He sounds sincere, but I don’t know what to think.
“What is this?” I whisper. “What are we doing?”
He doesn’t answer, and the rage boils up inside of me.
“What’s going on, Calder? Do you want me in your life or not?”
“I want you,” he says. “I’ve never stopped wanting you in my life.”
The emotion in his voice is so raw that it makes my heart flutter. If I could move my arms, I’d reach out and touch his face.
Instead, Calder brushes his finger up and down my jaw.
“I’ve been worried about you,” I say, my own voice cracking. “I don’t know what to do, how to help…”
He shakes his head. “You don’t have to do anything.”
“But I keep reading all these things on the news and—”
His hand freezes on my cheek. He doesn’t want to talk about this, I know, but I want to be honest. I’ll be his distraction, any time he asks it, but he needs more than that, even if he isn’t willing to admit it.
He’s looking at me as if I’ve just torn out his heart. The guilt I saw there a moment ago disappears as his eyes cloud over. He jerks away from me.
“It’s not true. None of it’s true.”
He stands and begins pacing next to the bed.
“They don’t know anything. Any of them,” he growls. “They just make up lies and more lies and eventually no one even cares if it’s true or not. It’s like poison. They’ve even gotten you.”
“They didn’t ‘get’ me,” I assure him. take care ofit10 “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
But my words don’t pacify him. It’s worse than I thought. He continues to pace the room, and his eyes are wild and dark.
“They won’t listen,” he says. “None of them are even interested in the truth. They all want interviews, but I know better than that. It doesn’t matter what I say. They’ll twist my words and it will just keep the cycle going.”
Calder is scaring me, and I don’t know what to say, what to do to pull him out of this.
“It feeds on itself,” he says. “Over and over until it self-destructs.”
“Calder,” I say. “Calder, please, come back to bed.”
He does. He turns and strides over, then leans down and kisses me again. It’s more desperate than the last time, and though it sends a surge through my belly, it still terrifies me. He bites at my bottom lip before pulling away.
“Let’s keep playing,” he says. “Ask me.”
I’m not sure what else to do, so I whisper, “Truth or dare?”
There’s an intensity in his eyes that makes me shiver. “Dare.”
His hand is already slinking down my bare belly, toward the place where my body still throbs.
“Don’t go easy on me,” he rasps.
My heartbeat quickens in my chest, fluttering up to my throat. His fingers are slipping between my legs, gliding across the wetness there. I don’t know if he’s teasing me again, or if he’s merely changed his mind about sex in a burst of madness. Part of me knows that I should stop this, but then he’s sliding his finger inside of me. I whimper. It’s like my body’s been waiting for him, and I don’t have the strength to tell him no.
“Is this what you want?” he asks.
I can only nod. My eyes are closed, my head thrown back.
“Are you sure?” he says. “Or would you rather I licked you?” longer than necessaryto10
Just the mention of that word makes my body contract around his finger, and he chuckles.
“I guess we have our answer.” He leans close, his warm breath dancing across my cheek. “Well? Are you going to dare me to do it?”
I force my eyes open. I’m still not sure this is a good idea.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask. “You’re upset.”
In response he slides a second finger in with the first. I gasp and writhe beneath him. My wrists strain against their bindings.
He moves—slowly, so he doesn’t interrupt the movements of his fingers—until he’s kneeling between my legs. And then he leans down until, once more, I can feel his breath upon me. This time he isn’t just teasing me. Before I can even utter the words of the dare, his breath is replaced by the hot, wet pressure of his tongue.
I moan. Whatever arguments I might have had slip completely out of my mind.
Calder moves his tongue across my clit, then down to where his fingers still pump in and out of me, then back up to my sensitive nub. He licks and sucks and nibbles, and my hips rise to meet his mouth. The bedpost creaks as I strain against it, and I clench and unclench my fingers in time with his wet strokes. The pleasure is building fast, and I’m catapulting toward the edge. My entire body is quivering beneath the skilled dance of his tongue.
“Calder, please,” I beg. “Please.” I’m so close there are tears in my eyes.
He withdraws his fingers and clamps a hand down on either one of my thighs, forcing them farther apart. When he dips his head again, he slides his tongue down between my lips and drives it inside of me.
That’s all it takes. I explode, crying out and pulling so hard against the shirt-rope that I hear the stitches rip. Calder never even pauses. He continues to attack me with his tongue, and I can only fall apart around him.
I’m too far gone to notice when he finally stops. After a moment, though, he crawls back up my body and lies down next to me. He leans over and kisses me, lets me taste myself on his lips.
“I didn’t even have to dare you,” I say, still breathless.
“ Wentworth Cunningham returnpaI got a little carried away.” He runs a hand across my throat. “I like you like this—completely at my mercy.”
“Are you going to keep me prisoner here?”
“A tempting thought. Shut you away for a few days, keep you all to myself.”
And forget about the rest of the world, I think, but I don’t have to tell Calder that. I can see that thought in his eyes already.
But we can’t hide away forever.
“I have to go back to work eventually,” I say.
He nods. The lusty, sexual haze in his eyes has already started to dim. He sits up and begins tugging at the knots in the shirt around my wrists. It takes him several minutes to get them undone, and when he finally manages to pull the fabric away, he curses.
“Shit, Lily, I’m sorry.”