Chapter Nine
By the time Cal got back to his villa, it was nine thirty. After the dinner party on the beach, he’d met with the producers in the event tent to go over the activities for the following day. He was relieved to hear that a beach volleyball tournament had been organized as tomorrow’s competition. Cal loved volleyball, though maybe not for the same reasons that the producers loved beach volleyball. Apparently, women’s beach volleyball was one of the top-viewed Olympic sports. To them, it was all about maximizing views.
After a quick shower, Cal sat out on his patio with a beer, watching the path. Would she come? Was it crazy to be waiting for a woman he barely knew? Was it stupid to be meeting up with a woman when he was in the midst of a contest to garner him a date?
Calum honestly didn’t care. He’d learned, early on in business, that rules were meant to be bent, and that when you wanted something, you went after it. He’d always trusted his gut in business, and he’d never been disappointed.
Maybe he needed to trust his gut more with women, because it had told him that Becca was special, right from the start. Okay, maybe not right from the start, because when he’d first met her, he’d considered her nondescript. He grinned, unable to conjure that impression of her anymore.
A movement caught his eye. The white of a skirt reflecting the soft lights flitted in and out between the hedges. It was her. It had to be. Blood pounded to his groin in anticipation.
Who would have guessed that brainy Becca Evans would be such a sensual being and that she felt compelled to repeat the fun they’d had last night, just like he did?
“Hi,” she said as she emerged from the foliage. The sound of cicadas announced her arrival, punctuated by the cymbals of the crashing waves.
“You came.” He met her at the edge of the path. “I’m glad.”
She held a folded garment in front of her, as if to keep him at bay. “Your shirt. Thanks for loaning it to me.”
He took the shirt, and when he moved closer, she stepped back. “I just came to tell you that this”—she indicated the space between them—“can’t go on.”
He ignored her hands and closed the space between them. “You came here to tell me that?”
“Yes. And to return the shirt.” She backed up a step, and he took one more forward. Her lips were parted, and soft breaths escaped. Her eyes were wide, her pupils dilated.
“You know,” Cal said softly. “I don’t think that’s what you came here for.”
She cringed and then straightened her features. “It is.”
He advanced again so that she was backed up against the wrought iron that edged one side of the patio. “Simply not showing up would have given me the message.” He reached for her hand and placed it on his chest.
It trembled.
“You could have had the concierge return my shirt.” He leaned down. “Yet you chose to come.” He lowered his mouth to hers, not sure what to expect. Would she close her mouth? Push him away?
She did none of those things, confirming what he already knew. This insane attraction was mutual. Her mouth opened to him willingly. Her small tongue tangled with his like old lovers meeting after a long time apart: needy and desperate.
It wasn’t until he tilted her head back so that he could access her throat that she pushed him away. Panting. “No, Cal. I can’t.”
“Why the hell not? Why are you fighting this?”
“There’s just too much going on and…” She paused, and Cal saw turmoil in her eyes. “My sister likes you,” she blurted.
“Excuse me?”
“After the barbeque tonight, Grace came back to the villa and gushed all about you.” Her smile wobbled. “You really made an impression on her.”
“So, what has that got to do with this?”
She moved back. “Seriously? I can’t do this”—she motioned between them—“while Grace has her sights set on you.”
“Don’t I get a say in who I want to be with?” He closed the distance between them. “Because I want you.”
She threw up her hands. “Why? Everyone likes Grace. Every guy wants to be with Grace. Why do you want me?”
“Honestly? I don’t know, exactly.”
“Yeah?” Her features hardened. “Well, that’s not good enough.” She turned to go.
Cal caught her shoulder and spun her around. “What do you want me to say, Becca? We just met. I don’t know why I’m drawn to you.” When she tugged again, he held on even tighter. “But here’s what I know. I know I enjoy spending time with you. I know I would rather be with you than with anyone else on this island. And, I know that having you in my bed last night was the most satisfying sexual encounter I’ve had in—hell—I don’t know how long.”
She shook her head as if she didn’t believe him.
Softening his voice, he said, “I don’t know where this is going, and honestly? I don’t know if it even matters right now.” He cupped her jaw. “If you tell me that you want me to back off, I’ll respect that. But you need to know that’s not what I want.”
“What do you want?” she asked.
“I want you like you were last night.” He grazed her jaw with his thumb. “I want the woman who asked me to do things she’d never asked another man to do.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed.
