Page 69 of Close Contact
Marco
What, verbal foreplay wasn’t ENOUGH during the conference today?Aurélie’slittle comment about smelling like sex after? YOU GUYS CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.
You never even gave me a chance to tell you it was a joke.
Marco
Oh so Fraser talking about you in the wettest of conditions was A JOKE?!
“I tried to tell you,” Callum taunted, clucking his tongue.
My eyes narrowed. “This is not the time forI told you so,” I grumbled. “The bottom line is, he’s smarter than I gave him credit for.”
“Imagine being his teammate.”
I giggled and then noticed the wayCallumwas flexing his hand, knuckles red and cracked open again. This time I was too fast for him to grab me when I set my wine down and stood.
“Aurélie. We just talked about this. Get back here,” he said, voice low and dangerous and so fucking delicious that I never wanted to leave his flat.
“No,” I replied stubbornly. “Where’s your first-aid kit?”
He blinked up at me. “Bathroom cabinet. Top shelf.”
I padded down the hallway, a bounce to my step, flicking the lights on as I went. A sigh escaped me as I retrieved ointment, gauze, and a few butterfly bandages. I’d never felt so… cherished. Important.
He loves me.
I’d barely given myself a moment to process that. I’d been so swept up in the moment when I’d said it—just needing him to know and unable to hold it in any longer—that when he returned the sentiment as I was barreling toward an orgasm, I was too far gone.
But he’d said it. I’d said it. And it didn’t need to be a huge fucking deal. It was just… us. Loving one another was in our nature, it was always meant to be, and we’d find a way to make this work. We had to.
I returned to the living room, where his eyes found me immediately. He looked so relaxed in a pair of joggers and a T-shirt, and part of me didn’t want to go out to celebrate. I just wanted this moment, this night with him. Without external pressures, without having to hide, without the knowledge that it was one night and it would be over.
I stopped in front of him, towering for once. But he reached out and grabbed my hips and I fell onto his lap, straddling him. I grabbed his injured hand and turned it so I could see the bruising and the marred skin.
“You didn’t have to hit him that many times,” I mused. “But I’m glad you did.”
Callumsqueezed my hip with his other hand. “He deserves worse.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, setting my supplies down and opening the tube of ointment. “He does. But he’s not worth it,mon amour.”
“No, but you are.”
My heart soared, but I focused on gently applying the ointment and bandaging his hand. He winced slightly, and I turned his hand over to press a kiss to his palm. “I meant what I said earlier,” I admitted softly.
Callumdidn’t answer right away. He just stared at me like I’d hung the fucking moon—like he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve hearing those words from my lips, but he was going to spend every day trying.
Then, quietly, so softly I almost didn’t hear it over the hum of the dryer down the hall, he said, “You don’t say something like that when I’m inside you and not change me,Aurélie.” His thumb brushed along my thigh, eliciting a shiver. “I’ve never loved anyone before you. Not like this. Not in a way that makes me want to give up every piece of myself just to protect you.”
I looked at him, wide-eyed, breath caught in my throat. He brought my hand to his mouth, kissing each knuckle as if I was made of something sacred.
“So yeah,moncœur. I love you. I love you in a way I don’t think I’ll ever come back from.”
I threw my arms around him, nuzzling his neck and inhaling his scent. “A girl could get used to hearing that. Just so you know, I’m not letting you go.”
He chuckled, and I rolled my hips over him to find he was already hard under me. Even though my body ached, I alsoyearnedfor him. I pulled back to kiss him, to push this further, when both of our phones rang, startling us.
Group Facetime Call: Marco, Kimi
