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I moaned against her skin, softly kissing it. “Need another minute of you.” I held her tighter. “Your smell calms me down.”

“Let me give you a massage or something…”

A ‘hmm’ came from me as I nuzzled on her before then murmuring against her ear, “I’ll take the ‘or something’, darling.”

God, how was it possible to feel this sense of calmness when she was around?

Stella lightly tapped the back of my head, groaning. “I’m being utterly serious here.”

“So am I, love. I’m so bloody, fucking hard for you.” My hand skimmed over her bottom, all the way to the side of her thigh before circling it in between her hot crevice where my middle finger rubbed against her pussy. Moisture seeped through the thin fabric and coated my finger. “Shower with me.”

She sighed. “I will as long as you promise to take some pain killers for your headache first.”

My bossy nurse, I mused through the throbbing ache in my head. “Okay. Whatever makes you happy.”

“That’s my good boy.” She giggled, playfully patting the top of my head before she stood up and fetched the medication. She was back in a few minutes, taking charge in popping the pills into my mouth. “See; it’s not that hard, is it?”

“You’re adorable, Stella.” I stood up and circled my arms around her waist, pulling her close to me. Looking down on her blissful face, it seemed surreal that she and I had barely started getting to know each other because, right now, she felt like she’d been around for far too long. “Can I keep you?”

Her eyes twinkled and then her left hand reached out to the side of my head, caressing my hair. It was a subtle move—intimate—a lover’s touch. “For as long as you want me, Cal.”

Will I be the one to mar her brightness? For some reason, I didn’t want to be the man to cause her any pain or hurt. I knew our arrangement was all sexual… but it seemed like we’d crossed the line towards emotional intimacy.

I felt torn about Zara’s visit earlier. Should I dare mention it? It was a subject that needed to be addressed.

It was a situation that needed to be handled with care. One thing I vowed, too, that I would have to be honest. This wouldn’t be such a big deal if she didn’t feel anything for me. After all, didn’t she tell me that she wasn’t going to fall for a man like myself? Then, I suppose, I was safe.

We were safe from each other.

CHAPTER52

Stella

“Callum.”His large frame ensconced my body as I regulated my breathing back to normal. We showered, but we hadn’t had sex whilst in there. In fact, I had never been so erotically charged as I’d watched him soap my body, avid with curiosity.

“Stella.”

Call it a gut-inkling or what of it, but the moment I came into his home and found him passed out on his desk, I knew something was wrong. A person wouldn’t intentionally get that inebriated unless something had happened; a critical matter. Especially having an idea of what kind of man Callum was, something was going on behind those guarded, dark eyes.

When he took me this time, he was the same. His usual hunger was apparent, but it somehow felt less passionate, more like he was being haunted by something. I felt like he truly wasfuckingme then. The shift was monumental. Don’t get me wrong, he was still dynamite in bed, but it lacked meaning.

The thing was, I didn’t know how to approach the subject without sounding like a nosy person. Whatever was bothering him, I wanted him to know that I was here, too. Apart from sex, I could be here for him to lean on. Like a person he could use as a crutch if he needed a friend to be there for him or simply because he needed to vent it out.

“Do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?” I took a deep breath before I pulled away a bit, needing to watch his reaction. “You can talk to me, you know. Whatever it is.”

Callum instantly looked guarded. He took a quick glance at me before he blew out a deep breath. He looked discomfited before his gaze concentrated on the wall across the room, deep in thought.

I was now on my side with my knuckle against my head, holding it up as I waited for him to speak.

“I loved a woman once. Zara. She was everything I wanted, needed. If she had just given me time, I could have given her everything she’d ever hoped for.”

Shit. I was almost sure it was work stress. My father used to be this way when things at work became too heavy for him. So for Callum to speak about someone he loved once was a massive throat punch for me. I didn’t know the woman, and yet, I was already jealous. She’d had Callum in a way I never could, but sometimes I had let myself wander off towards that route and imagine what life would be like if he did love me. However, hearing how he was talking, this woman had been a significant part of him… and still was, presently.

In the calmest voice I could muster, I tried to speak without sounding like I was demanding more information because, let’s face it, I was dying to know what the hell was going on. For him to drown in two bottles of brandy, it must’ve been of epic proportion. “What happened to her?”

His throat bobbed a few times, as though it was difficult for him to speak. When he finally did, I was gob smacked. “She married my father.” His arm flung across to cover his eyes, conflicted. “She came to see me earlier.”

Damn.