“I want you in bed for as long as you want to be there.” He reached for her and drew her close. This time, she did not resist. “That’s what I want.”
She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. Deeply. Calum knew she was weighing things inside her head. What she wanted versus family loyalty.
“We’ll need to keep it a secret,” she finally whispered.
“Of course.”
“It ends when I say.”
Pause. “Absolutely.”
She turned her face into his palm, and he felt the tip of her tongue tasting him before she took his hand. “And you’re going to give me exactly what I want.”
That gentle kiss, coupled with her request, had his body reacting more profoundly than anything any of the women in the pageant could have done. “Like what?”
She wet her lips. “Have you ever tied anyone up?”
It took him a second to respond. “Yes.”
“Do you use safe words?”
“Sometimes. With the right partner.”
“Do you spank?”
“Same answer.”
“Jesus.”
She was staring up at him, and her soft breaths were coming fast.
“Becca…”
She turned away—only for a split second—as if giving herself one last opportunity to back down. Then in a husky voice she said, “I want you to dominate me.”
…
Becca could not believe she’d had the guts to say it. It was a difficult thing for her to articulate in her own mind, let alone to say it out loud. But it was out there now, and there was no taking it back, no matter how much the controlled, embarrassed part of her wanted to. There was another part of her that was glad it was out there. Relieved.
Excited.
By the fierce look on Cal’s face, he didn’t want her to take it back, either.
The whole way to his villa, she’d argued with herself over what she should do. On one hand, there was Grace, the sister whom she loved and who now had her sights set on Calum.
Becca could still see Grace’s excitement after the evening’s barbeque on the beach, hear her voice in her head. “Calum Price is so wonderful, Bec. Now I get what you were talking about. All he did was ask me about myself. And you know what? It was like he was actually interested. He even asked about you.”
And that was when Becca had decided to end things with Cal. Continuing now would be a betrayal. No two ways about it.
Except there was that other thing, the one that was even harder to admit.
Calum was the kind of lover that Becca had dreamed of but never in a million years thought she’d ever have the opportunity of meeting. To have a no-strings, holiday fling with him? How could she say no?
“Are you sure you want me to…” He paused to breathe in deeply, his nostrils flaring.
She nodded, just as fireworks shot off in the pit of her belly.
Wrapping a hand around her waist, he pulled her in close. Becca could feel his body. Totally hard. Totally aroused.
God.
She’d done this to him. She’d made him aroused. She wriggled her pelvis against his.
“Say it,” she urged softly.
“God dammit, woman. You’re killing me right now.”
There was actual pain in his voice. The good kind of pain. All deliciously tortured and desperate. Rockets just kept exploding inside of Becca’s belly, leaving smoldering sparks in their wake.
“Tell me you want to control me.”
“Oh God. I want to so badly.” His nostrils flared. “But if we do this, you have to do as I say. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
He took her hands and held them together, wrist to wrist. “And you’d let me tie your hands together and suspend them from the ceiling, giving yourself to me to explore? To touch? To taste? Totally at my mercy?”
His words alone made her quiver, while his hand clutching her ass and dress together made her tremble.
“Yes.”
“And if I released you, only to tie you to the bed, you’d let me?” He arched a brow, waiting.
“Mmhmm.” She nodded eagerly.
“And you think you can lie still while I have my way with the front of you? Sucking on your toes, moving up, kissing your legs, your thighs all the way up to that sweet pussy of yours. Your legs tied open, so you’ll have to take my mouth, my fingers, all of me?”
“Jesus.”
“If I tell you not to move while I torture your pretty nipples with my tongue and my teeth, can you do it?”
Becca could barely stand. She leaned against Cal, her body liquid desire.
Just words. It was all just words, and yet she was more turned-on now than she’d ever been. With her body leaning into his, she clutched at his shirt and tilted her chin up. “Yes, Cal. I can do all of that. Now, please, just kiss me,” she said.
“That’s not how this game works.” He bent and scooped her up into his arms, just like he’d done on the beach. “I will kiss you when I choose to and not a moment before. You can beg as much as you like, but…” He carried her in through the open patio doors to the bedroom and set her on her feet gently beside the bed. “The more you ask for something, the more I’m going to make you wait for it.”
Tingles and shivers raced across her skin. “So, what do I do?”
“You just enjoy.” He nudged a strap of her dress off her shoulder, kissing a path across the top. “And, you will do what I say.”
“Everything?”
