"A little what?"
"A little worried. You can't move properly. I don't want to hurt you."
"I'm fine, Callum." She turned away from me and stepped into the shower. She held her injured hand out through the gap in the curtain as I forced my eyes to look anywhere but at her perfectly curved little ass. "Can you hold my arm? It's painful for me to flex the muscles."
I held her arm tenderly, careful not to touch the bandages. She turned the water on and aimed the showerhead downwards so the water didn't get near the bandages on her neck.
"Fuck," she said, after a few minutes of trying to find a comfortable position."Callum, this isn't working. I think I'm going to have to take the bandages off my neck. They told me to just make sure it was dry, so if I do it fast it should be fine, right?"
I pulled back the curtain and leaned into the steamy shower. "Did they say it would be fine? You know, I could get a small towel and help you with this."
Lily caught my eye. "You could."
I pulled the shower curtain back and laid a couple of heavy bath towels down on the floor so the bathroom didn't become a lake. Then I wet a smaller towel, poured a little soap onto it and started to rub it gently over her belly as she lifted her arms. I kept going, moving up to her breasts as she turned around in front of me. Her mouth was slightly open and I could hear her breath catching every time I put my hand on her body.
"Callum..."
"I know," I replied, "I know, baby. Let's get you clean first."
It wasn’t that I didn't want to snatch Lily out of the shower, carry her into the bedroom and have my way with her. I did want that, and the uncomfortable tightness in my jeans was proof. But there was something else. I wanted her to know I could control it, too. I was turned on, yes, and she knew it, but I was also full of a kind of tenderness that I’d never experienced before. Her body felt warm and alive under my hands, but it also seemed incredibly fragile. She'd been hurt - badly - and I wanted her to feel how concerned I was about her, and know that my concern wasn't based on the fact that I wanted her so much I could hardly breathe.
Halfway through Lily's shower, the doorbell rang. Pizza. I went down to pay the driver and when I got back up to the bathroom Lily was standing there, wincing, the bandage on her neck halfway off.
I moved in closer. "Here, let me-"
She took her hands away and tilted her head, ever so slightly, towards me. She trusted me. She trusted me not to hurt her. For a brief moment I felt like my heart was going to burst. It almost made me laugh. I never thought I'd be the kind of man who was going to feel things like that. But Lily Morgan made me feel them, without even trying. And to my surprise, I loved every second of it. I carefully pulled the bandage off a little further and suddenly caught a glimpse of the wound. A wave of rage and hate washed over me as I thought of Gazza.
"Oh Jesus, Lily. Oh Jesus fucking Christ."
It was no superficial cut - I could see where the thick stitches were holding it together, surrounded by an angry redness. Gazza had done that to her. My father had done that to her.
"Fuck him. Fuck him! I can't believe - Lily, that son of a bitch, that fucking son of-"
"Callum." She reached up with her good hand and touched my wrist. "It's OK, it's done. It's done and I'll be fine. He didn't get near any arteries, it looks worse than it is."
I knew she was trying to calm me down - she was trying to comfort me - but the sight of her neck had my head spinning. I stumbled backwards and ended up sitting on the toilet, holding my head in my hands.
"Callum!"
"It's fine," I mumbled, "I just - just give me a second, Lily. I feel like my fucking head is going to explode. I'm actually sad he's dead, because that means I don't get to give him what he deserves for doing this to you. That piece of shit. I can't believe-"
"Callum, we can talk about this, OK? We can talk about this tonight, but I need you to help me finish up here, is that alright?"
Even when she was asking me for help, Lily was helping me. I got up, refusing to let my own anger stop me from being there for her, and we both worked slowly and carefully to remove the rest of her bandage. Then she lifted her hair up and I washed her neck, taking more care than I think I had ever taken with anything else in my life. From there, I worked down again, making sure there was no soap left on her skin. When I got to her lower belly I put the towel on the side of the tub and used my hand, sliding it between her legs, just using water to wash her there.
