Sweet Victory: A Novella (His Wicked Games #2.5)

Copyright ©2013 Ember Casey

All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover Image Copyright
InnervisionArt, Used under license from Shutterstock.com.

Cover Design by Hayley Vornholt

You can contact Ember at
[email protected]
.

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

COMING SOON

Books By Ember Casey

About the Author

Acknowledgments

“This is the last of it.”

Calder’s voice draws my eyes up from the bookshelf I’m attempting to assemble. He’s standing in the doorway, holding a cardboard box with the word “Miscellaneous” scrawled across it in Sharpie.

I grin. “Then it’s official?”

He meets my smile with one of his own. “It’s official.”

I leap up and run over to him. He barely has time to drop the box on the counter before I jump into his arms. My arms go around his neck, my legs around his waist. He stumbles back a step, laughing as he holds me up.

“We live together,” I whisper. “We really and truly live together.”

And before he has the chance to respond, I’m kissing him. It seems only right; after nearly six months of dating, Calder Cunningham and I have finally decided to take things to the next level. A week ago we signed the lease on an apartment together, and tonight, for the first time, we will be calling the same place home.

“Mm,” he says against my lips. “What do you say we christen this place?”

He doesn’t wait for my answer. He carries me across the room toward the one corner of the apartment that isn’t covered in boxes or disassembled furniture. I kiss his cheeks, his jaw, his neck as we move, not even bothered that I’m sweaty and smelly from a long day spent hauling everything we own up three flights of stairs. It doesn’t matter where we are or how disgusting I feel—one touch from Calder and I’m lost.

He lowers me to the floor. I dig my fingers into his hair as he presses me down against the carpet.

“Aren’t you tired?” I tease.

“Exhausted,” he says between playful nips at my neck.

“Or hungry?”

He bites me a little harder. “Starving.”

I laugh and tighten my legs around his waist. Oh, yes—I can feel exactly how starved he is.

“You know,” I murmur against his ear. “I bought a housewarming gift for you…”

“Did you now?”

He captures my mouth with his own, sucking my bottom lip between his teeth. I shiver and dig my nails into his back, abandoning myself for the moment to the taste of him, the smell of him, the feel of him. How is it possible to want him this much even now? Wasn’t this fluttery, head-over-heels sensation supposed to fade months ago?

I pull away from him, panting.

“Your present’s in one of the suitcases,” I breathe. “I was going to wear it for you tonight.”

“Mm,” he says, his eyes darkening in pleasure. “Sounds promising.”

“It’s completely sheer.”

“Very, very promising.”

I draw in a breath as his lips find my ear. “You know, you’re going to have to get off of me if you want to see it.”

“Get off? When I already have you right where I want you?” He grinds against me, drawing a gasp from my lungs. “The way I see it, this place has four rooms—”

“Five if you count the bathroom.”

“—and I plan on having you in every one of them before the night is over.” He moves against me again, then leans down to whisper directly in my ear. “Bathroom last. I have a feeling we’re both going to need a nice long shower.”

I shiver. My hands are already clawing at his shirt. Screw the lingerie. There will be plenty of nights to dress up for him.

Calder chuckles and helps me pull the T-shirt over his head. His chest is slick with perspiration, but I don’t care. It only enhances his natural scent, and I bury my face in the place where his neck meets his shoulder, placing kisses along the muscles there.

“I have a present for you, too,” he says.

“You mean the one between your legs?”

He grins. “That too. But I meant something else.” His hands are sliding down my body, over my breasts and toward my waist. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to give it to you.”

I pause in my explorations of his neck. “Is it that complicated?”

“You have no idea.”

I bite my lip. Now I’m extra intrigued.

“It can’t be that difficult,” I say lightly. “Just bring it here and hand it to me.”

“Oh, I plan on it.” His eyes gleam, and the corner of his mouth quirks up. “But not yet. Right now, I have something else in mind.”

I laugh, but the sound twists into a moan as he grinds his pelvis against me yet another time.

“Tease,” I say. “Do you have a gift for me or not?”

“I do.” He slides one of his hands between us. “But you’re going to have to earn it first.”

His fingers work the button of my tattered jeans. I loosen the grip of my legs slightly to give him easier access. My knee hits one of the cardboard boxes beside us, but neither of us stops. I press my fingers against his back and groan as his hand finds its way down inside my pants. His finger brushes against my clit, and my leg jerks. My knee slams into the cardboard box once again, toppling it over, but I don’t care. I’m not sure Calder notices at all.

“Welcome home,” he whispers as he slides his finger between my legs.

Home. We’re both home
. After all the ups and downs we’ve encountered, I can hardly believe we’re here. There were times I thought that despite our undeniable passion for each other, we’d never be able to get past our differences. But here we are. Home.

