“Because I’m in love with you.”
My eyes widened as I searched his gaze for the truth, but it was plain to see. He’d meant every word he just said.
“What?” I breathed, still in disbelief.
He reached out and cupped my face with his big, rough hand. My mind told me to pull away, to turn away, but I didn’t. I stood there and let him hold me like he’d never hurt me before.
“I’m so in love with you, Callie, I don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve loved you from the second our eyes met in the kitchen all those months ago. Every minute of every day I’ve only fallen deeper in love with you. I tried to stay away because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to be with you and still take care of my mom, but I can’t keep my distance anymore. I tried to be your friend because I thought it’d be better to have you in my life like that if I couldn’t have you like I wanted you, but that didn’t work either.”
He looked away and took a deep breath before meeting my eyes again. “I’ve tried running, I’ve tried forgetting, I’ve tried outright lying, and it all still led me back to you. You’re where I’m meant to be. You’re who I’m meant to be with. With everything in me, I know I was made for you and I’m done being afraid of that.”
He leaned in and kissed my forehead, his lips so soft and sweet I barely felt them. “Callie, I need you like I’ve never needed anything in my entire life. My whole world revolves around you and I’m lost when you’re not there. I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I swear to you, if you give me just one more chance, I’ll make up for all of it. I’ll never hurt you again. I’ll never leave you again. You’re it for me.”
I blinked at him slowly as my mind tried to catch up. It spun so fast with everything that just happened I was almost dizzy. I didn’t know how to react or what to say, and I was so sacred to believe him.
“How do I know this is real?” I whispered as another tear rolled down my face. “How do I know you’re not going to change your mind again?” I asked. I realized my whole body was shaking beneath his hands and I fought to still my limbs, but it was no use.
He pulled me to his chest, and I was too weak to fight it. His warm arms wrapped around my shoulders while he rested his chin on my head. “Callie girl, you’re breaking my heart,” he whispered into my hair. He took a deep breath and continued, “No matter what dumbass thing I did, I always came back to you. I couldn’t help it. You’re the center of my whole universe. The difference now is, I’m never leaving again. Not unless you tell me to go. Even then, I’d put up a fight.” He chuckled.
I buried my face in his chest and took a deep inhale of his warm leather scent before shaking my head. “I don’t know, Wyatt,” I said so softly I’m sure he could barely hear me. “I’m scared,” I said even quieter.
He grasped both my biceps and pushed me far enough away that he could meet my eyes again. “I’m scared too.” He swallowed hard before continuing. “I’m scared I’ll fuck up again. I’m scared I’ll hurt you again. I’m scared I’ll lose you.” He clenched his jaw and looked away before catching my gaze again. “But I’m going to try as hard as I can to make sure none of that happens. You’re the most important thing in my world and I’m going to spend every day proving that to you for as long as you’ll let me.”
It started off slow. Just a few irregular beats from my poor, broken heart. But as I stared into his earnest gaze, as I let the feel of his hands on my skin seep into my bones, this warmth took the place of all the cold inside me. It began in my chest and slowly crept through my veins.
It felt like a new beginning.
It felt like hope.
It felt like love.
I grabbed his shirt and fisted it in my hand. “Wyatt.”
His lips curled into a smile that set my heart beating even faster. “Yes, love.”
I closed my eyes, took a shaky breath and let it out slowly, knowing I was taking the biggest leap of faith I’d ever taken in my life. “Kiss me,” I whispered.
His smile grew before he dug his fingers into my curly hair and swooped down to capture my lips with his.
Even though we’d shared a few kisses in the past, none of them compared to this one. It had a depth, a reverence I’d never felt before. It shook me to my core, changing me from the inside out as I kissed him back.
I knew nothing would ever be the same between us after this. Instead of that fact filling me with fear and trepidation like it had last time, I only felt love. I only felt him. I only felt this moment and the endless possibilities that came with it.
Chapter 29
Callie
“This is your last chance, Carter,” I gasped, pulling my mouth away from his.
Wyatt continued to kiss my cheeks, my nose, my eyelids. “I know, love. I don’t need another chance after this.”
He found my lips again and I lost long moments in that kiss, savoring the taste and feel of his mouth against mine until another thought came to me. “And no more running away from me. I’m sick of only seeing your backside.”
He grinned against my mouth before trailing kisses along my jawline. “There you go, talking about my ass again. God, Callie, there’s more to me than that.”
I smacked his shoulder, but the stupid smile wouldn’t leave my face. He kissed back up to my mouth and all rational thought flew right out of my head. His hands skimmed along my shoulders and down my sides before circling my waist and dragging me closer to him. Until nothing separated us.
I wrenched my lips away from him once more. “And another thing–”
He pressed his mouth against mine again, stealing the words from me and making me forget what I’d wanted to say in the first place. When his lips moved from mine and started a trek down my throat, he finally spoke, his voice so deep and gravelly, it sent a bolt of electricity down my spine.
“We’ve got the rest of our lives for you to yell at me, Callie girl, and I’m sure I’ll give you new reasons soon enough. For right now, just let me hold you. Let me feel you and know you’re mine. Let me love you.”
