. The sight of that bulge made me feel like I was losing my mind. But I didn't have time to think about it. Callum knelt back down, and with no warning at all, pushed his tongue between my lips and ran it up to my clit. My hips bucked underneath him and I reached down to push him against me. The next time he looked up at me his whole lower face was shiny with my wetness, and his voice, when he spoke, was deeper than it had been moments before.

  "Lily, you taste good. You taste so fucking good, baby."

  All I could do in response was whimper as he lowered his head again and circled his tongue gently around my clit.

  Callum knew what he was doing, too. He knew exactly how to start slow and gentle and work me up so I could feel the orgasm that he was going to give me approaching. I trusted him to get me there. He made sure the groundwork was well and truly laid before he even thought about going a little bit harder or faster. He looked up at my face when he sensed I was getting close.

  "Are you going to come, Lily? Are you going to come for me, gorgeous?"

  He knew I was too far gone to answer so he just lowered his head between my legs again and started using his whole tongue, pushing it hard against my clit and not stopping until I could feel the explosion was imminent.

  "Callum!" I cried, just before he got me there.

  "Come,
Lily. Come for me."

  He slid his arms underneath me and pulled my hips up just as I felt myself falling over the cliff. I sank my nails into his scalp helplessly, my body seizing with pleasure. I moaned his name over and over as his tongue wrung every last quiver out of me and then I lay there, unable to think or move, just panting hard and stroking my hand over his head.

  "Did I hurt you?" I asked, noticing that he was looking down, almost like he was in pain.

  As soon as I saw his face, I knew he hadn't heard me. His jaw was tight and his eyes were completely focused on my body.

  "Lily, I need-"

  Of course. "I know what you need, Callum," I said, opening my legs for him.

  He moved up my body, bending to kiss my mouth and reaching down to wrap his hand around himself and rub the tip of his cock up between my lips.

  "Oh Jesus, Lily," he moaned when he felt my wetness.

  The only thing in the room that afternoon was Callum's need. He didn't need to warn me because it was all there was. It was completely and utterly intoxicating, like being under a spell of some kind, compelled to give him what he wanted. When he pushed himself into me, groaning and not stopping until my breath was catching in my throat, it was perfect. I loved feeling full of him - too full, the sensation verging on pain but not quite.

  "Baby," he said, looking down at me, his voice ragged, "are you OK? Am I hurting you?"

  He knew how big he was. I got the feeling he also knew he no longer had the self-control to hold himself back. He was asking for permission. I turned my face up to his and kissed his mouth.

  "I'm OK, Callum. I don't want you to hold back. Not at all."

  He exhaled heavily when I said that, pulling almost all the way out and then thrusting back in again until his forehead creased and his jaw tightened.

  "Lily, are you - I mean, I-"

  "Callum." I took his face in my hands. "I want everything. Don't go slow. Don't hold back."

  He started to reply, but his voice got caught in his throat when he looked down to where our bodies met. He hunched down over me until my face was pressed into one of his shoulders. He stayed in control as long as he could, wincing and digging his fingers into the flesh of my hips as he held back, but I knew it wasn't going to take much. And seeing him like that - so completely at the mercy of desire, so lost in how sweet it felt, just got me there again.

  "Mm, Callum. Callum, I'm-"

  "Oh fuck, Lily. Are you going to come again?" He groaned, baring his teeth."Are you - Lily, I'm, oh shit, ohh-"

  The second he started to come, I came again, my orgasm seemingly an automatic, inbuilt response to his, my sex contracting around him, my whole body desperate to give him as much sweetness and pleasure as I could. He was loud, too, leaning his head back and shouting my name as he spilled himself into me. It was only later, remembering it, that it crossed my mind to wonder if the neighbors had been home or not.

  I watched him pull out of me and wrap his hand tightly around the base of his cock before sliding it all the way up to the tip one last time.

  "I love that, Callum."

  "What, this?"

  "That thing you just did - that squeezing thing. It's so fucking sexy."

  He looked up at me with one of those 'are-you-completely-nuts' expressions on his face."Really? You crazy little thing, why do you like that?"

  I shrugged and rolled over on the sofa, making a face at the sudden sharp pain in my thighs when I closed my legs. Callum noticed.

  "Oh, Lily, are you hurt? I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop my-"

  I put my hand on his thigh and shook my head. "No, Callum, I'm fine. My thighs just feel a little sore. And just to reiterate, I never want you to hold back. OK? Ever. Not one bit."

  He looked at me for a few seconds, working out how much of what I was saying was the truth.

  "That's a dangerous thing to say, Lily."

  "Maybe it is," I agreed, "but there are more dangerous things in this world. I'm a big girl. I know what I want."

  He sat down on the couch next to me and pushed my hair off my face, tucking it behind my ears and searching my eyes before kissing me.

  "You," he whispered, "are perfect. Even if you're wrong about there being more dangerous things that this."

  I lay back, my limbs feeling like they were made of warm Jello. "What about great white sharks? What about grizzly bears? Or what about grizzly bears with great white sharks riding on their shoulders?"

