Moth to a Flame (26 page)

“Here you go, ma’am,” the bartender said, setting a shot down in front of me.

“Oh, I didn’t order a shot,” I assured him and pushed it away.

“The shot of Crown was ordered for you by a gentleman who was watching you like you were the last woman on Earth,” he laughed.

The thought of another stalker made me want to hurl. Guys would always be stalkers to me now. This was the Lia I would always be.

Taking the shot in two swallows, I thought about Cale on that first night he’d spent the night. We’d had Crown that night too.
Bummer.
Everything reminded me of him.

“Mom, I’m going to call it a night.” I hugged her and then Rich.

“Okay, sweetie. I’ll see you in the morning, love.” She waved goodbye.

Heading out of the bar, I passed a group of drunk guys, which gave me the creeps. The tallest one with black hair was eying me big time. He grabbed my arm as I walked by, causing me to shriek and yank it back out of his grip.

“Don’t touch me, loser!” I snapped and stormed away from him.

“What a bitch!” he hollered after me.

After hurrying to the elevator, I went up to the fourth floor to get back to my room. Once I safely let myself in, I threw myself onto the bed. My nerves were a mess. I was still breathing raggedly when I heard a knock on my door. Mom must have wanted to say goodnight again before going to her room.

Just before I went to open the door, I thought about the guy downstairs. I was tired of getting myself stuck in compromising positions. Using better judgment, I peeked through the distorted peephole before opening it and my heart did a flip-flop. I recognized those broad shoulders and dark, disheveled hair.

“Lia, it’s me.”

What the hell?

How did Cale find me?

Anj.
Yes, she was definitely going to die when I got back. My heart was pounding in my chest, but not in fear like it was supposed to be doing.

“What do you want?” I demanded through the door.

“I need to see you. Please,” he begged softly.

Ignoring the screams from my logical brain, my heart won out and I opened the door. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His eyes brightened when they met mine though, and the way his shirt stretched over his perfectly sculpted chest had my insides doing somersaults. Could I freeze time so I could just stare at him all day long?

“Do you have any ice?” he asked, holding up a swollen, bloody hand.

“What the hell happened, Cale?” I momentarily forgot why I had to stay away from him.

“Some asshole was bothering a pretty girl. He won’t be bothering any more ladies with that broken nose I gave him,” he smiled.

My Cale had punched that dick from downstairs who’d messed me.

Wait, he’s not my Cale.

“Come in. I have a mini fridge. Not sure if there is any ice left in my bucket from earlier, but you can put a can of Coke on it,” I sighed, allowing him to follow me to the bar. Turned out, there was still some ice in the bucket even though most had already melted. At least it was cold.

Setting the bucket down on the table and watching him slip his hand inside, I finally asked him, “Why are you here, Cale?”

He flinched at my words, immediately making me feel guilty.

Why do I feel guilty? I didn’t do anything wrong,
I pouted inwardly.

“I’m going to cut to the chase. I need you in my life, Lia. Whoever you think I was all those years ago, I never was that person before or after the accident. This situation is completely fucked up, but it doesn’t mean we can’t make it work. People forgive each other all the time. We love each other. It seems forgiveness should be easiest with the ones you love.” He knelt in front of me and took both of my hands into his.

My body tried to ignore the jolt that coursed through me at his touch. I tried to blame it on the coldness of his hand.

At the jingling of my bracelet, he looked down at it. Lifting my hand, he carefully inspected each one. I was biting down on my lip when he looked up with a huge grin on his face.

“You still love me,” he said with hope in his voice.

SHE STILL FUCKING loves me.
I could see it in her sparkling green eyes. This sexy siren was sitting before me, shaking like a leaf, but she hadn’t kicked me out. We could fix this—the bracelet was proof. The angel wings charm sealed the deal.

My eyes scanned her body and I loved the way her sexy black dress hugged her curves. And knowing my girl, those knee-high boots were new.

“Nice shoes,” I murmured before leaning into her and raising both hands to cup each side of her face. She instinctively closed her eyes, enjoying this moment. Whatever terrible thing had happened between us, she was momentarily setting it aside to bask in the warmth that was us. I pulled her to me, our lips almost touching. I inhaled the scent that was uniquely hers. I loved it.

Gently, I brushed my lips across hers. She whimpered but not in fear. The sound she made was of a woman trying desperately hard not to give into what she desired. And in this frozen moment, I was what she wanted. Using my teeth, I nipped at her bottom lip, causing a moan to slip out of her.

