“C’mon.” She led Callie to the vestibule. Once the exterior glass door closed behind them it was as if a weight lifted off her, and she gave a giant shivery wiggle.
“Fuuuuck! God damn, he’s a bastard.” She looked back over her shoulder at Callie with a grin while unlocking and yanking the interior door open. “He always knows just what button to push, doesn’t he?”
“I remember. You’re not mad?”
Kate kicked a chock of wood into the doorway, leaving it braced open an inch for Gabe.
Callie’s back hit the hallway wall as Kate spun them and pushed into her with her hips. She nipped at Callie’s mouth and cupped her ass with a hard squeeze.
“Hell, no.” Kate’s tongue licked against the seam of Callie’s lips, opening her mouth and fucking it with her tongue until she groaned against Kate’s lips. Catching Callie’s bottom lip between her teeth, Kate bit and tugged, then let go with a sucking pop. “I told you. He knows what gets me going. Every time.”
She grabbed Callie’s hand and tugged her down the long brick hallway toward the back of the building.
“Let’s get your ass inside, lady.”
All the way at the end of the hall and on the left, Kate unlocked Gabe’s door and pushed it open. The only light inside came from Chicago’s light pollution shining in the windows running just below the ceiling, all around the two external walls. Callie reached automatically to the right of the door for the light switch.
“Leave it.”
She froze. Kate’s voice was disembodied in the dim light. She could hear footsteps as Kate walked away from her, sure-footed even in the dark. Stuck by the door, shifting her weight from one leg to the other, Callie shoved her hands in her pockets, not knowing what to do with them.
“Ah ha.”
Kate sounded pleased. Callie heard a click and then the lights came on. Orange and pink and yellow and blue and green lights, strung in a spiral around the tallest Christmas tree she’d ever seen outside of Daley Plaza. Enough multi-colored lights glowed on the tree to make the rest of the enormous warehouse space navigable. She looked instinctively to Gabe’s big platform bed, which took up most of the far corner to her left at the opposite end of the long exterior wall from the tree. It felt strange to know where everything was, and yet not feel at home anymore.
“Get your butt over here.”
Kate stood next to the tree, pulling her coat off and tossing it over the arm of the battered leather sofa that angled off one corner of the open space. She shimmied her already-unbuttoned shirt off her shoulders and let it hit the floor.
Callie walked toward her, aware that her stride was shorter than normal. She was too self-conscious for comfort; her hips felt stiff and her arms refused to swing naturally. She detoured around the end of the couch to reach the open space between it and the tree where Kate waited for her, standing on the thick, shaggy rug that had always looked more like an enormous bison skin than a manmade floor covering. It softened this little corner of living area, separating it from the ocean of concrete floor.
The tree seemed even taller up close, owning this corner of the room. Shoved up against the wall behind the tree was a pile of wrapping paper tubes, bags of bows, and spools of ribbon, along with a handful of neatly wrapped presents. She was reminded of Christmas and her decision to stay in the city by herself. Suddenly she wasn’t sure she’d made the right decision, cutting herself off from her family at the holidays. What had seemed like a low-key way to get through her first Christmas after the divorce now seemed like a bleak and lonely way to spend the day.
“Strip.”
Kate was clearly feeling neglected, her voice firm and demanding immediate attention.
Well, that’ll get your mind back in the game.
“What?” Callie paused. Gabe wasn’t even in the room yet.
Surely he’s not still with the cabbie? Should we check on him?
“Quit stalling and strip.”
Callie reached for the top button on her coat, the only one she’d bothered to fasten when leaving the pool hall. Her hand was trembling. She wasn’t sure if it was from excitement or from nerves. The idea of being naked, completely exposed, when Gabe walked in the room was scary. And a total fucking turn-on.
“Take. Your. Clothes. Off.”
Fuck it. Just do it.
She unbuttoned her coat and shrugged it off, laying it over the arm of the couch. She pulled her shirt over her head and turned it right-side out before dropping it on the coat. Skirt next, unzipped at the side and pushed over her hips until it dropped freely and she stepped out of it.
