“I’m afraid she’s not here,” Callie told Alex when she opened the door the next morning and found him standing on her doorstep, Arnie in tow. “She got stuck on an all-night horse vaccination, but I’ll be sure to tell her that you stopped by.” When Arnie started to open his mouth, she added, “And I really don’t have time for another acupuncture session. I’ve got an open house in a half hour and a few errands to run before then.” Namely a post office stop for the envelopes overflowing her arms. “Sorry.”
“Oh, we’re not here for acupuncture,” Alex said. “Arnie, here,” he motioned beside him, “has been working on his hypnosis certificate online, too. Hypnosis is a great way to deter bad behavior.”
“That’s right,” Arnie chimed in. “I usually like to start with the acupuncture first, especially since I actually finished those classes, paid my fifty dollars, and got my certificate, but hypnosis is an even better way to kick addiction. Once I’m through with Jenna, she’ll be over her claustrophobia for sure.”
“That’s right,” Alex said. “If you could just let her know that I’m looking for her and I won’t stop until I’ve done everything I can to cure her, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Maybe you should just give her some space.”
“And give up on the love of my life in her hour of need?” Alex looked horrified. “I could never do any such thing.” He squared his shoulders. “I’m going to help her and hypnosis is the way to go.”
“We think,” Arnie added. “I’m only three classes into the course, but I’m pretty sure I can put her under. That’s the real challenge. It can take anywhere from five to fifteen minutes, but once she’s there I can get rid of any addiction. It’s just a matter of making the right suggestions.”
Callie thought of the last few hours she’d spent tossing and turning and lusting after Brett. Even though said lust should have been completely satisfied after last night.
But she still wanted him.
Even more it seemed.
“Fifteen minutes, huh?” She shifted the armload of envelopes.
“At the most, but I’m thinking more like five or ten. I made a perfect score on the section test. Well, near perfect. That last question tripped me up, but I know what I did wrong, so I’m all good.”
The good stirred a memory of the previous night, of how Callie had felt when Brett had touched her, kissed her, loved her. She stiffened.
There was no love involved. Not then and not now.
Not ever.
“The post office can wait until Monday.” She turned and motioned toward the house. “Let’s do this.”
* * *
It had worked.
That’s what Callie told herself throughout the rest of the day as she smiled and greeted clients and handed out water bottles, and did her best not to think about Brett.
She succeeded. She was so busy that she didn’t spare him a second thought.
Until he walked into her open house and cornered her in the kitchen.
He wore faded jeans, a fitted black PBR 2015 Championship T-shirt, and a hungry look that said he wasn’t any more satisfied than she was.
She ignored a sudden rush of excitement and tried to look irritated. “What are you doing here?”
He picked up a water bottle, unscrewed the top, and took a long pull. “I thought we could pick up some lunch,” he said when he finally came up for air.
“Why?”
“Because you need to eat and I need to eat and there’s nothing wrong with us eating together.”
But it wasn’t the eating that was the problem. It was the together.
She’d meant to find some closure last night, but the only thing she’d managed to do was open another Pandora’s box. Where the girl in her had spent all those years pining away for the young boy he’d been, the woman in her was now haunted by the man himself.
She wanted him again. Despite the hour of hypnosis during which Arnie had tried to cure Callie of her addiction to Brett. She’d even had Arnie throw in several suggestions to steer her clear of the cupcakes, which had resulted in quite a mess in the living room that she’d yet to clean up.
Talk about a joke.
Her stomach hollowed out and she found herself longing for a cupcake.
And another kiss.
“I’m really busy.” She stared pointedly at a prospective couple from Austin who walked past the kitchen toward the living room. She grabbed a listing sheet from the counter. “I should really go over the features with them.” She started forward but he caught her hand and pulled her in the opposite direction.
“I’d like you to go over the features with me.”
“You’re not a prospective buyer.”
“I might be.”
A split second later, he pulled her into the massive pantry off to the side of the kitchen and shut the door behind them. A small light fixture hung overhead, highlighting the floor-to-ceiling shelves and a large wine rack. He pulled her around to face him and stared down at her. “Tell me about this room.”