"Callum," she moaned as I felt the warmth of her core against my fingers, "get in here with me."
But I wasn't finished, and I told her as much. She looked at me, a curious smile on her face."Callum! Please," she laughed, "get your dick in here."
"I'm going to get my dick in all sorts of places, baby, but you're going to have to wait."
"What? Is the neck thing grossing you out?"
I chuckled at her North-Americanism. "No, it isn't 'grossing me out' at all, Lily. I'm just trying to take care of you here. Will you let me do that? I am capable of more things than fighting and fucking, you know."
She looked up at me, then, her eyes softening. "I know you are, idiot. Do you think I don't know that?"
I finished helping Lily wash, then I wrapped her in a big fluffy towel and carried her to the bedroom.
"That was nice," she said as I went about applying a new bandage to her neck. "That was actually really nice."
"What do you mean?"
I don't know why I asked her what she meant. I knew the answer. I just wanted to hear her say it, to confirm that I wasn't the only one surprised by the intimacy of helping her shower.
"I'm not sure. It's weird," she started, speaking very quietly, "sometimes I feel like I go to such a big effort to be strong for everyone else - and for myself, too. Like I have to conceal any weakness or vulnerability from men. I even feel that with you. Just now, in the shower, it felt strange to let you help me at first, but then... Callum, this is embarrassing..."
"Tell me." I said, kissing her shower-flushed cheek as I secured the bandages with surgical tape. Even fresh out of the shower she smelled so good, so herself. I could breathe in the scent of Lily's neck all day.
"Ugh, Callum," she said, smiling uncomfortably and not quite able to look me in the eye. "I just - I really liked it, OK? I mean, I really liked it. I liked feeling that you wanted to take care of me and you weren't just trying to get into my pants."
"To be fair, you weren't wearing any pants."
She grinned. "I know. It's hard for me to put this into words, but it didn't feel bad or wrong being like that with you. You know, being weak. All my life I've been pretty paranoid about that, even when I was a little kid. But that felt right. It felt like you were caring for me and I, oh God, Callum, it was just so nice."
She rolled over towards me and put her face on my chest, still self-conscious. I pulled her wet hair off her neck and ran my hand over her shoulders.
"You shouldn't be embarrassed about that, Lily. It's not embarrassing to want to be taken care of. I mean, this is kind of funny because I want to tell you something along the same lines, and now I'm all worried about sounding like a dickhead."
Lily pushed herself up on her arms and gave me a look. "Callum, you better goddamned tell me right now. I refuse to be the only person making personal revelations here."
I thought for a few seconds before I said anything. I'd been guilty of saying things I didn't mean before because the moment - or the person I was sharing the moment with - seemed to call for it or expect it somehow. Nothing too big, no declarations of undying love or anything like that, but I’d said plenty of things I didn’t really mean. I didn't want to do that with Lily. And that was precisely why it was making me squirm - because with her, I did mean it, I did feel it.
"Alright, Lily. I just feel the same thing you did - but in reverse. Something about you makes me want to protect you, take care of you - all that stuff I always knew men were supposed to feel for women and I never really d
id. Well, not until recently anyway."
"We're idiots," she said, smiling up at me, "aren't we?"
"Speak for yourself, woman," I deadpanned.
"No, I mean it. We're idiots. Why is this stuff so difficult? Why are we both blushing like a couple of teenagers?"
Shit. I was blushing? Shit. I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut and even then, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
"You're adorable, Callum. Do you have any idea how adorable you are? I love watching you trying to be all manly while you tell me this stuff."
Lily pulled my t-shirt up over my chest and kissed me slowly, using her tongue just a little. It felt hot and wet against my skin as she kept going, placing kisses all the way down to my abs and continuing on down to my belt.
"Lily." I said, torn between wanting her to go further and being worried about the fact that we were going to have to be very careful, for a little while anyway, until she healed.
I was hard, though, and it was obvious. I looked down and watched her undoing my belt, listening to the sound of the buckle jingling - a sound I had an almost Pavlovian reaction to. The feeling of her breath on the head of my cock made my muscles tighten in anticipation, but she just kept going, kissing all the way down either side of it without quite touching it.
