Page 32 of Sunflower

I made an affirmative sounding noise while I busied myself with putting my things on the kitchen table and acquainting myself with one of the mugs Callum had kindly left for me on thecounter next to the cooktop. A couple of spoons and an already opened bag of marshmallows had been placed right next to the mugs, obviously there for me to use. I smiled to myself, realizing that he’d thought of everything I could want and left it out for me so I didn’t need to go searching.

It felt nice to be taken care of like this.

Once I had the mug full and in hand, I wandered over to stare out the sliding glass door to the balcony. The lightning and thunder had moved on, but there was enough ambient town light to see the rain steadily falling. I wondered if I should check the weather radar to see if it was going to ease up anytime soon, but the warm mug felt too good, and the cocoa was too tasty for me to put it down.

Eventually, I made my way over to the plush two-seater sofa that was butted up under the window. The TV was perched on an entertainment cabinet on the wall opposite, with the bookcases I’d quickly looked over earlier placed in every other wall space that remained.

I settled down on the edge of the sofa, not quite relaxed enough to make myself at home yet, and picked up the TV remote from the coffee table in front of me. Swallowing another mouthful of cocoa, I played with the remote until I found one of the streaming services Callum had on his TV and started scrolling for a movie. Nothing new was really catching my eye, so I began searching for a couple of old favorites before finally settling for a ten-year-old action comedy.

“What are we watching?” Callum asked, walking in wearing a comfortable looking deep green t-shirt with his gray sweatpants while he scrubbed a towel against his hair. He picked up the pot of cocoa and poured himself a cup before tossing the towel over the back of one of the kitchen chairs and making his way over to the sofa to lounge in the seat beside me. He drank at least halfthe mug before he leaned back, seemingly without a care in the world.

“Something I haven’t seen in a few years.” I motioned to the TV where I’d brought the start menu up. “Not sure if you’ve seen it, even if it’s older.” The much younger face of a now-huge Hollywood star stared back at us from amongst the title of the movie.

He glimpsed at the screen and his face lit up when he saw what I’d selected. “Oh, I remember this one. I saw it with friends when it first came out, but I haven’t seen it since. Let’s do it.”

I pressed play and shuffled back into the sofa, folding my left foot under my right knee. The music of the opening sequence swelled, and I sensed, rather than felt, Callum stretch his arm out along the back of the sofa. Half an hour into the movie and he’d wrapped his arm around my shoulders, coaxing me into his side, and I let my hand rest loosely on his thigh.

The next thing I knew, I was being gently shaken awake.

“Mo lus na gréine, the movie’s finished,” he murmured quietly, his cheek softly rubbing against the top of my head.

“Wha?” I blinked and tried to focus on the TV, only to see the credits rolling. I wiped my mouth and grimaced when I felt the telltale remnants of drool on my chin. Using his thigh as leverage, I pushed myself up and swallowed a groan when I saw a damp patch on the shoulder of his t-shirt. “Ugh. Sorry.”

Seemingly unbothered, he shrugged and leaned forward to grab the remote to turn the TV off. He shifted in his seat a little so he could face me. “The dryer finished not too long ago, meaning your clothes should be done by now, but it’s still raining pretty heavily outside. Did you want to stay here tonight?”

My eyes widened, and my brain fuzzed out at his question. Was he asking me to sleep in his bed? Did he expect me to have sex with him if I stayed over? Was I okay with that? Thethickening of my cock in my borrowed sweatpants led me to believe that yes, my body was fully on board with that plan.

Callum chuckled at my deer-in-headlights expression. “We’ve been sitting on a sofa bed. I can make it up for you to sleep—”

“What if I wanted to sleep with you?” I cut him off mid-sentence. Apparently, my brain hadn’t woken up enough to realize that I shouldn’t be asking these sorts of questions. “I mean,” I sputtered, trying to backpedal when he choked at my words and it was his turn to look like a deer staring down an oncoming vehicle. “A proper mattress would be so much better than a sofa bed. Right? More lumbar support and all that.”

Good God, what the fuck was I saying? Lumbar support?! Brain, meet mouth. It’d be really lovely if you could work together right now.

His Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably as his mouth opened and closed in a perfect imitation of a fish out of water. “Um… Yeah?” He shuddered slightly, then inhaled a deep breath and nodded. “Sure. Let’s do that. Okay.”

I stayed seated as I watched him shakily get to his feet, pause, then nod again, before heading off toward the hallway, muttering to himself the entire time. I nibbled my bottom lip and wondered if my tired brain had broken his. Eventually I got up to grab my phone to message Dad that I was staying over at a friend’s place and that I’d be home in time to help with lunch tomorrow. I waited until I received a thumbs up in response before making my way towards Callum’s bedroom.

Just before I got there, he came out and motioned for me to follow him into the bathroom. He rummaged around in the drawer before letting out a sound of triumph as he held out a toothbrush still in its packaging.

“I’ve never been so glad to always have a spare than I am right now,” he said with half a grin.

Curling a hand around the nape of his neck, I leaned forward, lifted the toothbrush from his fingers and kissed him on the cheek, letting my lips linger on his skin so I could whisper into his ear, “Thank you.”

He shivered at my words and let out a puff of air before rumbling in response, “You’re welcome.”

My nose dragged along the ridge of his ear, my teeth nipping at the lobe when I felt his fingers digging into my waist and dragging me closer to him.

He let out a low groan and shuddered once more before letting me go and taking a step backwards while he shook his head. “As much as I love where this is heading, we have to brush our teeth.”

Swallowing down the smirk that tried extremely hard to escape, I nodded and tore into the toothbrush’s packaging. “Of course.”

Something about my tone or the glint in my eye must have clued him in to how amused I was by the situation. He chuckled while shaking his head again, then smacked me on the ass. “Brat.”

Trying my best to ignore the raging erection in my pants that I was sure he could see if he dared to look, I winked at him in the mirror, then loaded up my toothbrush with toothpaste and started brushing. I may have cheekily wiggled my ass a little in his direction, but all credit to him, his eyes never left mine.

We worked our way through our respective nighttime routines, the sexual tension rising steadily as the minutes ticked by. Once I was done, I climbed into his bed and spread myself like a starfish in the middle of the mattress while Callum turned the lights and heating off in the rest of the apartment.

Staring at the ceiling, I listened to him moving around until he stopped at the entry of the bedroom.

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