I froze in place for a moment before my bones liquefied and I melted into his arms. He held me upright, his embrace strong, promising he’d never let me fall.
His warm hands slipped underneath my tank top, settling on the small of my back before trailing his fingers up my spine. I shivered in his hold and held onto him tighter.
“Will you let me love you the way you deserve? The way I’ve dreamed about,” he whispered against my skin.
I was nodding before he’d finished asking his question. I didn’t even know why he felt he needed to ask. I was his. Every single part of me belonged to him and I wanted everything he had to give.
“Yes,” I gasped as he sucked on my neck. “Please.”
His hands gripped my waist tightly before sliding up my ribcage, bringing my top with them. I leaned back and held my hands in the air so he could pull it over my head. He tossed it aside as I reached down to yank his shirt off. When it was in a pile next to mine, I tried to take a moment to admire all his golden skin, but Wyatt pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me.
We stood there for a long time, skin to skin. Our hearts beating together in time, our chests heaving with our labored breaths. Connected like we’d never been before.
But I wanted more.
I pressed my lips against his collarbone, smiling softly when a chill raced through his body. Moving slowly, I slid my mouth up the thick column of his throat, past his racing pulse and along his whiskered jaw.
He smelled so good. Like warm leather and man. My man. I inhaled deeply, pulling him into me, down to the marrow of my bones like I could keep him prisoner there. My fingers trailed along his strong arms, up to his broad shoulders and across his toned back. There wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t absolutely perfect.
While I explored him, he did the same to me. Tracing patterns and rubbing soothing circles along my naked back. Slipping those rough hands down my spine to grasp my butt and squeeze.<
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I leaned far enough away that I could catch his gaze and reveled in the feel of our connection. In the rightness I felt in his arms. How I knew this was where I was always meant to be. He smiled softly at me, just one corner of his lips tilting, but it was enough to make my heart stutter in my chest.
He was beautiful.
And he was mine.
He dipped his head and caught my lips again, treating me to a long, luxurious kiss that curled my toes and made my pulse race faster. With his hands still on my butt, he lifted me into the air until my face was level with his and I could wrap my legs around his waist. He walked slowly through my room, somehow dodging the mess I always seemed to leave these days, until he reached my bed and slowly lowered me.
He pulled his lips away from mine and stood up straight, his hot eyes watching me closely. I laid there, completely bare from the waist up, feeling nothing but beautiful as his eyes raked over my skin.
He reached for the button on his jeans and popped it open before sliding the zipper down its track. The sound echoed through the quiet room, making my heart race faster and my breaths come quicker. His lips tipped into a little smirk that I swore I’d kiss off him as soon as he got close again.
With his hands at his waistband, he slowly pulled the rest of his clothes off and kicked them aside. Wyatt stood at the edge of my bed, looking so strong, and beautiful, and masculine. I couldn’t look away.
“Your turn,” he said, his voice so deep it delved right beneath my skin.
I swallowed once and reached for the hem of my shorts, sliding them over my hips and down my legs as he watched. His eyes heated as he dragged his gaze all over my body. I swear, it was so intense, it was like I could feel him.
“Fuck, Callie,” he rasped, sending a thrill through me.
I reached out with both hands and he reacted immediately, crawling onto the bed and into my outstretched arms. He tucked his hands beneath my body and pulled me to him, erasing the space between us once again. Wyatt pressed his nose against my neck and breathed deeply as he squeezed me tightly to his hard chest.
He pulled away so he could look in my eyes, his so beautiful in that moment. “You’re my everything. You know that?”
I slowly shook my head, because I didn’t. I hadn’t.
Wyatt leaned down and rubbed his nose against mine. “I don’t want to lose you as a friend, because you’re the best one I’ve ever had. I just want more. I want everything.”
He pressed his lips against mine in the softest, sweetest kiss of my life, and all I could do was murmur, “Okay.”
He smiled against my mouth before tracing kisses across my face and down my neck. His hands started to move too, running over my curves, fingers digging into my skin. When his hot mouth enveloped one of my hard nipples, I gasped into the quiet room, my nails raking across his back.
He slid one hand down the center of my body, over my chest, across my ribs and stomach until he found what he was looking for. With gentle, but sure fingers, he pressed inside me, making me cry out.
“You’re ready for me,” he mumbled against my throat.
All I could do was nod as he pumped his thick fingers in and out slowly, rhythmically. I pulled on his shoulders as he drove me higher, knowing he wouldn’t let me climax like this. With one last kiss on my lips, he sat back on his knees and looked down at me. His lids were heavy as he smiled slowly.
“You’re fucking stunning.”
My chest bloomed under his stare, my nerves lighting up like a Christmas tree. While his fingers kept up their steady pace, he leaned over the bed to his pants and retrieved a foil packet. He quickly ripped it open and sheathed himself as I watched. He grasped himself with his big hand and my stomach hollowed at the sight.
He was so damn sexy in that moment, I could have watched him holding himself all night.
But he had other plans.
He pulled his fingers out of me and I moaned at the loss before he lined himself up with my center and slowly pushed forward. Wyatt slid into me, stretching and filling not just down there, but my entire body. My entire existence. I was so full of Wyatt, it felt like I would burst.
