Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise) (22 page)

“Aw, fuck,” he bit out
brokenly as her cheeks hollowed out and she leaned forward, taking him to the
back of her throat and swallowing.  Tightening his hand in her hair as he
continued to brace the other against the wall, Cal wondered for the first time
in his life if he could keep from blowing his load like a teenage boy getting
laid for the first time.  Warm wet heat tightened around his cock, milking him
with the sweetest of grips.  Her touch was taking him as close to paradise as
he’d ever been in his forty plus years of life.  “Goddamn, baby,” he groaned,
pumping his hips against her ravenous mouth, “I love the way you suck my dick,
but if you don’t ease up, this is gonna be over before I get a nice long taste
of your pussy.  Remember your sweet flavor, babe.  It’s burned on my memory,
but I want another,” he rasped, pulling his cock from the heavenly confines of
her mouth as she made a low cry of distress much like someone who’d been robbed
of their favorite treat.

“But, Cal,” she whined,
her expressive eyes looking up beseechingly at him, “I don’t mind if…”

“I mind,” he stated
deeply, rubbing his thumb against her swollen lower lip.  “You’ll get your time
to play, Princess… once I’ve had my fill of you,” he explained with a wolfish
grin as he pulled her to her feet and walked her to the wide bench seat hanging
off one wall as the water continued to shower over them.  Lightly pressing her
shoulder until she sat down, he chuckled when her eager eyes fastened onto his
cock bobbing in front of her face.  Pressing his finger to her lips when her
mouth would have engulfed him in her liquid heat again, he shook his head. 
“Nuh uh.  It’s my turn to taste,” he informed her, dropping to his knees and
draping her legs over his shoulders. 

Using one hand to
separate her slick folds, he smiled when he saw her swollen female flesh shiny
with her need, her clit already pink and pulsating with desire.  Running his
thumb lightly over the enflamed nub, he grinned roguishly when she released a
needy whimper from her gasping lips.  “You need me to take care of this for
you, baby?” he asked gently, stroking the puffy nubbin again and pulling a
keening cry from her mouth.  “Is that deep ache in your pussy driving you crazy
yet, darlin’?  Is the aching emptiness clawing at you?”

“Yes,” Melody moaned,
pressing her head against the hard wall behind her.  “Please, Cal,” she begged,
unsure quite what she was begging for.

“You know firsthand
what my tongue can do for this pretty little pussy, baby.  Do you want that? 
Or do you want my hard cock to pound away at that throbbing emptiness inside
you?” he questioned, taking a perverse pleasure in toying with her.  After all,
she’d kept him waiting for weeks while she got her head straight; he deserved a
little payback now, didn’t he? 

“I don’t care,” she
moaned.  “Either…both.  Just give me
something
,” she pleaded.

Tunneling two fingers
into the tight depths of her pussy, Cal caught her low cry with his lips. 
“There’s something, baby,” he crooned, pumping his fingers in and out of her
wet cunt. 

“N-not enough, Cal,”
she panted, lifting her hips to meet the steady thrusts of his hand.  “I need
more,” she whimpered against his lips.  “Please, honey.  Give me more.”

Nipping her chin with
is teeth, Cal smiled.  “Yeah, baby.  I’ll give you a little more,” he murmured,
before dipping his head and darting his tongue out to flick her juicy little
clit.

“Oh, God!” she screamed
beneath him, her body arching off the stone seat to meet the lash of his
tongue.  “More, Cal!  Fuck, give me more!”

“Greedy little minx,”
he muttered cheerfully against the folds of her wet pussy even as he licked at
her delicious flesh, coating his tongue with her tangy flavor.  Humming
hungrily against her clit, he tightened his hands on her quivering thighs as
the vibrations drove her into an insane frenzy.  Alternately tonguing and
fucking her tight pussy with his fingers, he could feel her body beginning to
approach orgasm.  Her pussy constricted around his tongue as her essence grew
thicker, slicker on his hungry tongue.  “Let me have it, baby,” he growled,
lifting his head to stare down at her, his chin dripping with her juices. 
“You’re gonna come all over my fingers, you hear me, Melody?  You’re gonna do
it for me right. Fuckin’.
Now,
baby,” he ordered on a growl as he shoved
three fingers inside her and curled them just right, pulling a ragged, harsh
scream from her throat as her body convulsed for him.  Fuck, he felt like a
maestro who’d just finished playing a symphony only Melody’s body had been his
instrument.

 “Fuck, that’s
beautiful,” he breathed while he watched her body arch toward him, the muscles
in her legs flexing and releasing.  Unable to wait any longer, he jerked his
fingers out of her slippery heat and quickly surged to his feet, lifting her
quaking body in his arms and moving them until he had her still trembling body
held against the shower wall.  The hot water beat a staccato rhythm against his
back as her arms lifted to loop around his neck and her dazed eyes connected
with his.  “Gonna fuck you now, Sweetness.  Can’t wait another fuckin’ second
to make you completely
mine
,” he muttered against her lips before
thrusting his tongue in her mouth and his hard cock into her still convulsing
pussy.