She was accumulating quite a pile of clothing on this couch.
Callie didn’t look at Kate while she undressed, but she could feel the other woman’s eyes on her. She shivered for a moment at the thought, then realized for the first time that she wasn’t cold. Which was shockingly unlike how Gabe’s cavern of a place had been every other time she’d been here during winter. She looked up for Kate.
“Hey, it’s—”
“Stop there. I like this look.” Kate’s smile was feral.
Callie stood in front of Kate in a wine red satin bra, low-rise hipster panties, and her knee-high black boots. Now she was glad she’d been hyper-aware that morning when getting ready for work that she was actually dressing for her encounter with Gabe and Kate. As Kate looked her up and down and bit her lip, Callie thought for once that the money she spent on lingerie was worth it. She hadn’t felt that way for years.
The creak of a hinge sounded behind her.
“Eyes on me,” Kate said when Callie turned her head to look.
It didn’t matter. She didn’t need to see to know who was in the room with them.
“In fact, close your eyes.”
She obeyed.
The shuffles and knocks of Gabe moving around continued, but didn’t sound like they were coming any closer.
Sharp little fingers grabbed her chin and gave it a shake.
“Focus.” The fingers gentled and stroked down her throat, then along the edge of her bra, brushing across the middle of her breast. One cool, slender digit hooked around the satin band holding the cups together and tugged. The tips of Callie’s nipples brushed against something too soft to be a hand or an arm—Kate’s breasts. “Did you wear this for us?”
“Yes.”
Her skin was hypersensitive. The long, slow brush of Kate’s fingertips down her arm fired up every nerve in her body and left her wanting to curve herself around the other woman and rub up against her everywhere.
“I’m glad. You look hot in it.”
Kate’s mouth pressed against hers softly, her tongue sliding slowly into Callie’s mouth for just a moment before she pulled away. Callie heard her low laugh.
“But I know what would make you even hotter.”
She slid her arms around Callie and tugged at the bra clasp in back until it came undone and she slid the straps down Callie’s arms and off. Callie heard the soft fabric hit the couch behind her.
Kate’s hands slid, palms flat, down over Callie’s ass, slipping beneath silk and pushing it down.
Callie stepped her feet another inch apart and then lifted one foot at a time, as she felt Kate kneel in front of her to slip her panties off. When Kate’s hair brushed against her naked thigh, Callie’s entire leg twitched.
“We’re gonna leave the boots on.” Callie could tell Kate was grinning as she said it. “Stay right there.”
Callie felt Kate move away. She heard rustling paper. No more sounds from Gabe. She kept her eyes closed and felt the air move over her skin when Kate walked back over to her.
“Here, hold this.”
The end of something flat and silky was tucked into her hand.
“Lift your arms. Yes, like that.”
The soft nudges as Kate moved around her were impossible to anticipate, heightening Callie’s tension as she wondered what body part Kate would touch next. A thin line of light pressure circled her arm repeatedl
y and crossed over her shoulder. By the time Kate brought the pressure line down between her breasts, Callie had figured out that she held a ribbon in her hand, like the ones she’d seen piled in spools by the Christmas tree. Every touch of the satiny length tickled as Kate framed her tits in an X that crossed over each shoulder. She tried to imagine what color looped her body in elaborate lines—pine green or a burnished gold perhaps—but her imagination stuttered as Kate manipulated her body like she was a living doll.
“Turn please.” Callie obeyed, off balance and wobbling without her sight. Her vulnerability intensified every sensation as Kate’s hands moved her arms, lifted her breasts, curved over her shoulder. Touch after touch brought heat to her skin until it seemed she must be glowing in the dark.
And then Kate brought the satin length down.
“Spread your legs,” she said, her voice coming from down low. Something soft brushed Callie’s thigh, a kiss, and she knew Kate was on her knees in front of her.
She could feel Kate’s breath moving the fine hairs on her upper thigh. Her fingertips pressing between Callie’s thighs as she wrapped the ribbon along Callie’s pussy and then up the crack of her ass. Back around her hips and down again. Kate tested the ribbon with teasing strokes where it lay against her pussy, getting wet.
