He grabs my hand and gives my fingers a tight squeeze. “I would do it again in a heartbeat. A thousand times, a thousand bullets.” He sucks in a quick pull of breath. “I love you, Kaia.”
My heart slams against the wall of my chest. I lean in and kiss him hard. Then I pull back, looking into his eyes. “Say it again,” I whisper.
“I love you, beauty,” he says. “I didn’t think I could fall in love. I thought I was too broken. I felt like a stone on the beach. Unchanging, unmoving, destined for the water to wash over me again and again. And yet, somehow, you shifted something essential in me. You’re so young and talented and bright… and you brought that into the dark cave that was my life. So thank you.”
I’m utterly shocked. Calum isn’t really one for long-winded speeches. Nor is he the type to heap praise on anyone’s head, not even the girl he’s sleeping with regularly.
So for him to come out with his feelings and for them to be so intense… My eyes mist over.
“Oh Calum…” I whisper. “You don’t know how much it means to me to hear you say that.”
His mouth twists bitterly. “I know I’m not the easiest person to date. I’m often cold and merciless because I feel like… like people would treat me that way if the situation were reversed.”
“I’m not just anyone. You know that, don’t you?”
He grabs my hand and brings my knuckles up to his mouth for a quick kiss. “I swear I’m learning.” He sucks in a breath, looking me dead in the eyes. “I can feel myself changing, Kaia. Getting softer. Adapting. But there are going to be some growing pains. I feel like I should apologize for all the things that I’m probably going to fuck up in the future. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I lift up on my tiptoes and kiss the corner of his mouth. “Tell me again. I can’t get over hearing you say it.”
“I love you, Kaia Walker.” One corner of his mouth curls up intro a smirk. “I hope you don’t have lofty plans, because I want to anchor you to my side and never let you sail again.”
My lips twist in a moment of sadness. “Yeah? You mean it? You’re not just going to get tired of me?”
He slowly shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I think you’re stuck with me. Hell, I’d get down on one knee and propose to you right here and now if I thought that I could get up again.”
My eyes widen. For several solid seconds, I am dumbstruck. “What?”
Calum glances away. Maybe he just revealed too much and is now rebuking himself. I don’t know for sure, because he’s doing an excellent job of keeping his face blank.
But a muscle does tic in his jaw.
“Isn’t that the dream?” he asks. His voice sounds a little testy.
“Hey.” I give his fingers a tug, When he looks back and me, I smile. “We’re already living the dream. Okay? Every time you say I love you, my heart lifts. I can’t ask for anything more than that.”
He looks away out the window for several seconds. My heart seizes up.
“Did I say something wrong?” I ask, touching his arm.
Calum looks at me, his eyes sparking so blue that for a second, I can’t breathe.
“Move in with me,” he says.
I bring my hand up to my thudding heart. “What?”
The corner of his mouth lifts into a smirk. “Move in with me. I mean, we can bring the stripper pole too, if you want. But I love you. I want to have you around. And I think that moving in together is the real next step for us.”
I blow out a breath and shake my head. “Calum, maybe we should wait until you’ve really thought about it. I mean, I don’t want to move too fast and have one of us end up getting spooked.”
He cocks a brow. “You had better be talking about yourself. Because if you’re talking about me… I’m not scared. And I don’t want to wait. I know my own mind.”
My lips tip up at the corners. I grip his hand, interlacing our fingers. “You always seem so damn certain.”
“Certainty is very easy to come by when you’re worth over a billion dollars.” He shrugs. “Now are you going to make me ask again?”
I lean close, kissing him on the lips with a deliberate slowness. He tastes familiar now, comforting. Who would have thought that I would ever be comforted by Calum’s taste?
When I finally pull away, I smile at him a little ruefully. “I’ll move in with you, if that’s what you want.”
He shifts closer to me, bring his hand up to cup my cheek. I let him kiss me, give him all the control he wants. He slides his fingers into the hair at my nape, tugging my head back and kissing the exposed column of my neck.
I can’t help the fact that I breathe a little harder and faster at the feeling of his lips as they trace my collarbone and the gentle swell of my breasts.
“Calum!” I warn him. “You’re hurt—“
He growls somewhere low in his chest. “So?”
“So… I asked the doctor when you’ll be able to have sex and she told me it will be at least a week.” The last of my sentence comes out breathy because Calum tweaks one of my nipples.
“Come on, beauty,” he grits out. “I need you.”
He manages to lift me halfway onto his lap with one arm. I shift to face him, straddling him.
“You’re impossible.”
He presses me down against his body. He grinds his erection against me. I’m surprised, though I shouldn’t be.
Calum is pretty much always horny.
Sucking in a surprised breath, I find my body responding to his. My breasts tighten, my pussy grows damp, I find it hard to catch my breath.
“Calum,” I whine. “You’re going to bust a stitch and send us back to the hospital.”
He eases back, his eyes sparkling. “What if I promise not to move too much?”
I squint at him. “How about you just relax for two more days… and then we will see?”
His mouth twists. “You’re really going to go by the book?”
I snort. “I would hardly call three days of rest after getting shot being a strict rule follower. Just… please, Calum? Please take this seriously. Then I swear, you can take me from every angle, every single dirty thing you can think of. My body is yours.”
His eyes tighten on my face. He sighs, grinding against me again. “You’re lucky that I love you.”
My lips twitch. I lean forward, pressing my lips to his. “Funny, I was about to say that same damn thing.”
Calum releases my hair and runs his hand down my back, cupping my ass. He buries his face against my neck, his lips shaping lazy kisses against my sensitive flesh. “Do you have any idea how fucking ready I’m going to be in two days?”
I shiver and shake my head. “No. Tell me.”
He chuckles evilly. “Oh, beauty…”
Calum flexes his hips, grinding against me again. His thick cock is right there, ready for me. I just bite my lower lip and try not to groan.
It’s going to be a long two days.
4
I slip out of bed just before dawn, careful to softly kiss Calum on the cheek. Even in his sleep he frowns and looks fierce. I pull up the soft black comforter and scurry out of his bedroom.