Her tight sheath
enveloped his length, pulling his cock deep into the sultry heat of her pussy,
and Cal knew, beyond any doubt, that he’d die a happy fucking man if he died
right now.  Dear God, he’d never felt ANYTHING as incredible as her body
surrounding him, his cock planted deep in her pussy as her legs and arms
wrapped him up tight.  It was without a single doubt the best moment of his
life so far.  “Melody,” Cal breathed into her mouth.  “God, my Melody, feel how
much I want you…how much I fuckin’
crave
you,” he groaned, rocking his
hips as he began to fuck her with smooth, fluid lunges of his hips. 

“Yes!” Melody managed
to gasp as his lips crashed into hers again, robbing her of the ability to
think. 

Cal wanted to make this
moment last a lifetime, but his body overruled him as his balls began to
tighten and pleasure spiked up his spine.  “Love the way you feel against me…
your arms and pussy gripping me tight,” he rasped against her ear.  “Your
sweet, sexy body is gonna carry me straight to Heaven, baby, but I’m gonna need
you to go first,” he ordered against her sweaty neck as he slid a hand between
them to stroke that sensitive cluster of nerves at the apex of her pussy. 
“Need you to cum for me, baby.  Use that incredible pussy to milk me.  Make my
body sing a beautiful Melody, baby,” he growled, fucking her harder as her legs
tightened around his hips and her needy moans heightened.

Cal threw his head back
as Melody came all over his cock, her nails burying in his shoulders as her
cries of completion echoed inside the shower.  Giving himself permission to
seek his own release, his body hammered against hers with short, jerky jabs of
his hips.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he growled, grimacing as a wave of white hot
pleasure descended over him, whiting out his vision as he buried his dick deep
inside her.  “God, yes!” he growled as he began to cum inside her, filling her
with long jets of his milky essence.  Wave after wave of bliss assaulted him as
fireworks exploded behind his closed eyes as his cock detonated inside her
body.  Slowly coming down from the incredible high, his lips found hers again,
kissing her gently as his heartbeat began to return to normal.

“God, that was
amazing,” he heard Melody mumble against his neck when her head dropped tiredly
to his shoulder.

“Remember, babe, my
name is Callum, but I can see why you’d confuse me with the Almighty right
now,” he teased her gently, dropping a kiss to her smiling lips.  “But, you’re
right.  That was amazing.  Fuck, sweetheart, let’s be honest with each other. 
That went light years beyond amazing.  I don’t think there’s a word for what
just happened between us, Melody,” he offered huskily, carefully putting her
back on her feet while he kept his arms around her in case she was unsteady. 
God knows that he still felt like the world had tilted on its axis after
experiencing nirvana in her arms. 

Waiting until he knew
that she was able to keep her balance, he lifted one hand from her hip to tilt
her chin back so that he could capture her eyes with his.  “Okay, Princess,
this is the part where you assure me that you’re okay with what just happened
between us and that you’re not having second thoughts about us,” he instructed
her with a serious voice, praying to whatever God was listening that she wasn’t
having any doubts after what they’d just shared.  He knew it would sound trite
to most people, but for a second there, he’d thought he’d heard angels singing
when he’d been inside her.  The moment had been
that
perfect, and it was
a memory he instinctively knew would go to the grave with him.  He didn’t want
it tainted now by any qualms or reservations on her part.

Canting her head to the
side as her eyebrows furrowed and she frowned, Melody shook her head. 
“Wouldn’t it be kind of pointless to start whining about a bunch of worries
now?  The deed is done.  The horse has already escaped the barn.  The hen flew
the coop.  The cow has wandered out of that particular pasture…”

Slapping a hand over
her moving mouth, Cal fought a chuckle.  “Mel, baby, if you don’t stop making
barnyard references, I’m gonna start to think you’ve got some kind of weird
farm fetish goin’ on.”  Met with Melody’s scathing look of contempt, he didn’t
even bother holding back his laughter.

Snatching his hand away
from her mouth, Melody shoved at Cal’s chest before stepping around him and
sliding open the shower door.  Snatching a thick bath towel off the heated
rack, she turned to offer him a coquettish smile as she announced in a sugary
voice, “Just for that smartass remark, you should know that it’s gonna be a
real long time before I consider allowing your monster snake to slither back
through my secret garden again.”

Watching her firm,
perky ass flounce away from him, Cal’s smile widened while the head of his
snake bobbed its head with renewed interest.  His woman was a handful and a
half without a doubt, but totally worth the effort, he thought silently as he
watched her glistening body disappear into the bedroom.  Keeping up with her
would be a hell of a lot of work, but he intuitively recognized that life with
her would be anything but boring.  He just hoped he could keep her from taking
a machete to his snake the next time he pissed her off.

Not that it mattered…
he was hooked on her, their hearts irrevocably tangled together.

And may God help any
asshole who ever tried to screw with that.

And on that grim
thought, he stepped out of the shower and reached for his own towel, his mind
already on the best route his snake should take the next time it took a trip
through her very appealing and much beloved secret garden.

Incidentally, Cal was
proud to report the next morning that it had only taken his monster snake a
half hour to unlock the gates to the garden and enter Paradise.

It was official.

Like officially
OH-fficial.