"Lily."
She looked up - well, as far as she could look up without causing herself pain - her dark eyes sparkling devilishly.
"What, Callum?"
Instead of waiting for me to answer, she parted her lips and put her tongue on that spot, the one just on the underside of my head, slowly pushing it back and forth until I was exhaling heavily and my hips lifted off the bed.
"You know," she said, stopping only long enough to get the words out before lowering her head again, "you have a fucking beautiful cock, Callum. I think this-" she kissed me again, right there, "might be my favorite thing in the world."
She wasn't joking, either. I knew she meant what she was telling me. There's something about being given head, a feeling of being worshipped, a feeling of power, and watching Lily do what she was doing, watching her sweet little tongue dart in and out, teasing me, started to stir that lizard-brain aggression inside me. She was very good at doing that. She even commented on it as I helplessly wound my fingers into her damp hair.
"Not feeling so sweet and tender anymore, huh?"
She wasn't quite right, though. I was feeling those things, still, but what she was doing to me brought other things to the surface, pushing everything else to the side except for how fucking perfect her mouth felt. I tried to respond.
"No, uh, Lily, it's not...oh fuck, it's not, ohhh Christ that feels nice, baby."
She giggled. "It's OK, Callum. I love it when you're like this, it does things to me."
She shouldn't have said that. It was like getting a green light after sitting at the red revving your engine. As soon as she opened her lips again I pushed the head of my cock between them and thrust my hips up, moaning at the feeling of her mouth enveloping me. I saw her eyes widen and pulled back, worried I'd hurt her neck, but she immediately said otherwise.
"Don't, Callum. Don't hold back. I don't want you to."
Lily's eyes were dark, almost glazed over with lust, and the fact that she looked like that because she wanted to please me more than anything else was definitely too much. She lowered her lips onto me again, forcing herself down so far I saw her eyes start to water.Her need for me, and her willingness to push herself beyond the limits to do it, had me on the verge of coming so quickly it surprised even me.
"Shit! Lily, shit, wait!" She pulled away and smiled up at me, licking her lips like a cat.
"What, Callum? I want you to come. I want you to come in my mouth, I want you to watch me swallowing it."
And then I truly was done for. She took me again, so far I could feel the back of her throat against my head, and started moving her sweet mouth up and down until I was on the edge, panting and pulling her hair harder than I meant to.
I'd already told her I loved her. But as I looked down and watched her pretty face as I exploded in the back of her mouth, her brows knitting with effort while she swallowed and refused to pull away, I felt it then as the undeniable fact it was. She was perfect. I barely managed to stop myself from moaning those very words to her, over and over as I came.
She waited, too. She waited until every last sweet, aching twitch had seized my cock before she took her mouth away and looked up at me, smiling.
"I think that's the best thing I've ever seen," I told her. I ran my finger down her cheek and watched my own cum drip off her chin. "Fucking hell, Lily."
"Is it? The best thing? Well, you haven't seen Canada yet, Callum."
I knew she was being facetious and I was glad of it. Because I'd meant what I said, and on some level it was almost terrifying. If I'd had a ring in my pocket, I would have proposed. If she'd asked me for all my bank details, I would have happily handed them over. If she'd ordered me to slaughter her enemies, I would have done it with a smile on my face.
"That's true, I haven't seen Canada yet. But I'm not sure all those lakes and mountains, beautiful though I'm sure they are, would have anything on you."
She chuckled and rested her head on my bare stomach.
"You know what, Callum?"
"What?"
"I think I'm going to quit my job. I'm just going to do this for the rest of my life, OK? You'll need to buy me food every now and again but that's all that I need. Well, besides this. Do you think that's a good plan?"
"Yes. I think it's the perfect plan. But I don't want to do anything else, either. So we're going to have to move to the forest and live under a tree and just fuck all day, every day. Deal?"
