Page 96 of Callen's Captive
Anna kissed the back of Blade’s head as she slid into the chair next to him. “It’s fine, Callen. He’ll eat whatever you brought.”
“That reminds me. . .” Callen dug into the bag and pulled out another plastic container and set it in front of Blade.
Blade opened it. “Cake?”
“Take it or leave it. I’m not jumping out of a cake for you.”
Across the table, Kate giggled. Music to his ears, his heart, his soul. His eyes locked on her. Dark brown eyes stared back. She was smiling, more of a grin, but it reached those beautiful eyes of hers.
He suddenly realized how quiet the room was. No sound of plastic containers opening, chairs squeaking, or anyone eating or talking. He glanced over at Anna and Blade. They were sitting together at the head of the long rectangular table, heads moving back and forth between him and Kate, like officials at a tennis match.
“I need to patrol.” Callen shot out of the conference room before anyone could protest. He darted through the maze of crates and machinery, only pausing at the warehouse’s door long enough to strip. With one yank, he pulled the black t-shirt over his head and dropped it.
Two soft hands laid flat against his back, instantly causing him to still. He didn’t move a muscle as Kate’s touch ignited a firestorm inside of him. He didn’t know how he was going to give her up, but he didn’t have a choice. She’d seen the side of him he’d never wanted her to see, and she couldn’t accept it.
Her hand fell away, leaving him feeling empty again, but it was time he set things right between them, as right as they could be given all that had happened.
“I want your forgiveness, Kate, for lying to you, but I won’t apologize for who I am, for what I’ve done, or what I’ll continue to do for my pack.”
“I’m not asking you to apologize,” she said, as he turned to face her. It took every ounce of his willpower not to pull her against him and kiss her.
“I’m returning to my pack. Tomorrow.” He hadn’t planned on leaving that soon, but suddenly he needed to. This here, whatever it was she was doing, was straining his ability to resist her. He needed to get away from her, before anything more happened between them. He didn’t think she could live with what he did, even if she said she was okay with it. Growing up, she’d suffered too much at the hands of violent people. Even though he would never expose her to what he did, she’d still know. She needed to put her past behind her, not live with a shifter whose very function would be a constant reminder of the violence she had seen and suffered firsthand during her childhood.
Her hands glided over his abdomen. Slowly, she reached for the button on his jeans. He grabbed her hands to stop her. “Blade said you can stay here, or he’ll take you wherever you want to go. He has enough cash to get you set up in a nice apartment. With carpet.”
“Carpet?”
It was the only question she asked, but he could hear the sadness in her voice. “You deserve something soft, something nice.” With that, Callen headed outside, finished stripping, and shifted.
* * *
KATE
Carpet.She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Callen had rejected her, but he wanted her to have carpet? It was ludicrous and oddly sweet. Nothing made sense lately. Callen, Blade, and especially Anna, all hated Drake, but Drake had never been anything but good and truthful with her, which was more than Callen had been. She knew she wasn’t being fair to Callen. He would have told her about his position as enforcer in time. She was sure of it. It still took some getting used to, and she was trying to make up with him. Why did he reject her?
No, that wasn’t right either. Callen hadn’t rejected her; she had rejected him. He was waiting for her forgiveness. She should have said something. Instead, she’d been focused on touching him, trying to convince him to touch her, to move past the issue without really dealing with it.
Crap, she could no longer avoid it. She had to figure out if she could forgive him for lying to her. He’d lied because he didn’t know how to tell her, because he was afraid of her reaction. Had she been in his shoes, she probably would have done the same. More importantly, he wasn’t willfully trying to hurt her. Sure, he hadn’t handled the situation well, but then again, neither had she. She’d said some very hurtful things, things that weren’t true. He wasn’t anything like Briggs. Callen cared for her, for his pack. He was a gentle soul who didn’t enjoy hurting others.
She could forgive Callen. In her heart, she already had, and yet a part of her remained hesitant to tell him that. What did torturing others do to a person? What if he made a mistake and hurt the wrong person? How did he gauge when to stop interrogating or torturing a person? Can you rely on the information? There were so many questions, and she couldn’t imagine all the second-guessing he must do in his job, to ensure he didn’t cross any lines beyond those absolutely necessary.
Wondering and worrying about Callen is how Kate ended up sitting on top of a bulldozer’s cab in the middle of the warehouse where she had a direct line of sight to the door and could watch for Callen to return from his run.
Three hours passed before he returned. When he entered, he sniffed the air, no doubt scenting her. After not seeing her, he headed to the back of the warehouse to shower. Ten minutes later he made his way to the storage room where there was a mattress on the floor. Callen had brought back two yesterday and had set hers up in the corner of the conference room on the other side of the building, behind the crates and bulldozers. . . as far from him as was possible.
After another twenty minutes, Kate climbed off the bulldozer and quietly walked into the storage room. Soft snores greeted her. Callen’s clothing was in the corner, neatly folded. A plain blue blanket covered him from the waist down. This was crazy. She didn’t know what she was doing here, except she couldn’t let him leave without letting him know how she felt.
Kate laid her clothes on the floor next to Callen’s and lowered herself to the mattress beside him. It was only a sliver of light coming in under the door, but enough to admire the beautiful hue of black skin that covered chiseled muscles that would make the Greek Gods jealous. She traced the peaks and valleys of his muscles until she reached his hip and noticed his snoring had ended.
Was he awake? He hadn’t moved. She should be nervous, but she wasn’t. She’d gone too long without the feel of his body beneath her fingers, or his lips pressed against hers as their tongues glided against each other’s lips. He was leaving tomorrow. This would be their last night together. She wanted—needed—to know what it would be like to finally give herself to Callen, to completely trust her heart to him.
Her body heated as her hand slid down his hip to a powerful thigh. Like soft velvet over a steel rod, his cock waited for her. She stroked it once. Her breath caught. Utterly beautiful.
“Are you sure, Princess?” he asked, his deep voice heavy with need.
She wrapped her hand around his thick cock, remembering how full her mouth had felt. Like a vice, his hand locked around her wrist, stopping her.
“Your answer,” he demanded, his voice as hard as the rest of him. There’d be no turning back if she said ‘yes’.
