Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise) (21 page)

Moaning as she felt his
velvety tongue stroke the hypersensitive skin between her neck and shoulder,
Melody fisted her hands in the soft cotton of his shirt.  “M-maybe we c-could
do the casual thing,” she suggested shakily as his strong white teeth grazed
her pulse as one of his hands moved up her side to curve around her lace
covered breast.

Lifting his head, Cal
arched one eyebrow as his eyes darkened ominously.  “The casual thing,” he
repeated irritably, his hand tightening around the globe of her breast. 
“Please, enlighten my hillbilly ass and define the casual thing, Melody,” he
demanded, his deep voice stern.  “And please, bear in mind that if I don’t like
what you say that I’m
very
fuckin’ likely to wanna paddle your gorgeous
ass.  So, since I’m a smart man and I’m pretty sure I know exactly what you’re
thinkin’,
please
, baby, keep talkin’ for me.  My hand is just itchin’
for you to move those lush, plump lips of yours.”

“Now, Cal, there’s no
reason to make threats.  We’re both adults here,” Melody said, hesitating
slightly.  Surely, he was just trying to intimidate her to get his own way. 
Sadly, she couldn’t give him the committed relationship he seemed to want.  She
could, however, meet him halfway and perhaps, they’d both get some of what they
wanted.  Because she couldn’t deny any longer that she desperately yearned for
the bliss he could bring her body.  She’d experienced it once… and she wanted
it again.

And the only way to get
it was to be completely honest with him.

“C’mon, Princess…spit
it out.  Tell me what
casual
is,” he invited darkly while his thumb
worried the tip of her breast with one hand and the other stroked the soft,
vulnerable flesh of her lower back.

“Casual is…you know,
friends with…”

“Say. It,” Cal
demanded, enunciating each word when she paused, his blaze blistering her with
its almost feral heat.

“Benefits,” Melody
breathed, gasping when the harsh sound of the sharp crack of Cal’s hand
connecting with her ass split the room.  “Cal!” she yelped as his palm
connected again, this time causing her to jerk in his arms as a fierce heat
bloomed in her left ass cheek.  “Stop it!” she yelled when his hand made
contact with her bottom for the third time. 

“I warned you, woman,”
he bit out through his grinding teeth as he glared down at her, still holding
her tightly against him.  “I have zero fuckin’ interest in bein’ your
plaything, babe.  I’m not a trained monkey; I won’t scratch your itch just
because you twitch your delectable ass in my direction,” he warned, palming her
throbbing buttock and squeezing forcefully.  “Friends with benefits,” he
sneered at her, “isn’t going to happen for us.  You want my cock…you take my
heart, too.  It’s a mother-fuckin’ package deal,” he informed her, setting her
away from him as he stomped out of the room.

Melody jumped in place
when she heard the bathroom door slam.  “Well, shit,” she muttered, hanging her
head as she wished she could call her words back.  While she’d been busy tryin’
to protect her own heart from future pain with her offer of no-strings sex, she
hadn’t spared a thought for what her suggestion would do to Cal’s.  “Fuck,
fuck, fuck,” she whisper cursed as she began to pace the length of the sitting
room.  Obviously, she’d underestimated the depth of his feelings for her. 
Sure, she knew she turned him on – that cement nightstick he’d been pressing
against her while he’d held her clearly indicated that he thought she was
physically attractive.  She just hadn’t been sure if the physical attraction
would translate into the components necessary for a real and lasting
relationship.  Now, though, as she slumped to the sofa and sat, silently
defeated, she could see that she’d been blind.  Since Cal had bulldozed his way
into her life, he’d been showing her he cared.  Protecting her.  Helping her. 
Being that ear she so desperately needed to listen.

“I’m an idiot,” she
mumbled, staring at the arched doorway leading to the bedroom.  She needed to
put things right with him.  Not just for his sake, but for hers, too.  Because
she’d stopped falling for him in the last ten minutes.

Oh, yeah.  She’d
stopped falling.

She finally could admit
that she’d fallen.  Hook, line, and freaking sinker.

Pushing her body off
the buttery leather seat, she inhaled deeply as she peeled the cotton shirt
from her body and released the clasp on her bra, dropping her clothing to the
floor before unfastening her jeans and pushing them down her legs before she
could talk herself out of her plan.  Nude, she stood there a moment, chewing
her lower lip nervously as she searched for the courage the long walk to the
bathroom would take. 