“It’s a storage pantry.”
“And?”
She eyed him. “You don’t really want to know about this room.” She busied her lips with the tightest frown she could manage, considering she wanted to kiss him more than she wanted her next breath.
“No, but if it keeps you in here with me, then I’ll listen to anything you have to say.” He closed the few inches between them. “I’ve been thinking about you, Callie,” he murmured, his lips so close to hers. “Hell, you’re all I’ve thought about since you drove away.”
“Shelves,” she blurted, turning away and staring at the massive white wall unit. “You could stock a full month of groceries in here.”
“I don’t care about shelves.” He came up directly behind her.
“Maybe even two.”
“I don’t want to think about you, but I can’t stop.” His hands slid around her waist, his palms warm through the cotton of her shirt. His fingers caught the hem of her shirt and the rough pad of his thumb rasped against her soft flesh. Heat zapped her.
“I thought this was just sex.”
“What makes you think it isn’t?” His voice rumbled over her bare neck and she damned herself for pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Goose bumps chased up and down her arms and she came this close to leaning back into him, closing her eyes, and soaking in the heat of his body. Just for a little while.
She stiffened and fought for her precious control. Last night was over and done with.
Temporary.
He’d said so himself.
At the same time, temporary didn’t have to mean once. It just meant that what they had—the physical connection—would come to an end. Soon.
But soon wasn’t necessarily now.
He rubbed the bare flesh of her stomach above the waistband of her favorite black pencil skirt. Her favorite because it was loose enough that she didn’t feel like a stuffed sausage, and snug enough in all the right places to make her feel shapely.
Or maybe it was the reverent way Brett touched her that did that.
“You feel so warm.” His voice rumbled up her spine.
“I don’t think this is a good idea. Not now. Not here.” While she wanted Brett, she wasn’t supposed to want him. That meant no blushing or trembling or kissing. “There are too many people.”
“Sugar, there isn’t a soul in sight.”
He was right. Her gaze scanned their surroundings, from the closed door to the massive wall unit. A few canisters of various colored pastas sat here and there on the polished white wood, along with bottles of olive oil and a few boxes of gourmet cookies. Bottles of wine had been placed strategically on the hand-crafted rack. A few crystal glasses and a brass corkscrew sat on a nearby shelf. The room had been staged along with the rest of the house to show interested buyers what the place would look like as an actual home.
Maybe even their home.
“We really can’t do this.” She reached out to wipe away a smudge on one of the shelves. “I’ve got a lot to do today. I’m meeting Mark Edwards this afternoon to hand over the jar of moonshine. He’s got a friend in the chemistry department at the University of Texas who might be able to decipher the ingredients.”
“That’s great, but that’s later this afternoon.” Brett’s deep voice slid into her ears and sent a jolt of adrenaline through her. “Right now it’s just you and me.” He pulled her around and she stared up into eyes that glittered with a hungry light.
The air bolted from her lungs and her hands trembled. But then he took them in his. He raised one to his lips, pressing a kiss into her palm that made her heart ache as much as her body.
“I want to be inside of you, Callie. Right now. Right here.”
“I…” She swallowed and tried to think of something to say, but with his hands so warm around hers, his large body filling up the massive space and drinking up all her precious oxygen, she couldn’t seem to find any words. “Les might need me,” she finally managed after he nuzzled one of her ears with his lips.
“I need you more.”
Need, but what he really meant was want because Brett Sawyer didn’t need her. Not the way she wanted him to.
The realization should have been enough to zap some common sense into her. But she’d already made up her mind to bury her thoughts of forever when it came to him. He was temporary.
Now.
The sound of muffled voices drifted from the kitchen as someone passed through talking about granite countertops and self-cleaning ovens. Water splashed and rushed as someone flipped on a faucet, reminding her that there were people just beyond the thin walls of the walk-in pantry. People who could walk in at any moment and find Callie Tucker in a compromising position with her most hated enemy.
She stiffened and forced aside the stirring images. “I really don’t think this is the right time. Maybe later when we meet to look for the recipe.”