  Callum stroked a lazy hand up my bare thigh. "Nah, not as dangerous."

  "Not as dangerous as Callum Cross with a hard-on? The grizzly-shark might take issue with that ego," I teased.

  He leaned in very close to my face and kissed my neck just below my ear.

  "Not you, though, right?"

  I grinned and conceded. "No, not me."

  He gave me a little smack on the leg. "Just as I thought! Now, tell me what you mean."

  "Hm?" I asked, "What do you mean what do I mean?"

  He rolled over on his back and lay his head in my lap, gazing up at me. "What you just said a minute ago. That you're a big girl and you know what you want. What do you want, Lily Parker?"

  "Oh God," I said, balking almost instinctively and trying to get up. He refused to let me.

  "No, Lily. Answer the question if you're such a big girl. Tell me what you want."

  I was silent for a little while, trying to think of some way to respond without sounding like I was avoiding the topic but also without having to give anything away.

  "What are you so scared of?" Callum asked, before I could think of anything to say. "Why can't you just say it? I said it."

  "Did you?" I asked, sounding more confrontational than I'd intended to. "You said you thought about me a lot, but I don't recall too many specifics."

  He reached up and stroked my cheek tenderly. "Lily, Lily, Lily."

  "What?"

  "I just want to know if this is something you're interested in, you silly thing. You play your cards so close to your chest, Lily. I mean, is it really some mystery to you how I feel? I'm completely gone on you, you know. Totally bewitched. If you told me to go out into the street naked right now and sing God Save The Queen backwards, I would."

  'Bewitched.' 'Gone.' The words rang in my ears. And as soon as I heard them it dawned on me that I already knew. I already knew how he felt about me, even as that part of myself that enjoys being terrified refused to accept it. And if I already knew, surely he did, too?

  "Callum," I said.

  "Lily?" He replied.

  "Come on, you know. You must know!"

  He looked up at me with those crystalline blue eyes of his and gave me a slight smile. "I want you to say it, Lily. I want you to tell me I'm not wasting my time falling for some Canadian weirdo who's just using me for my conversational skills - and my dick."

  I scrunched my face up and took a deep breath, fighting almost every single instinct in me telling me to shut the hell up.

  "I feel the same way as you do, Callum. I'm scared I feel more than you do. That's why I haven't said anything. It's not just you, either. It's always hard for me to say things like this. I don't know why. It's just the way I am."

  He watched me for a few seconds, saying nothing. Then he lifted himself up on his elbows and kissed me between my breasts before looking up. "There. Was that so hard?"

  "No," I started, "that wasn't so hard. The hard part comes when you realize you've put yourself on the line for someone who doesn't feel the same way about you."

  He kissed me again, in that little hollow just below the place where my collarbones met. "Then you have nothing to worry about, Lily. Because I do feel the same. In fact I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to be capable of anything except thinking about you ever again. It's all I do. I'm not exaggerating, either. It's getting kind of embarrassing."

  I tightened my arms around Callum's head, pulling him against my breasts and flushing with happiness at what he was telling me. "Really? Callum, I me
an, really?"

  "Yes, Lily. Really."

  We stayed there like that for a few minutes, basking in the warmth of each other - of being together-only to be interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a belly rumbling.

  "Oh!" I said, looking down self-consciously. "Was that me?"

  "Nope," Callum laughed. "That was me. I'm starving. Do you have any food in this place?"

  "Uhh," I started, not actually sure if I did have any food. "Yeah, I think so. I think there's some bananas or apples in the fridge. Feel free to help yourself."

  I stayed on the sofa and let Callum wander buck-naked into the kitchen and inspect the contents of the fridge on his own. Almost as soon as I heard the door open, the commentary started.

  "Hmmmm. You have out of date eggs, white wine, sriracha, more white wine aaaand...nothing. Lily, how are you alive?"

  I then heard the cupboards being opened and closed,thenCallum came back into the sitting room and eyeballed me.

  "What?" I asked, defensively. "I'm a busy woman."

  "Apparently you are. But you've given me an appetite, and old eggs and hot sauce aren't going to cut it. Let's order pizza."

  I didn't really want to order pizza. It came as a shock to me to realize, suddenly, that what I actually wanted to do was prepare something for Callum. To cook for him. To serve him. Jesus, is that all it took? Two stunning orgasms and I was ready to put on an apron and start baking pies?

  "What? Pizza not good enough for you?" He asked, walking over and bending down to kiss me again. I grabbed his shoulder before he could stand back up and looked him in the eyes.

  "Actually, no. I was just thinking that what I really want to do is make you something. How are you doing this to me? I can't even boil an egg."

  "See?" He said, reaching down and running his hand casually over one of my breasts. "Sex is more dangerous than grizzly bears - and great white sharks."

  After considering a trip to the grocery store and deciding we were both too lazy, we did end up ordering pizza. It's amazing how spending time with someone you're extremely taken with can make even the most mundane things feel exciting and strangely brand new. After we finished eating I cuddled up next to Callum on the sofa and put my head on his chest.