Page 48 of Love on the Run

“Honey, I have a job to do. I’m supposed to be watching out for you, not…”

“But I want to kiss you. And I want more than that. So do you.”

He closed his eyes, breathing in. “Want has nothing to do with it.”

“Want has everything to do with it,” she insisted, laying her hands on his shoulders. “Everything is so crazy, and I don’t know what’s going to happen next in my life.” She took a deep breath. “But being with you makes me happy. I can’t tell you the last time I’ve been this happy. Why can’t I kiss you? You liked it.”

“Honey,” he breathed. How was he supposed to fight that argument? “I want to keep you safe. And I can’t promise that if we keep doing this…how far it will go.”

“You’ll stop if I tell you to,” Callie whispered, with such certainty and faith in her tone that he nodded.

“Yeah. I’d never make you do something you don’t want to do.”

“And I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. But I’m telling you now, I don’t want you to stop.”

“It’s not right. Don’t ask me again, honey, because I won’t be able to say no to you again.”

Callie simply kissed him, setting him on fire. She wrapped her arms around him, wishing she could make him hers. “I’m asking again,” she said quietly, then buried her face in his shoulder for a moment. If she could only explain what she was really asking for, that it wasn’t just… She leaned back a little, waiting for his answer.

He stared at her, looking for some kind of sign. He couldn’t deny he wanted her. She was more beautiful in the nighttime glow than ever before. But he doubted his own instincts. “You’re sure?”

Callie pulled one hand back. She put a fingertip on her own lips, then placed it on his. As a kiss, it was one of the best he’d ever gotten. She smiled then, and that was the sign he wanted. “I’m sure.”

He took her in his arms, then, and gave her a kiss of his own.

7

Callie thrilled at his touch, shuddering with the relief of hearing him admit he wanted her. She lost herself in the kiss, twining her arms around his neck and opening her mouth so she could taste him fully.

Once decided, he didn’t hold back. He put his hands on her waist, pulling her closer so she straddled his body, as he slowly deepened his kiss, matching her move for move, totally focused on her reactions, tentatively flicking his tongue inside her mouth, as if sensing how much she wanted him inside her.

They existed in their own world, both pretending nothing else intruded on this private realm. Callie was soon dizzy from the kiss, but grew dizzier still when Jake began to trail kisses down her neck, his tongue sampling her skin, finding every inch delicious. When he reached the edge of her top, he paused, savoring her.

“I always wondered if your skin tasted as creamy as it looks,” he breathed, delighted.

“And?” Callie asked in a dazed voice.

“I could eat you up,” he said, pulling up to look into her eyes. “If you let me.”

Callie had never seen an expression like his, awed and honest. She bent down to kiss his neck, finding salt on his skin, and lapped it up until she heard him moan. “You taste amazing, too,” she whispered, nibbling his ear to make her point. “You’re definitely making me hungry.”

He smiled, then laughed softly when she bit his shoulder, playful but persuasive. He soon stopped laughing, though, when she moved closer to him, rolling like a wave, her chest to his. He felt the muscles in her body contract, felt the heat in her, at least as hot as he was getting.

She noticed the sheen on his skin, and smiled. “Too warm?” Before he could answer, she moved her hands swiftly down his torso, and tugged at the hem of his shirt. “I can help you with that.”

“Yeah, right, honey,” he said, allowing her to lift the shirt over his head, reluctantly letting go of her waist so she could remove the offending item. “My temperature is all your fault.”

Callie didn’t answer, since she was staring at him, now bare from the waist up, ruddy from the firelight. He thought he’d be uncomfortable under her appraising eyes, but from her slow smile and half-hooded gaze, he knew she liked what she saw.

“Hello,” she whispered, finally, biting her lower lip. Skin bronzed from the sun covered sleek muscles that were taut from a life of activity and movement, not hours in some gym. She reached out to touch an unexpected tattoo on his chest, a bird done in artful, rich detail. “Beautiful,” she commented, brushing a kiss over it. Jake tensed as her hair grazed his chest, tantalizingly soft. “Just like the rest of you.” Callie looked up and saw his expression.“What is it?”

“Do you have any idea,” he said, his breath suddenly quicker. “How tempting your hair is?” And it was, the rich red strands glowing with their own light, cast into a halo by the firelight behind Callie. He caught one lock in his fingers.

“Really?” Callie was astonished. No one had ever told her that before. She took another lock and trailed it along his shoulder, watching his reaction to the touch with pure delight. “I could do this all night.”

He groaned at the thought, then pulled her wrist back, stopping her teasing attack. “Not if you know what’s good for you.”

“You’re good for me,” she said softly. She twisted her arm free, and then took his own wrists in her hands, guiding his hands back to her waist, encouraging him to slip under her loose top and explore her skin, now radiating a heat to match his. He stroked her very gently, his thumbs tracing the line of her ribs as he felt her flesh react to him. Callie leaned back, aware of the heat building in her body, in her hips. Shifting a little, she knew the effect she had on him too, how aroused she had made him.

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