Her breath stuttered in her chest when those fingers pushed between her butt cheeks for a second. Smoothing the ribbon still? Or just playing? If she opened her eyes and looked down, she knew she’d see a flush spreading over her chest, her breasts outlined in soft ribbon.
“Hmmm. Interesting.” Callie’s spine stiffened at the deep voice. She hadn’t even heard Gabe enter the condo.
She heard a sharp, slicing click and the faint rip of cut fabric. Kate was using scissors. Then fingers tucked something into the top of her boot and the feeling of having Kate at her feet disappeared. Metal clattered against the glass-topped table next to the couch. Firm hands pressed on her shoulders, turning her to the right.
“What do you think?”
“I think she should open her eyes.”
Gabe’s voice rumbled through her system like an avalanche, triggering a rush of adrenaline that made her dizzy. A callused finger traced a length of ribbon that ran beneath her left breast, stopping to tweak her nipple and bring her to her tiptoes in her boots.
“Open your eyes, Callie.”
This must be what it feels like to be hypnotized.
She opened her eyes.
Gabe stood in front of her in his jeans and long sleeved T-shirt, his feet bare, toes digging into the thick pile of the rug. He traced the maze of bronze ribbon over her torso, between her legs, around her hips, with his fingers.
“You wrapped her up like a Christmas present.”
Kate pressed up behind her, breasts to Callie’s back, her arms wrapped around her waist.
She licked a line up Callie’s shoulder blade to her neck and up to her ear, catching the lobe in her teeth. Her breath rasped in Callie’s ear.
“I figured she was ours.” She pulled the end of the ribbon from Callie’s hand and unspooled the first few inches from around her wrist, stepping back to give Gabe room. “You can unwrap her.”
Gabe tugged at the ribbon and she lifted her arm to let the ribbon slide off. He pulled again and she spun slowly in place. The satin strip pushed and twisted her, shifting her limbs as it fell free, until she was naked again, except for her boots.
He hadn’t touched her skin once.
But he’d stared at every inch of her. Had felt the ribbon after it slipped from between her pussy lips and let her see that it was wet. Her thighs were slick with her own juices, dragged by that damn ribbon. The ribbon that Gabe let fall in a silent coil on the rug at his feet before putting his hands on her shoulders and pushing her to her knees.
She swayed on the way down. Her heart was pounding so fast she could hear it beating in her eardrums.
Gabe stripped off his shirt, pulling it over his head and tossing it to the side. He looked down at her over the heavy muscles of his arms and chest.
“Take out my cock, Callie.”
A soft hand ran over the back of her head and she shivered. She could feel the heat from Kate’s body as the other woman stood behind her, straddling her calves.
She undid the button of his jeans. Pulled down the zipper. Her hands trembled again, awkward and uncoordinated. She brushed against Gabe’s cock, half-hard behind the stiff denim as she opened his jeans and pushed them down his thighs. He kicked them the rest of the way off and to the side. His briefs were dark, but she couldn’t tell what color in the strange glow of the Christmas lights. She put her hand on the ridge of his cock, squeezed gently and felt him stiffen in her hand.
“Ah.” His breath was almost a hiss. “Yeah, just like that. Get me hard.”
A hand snaked over her right shoulder and crossed her chest to cup her left breast. She tilted her head back and let it fall against Kate’s stomach. She moaned a little as Kate stroked her skin, trailing fingertips around and around her breast. Her hands on Callie’s skin sent heat through her whole system, warming her as effectively as if there was a roaring blaze in a fireplace next to the tree. The feeling of being vulnerable to the two of them standing over her intensified until she had to shut her eyes, just to block them out.
“You’re distracting her.” Gabe voice had a smile in it.
“Just checking to see if she can multi-task.” Kate’s too.
Callie lifted her head with an effort and tried to focus.
Off-balance. She felt off-balance and confused.
What’s wrong with you? This is what you wanted. You’re so into it you’re soaking wet. Just go with it, you idiot.