“I don’t like to wait.” He kissed her then, his lips wet and hungry, his tongue greedy as he devoured her.
Lust hit her fast and hard and she realized in that next instant that she didn’t like to wait, either. Even more, she didn’t want to wait.
Her hands went to the buttons of her blouse as he dropped to his knees in front of her. He trailed his hands down over her buttocks, pausing to knead her bottom through the fitted material of her skirt. Fabric brushed her legs as he slid them down over her thighs, her knees, until they pooled on the floor.
He stood just as her blouse fell open. Air whispered across her nipples as she freed her breasts and let the material slide down her arms.
He bent to drop one kiss onto the tip of her nipple before pushing her up against the door. One hand caught her thigh, lifting her just enough to wedge his hips between hers and press his denim-covered crotch against her bare flesh.
His gaze drilled into hers as he rocked her, working her into a frenzy with the friction of fabric against her most sensitive parts.
Sensation rippled up her spine.
He urged her higher, his hands holding her tightly as he dipped his head. The first leisurely rasp of his tongue against her ripe nipple wrung a cry from her throat. Her fingers threaded through his hair as he drew the quivering tip deep into his hot, hungry mouth. He suckled her long and hard and she barely caught the moan that burst from her lips.
She clamped down on her bottom lip, swallowing her cries as he licked and suckled and nipped. Her skin grew itchy and tight. Pressure started between her legs, heightened by the way he leaned into her, the hard ridge of his erection prominent beneath his jeans. She spread her legs wider and he settled more deeply between them. Grasping her hips, he rocked into her.
Rubbed against her.
Up and down and side to side and …
It was too much and not enough all at the same time. Heat swamped her and she gasped for air. Her hands clutched at him, holding tight as sensation crashed over in a fierce wave that left her trembling in his arms.
From far away, she heard Les’s voice. She felt a moment’s panic, but then she opened her eyes and Brett was there, filling up her line of vision, blocking out everything except the fire that burned between them.
He eased her to her feet as he pulled a small foil packet from his back pocket. Tugging at the button of his jeans, he pulled his zipper down and freed his hard length.
She took the initiative then, opening the condom and spreading it on his throbbing penis from tip to root. Her fingers brushed hot skin and silky hair and anticipation coiled inside of her.
He lifted her then, bracing her back against the wall as he pushed between her thighs and pressed the head of his cock into her just a fraction.
Pleasure pierced her brain for a split second, quickly shattering into a swell of sensation as he filled her with one deep, probing thrust.
Her muscles tightened around him, gripping him tight as he held her bottom and braced her for another thrust. He pumped into her, the pressure and the friction so sweet that it took her breath away.
She was vaguely aware of the voices on the other side of the door. But then he touched her nipple and trailed a hand down her stomach. Rough fingertips made contact with the place where they joined and heat splintered her brain. She clutched wildly at his shoulders, bracing herself as she met his thrusts in a wild rhythm that urged him faster and deeper.
Then it seemed as if the room started to shake and spin. The light overhead blazed hotter and brighter and she clamped her eyes shut. But the brilliance was still there, splintering into a fireworks display that shot off and lit up the darkest depths of her mind as she came with an intensity she’d never felt before.
He buried himself deep inside her one last time, anchoring her hips tight around him. A shudder ripped through him and his body quaked as he followed her over the edge.
An odd quiet fell over them then, the sound disrupted only by her frantic breathing and the furious beat of her heart. She slipped her arms around his shoulders and held him, feeling his heartbeat mimic hers.
He tightened his hold on her, gathering her close, and a strange sense of peace stole through her.
Oddly enough, the fact that she would have to walk out of the pantry with Brett, past whoever might be looking around the kitchen—Les included—didn’t bother her nearly as much as it should have.
But then Callie had never worried about what everyone else thought when it came to Brett. She’d snubbed her nose at the world, at all those Tuckers and Sawyers with their preachy judgment and holier-than-thou looks, and she’d set her sights on him anyway. She’d opened herself up to him, to them.
And for that one small moment in time, before their disastrous ending, she’d been happy. Content.
Then, and now.