Page 43 of Callow

“I’m thirty-three!” I objected. “I’m hardly one foot in the grave. Actually, I think thirty is the average age a woman has her first kid these days. Not that I’m having kids. I’m not.”

“I’m sure Callow has condoms. Guys like him are usually prepared.”

“And how would you know that?” I asked, slipping right back into mom-mode. It wasn’t like I expected Daphne to come home and tell me when she made that big step. But, I don’t know, I guess I figured I would know.

“Because he doesn’t have any kids?” she said, brows furrowed like she didn’t understand my reaction.

“Right. Yeah. I’m sure he is always prepared. But he won’t need to be prepared. It’s only a second date. Alright,” I said, checking the clock. “I need to get going. Do you have everything you need? Should I leave more money for emergencies?”

“Mom, this is not the first time I’ve been home alone,” she reminded me.

“I know.” Though I’d stocked the fridge like I’d be gone for weeks not hours. And left an extra hundred in our hidden emergency cash stash. “Okay. Keep your phone charged and the door locked,” I said as I moved out of the door.

“I will,” she said, then shut and locked the door in my face. Like she knew I was going to stall if she didn’t.

I would have.

Nerves were jangling in my bones as I walked down the hallway and into the elevator. I don’t know what I was so nervous about. We’d had a great date at She’s Bean Around. Of course, I hadn’t known it was a date at the time. So there’d been no pressure. Which was likely why things had gone so effortlessly. There was romantic pressure now.

No.

Nope.

I wasn’t going to let my mind go there.

To drown out my thoughts, I cranked up the music in the car, getting lost in the music I used to nearly blow my eardrums with when I was younger.

And with each mile down the road toward the Henchmen clubhouse, I felt a lot of the stress slipping away.

I pulled into the lot, finding it a lot less packed than the last time I’d been there. Which, I guess, was a good thing. It meant things had calmed down from a security perspective.

I’d barely been able to climb out of the car before the front door opened.

Then there he was.

Looking even more handsome than I remembered.

Desire, just barely simmering there under the surface, boiled over, chasing away the chill, almost making me a little overheated in my layers.

“You look fucking great,” he said, making my belly wobble. “But… bare legs?” he asked as he came closer.

“They’re not bare,” I said as I reached down to pull the legging away from my skin. “They’re lined so I’m warm. But still look like, you know, I’m trying to look pretty,” I admitted, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks at that admission.

“Mission accomplished,” he said as he got in front of me. Then, without hesitation, he reached for my hips, pulling me against his firm body, and sealing his lips over mine.

It was probably just supposed to be a greeting kiss. Short and sweet.

But the second our lips met, all ideas of self-control just fled both of our minds.

My hands slid up his strong arms to wrap around the back of his neck as one of his teased up my spine to grab the back of my neck. Bending me backward, he deepened the kiss, flooding my senses with his spicy scent, with the heat of him, with the minty taste of his toothpaste as his tongue slipped in to claim mine.

Callow’s other hand slipped down, grazing over my ass, then sinking in, using it to drag me against him.

But just as I was melting into him, the rumble of a motorcycle drew near enough to have us both breaking apart.

“Whoops,” a voice said after the engine cut. “Bad timing, huh?” he asked.

“Could say that,” Callow said, arm slung lazily around my hips, keeping me facing him instead of our interrupter.

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