Page 37 of Brought to Light
“Yes, Callum, yes—”
And that was all I needed to hear.
Chapter Seventeen
Linden
Callum stripped me so quickly I almost couldn’t follow his movements, a blur of my clothes flying in all directions, and his mouth catching at my throat and then my chest, little stinging nips interspersed with the flicker of his tongue, soothing the marks he’d made.
And then he was on his knees, biting at my inner thighs, his hands pressing my legs apart until I had to brace myself against the wall with both hands. His hair wasn’t long enough to hold onto anyway, and I had no idea how he’d react if I tried.
My head spun, the room whirling around me dizzily. I closed my eyes as he sucked a mark into my hip, murmuring something that sounded too complimentary to be true, something about how beautiful I was, how much he wanted me, his voice low and hoarse. He couldn’t really think I was worth giving up a title, a fortune, a place of honor, could he? He hadn’t meant it. He’d take me again, his blood up from the fight, and then he’d forget me.
They’ll respect you, or I’ll fucking kill all of them…he couldn’t have meant that. Hoping otherwise felt masochistic, when that hope had to be dashed eventually. He’d need to stay for that. He’d need to want to stay with me forever for that…
My cock stood out straight and hard and ready, aching for his touch. It didn’t seem to care about any of that. “Please, Callum,” I said, sounding like a desperate whore. I didn’t care either, it seemed. “Please, take me in your mouth, and then fuck me, put me on the floor and fuck me…”
The words lost all meaning, trailing away into a moan as he swallowed me down. Callum sucked cock like he did everything else, with dangerous focus and more intensity than I could bear. It didn’t take long. I writhed against the wall, cried out, and came in his hand as he pulled his mouth off and stroked me through my spasms.
Exhaustion hit me hard as the pleasure receded. All my limbs went limp at once.
I thought I heard Callum mutter, “A place this nice has to have a bathroom somewhere,” and then he was moving me, pulling me away from the wall and manhandling me—somewhere. I kept my eyes closed and let myself slump against his broad chest. He felt so warm and so safe. Maybe he’d hold me again while I slept. Lady Lisandra had meant to talk to him, later, and he’d be asking her to send him home, I was sure of it. I could seize a few hours of forgetfulness in his arms first, though. I hoped.
Instead, the shock of a wet cloth on my cheek snapped me out of it, and I hissed in surprise as my eyes popped open. Callum had set me down on a chair in the suite’s bath chamber, leaned me back, and crouched down beside me. He’d found the sink and the towels, too.
“What are you doing?” I managed to ask, barely coherently enough to count as speech.
“Cleaning you up a little,” Callum said. “Then cleaning myself up a little. That bed’s too nice to get in all filthy. Then,” he went on as I opened my mouth again, “I’m going to grab one of those bottles of bath oil over there and fuck you unconscious.”
My mouth quirked, the closest I could come to a smile. “Not much of a challenge right now, I don’t think. You could—find better uses for your time. I could use my mouth for you, too. Easier.”
Callum stopped dabbing at my face and sank back on his heels, glaring at me, his dark eyes intent. “If I wanted easy, I wouldn’t be trying to seduce a lord of fairyland, of all the fucking things. And if you can actually think of a better use of my time than fucking the most perfect ass in two realms, then I’m all ears.”
If I hadn’t been so completely worn out, my next words would never have escaped. “You really think my ass is perfect?”
Callum looked away from me in favor of staring down at the cloth in his hand. “I think you’re perfect,” he muttered. His cheekbones flushed dull red.
“I’m not a lord,” I said. “I’m a cook’s son, I can’t fight, I can’t do anything—”
His gaze flicked back up, and now he looked furious. “Who the fuck told you any of that mattered? You can smile, and the sun comes out. Fuck,” he said, breaking off, breathing hard. “Linden, do you want me? Or was last night just a reaction?”
I’d thought I would die. I’d thought Callum had abandoned and betrayed me. And then there’d been gunshots and a shower of glass, and the man who’d wanted me dead had blown apart and landed in pieces at my feet. I’d known Callum had that violence in him, and I’d craved it. He’d used it to save me, and the night before he’d controlled it to give me what I needed so desperately.
“I wanted you from the beginning.” It was too honest, but I’d been stripped bare, in more ways than one. I felt like all my nerves lay on the surface, flayed and exposed.
Callum held my gaze with his own, dark and steady. He didn’t hesitate. “So did I.”
As I stared at him, dumbfounded, he rose up and took my face between his hands. Callum had such large, rough hands, with long callused fingers. Not gentle hands, not soft hands. The tools of a killer. He stroked his thumbs over the corners of my lips, his fingers buried in my hair.
When he leaned in, his mouth met mine in a kiss so sweet and chaste it made me ache. A brush of the lips, so delicate I nearly couldn’t feel it.
Except that every part of me felt it, down to my toes.
“I’m too tired to help clean us up,” I whispered against his mouth, and felt him smile.
I knew how ridiculous it sounded. He’d run to the villa, broken into the garden, killed our enemy and then gotten blasted with magic so hard he nearly died.
And I was the one who claimed to be too tired to lift a washcloth.