Calder watches the emotions play across my face. His lust-darkened eyes soften slightly.

“What are you thinking?” he asks.

I close my eyes. “That I’m so lucky to have you.”

To think that I once hated this man—that I blamed him for so many things without knowing the true depth of the struggles he faced. We’ve learned, with time, to find strength in each other, to trust each other and work through the rough times together. Not that there aren’t still bumps now and again. I’m still waiting for my dad to come fully around; he’s had a harder time forgiving Calder for what he did to the Frazer Center for the Arts—and for what he believes Calder did to me. I still catch Dad eyeing him sidelong from time to time, for all that Calder treats me like the most precious thing in all the world.

He traces the line of my nose. I can feel his gaze on me even through my closed eyes.

“I think you have it wrong,” he murmurs. “I’m lucky to have
you
.”

I don’t have to see his face to know what he’s feeling. I was the only one there to see him fall apart after his father’s death. His own sister—the only flesh-and-blood relative he still has on this earth—took off to the other side of the world after the funeral. I watched him struggle with his grief and the loss of the only world he’d ever known. I watched him crumble beneath the weight of it, and I watched him climb out again, all the stronger.

Family quibbles notwithstanding, I wouldn’t change a thing about our relationship. I’ve never felt this way about anyone in my entire life. Calder’s seen parts of my soul that I’ve never shown anyone else, and I know the same is true for him.

I open my eyes, looking up into a face so full of adoration and vulnerability that it makes me want to cry.

“I love you,” I say, reaching up to touch him on the cheek.

He leans down and presses his forehead against mine.

“I love you, too,” he says. He continues to stroke me between the legs, but he’s taking his time now—as if he’d rather savor the task than rush on to the main event. His nose brushes against mine, and his warm breath washes across my cheek. I could stay like this forever, tangled up with him. The way things are going, I doubt we’ll get around to setting up our bed tonight, and it doesn’t even matter. Wherever he is will be the sweetest bed I’ll ever know.

I kiss him again, and he meets my mouth with equal feeling. His hand stills as our lips mingle, and for a moment there’s nothing but shared breath and dancing tongues and the delicious taste of him. Our bodies know each other so well at this point that I swear our hearts beat in time without even trying.

After a few moments, though, things turn heated again. I feel Calder’s muscles start to flex once more beneath my hands, and his limbs go rigid with restraint. I shift slightly, rubbing myself against the hand still between my legs, and he smiles against my mouth and resumes his explorations. One flick of his finger, then another—he knows exactly which touch makes me squirm and which one makes me moan, which one brings me to the edge and which one draws out my pleasure.

I know him, too. And before this is over I’m going to drive him as wild as he’s driving me.

I arch my back, pressing against his hand, and he flicks his fingers, drawing a whimper from my throat. I tug at the waistband of his pants, determined to put him at an equal disadvantage, but I only manage to move it an inch before the buzzing starts.

I jump, startled by the sudden vibrations oscillating dangerously close to my exposed flesh. Calder’s cell phone is ringing, and it’s in his pocket, wedged between our bodies.

And he takes all too much pleasure in my reaction to the interruption.

“This is an opportune little surprise,” he says wickedly, shifting his hips so that his phone is right against me. I gasp as the next set of vibrations pulses right against my bare skin, and my core clenches in response to this new source of stimulation.

“Be… careful…” I manage. “It might… accidentally… pick up…”

His grin deepens as he thrusts his hips again. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

The next time the cell vibrates, I moan and grip him harder. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. I was already worked up, but this makeshift sex toy is drawing me to the edge very quickly. My entire body quivers with the phone, and my clit is so sensitive now that there are tears forming in my eyes.

When the call finally goes to voicemail, I nearly sob in relief.

“Bastard,” I rasp. “That was unnecessarily cruel.”

He chuckles. “If you think
that
was cruel, then I have a few surprises for you later.”

I tug his face back down before he has the chance to taunt me further. Every nerve in my body is super-charged. I need him in me. Now.

This time he doesn’t resist my efforts, but I only manage to get his pants to his hips before his phone goes off again.

“Dammit!” The source of the vibrations is lower now, but the pulse is still close enough to the delica
te area between my legs to make my muscles quiver and contract. I whimper and writhe beneath Calder. Every pulse is a jolt straight to my core, so intense that the sensations ripple up my belly and down my legs as well.

“Do you really want to escape?” he asks, his voice thick and low in my ear. “Or do you want me to let you come?”

“I… I want…” I can’t even form coherent thoughts anymore. The phone buzzes again, and my nails press deeper into his flesh. “Please… please…”

“Please what? Maybe I should make you wait. I think I’d prefer to feel you come around my cock.”