Page 56 of Callow
And nothing else.
The desire was a sucker-punch to my system as my gaze moved over his wide chest, down the deep indents of his abdominal muscles.
“Shit,” he said, spotting Daphne, and quickly lifting the black tee in his hand to throw it on. “Hey, Daph,” he said after he was done, taking a few steps forward. “How you feeling?” His gaze slid from her face, likely noticing how much the cuts had faded already, to her cast that was now covered in signatures.
“A lot better,” she said. “We made you cookies. Well, Mom made you cookies. I mostly…”
“Critiqued,” I filled in for her, embarrassed at how my heart ached for him to look at me.
Then, at the sound of my voice, his gaze moved from the plate in Daphne’s hand to my face.
I swear those blue eyes had impact, making me almost go back a step.
“Hey,” I said, my voice small and airy.
“Hey, babe,” he said, eyes going warm, little crinkles forming beside them.
“Why don’t you bring these to Callow’s room?” Daphne asked, shoving the cookies at me, making me grab for them before they fell. “While I get a poker lesson,” she said, reaching for a chair.
“Absolutely n—“ I started.
“I promise to keep it PG,” the Hawaiian shirt guy who had to be the guy Sully from Callow’s stories, said. “It’s… a math lesson,” he added as Daphne wedged herself between two of the women, setting her book on her lap, and watching as Sully gathered up the cards to shuffle.
“Coffee?” Callow asked with a little smirk, waving toward the kitchen.
“Sure,” I agreed, figuring I could at least glance in at my daughter every few minutes to make sure she was behaving.
“How’s she doing really?” he asked as he went right to the coffee maker to start making a fresh pot.
“She’s… okay,” I said, surprised how true that was. “Physically, she gets annoyed that she can’t pick things up or wash her own hair. But other than that, she’s good.”
“Emotionally?” he asked, putting fresh grounds into the filter.
“She’s… okay. Honestly. I think I’m worse off than she is,” I admitted.
Turning on the machine, he turned to me, brows pinched.
“Something going on?” he asked.
“No. No, everything is alright. I’m just having trouble sleeping. Jumping at noises and shadows kind of thing.”
“It’ll get better,” he assured me. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, focusing on unwrapping the tin foil to expose the cookies because things felt unusually awkward between us.
I was so focused, in fact, that I didn’t even see Callow move.
But then, there he was, his hands reaching for me, grabbing me, turning me to him, then crushing me to his body as his lips claimed mine.
The moan that escaped me was immediate as I melted into him.
My arms went around his neck, holding him tightly as his arms wrapped me up tight enough to nearly cut off my air supply as his lips slanted over mine again and again.
A tingle worked its way up my spine and spread outward until it overtook me completely, leaving me swaying into his strength as his tongue teased, as his teeth nipped.
It was Callow who came to his senses first, pulling his lips from mine, but not letting me go, just holding onto me.
And I went ahead and gave into the urge to press my face to his strong chest, breathing him in, absorbing his warmth, enjoying the strength in his arms.