Callum had said he
wanted her naked and naughty in Nashville, hadn’t he?

Well, she thought
bravely as she lifted her hands to adjust her breasts, it was way past time for
her to make a little noise in Music City.

Violently slamming the
bathroom door behind him with a furious flick of his wrist as he crossed the
threshold of the marble and gold oasis that was supposed to be a room to take a
leak in, Callum Valentine wondered if waging war in Afghanistan hadn’t been
easier than winning the heart of the woman with which he’d stupidly fallen in
love.  RJ had warned him a couple of weeks ago when he’d asked his best friend
for formal permission to see his sister that Melody would require a wealth of
patience and mental fortitude to date.  Like an ass, Cal had laughed the
younger man’s wise words off and chosen to believe that the woman in question
would be equally unable to resist BOTH his charm and his cock.

Turns out, she was
pretty damned good at resisting each one.  Whether they’d worked alone or in
unison, both his ego and his heart had taken a direct hit.

And that shit had
hurt
like a bitch with teeth buried deep in his beating heart. 

This was saying a lot
since he’d been shot, blown up and tortured during his long career with the
military.  Melody, though, had inflicted more damage than the Taliban had ever
thought about doing to him.  

Stripping his shirt
over his head, he hurled it at the wall.

The woman had one hell
of a fuckin’ nerve suggesting such an asinine thing to him.

“Friends with fuckin’
benefits?” he growled out loud, still shaking his head at the asinine idea that
had come from her sweetly curved lips.  Was she fucking insane?  If he’d wanted
that kind of arrangement, he’d have gotten her into bed the first week he’d
been staying in her house.  He could have done it, too!  He’d seen those long
longing looks she’d directed at him when she’d thought he was oblivious to
her.  Fuck, that woman had been begging for a good, hard fuck with those big,
bottomless brown eyes of hers.

But, no!  He’d been a
fucking gentlemen, he seethed silently.  A decent fuckin’ guy.   Look what that
shit had gotten him.  He had a broken heart, a hard cock, and zero fuckin’
patience left.

And to top it all off? 
What was the stinking cherry on his own personal shit sundae of life? 

He was sharing a hotel
suite with a female demon destined to drive him into a demented rage. 

Shit, he should have
just stuck with fucking bitches that knew the score upfront.  Those chicks that
could be found in every bar from here to eternity were fuckin’ dependable.  A
man knew exactly what to expect from them and the rules were simple:  offer them
a nice meal and a few compliments and they’d open they’re legs like their hips
had been greased for action.  A guy could go in, get off and get gone without
the worry of hurt feelings and unrealistic expectations.

Damn, he missed those
days, and sadly, no matter what, he knew they were over for him.

“All because I fell
into this jacked up trap known as love,” he muttered resentfully as he shoved
his jeans off his hips and kicked them toward the corner of the bathroom before
stomping toward the huge walk-in shower.  Barely sparing a look at the dual
showerheads, he jabbed a finger against the control panel, starting the water. 
It wasn’t fair, he thought to himself as he waited for the water to heat.  He’d
done everything right with Melody.  He’d moved more slowly than he’d ever moved
with a woman.  He’d given a mind to what she’d been through with the cheating
prick she’d been engaged to marry.  Hell, he’d been more careful with her
feelings than he ever had with anybody he’d ever come in contact with.  Sure,
he’d been bluntly honest about what he wanted, but after she’d been lied to for
so long by the shithead before him, he thought she’d appreciate his
truthfulness and candor.  He didn’t want a short term affair where they both
got their rocks off, but no real connection ever got made. 

Fuck, no. 

He wanted her – all of
her.  The body.  The heart.  The soul.  All of it, even the incredibly
irritating, infinitely annoying package she came wrapped up inside.

And he was willing to
put up with a whole world of bullshit maneuvering to have her.