Great. Just what she needed. Insulting herself was a habit she’d picked up during her years with John as she questioned herself, sure that there had to be a reason to stay with him. She’d picked him after all, chosen to commit to one man for the rest of her goddamn life, and she’d damn well keep her promises. Arguing with herself, calling herself names that John would never have said out loud, for all that he looked at her with disappointment and unhappiness every time she suggested that never having sex wasn’t normal, that it wasn’t what happened to all couples—that was how she went through eleven years of marriage before she finally admitted that she couldn’t do it anymore.
God, get out of your head. Just stop thinking for one minute.
She opened her eyes and pulled Gabe’s briefs down. His cock fell forward and she caught it with her hand, sliding her fist up and down his thick length. Kate was stroking her shoulders and upper arms. Callie braced herself with one hand on Gabe’s thigh and leaned in, looking up. Gabe’s eyes were hot and dark and locked on her lips.
She could feel the ghost of his cock in her mouth already. The head pressing back against her soft palate, the bite of her own teeth into her lips as she covered sharp edges and sucked him down. She’d blown Gabe hundreds of times after the very first time, that first time she’d gone down on anyone, and she’d always loved it—even the ache in her jaw as she strained to take as much of him as she could without gagging. She’d felt vulnerable and yet so, so powerful, seeing him pant and beg and burn for the release she could give him that way.
And here she was again. Exactly where she wanted to be, but somehow feeling all of the vulnerability and none of the power. Even as her body softened and lit up under Kate’s hands, as she opened her mouth, flushed with the desire to taste Gabe’s hard cock, her brain was definitely not in the moment.
Screw it. She’d ignored her brain before. She could do it again. This was what she wanted. It wasn’t twisted or dirty, or if it was, then she owned it as her own desire.
She took the head of Gabe’s cock in her mouth.
Soft skin. She swirled her tongue around the head, gripping just behind the ridge with her lips. Pulling off slowly, she squeezed her lips against the head all the way until it popped out of her mouth, then sucked him back inside again. She slid he
r lips further down his shaft, her mouth tight around him, and felt Kate scrape her long hair back into a ponytail that she held out of the way so they could see her, on her knees between them sucking Gabe’s cock.
Callie pushed down, wanting the press of his cock against the back of her throat almost gagging her. Wanting her mind to feel hot for this, the same way her body clearly was.
Frustrated, she pulled off and dropped her head against Gabe’s hair-roughened thigh.
“I want this,” she murmured to herself. “I want this.”
“Callie?”
Kate released her hair. Gabe’s palms cradled her face, gently pushing her head back a little until he could see her face.
“I just wanted to feel this again.” God, she felt like an idiot. She started to scramble to her feet, standing up awkwardly from her knees. Where were her goddamn clothes? Her near-nakedness, which had been so sexy a moment ago, now felt weird, like they’d been interrupted in the middle of acting out some kind of slave girl fantasy. If she could get out of here quickly, maybe she’d feel less stupid when berating herself tomorrow. “God, this isn’t working. I was an idiot to think it would. Sorry. I’ll go.”
“Whoa, wait a second.” Gabe circled his fingers around her wrist then dropped to the floor, sitting in front of her with crossed legs. “Hold on. Give us a second here, Kate?” He didn’t even need to look at her.
“Call me if you want me. I’ll be in the kitchen.”
She dropped a barely-there kiss on Callie’s head and stopped for a longer one with Gabe before walking away, still completely dressed except for her discarded shirt.
Gabe tugged at her wrist again before letting her arm go.
“Sit.”
She looked at him. His posture was open and unthreatening as a child’s in a classroom, hands open and relaxed on his knees. His eyes were clear and calm, no hint of the desire that had radiated from them just a minute ago. He looked…safe.
Callie sat. She hugged her legs against her chest and rested her chin on her knees.
“You wanted to feel what?”
It was easier if she didn’t look at him. She felt pretty stupid admitting this out loud. Gabe reached out and covered the toes of one of her boots with his hand, squeezing the arch of her foot gently.
Callie, Unwrapped Page 7
