Page 6 of Untethered Heart
“What does your tattoo mean?” I ask.
He looks down at the ink with a soft smile. “My siblings and I all have one. Wherever we are in birth order, that circle is solid.” He chuckles. “Although my baby sister, my only sister, likes to say it runs from bottom to top, and it goes from most important to least.
“I can understand that. I’m also the only girl in my family,” I say. “So, you’re the oldest.”
He looks up, those green eyes meeting mine, and I’m struck by how much they convey. There’s strength and determination, but also something gentle in them.
“I am. And you?”
Shaking my head, I answer, “I’m the youngest. But it’s only my brother and me.”And I miss him terribly.“We’re close, even though we’ve lived apart for almost ten years.”
“Thought you were leaving.” A rough and ragged voice sounds from behind the bar.
When I look up, I startle and lean straight into Caleb’s side. A huge guy stands behind the bar, tattoos coat his skin from the ends of his shirt sleeves to his fingers. More tattoos creep up his neck, and there’s a silver ring through his bottom lip, one nostril, and more up one ear.
I feel Caleb’s hand slide further around my back and latch onto my hip. He squeezes before using the move to bring me closer to his warm body.
“Not yet,” he says, and I look up to find him staring intently at me.
A scoff sounds from the gruff bartender. “What about your beauty sleep?”
At that, Caleb whips his head around with a scowl.
The bartender only smirks back, but his tone seems to ease when he speaks again. “What will it be then?”
“What would you like to drink, Siren?” Caleb speaks in my ear. The deep tenor makes my legs turn in, rubbing together at the apex of my thighs.
Jesus, the temperature is stifling in here. And, who’s he calling Siren? Surely not me, the nervous sputtering mess of a girl. Aren’t sirens beautiful creatures that lured sailors to their deaths with their hypnotising sexual allure or something? That isnotme.
This guy is all sex appeal and confidence, and I’m sure he’s a fair bit older than me. I appreciate the comparison, though. I lovethe ocean. I’ve been dying my hair bright red, like my favourite mermaid, since I was sixteen.
“Did you still want a drink?” He leans back to look into my eyes.
Oh shit, I still haven’t answered him. “Um.”
He turns me more into his body, his warm arm curling around me, leaving almost no space between us. When I feel his nose drag up my neck, I’m mortified by the moan that is ripped out of my throat without permission. I feel him still against me, halting the journey of us both discovering a sensitive spot behind my ear.
“Holy. Fuck.” He groans and leans his forehead on the top of my shoulder before gifting me with a soft and lingering kiss there.
“I was going to suggest getting out of here if you’d rather skip the drink, but after hearing that sound”—he pauses, bringing his eyes back to mine—“I think I’m going to have to insist.”
Chapter four
It’s a twenty-three-minute Uber drive from The Wayside to mine and Claire’s little house by the beach. Caleb spent the whole ride with his hands roaming up and down my legs, over my waist, and gripping the back of my neck as he laid wet kisses over the bare skin from my jaw to my shoulder.
I was so self-conscious of what the driver must have been thinking that all I could do was hold Caleb’s shirt hostage in my hands. I was begging for the strength not to care, to give in to the feeling like he clearly was, while also holding on for fear I would float away with what his touch was doing to me.
“Here we are,” the driver coughs out, and I’m sure the words are meant to force us out of his car as quickly as possible.
No problem there. As soon as Caleb hears the words, he unbuckles our seat belts and throws his door open, pulling me out of the car with him. He slams the back door shut and then bends to place a hand under each of my knees to haul me up against his firm body. I lock my hands behind his neck and gasp at both his unexpected move and the desperation he seems to have for me. I’ve never experienced such passion from someone, this burning need.
He runs up the steps to the front door, and it makes a delirious giggle sound from my lips. I bury my head in his neck,hiding my embarrassment, but then I hear him return my laugh, and he seems just as surprised by the moment.
He presses me up against the door, chest inflating against mine.
“Look at me,” he whispers. I slowly lift my head, glancing at his lips before meeting his eyes. They always seem to be on me. Anytime I look away, I come back to that green gaze, staring intently. Waiting to find mine. I see him take a few short breaths through his nose as if he’s preparing himself for something unknown, and then he shifts his focus to my lips and brings his face in closer.
I’m all too aware now that this is actually happening. I’ve always gotten to know guys a little more before I sleep with them. I’m a ‘three dates before any under-the-clothes action’ kind of girl.Damn Claire.Hyping me up and filling me with false confidence.Don’t worry, babe,she said.We’ll fill you with a few cocktails, and you’ll be just buzzed enough that you’ll be out of your head and enjoy a single night of fun.I only got as far as one mojito. I am not buzzed, and I am definitely in my head.