Moving to stand
underneath the pulsating spray, he bent his neck and let the thumping stream of
water hit the nape of his neck, praying it could help relieve some of the
tension he felt battering his body.  Of course, he doubted that was possible,
he mentally acknowledged as he stared down at the rock hard erection he still
sported despite his anger.  Palming his dick in his hand, he offered his
throbbing member a slow stroke as he closed his eyes and imagined Melody’s mouth. 
Only now, instead of spouting utter bullshit suggestions at him, those damp,
luscious lips were parted over the crest of his aching cock, her tongue toying
with the small slit at his tip. 

God, now that was what
that sweet, succulent mouth Melody had on her had always been meant to do….
wrap around his swollen dick and
suck
him like a Hoover vacuum.   “Fuck,
yeah,” he grunted, tightening his fist around himself and pumping faster.  His
hand wasn’t a tenth as good as he knew her mouth or pussy would be, but he was
a desperate man, damn it!

“Do you need help
handling that situation?” he heard a heartbreakingly familiar honeyed voice ask
from outside the clear etched glass of the shower.  Dropping his dick like a
hot potato, he jerked his head toward the sound, one foot already moving toward
her as he ripped the sliding door between them open.   “What the hell do you
think you’re doing in here, woman?” he barked, his dick flexing against his
thigh as it leapt happily as he got a full-on view of her gloriously naked body
on display in front of him.

“I thought I was an
invited guest to this party,” Melody responded a smidge uncertainly as she kept
her eyes on his.

“Mel,
I don’t know what kind of game you think you’re playin’ here,” he began
gruffly, lifting a hand to wipe the droplets of water off his face as he caught
her slight flinch when he raised his arm.  “What the hell?  You think I’m gonna
hit
you, Princess?” he asked, frowning hard as he saw her get control of
herself.  Breathing hard, he took a half step toward her.  “Honest to God,
babe, you think that, and we got even
more
problems between us,” he
warned softly.  “I’ve
never
hurt a woman, and I’ll be damned if I let
you think that I would.”

“No!” she denied. 
“It’s just that you moved so suddenly that it startled me,” she explained,
extending her arm to rest her hand on his heaving chest.  “Cal, I know you’d
never hurt me or any other girl.  Honest,” she assured him firmly.  “I came in
here to apologize to you.  I should never have suggested what I did.  I can see
that now,” she went on quietly, her teeth catching her lower lip as she held
his turbulent gaze.  “It not even what I really wanted either,” she confided
huskily.  “I was just too much of a coward to be honest about how I felt.”

“And how’s that?” he
replied, unwilling to give her an inch until he fully understood why she’d come
in here with him.  As badly as he wanted to touch her, to pull her into his
body and tell her that he’d move heaven and Earth to make everything good and
right with her world, he wouldn’t until he knew she completely understood that
this was no game to him.  He wanted her.  All of her.  In a real permanent
way.  “I’m gonna need you to say it, Melody, and be crystal clear about what
you want from me when you do.”

“I want to be with you
and not just as your friend with benefits,” she revealed in a small voice. 
“Tell me I didn’t screw that up completely, Callum.  Please,” she whispered.

Feeling her soft hand
shakily stroke the hard wall of his chest, Callum settled one hand against the
side of her neck and drew her toward him.  “That depends, baby, on what you
want me to be to you.  You willin’ to put your fear of getting hurt again to
the side and try this with me?  I’ll do everything I can to be a good man for
you, but I’m not gonna lie… I need my woman to be strong and brave.  I need her
to be willing to take a risk on me.”

Melody blinked up at
him, her coffee colored eyes wary.  “You can’t hurt me, Callum.  I’m not a bit
scared of you physically, but emotionally…” she trailed off, swallowing hard.

“Emotionally, what,
Princess?” Callum urged, his hand tightening on her neck as his other hand
lifted and gently pushed her long, unruly hair behind one ear.  Unable to hold
his gaze, Cal watched Melody’s eyes move to stare at his throat, watching his
Adam’s apple as he swallowed.  “C’mon, Mel.  You’ve made it this far.  Keep
going.”

“Brad savaged my pride,
Cal.  He decimated my trust.  Not just in him, but in myself, too.  Because of
him, I doubt my own judgment.  So, as badly as I want this thing between us to
work, I’m terrified that I’m going to make another mistake with another man. 
And while Brad’s betrayal hurt, I survived it.  With you, I’m not so sure that
I’d come out of it still whole.  Still
me
.”