“Everything.” The second strap slipped from her shoulder, and he swept her hair to one side, nuzzling the exposed part of her neck. “That’s what this is about—you letting go and trusting me to make you feel good.” He cupped the back of her head, turned her toward him, and met her gaze. “Do you trust me, Becca?”
Considering she’d just met this man, the answer should have been a simple “no.” But in her mind’s eye, she recalled Cal soothing her in the airplane.
Protecting her from a wave.
Carrying her. Twice.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I trust you.”
She was really doing this with Calum-fucking-Price, of all people. Oh God. She was really doing this…
She swayed into him, her hands going to his chest, her fingers automatically undoing buttons, and Calum covered her hands, stopping her. “Did I say you could do that?”
“No.”
He stepped back, leaving her standing there, her dress askew, her body aching for the contact lost.
“No touching unless I say.” Though he was no longer touching her, his gaze felt like a caress. Rough and thorough.
“Take off your dress.” A delicious demand.
Becca’s hands shook as she shimmied out of her dress, leaving it on the floor where it fell. She didn’t know where to put her hands, and they fidgeted by her sides.
“You’re beautiful. Even when you’re feeling uncomfortable.” He drew closer.
“I’m not—”
“Yes, you are,” he interrupted, placing his fingers beneath her chin and his thumb against her lips to silence her. “Take my thumb into your mouth.”
Becca opened, and he slid his thumb inside. She closed her lips and sucked. Cal clutched the back of her head as he made wonderful rumbling sounds deep inside his chest.
She wasn’t beautiful. She knew that. But dammit if Cal didn’t make her feel that way.
“You’ve got a mouth on you, you know that?”
“Mmm…” she hummed, sucking and licking, cupping her hands around his and holding him close.
“Those hands.” He pulled his thumb out of her mouth and ran the wet digit down her jaw, throat, and between her breasts. “We need to give them something to do.”
Cal gazed around the room, his eyes landing on the glass doors of the patio. “Go stand at the window, facing out. Put your hands flat against the glass.”
“But—”
“Do it now.”
Her heart was in her throat as she wobbled toward the window, doing something that was so outside the realm of her experience that she would never have dreamed of it. But because Cal demanded it of her? She wanted to comply, and that excited her on levels she didn’t even know she possessed.
It was dark out, and the villa was secluded. No one was watching. But the idea that she was exposing herself, almost naked, facing out, was a thrill she’d never expected.
“Spread your legs.”
A jolt of heat penetrated her pussy as she did as she was told.
“If you move before I tell you, I will have to punish you. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Becca closed her eyes and arousal coursed through her, turning her blood to wine, intoxicating every cell. She heard his approach: the soft footfalls of his bare feet. She felt the heat that emanated off his body as he stood behind her, breathing softly.
Not touching.
She opened her eyes and saw his reflection in the window, though it became hazy as her heavy pants fogged the glass.
Starting at her shoulders, he swept his hands down her back, following the curve of her waist, her hips, and her thighs.
“You have the softest skin,” he murmured. “So pretty…” He leaned down and kissed the top of her shoulder as his hands slid around the front of her hips beneath her panties to her mound.
Her bare mound.
“Did I mention last night how much I liked this?” He petted her gently. Softly. His fingers sliding down to barely graze her clit.
“No.” Grace had made Becca an appointment at her esthetician before coming on the holiday. Never had Becca experienced that kind of pain before, and she’d vowed to never go through such torture again. However, here and now, with Cal fondling her, she was glad for her silky, bare skin.
Becca wriggled against his hand; she couldn’t help herself. She was so turned-on, her clit so swollen and ready, that the heat from her core was probably steaming up the patch of glass between her legs. “Please,” she muttered.
“Please what?” Cal’s hand stilled between her legs.
“Please finger me.”
Still clothed, he leaned against her back and whispered in her ear, “You want my fingers inside of you?”
“Yes.”
“How badly do you want that, Becca?”
“Very badly.”
Lifting her hips, she pressed herself against his open palm, urging him to give her what she asked for. To penetrate her. To do the things he’d promised.
But instead of penetration, he slapped the inside of her thigh. The sting of his palm created a kind of unexpected pleasure she had only ever guessed at before.
“The only way I’m going to give you what you want is if you stand perfectly still. Can you do that?”
“No,” she said without thought.
Slap.
Becca arched her neck, her legs wanting to give out from the pleasure of his hand.
“Turn around.”
Slowly, she turned, a full-body roll against the glass.
“Hands up. Keep them up.”