"Deal." She kissed my belly and we were quiet for a few minutes, both of us listening to the sound of my breathing slowing back down to normal. I ran my hand lazily up and down her bare back and enjoyed the feeling of total, drained relaxation permeating my entire body.
Chapter 25: Lily
I let Callum sleep. I knew that when he woke up, we were going to pick up where we'd left off, and there was a part of me that enjoyed the torture of waiting. Of lying beside him and examining him, every perfect masculine angle and burly muscle, working myself up more and more until I was almost breathless, tingling with anticipation. He didn't sleep for long, either. Twenty minutes. When he woke up he was confused, then he was embarrassed.
"Oh shit, Lily. I fell asleep, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did, you horrible beast. How dare you." I laughed.
He made a face and covered his eyes with his hand. "Jesus, I can't believe I did that. I even told myself not to do it. I literally told myself that when I was lying there."
I hooked one of my legs over him and kissed his shoulders. "It's OK, Callum. I want you to sleep. I want you to do whatever the fuck you want, actually. Which is kind of a weird feeling to have about someone else."
He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed his way down my wrist to my palm and then kissed each fingertip, one after the other.
"Is it? I dunno, I kind of like it. I wish everyone felt that way."
It was still a little difficult to look right at Callum, to take in that straight, strong jawline and those deep-set, pale blue eyes. He was lucky I didn't start drooling all over my shirt every time he looked at me.
"I bet you do, pig."
"Pig, huh? You didn't think I was a pig a few minutes ago, did you?"
I moved to crawl onto him, but he must have seen the look on my face. He wrapped one arm around my waist and flipped me effortlessly over onto my back.
"You like that?" He whispered, leaning in close to me and kissing my mouth until my breath caught in my throat. I loved how needy he made me. I loved how easy it was for him.
"Yeah," I whispered, closing my eyes as he ran one of his big hands down my body, between my breasts and, palm-down, over my belly.
"Good," he replied. He kissed me again, harder, opening my mouth with h
is and sliding his hand down between my legs.
"Mm!" I made a little sound when he pushed two fingers into me, and he smiled in the middle of a kiss.
"Fuck, Lily. You're soaking. You should have woken me up, you needy little thing."
I let my legs fall open, tense with waiting for the feeling of Callum between them, and he obliged. He climbed on top of me and pushed my thighs apart with his body until I could feel him - completely hard, again - against my belly. I winced and bit my lip. I was getting impatient, and he knew it.
"Look at you, Lily. You look so nice underneath me. What do you want?"
He grinned and pushed a hand up under one of my breasts, running his tongue around the nipple, waiting for an answer.
"Callum. You know what I want," I moaned. I wrapped my good arm around his head and pulled him closer to me, desperate.
"Do I? Tell me, Lily. I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me what you want."
"I want you," I said, my voice rushed and my body squirming under him. "I want you inside me, Callum, please..."
"No. Look at me. Look at me when you tell me."
I used the last hanging threads of my self-control to focus on his eyes as he watched me, smiling that cocky little half-smile of his."Callum. I want you. I want you inside me."
"There," he said. He didn’t take his eyes off mine and he didn’t allow me to look away. "That's all you needed to say."
He reached down and guided his cock between my lips, sliding it up and down for a few seconds until my hips strained up off the bed. I dug the fingers of my good hand into his back and whimpered his name into his shoulder. And then, finally, he sunk all the way into me.
This time, Callum was the one in control, and I was the one under him. I wrapped my arms and legs as tightly around his body as I could, then let my limbs fall back on the bed, completely open, asking to be taken in whatever way he wanted to take me. He went slow and deep for a long time, pushing me close to the edge and then pulling back just enough whenever I got close. Then he grasped my hips and pinned me to the bed. I couldn't force myself up onto him any faster than he was willing to let me. I was completely helpless, at his mercy. He bit my earlobe gently and asked me if I wanted him to come again. I was almost beyond speaking - at least coherently, anyway - but I tried. I tried to tell him that that was all I wanted.
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