“Melody, I can make you
all the promises in the world, but we both know that they’re just pretty
words.  A man’s actions are what you should measure.  What do my
actions
tell you about me?”  he asked, leaning his forehead against hers as felt her
sexy body move closer to his, the tips of her stiff nipples scraping erotically
against his chest.

“That you care about me
a whole lot more than Brad ever did.  That you want me safe and protected from
anything that would hurt me.  That you’re willing to do whatever it takes to
make that happen… even when it pisses me off.  Your actions say that I can
trust you with my heart,” she finally shared almost shyly.

“Good instincts you’ve
got there, Princess,” Cal murmured, his warm breath mingling with hers as their
noses bumped.  “Trust them,” he advised deeply.  “Trust
me
,” he insisted
before dipping his head to cover her lips, tangling their tongues together the
way he wanted their hearts to entwine.  Fiercely.  Wildly. 

Groaning as her arms
crept around his neck, he grinned against her mouth as she rose on her toes and
rubbed her damp body against his.  The spray from the still running shower had
ghosted over her skin, dampening it with a fine mist of water.  Lifting his
head to stare down at her generous curves, he knew he’d never seen anything
sexier.  “God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed, sliding his hands down her long
neck to cup her heavy tits in his hands.  “And you’ve got the prettiest tits
I’ve ever seen,” he praised, his voice raspy with desire and need as his thumbs
tortured her turgid little nipples.

Arching her back,
Melody moaned as Cal walked her backward into the shower until she leaned
against one wall.  “Oh, God, that feels good,” she gasped, tilting her head
back as he watched her glory in his touch.

“Love your body, baby,
but I very badly need to get a good long look at what you’ve admitted is
finally mine, babe,” he insisted, taking a step back from her even though it
physically pained him.

“Good, because I want a
nice look at you, too,” Melody declared, her own voice trembling with passion
as she blinked the water from her eyes and slowly took in his body for the
first time.

Cal felt his cock swell
painfully as her eyes slowly traveled down his body from his face to his chest
to finally settle on his angry dick.

“Holy God,” she
breathed, her eyes dilating as they stared at his thickened penis. 
“That…that…”

“…is all yours, babe,”
Cal supplied cheekily.  “See, I’m what happens when God gives with both of His
hands,” he shared teasingly, reaching down to stroke his cock again, enjoying
the way those amazing eyes of hers widened on his equipment.  Grinning widely
when she licked her lips, hungrily, he asked, “You like what you see,
Princess?”

“I…you…. 
Wow
!”
she breathed, her hand reaching out to touch his very healthy eight inches. 
“That’s not gonna fit, Callum,” she worried out loud.

“It’ll fit,” he
countered confidently, hissing in a breath as her velvety grip tightened,
moving his throbbing pole slowly through her grip.

Slowly going to her
knees in front of him, Callum watched as her face moved closer to his staff. 
Bracing one hand against the granite wall, he groaned when he felt her hot
breath against his aroused flesh.  “Fuck, babe,” he managed to growl as her
agonizing grip on him shifted again, sliding him through her palm.

“I hate to tell you
this, Cal, but your banana looks to be a weapon of mass pussy destruction.  I
think we’re gonna have problems, honey.”

“I think you think too
much,” Cal muttered, burying the fingers of one hand in her hair.  “Please,
sweetness, I’ve dreamed of having your sexy mouth wrapped around me since the
moment I laid eyes on you.  Fantasies of what that sassy mouth can do have kept
me up more nights than I wanna admit.  Put me out of my misery.  Suck it,
baby.  Suck that cock for your man,” he implored her with a low moan as her
soft lips brushed the head of his dick.

“Like this?” She
whispered, parting her lips and slowly licking him like a lollypop, moving her
tongue from his weeping slit to the root of his cock with one long, slow swipe
of her tongue.

“Fuck, that feels
good,” he growled, watching every lap her tongue made against his aching rod.
“Enough taunting me though, Melody.  Put me in your mouth and suck,” he
commanded roughly, pressing his tip against her smiling lips as she looked
coyly up at him, batting her eyelashes playfully.  Fuck, he was prepared to beg
if that’s what it took, but he was relieved to see her rosy mouth open a second
later, taking him deep into the warm wet cavern of her mouth.