I did. Well, I thought I did. The old Callum would’ve divorced me already, but he didn’t. My brain was remembering things, confusing me more. But the biggest question was, which Callum was he, the old or new?
He remained still as he watched me think, calculating everything about me. “Time’s running out on you. So, you better start counting.”
Was that a threat or a warning? “What the hell for?”
“So you’ll know when the time stops when I make you my wife again.”
Back to the root of all evil. Callum’s desires. “You can’t force me to be with you.”
If he thought I was just going to spread my legs open just because I still wanted, then he could think again.
But my encouraging inner pep talk came on a standstill when the bloody bastard gave me a smug smile.
It was a smile that made your toes curl, raise the hair on the back of your neck, goosebumps all over your body kind of smile. “Don’t get me wrong, I love force. I love it even more when it’s used by my c**k ramming into you.” He was an impassioned man, uncensored, raw and primal.
I bit back a moan when his forefinger touched my neck and slowly trailed it in between the valley of my heaving br**sts. His eyes were transfixed on them, while his breathing became ragged. “As much as I crave you right now, I will wait until you come to me. I won’t have it any other way.”
Even if my body was paralyzed and hypnotized by his presence, my brain was still functioning, appalled from what he had envisaged. “You’re such a cocky bastard.”
“Cocky I may be, but my instincts are always right.” His finger was now gliding lower, over my dress, past my abdomen, all the way down to my crevice, stopping it there—just right about my clitoral area. Callum’s knowing smile got wider as he watched me respond to his soft rubbing. “I can’t wait for your soft cries, my love,” he rasped out, eyes not leaving me, before he lifted his finger away and whispered into my ear. “Don’t make me wait too long, I’ve terribly missed you.”
Chapter 36
Callum
For a good hour, I watched as she and Lindsey talked. After I saw that Stella remained onboard, I sent Mikaela and Maxine back to the mainland and had them escorted back to the airport so they could get their respective countries.
It was a surprise to see her, but what really got me all riled up was my reaction to seeing her in the flesh. My entire body burned—yes, literally—burned in hotness as my eyes regarded her with such thorough inspection, so thorough that one might think that I had a x-ray vision because my eyes peeled any scrap of clothing she had in my mind.
When the two yachts moored next to us, my eyes never left hers. When Emma Anderson came, Lindsey, Dimitris and Jacques all wanted to go in the jacuzzi, which made me more paranoid since men were vying for Stella’s attention. They were just like me earlier, eyes raking all over that tight body of hers.
It wasn’t even a question for me if I had to go and join them.
“Do you mind?” I whispered against her ear, as my arm held her stomach securely, pulling her towards me. She didn’t even get the chance to respond before I had her locked, sitting in between my legs.
“Why does it feel like I’ve come home?” I felt so at peace. It took me back to how content I was again each and every time she was in my arms. I knew I had missed her…but God, I just realized just how much. Holding her like this made me not want to let go. I could die like this and I wouldn’t even protest.
I didn’t know when things shifted really. At first we were discussing Emma’s new movie, then the movies that were out—discussing which ones were going to be Oscar-worthy—to watching Dimitris devour his wife before us. Emma and Jacques were in deep conversation. Jacques was whispering into her ear as she smiled and laughed at something he said. It made me wonder, wasn’t she dating that actor Bass Cole?
Everyone was so busy caught up in their own world when I noticed Stella shifting on my lap. “Everything okay?” I accidently licked on her ear, but I didn’t stop it once I heard her moan after the first one.
Nor did it help that Stella was now slowly rocking on my hardness. She was discrete about it though—it was slow—so excruciatingly slow that one couldn’t even tell what she was up to.
If this was her way of punishing me, then she was right on point. Even if I wanted to stop her, my dick had missed her bottom. I would rather cut off my finger than part with my woman—yes, she was mine. The second she stepped foot in his yacht, she became mine again.
I gave her chance to run away again—to leave before I got here—because I knew, once I saw her again, there was no going back for either both of us. If she wished me away tomorrow, it wasn’t going to happen.
Stella dipped her foot and it was inevitable that she was going to get soaked. She cannot provoke me and not know the consequences, especially knowing how much I felt for her—especially knowing that.
“You’ve missed me.” I observed, stating a fact.
She nodded her head, looking away. “Yeah…”
I suppose I should be grateful to Lindsey for shoving as much alcohol as she could to Stella because it seemed to mellow her down. She was less catty and tense.
Easy to break through her thoughts…
And I know I was going to Hell for this, but I couldn’t not take advantage of this leverage, knowing the kind of desperation I had for her. “I missed you too—so much so that you haven’t left my thoughts since I saw you last.”
I wanted to give her everything—whatever she wanted—and it was killing me…because the uncertainty was beyond me.
But I knew… that my wife needed to know… how agonizing it has been for me. “I think I’m falling for you.” The thought alone of leaving her in London took a large part of me, but leaving her knowing that she was dating other men… drove me crazy. I had to do everything to make me forget about her—well, I tried anyway—but it didn’t work. None of it did.
Stella was prominent in my thoughts. It was then I knew…that maybe I have been deluding myself… that maybe I was hiding behind from my past with Zara… making excuses so that I didn’t have to face the truth. Because what was scarier than the truth? They said that truth had the ability to set you free, but for me, it was a shackle to love again. What if she Stella decides to leave me later on?
Or what if she finds that she wanted Clive and not me? I knew that they met up for coffee a few times. Each time killed me anew.