Becca placed her hands above her head. Her lids felt weighted as she gazed at Calum from beneath her lashes. The man was magnificent. What she’d assumed was arrogance way back when she’d met him in the airport was actually something else. While there was lust in his heavy-lidded gaze, there was also power. Confidence. Virility.
It was so fucking sexy.
And he was still clothed, which made her feel even more vulnerable, yet it was a vulnerability that she’d always craved.
“Look at you,” he said as he softly caressed her cheek. “You look like you’ve already been fucked.”
Her body arched toward him in reply, and Cal responded by dragging his fingers down her chest to her breasts, where he fondled her. Gently at first and then more roughly: squeezing, pinching, twisting. Each of his actions creating an equal reaction in her: panting, crying out, cursing.
“Do you like that?”
“Yes.”
He bent to her nipple and sucked it into his mouth, all warm and soft to begin with, until his teeth took hold of her tip and twisted. A cord from that nipple ran all the way to her clit, and it became taut in response. As if sensing the connection, Cal’s hand found its way back beneath her panties to her clit, twisting one way while his teeth twisted her nipple the other, an erotic seesaw within her body that had her arching and crying out.
Becca couldn’t stand it. It was all too exquisite.
“I love the way you react to me. Do you know that?” One final tug and suddenly his fingers were inside of her, plunging deeply into her warmth.
The sensation overwhelmed her, and Becca crumpled around his hand, her fingers digging into his shoulders for support, her mouth to his neck to lick and bite with equal ferocity. She was so consumed by passion, she’d completely forgotten the game they were playing.
She didn’t care anymore. She needed to act. To react. To kiss and touch.
Except suddenly Cal’s hand stopped pumping, and he stepped away, leaving her panting against the glass.
With a control she couldn’t fathom, Cal went to sit on the bed. “Come here.”
Becca willed her legs to move. It wasn’t far, only a few steps to join him, yet it may as well have been a mile for how daunting the distance seemed.
“Now.”
Putting one foot in front of the other, Becca finally got there, standing in front of him, her arms loosely crossed in front of her breasts.
“Don’t hide yourself from me.” He tugged her hands away and devoured her with his eyes. Then he turned her around, guided her hands to the bed and bent her over. “I told you not to move.” His voice was deep. Rough. Full of barely tethered control. Fitting his fingers beneath the bands of her panties, he eased them over her hips and down her legs.
Becca knew what was coming before it came. She longed for it. “I’m sorry I disobeyed.” Good lord, these were words that she thought would only remain in her deepest, darkest fantasies.
Though this was so much better than anything she could have ever imagined.
“Yet, you did.” He rubbed a circle on her ass, preparing her flesh before the first sharp sting of his palm.
If Becca thought there was a cord between her nipple and clit, there was a telegraph line from the skin of her ass to her pussy. Liquid heat suffused her bottom, and Becca gasped with need.
“Please,” she begged, even though she was starting to learn that Cal really meant what he said about not giving in to her when she begged. It didn’t matter, she couldn’t help it. “More.”
Cal growled and stood. Grasping her hips firmly, he pulled her ass flush with the front of his trousers. “Jesus, Bec. You’re making this so hard…”
She barely heard him. Barely cared. All she cared about was grinding her ass against that wonderfully solid ridge behind his fly. He thrust dryly against her, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Please, Calum, please.”
When he released her, Becca swung her gaze over her shoulder, a protest on her tongue. But she stopped when she was greeted with a welcome sight, Cal’s fly unzipped and him rolling a condom over his cock.
Oh, yes!
“Dammit,” he said when he was finished. “I don’t know what fucking power you have over me, but…” He took hold of her hips again, guided his wonderful, masculine flesh up to her soaked entrance and thrust.
Becca cried out. Her body was so primed by Cal’s touch and demands that she felt every inch of his penetration from her outer rim to the deepest part of her. With a grunt, he withdrew before slamming home again. Her body met his thrust, the end of him hitting a wonderful spot in her inner walls that created prisms of light behind her eyes and a flood of heat from her core all the way up into her throat.
She’d never felt this way with a man before. Not even close, and with each thrust, each penetration, she was taken to a new place. A new galaxy. A whole new fucking universe.
It got even better when Cal leaned over her, his right hand sliding to the front of her, rubbing her clit. But when he sank his teeth into her shoulder, she shattered into a billion exploding stars inside the galaxy of her body, leaving her spent but also completely and utterly new.