Her hands were shaking with need as she hesitantly raised them to thread them through my hair. Now it was my turn to groan. Her touching me so intimately made me feel like we could make it through. I brought her closer to me and she parted her lips without hesitating, I slipped my tongue into her mouth, needing more than anything to be with her in this way.

Our kisses were now frantic, like we couldn’t get enough of each other. She wrapped her legs around my back in an effort to get closer to me. I was still kneeled down in front of her and had her pressed against the back of the sofa. Her hands found the bottom of my shirt and effortlessly yanked it over my head, only breaking our kiss for a second. My cock throbbed as she rubbed her hands up and down my muscled chest. God, I needed this woman like I needed air.

Pulling away from her kiss, I slowly slid one of her new boots off. My eyes never left hers as I went for the other boot as well. I rubbed my hands up her thighs pushing her dress up to her hips. Never in my life have I seen such a beautiful sight. Her dark hair cascaded around her making her look like the fucking angel she was to me. I watched with fascination as her chest heaved raggedly with each breath of anticipation. My cock strained to escape my pants as she squirmed with her need for me.

Reaching up under her dress, I grabbed the edges of her black thong and tugged it down to the middle of her thighs. I then leaned forward and kissed the insides of her thighs, this time between her panties and her sweet spot. Her entire body shivered at my kisses. Taking the thong between my teeth, I slowly dragged it down past her knees until it dropped to the floor.

I looked up at her with hooded eyes and she gazed down at me with eyes blazing passionately. Not able to wait, she yanked her dress up over her head, tossing it aside. Coming back between her knees with my body, I reached both hands behind her and unclasped her black bra, freeing her breasts. Then I tossed it away and leaned forward to suck a nipple into my mouth. She gasped and latched back on to my hair.

I spent my time worshipping her body with my tongue. She was my everything, and I’d missed this so much. Even though I knew she wanted to get to the chase now, I wanted to savor her. When I had teased her breasts enough that she was heavily panting, I leaned back up to give her a breathtaking kiss. She began sucking my tongue and lips, which made me rock fucking hard.

I slid two fingers into her very wet pussy and she cried out with pleasure. We continued kissing while I stroked her insides adoringly. Her breaths were coming out short and quick. A few more strokes against the sensitive spot within her and she finally succumbed to an orgasm that had her clenching around my fingers.

“Please, Cale. I need you right now,” she begged as I kissed her.

After withdrawing my fingers from her, I unbuttoned and lowered the zipper on my jeans letting them fall to my knees since I was still kneeling in front of her. Then I grabbed her hips and hauled her to the edge of the sofa so my hardness touched her now dripping wet pussy. Slowly, I slid into her, feeling her delicious body tighten around my dick.

“Oh God, Cale,” she moaned into my mouth while we kissed.

I broke away from her so I could look into her eyes and began thrusting quickly into her. Our eyes were locked in silent understanding.

“I love you.” A tear slipped down her face at her admission.

My heart felt like exploding. We could do this. We could work past our problems and be together.

I could feel my orgasm build as she started panting faster. When it came hot and fast, spilling into her, she cried out as hers followed not far after.

Collapsing onto her chest, I placed a chaste kiss on her breast. “Lia, I love you too. I’ll never stop loving you.”

WOW.
THERE WERE no words to describe the way I felt with him still inside me, his head on my chest. I was completely whole like this with him.
I am safe.
Funny how things work out. The person I was supposed to be afraid of, the one who had caused all of my fears, was the one I felt most safe with.

I gently slid my hands along his back, wanting to touch every part of him.
He is mine.
“I missed you. I didn’t want to, but you were all I could think about.” My words were complete truth.

He kissed my breast again, snaking his arms underneath me. We stayed in this embrace for a while longer before he pulled away, making me frown at his loss. He laughed at the face I made as he stood.

“Babe, as much as I would love to stay here in this position all night long, my legs are completely asleep and my knees hurt like hell.” He reached down and took both of my hands, pulling me up to my feet. “Let’s check out the shower,” he winked.

As we headed towards the bathroom, he slapped my ass, causing me to yelp. “Asshole!” I shouted at him, laughing. I then took off running to the bathroom, intent on locking him out, but before I reached the bathroom door, he wrapped his arms around my waist, stopping me. “Hey!” I laughed, trying to squirm away.

When he pulled me to him, I could feel that he was hard again against my back. “Where do you think you’re going without me?” he growled into my ear, reaching up to cup my breasts.