When he was finally all the way inside me, he sighed heavily and leaned forward, his arms caging me in. He dipped his head and kissed my lips sweetly. “You okay?”
“Better than okay.”
He smiled wide and kissed me again as he pulled back and then pushed forward. I spread my hips wider, and he inched closer, his thickness almost too much for me to take. Almost.
As we grew used to each other, his thrusts came faster, but that steady rhythm never faltered. I pulled my legs up higher, wanting him as deep as he could possibly go. Until he was a part of me. Until we were just one person and not two anymore.
“This is how it should have been,” he said as he peppered kisses all over my face. “This should have been our first time. Just like this.”
I shook my head. “We’re where we are because of where we’ve been.”
He watched me with wide eyes as he continued to pump into me. “I love you. You know that? I love every single fucking part of you.”
I pressed my lips together and shook my head because I didn’t. I hadn’t known.
He picked up the pace slightly, pressing a little harder, a little deeper, and I knew it wouldn’t be long. A feeling this delicious couldn’t last, and soon I’d reach the end of my rope and tumble of this cliff, but I knew he’d be there to catch me.
“I’m gonna show you,” he grunted as he cupped my face with his palm. “Every fucking day I’m gonna show you. You’re perfect, Callie.”
His words, every single syllable, every single letter dove straight into my heart, fortifying it and fixing all the dents and cuts he’d made. Even some he hadn’t. Some that had been there for years that were old and ragged around the edges. His words soothed them all.
His thrusts got faster, and I was close. So close.
“I can tell you’re almost there.”
I nodded quickly, forming words beyond my capabilities at the moment.
“I am too, love. I want us to come together.”
I nodded again as he grasped one of my thighs and hitched it over his hip. He leaned down and sucked one of my hardened nipples into his mouth, biting down softly.
An explosion of colors and heat detonated inside me as I squeezed him, his name falling from my lips over and over. Somewhere in my haze, I realized he’d reached his climax too as he squeezed my hip almost painfully and went still inside me.
When I could move again, I opened one lazy eye to find him looking at me with this expression I’d never seen before on his face. It was open, and honest, and joyful, and a little bit scared all rolled into one. I reached out to cup his face and it disappeared as he smiled down at me.
Without a word, he laid on the bed next to me, his arms wrapping around my whole body as his curled around me. He grabbed the blankets and shook them out over us before laying his head down and kissing my cheek.
“Sleep, love. I have a feeling you’ve gotten about as much as I have lately.”
He wasn’t wrong. Sleep had eluded me for weeks, but that night, with Wyatt everywhere around me, I fell asleep quickly and deeply and we stayed like that for the rest of the night.
***
“Callie! You in there?!” came the yell followed by a couple loud knocks on my door.
I wrenched myself upward and blinked hazy, sleep-clouded eyes around my room.
“Callie?!”
What the heck was going on?
I looked down at myself and realized I was completely naked. With a squeak, I yanked the sheet up to my chin and shook my head.
“Callie! Are you still sleeping?!” Evey’s voice was loud and it rang through my sleepy head as I tried to figure out what was going on.
“Mornin’, love.”
Another squeak escaped my lips as I turned to find an equally naked Wyatt in bed next to me. My eyes widened in fear as they darted around
his bare chest and lower. I closed my eyes quickly before I could see too much and turned to the door as another knock rattled the hinges.
“Callie! I’m comin’ in!”
“NO!” I tried to yell, but just barely croaked. I cleared my throat and tried again. “No. Don’t come in here.”
“Why the heck not? I gotta talk to you.”
“I’m. Um. Naked?” It came out as more of a question than a statement, but hopefully she wouldn’t notice.
I heard Evey scoff from the hallway. “Callie, I’ve probably seen your tits more often than I’ve seen my own. That ain’t gonna stop me.”
The doorknob turned and my heart leapt to my throat, but the door stayed closed.
“Why is your door locked?” Evey yelled.
I breathed a small sigh of relief, but my heart was still pounding as I desperately tried to get my foggy brain to work.
“Callie! What’s goin’ on? Let me in.”
“NO! I can’t.”
“Why?” she called again, elongating the word and almost whining.
I looked around the room, searching for an excuse as the doorknob turned again. Finally, I blurted out the first thing I could think of. “I’m. Um. I’m masturbating!”
My whole body instantly erupted in embarrassed flames as Evey went quiet and Wyatt started snickering next to me. I elbowed him in the chest but kept my face hidden, knowing its color could rival a tomato at that moment.
“For real?” Evey asked, her voice sounding strange.
“Uh. Yeah. I am. So, go away.”
She was quiet for a while before saying, “All right, girl! Get it!”
I buried my hot face in my hands and hoped like hell a tornado would blow through Asheville and suck me up with it. That would be the only way out of this situation.
“I’ll leave you to it. Just don’t sprain anything. And make sure to use some kinda lube! Don’t wanna get a rug burn!”
“Evey!” I yelled, exasperation coloring my tone. “Just go away!”
Chasing Callie (Southern Werewolf Sisters Book 1) Page 24
