Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
How embarrassing!
He struck my ass hard. Slow, measured slaps with long pauses in between while I whimpered and moaned. Stupid moans of pleasure formed as a direct result of his actions. I should have been more embarrassed, but I wasn’t. Not when I liked the way he handled me. Fuck. Was I falling for him? It certainly felt like it. Who was I kidding, I’d fallen for him long ago.
“Okay! Okay! In your dreams, Sir!” I protested weakly even though I raised the volume of my voice. At least it was loud against the table. “I won’t call you Versace anymore.”
“Such a good girl,” he said, massaging my ass.
Callum fixed my granny panties, tugging them up to my hips, repeating the process with my pajamas while I relearned how to breathe. He carefully shifted me around, lifting me to sit on top of the table. I let him because my brain wasn’t quite ready to make sense of it all. His hand cupped my cheek, tilting upward so I had to focus on him which was likely intentional. I felt tears pooling, but I blinked them away. The overwhelm from earlier faded into something deeper. Callum reminded me in a tone which brooked no argument that he’d start every morning this way if it would get us on the same page.
“Are you all right, spitfire?” His thumb stroked my jaw.
No, I was absolutely not all right. Not when I was sitting on Nana’s table with his handprints on my ass, or at least it felt like he’d left his mark. Not when my whole world was still spinning on its axis. Nana was my support system all rolled into one person. And without her, everything seemed to be too much.
Sure, I had amazing friends, a whole group of them. They loved me, but I didn’t have a mentor or any family. I’d lost my mother when I was three years old. My father did the best he could, raising me until he unexpectedly passed in my pre-teens. My aunt couldn’t be bothered and simply signed over custody to Nana and Tuts without so much a glance back. It had been hard when we lost Tuts, but without Nana my world crashed.
Maybe that’s all this was, longing for stability. I missed them and Callum reminded me of them. He had Nana’s eyes. That’s what I told myself as I lost myself in them. “I’ll be all right, Sir.” The title flew out again since my body felt like it was wide open and pouring out vulnerabilities faster than I could stop it.
He continued his gentle stroking along my cheek, the same way he’d done with Glimmer. He studied my face for a minute then dropped his hand. “French toast or eggs?”
The question was so normal. Like he hadn’t spanked the daylights out of me at six in the morning on a weekday. “Uh, what?”
“Breakfast,” he said, already moving toward the fridge. “You need fuel before you dive into your tasks. French toast is my specialty. Especially with Nana’s sourdough. But if you want eggs, I can make a pretty mean omelet.”
Callum was talking about food while I was still processing. I slid off the table, crossing to him before I could stop myself. He raised an eyebrow, the carton of eggs in one hand, the container of sausage in his other. The twelve-year-old version of myself would have cheered me on, encouraging what I was about to do. Something unusual and bold like making the first move. I went up on my tiptoes but couldn’t reach his face.
Come on, Quinn. You’re resourceful!
Callum shot me a strange look, so I grabbed his face and pulled him close. He still didn’t seem to get what I was doing. Fully committed, I pressed my lips to his. His eyes sparkled before he closed them and kissed me back with fervor.
I told myself that the kiss was nothing more than curiosity, closure on a lifelong crush, something I needed to experience before shutting the door once and for all. Those were all lies. Artfully fed lies, but lies all the same. Callum broke away first. He seemed less confused and more intrigued. That had to be a good sign. He also hadn’t pushed me away.
“Well, now. That was unexpected, sweetheart.”
He set the breakfast items on the counter but I quickly gathered the rest so that I wouldn’t do something silly like kiss him again. Milk, butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and the last remaining slices from the best sourdough loaf in existence. “A good unexpected or a bad one?”
Callum grabbed a bowl cracking the egg in one hand. “Good. Decidedly good. Did I really win you over with one round of discipline?”
“Jerk.”
Callum tsked. “Not an approved pet name,” he said teasingly as he cracked two more eggs and whisked them together with the milk. “If we’re going to be doing this before every meal, then I think we’re crossing into relationship territory.”