Page 84 of Stolen Voices

“Callie?”

Eli’s close proximity surprises me as I jerk my head to the side to look at him. The rapid movement has me wincing at the tweaking pain in my neck.

“Shit, are you okay?” He squats down in front of me and places his hands on my thighs, rubbing them up and down in a soothing manner. Only, it doesn’t have a soothing effect.

A searing heat soars through my body and settles between my legs. My panties flood with arousal, and my breath hitches at his nearness. My mouth goes drier than the desert as I stare into his eyes.

I’ve never been this close to him before. I’m so close I can see the individual strands of gold in his eyes, the ocean green-blue of his irises that are slightly different shades from each other, and the honey-brown spot in his left eye.

His eyes are mesmerizing. Unlike any I have ever seen before. They are truly unique and have the ability to take my breath away. So much so, I wrote a song about them once.

Sectoral heterochromia. That’s what the doctors call it. I looked it up after our first meeting, curious about the brown spot. If his eyes were a pie, it would look like someone took a slice of color right out of it and left behind nothing but the golden-brown crust.

“I’m fine. Great, actually,” I admit. I might be a little beaten up, but being this close to Eli makes the pain from yesterday’s accident feel non-existent.

“Callie?” Eli soothingly runs his hands up my thighs again and my brain malfunctions.

He has touched me more times in the past twelve hours than he has in the last two years I’ve known him. It’s a sensory overload. Somehow, he’s pushing all the discomfort I feel away and replacing it with so much more. Safety. Desire. Hope.

Every brush of hair off my face lights my nerves on fire. His powerful arms around me as he carries me around send a comforting heat flowing through me. The way he places barely there kisses on the crown of my head, like I’m precious, makes my heart flutter.

“Are you ready to get cleaned up?”

Not before you make me dirty,my inner voice purrs, and I yell at the very horny inner hoe to shut the hell up and take a deep breath.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Another admission that flies over his head undetected.

“Good.” Eli scoops me up in one fell swoop.

Without a fight, I wrap my arms around his neck and cling to him, enjoying the tenderness he’s extended to me since we landed. Eli carries me down the hall to a bedroom with soft gray painted walls, and a wood dresser that looks expensive and handmade, as do the matching bedside tables that adorn a huge king-sized bed in the middle of the room. The bed looks like heaven covered in a white, fluffy duvet and matching pillows that look as soft as marshmallows.

Bypassing the room, Eli carries me into the ensuite bathroom, where he places me on my feet along the sink for balance. He walks over to the shower and opens the door, revealing the wood chair he took from the dining room.

With the water warming, Eli slowly approaches me and places his hands on his hips, looking a little lost.

“So, um, how do you want to do this?” he asks, fumbling over his words.

I take pleasure in his awkwardness over the situation we’re in. It’s not like he’s alone. I’m a nervous wreck. Things between us are changing so quickly, but I haven’t been able to get a handle on what that means.

Reaching for whatever confidence I can, I raise a brow and look him in the eye. “I don’t know. You were the one with the big idea.”

This was his idea, and I’m dying to see where it goes. This moment has the possibility of moving our relationship out of the professional sphere into something new. Something I’ve been secretly dreaming about for as long as I’ve known him.

“I guess we, uh, start with…” He circles his hand around the general area of my body, and for a second, he looks much younger than his thirty-five years. “Taking off your clothes?”

“Seems like the next logical step,” I croak out. Between the steam from the shower and the charged energy between me and Eli, my body temperature is blazing.

“First.” Eli takes a deep breath, and puffs his chest with air before exhaling. With conviction, he reaches for the foam brace around my neck. He gently peels back the Velcro strap, removing the contraption. Shivers run down my spine and I close my eyes at the contact as his broad chest grazes my shoulder. He places the brace on the sink behind me and steps back.

“How does that feel?” he asks.

I open my eyes and turn my head side to side, testing the muscles. “Tender but manageable.”

His shoulders sag with relief. “That’s good. Do you want ibuprofen before or after the shower?”

“After,” I say, not bothering to think about it. I might pay for it later, but right now, anticipation has me high enough that my body can’t sense any pain.

Eli nods, giving my body a head-to-toe onceover. “I think we should start from the bottom up.”