Like put a stamp AND
seal on it – official.

Melody Reardon wanted
to throat punch whatever idiot had proclaimed that love was grand.

Because love WASN’T
grand.  Not by a freaking longshot.  Not even close to the neighborhood of
grand.

In short, love SUCKED
big hairy, sweaty, stinky monkey balls.

The End.

Blowing out a
frustrated breath as she continued glaring across the counter at her
nemesis/lover, she realized that if she ever got her hands on Cupid’s prized
bow, she was gonna shoot that fat little craphead in the eye with an arrow!

“Glare at me all you
want, Melody, it’s not happening,” Cal stated, breaking the ocean of silence
that had stretched between them.

“Give me
one
good
reason, Callum.  One!” Melody argued, her hands fisting at her sides as she
stared at him sitting calmly across the counter from her.

“You know what?  I’m a
generous guy, Mel.  I’ll give you
two
reasons,” Cal retorted, his jaw
clenching as he bit off his words.  “One, it’s dangerous.  And two, I don’t
trust him.  There!  Two reasons, Princess.”

Melody hung her head
and prayed for either the mental fortitude it would take to survive loving
Callum Valentine or for the strength it would take to pick up the chair she was
sitting on and high five her pain-in-the-ass boyfriend in the face with it!  “Cal,”
she began, striving for patience, “First, it’s not dangerous; it’s dinner.  And
second, you don’t have to trust him; I do!  If I judged every job applicant on
whether
you
trusted them, we’d need to mark off every male that
applied.  Face it, Cal, you mistrust every person who walks through that door
that happens to have been born with a penis instead of a vagina between their
legs.  Austin Jackson is, by far, the most qualified applicant we’ve had that’s
willing to work for what I’m able to pay.  We are now two weeks from opening
day and I’ve hired everyone EXCEPT a night manager.  This has to be done
soon
. 
Soon, as in should-have-done-it-yesterday
soon
.   Now, Austin is willing
to meet tonight for dinner at the café to discuss what his job would entail,
and I’m going!  Alone!!” Melody shouted as the glass door to her soon-to-launch
shop opened and a pair of women stepped into the building.

“Fine!” Cal barked,
oblivious to their audience as his eyes flashed angrily at her.  “Since my
opinion on this obviously isn’t being solicited, I think I’ll just take a walk
over to that building Abel was mentioning at the café this morning and take a
look.  Unlike you, I
would
like your input so if I like it, I’ll give
you a call to come take a look.”

“Callum, you know I
want your advice on things, but you refuse to keep an open mind about a man
working closely with me,” Melody claimed tiredly.

“Would you like it if I
hired a gym full of women to work with me?” he asked sharply.

“Cal, that’s
different.” Melody shook her head as she nodded slightly toward where Harmony
and Honor McKinnon stood patiently off to the side of them, watching her drama
unfold with Cal.,

“How?” Cal questioned
sharply.  “Tell me,” he invited, “How the hell is it any different?”

“You’re going to be
running a gym where all manner of people, customers and employees alike, will
run around half naked, exercising.  I’m opening a freakin’ bookstore.  Believe
me, if ANY of my employees show up half naked, I’m firing ‘em!”

Melody watched Cal
purse his lips – a sure sign that he was stumped for a way to argue himself out
of the corner he was currently in.  “Honey, please, just let me go sit down and
talk to him.  If he gives me the creeps in any way, I’ll pass on him.  Okay? 
You’ve got to trust me to know what’s good for my own business, Callum.”

Cal’s shoulders sagged
in defeat because he knew he’d lost this round with her.  “Fine,” he muttered,
turning slightly and catching sight of two of the McKinnon sisters.  Smiling
tightly at them, he shot Melody a glare.  “You could have mentioned we had
company,” he growled under his breath.

“You could have not
done your impression of a braying jackass, too,” Melody declared reasonably. 
“It seems we’re
both
disappointed today.”

“Funny,” Cal sneered,
taking the two steps it took to bring him back to the  counter and leaning over
to wrap a hand around her neck and pull her to him.  “Be good, Princess.  I’ll
call in a bit,” he said before kissing her soundly.  Releasing her with a wink,
he nodded again toward the ladies before making a hasty departure.

Meeting Harmony’s eyes
as the door closed behind him, Melody let loose a squeal of pure, unadulterated
frustration.

“Oh, I know that
sound.  I’ve made it so much in the last month that I’d recognize it in my
sleep,” Honor murmured, “That’s the sound of a woman on the edge.”

“The
very
edge,”
Melody clarified through her grinding teeth.  “How is it possible to both love
and dislike someone
so
much?”

“Trouble in Paradise?”
Harmony murmured with a cheeky grin.

“Let’s just say that
I’ve got some valuable advice for any woman stupid enough to still be dreaming
about finding lasting love with a soul mate,” Melody returned cynically. 

“What’s that?” Honor
asked with a faint smile.

“I’d tell them that
when Cupid draws back his bow and takes aim at them, they should make like
they’re on fire.  You know… Stop.  Drop!  And roll the hell AWAY!”

Harmony and Honor both
giggled at the vivid picture Melody painted for them. 

“I’m definitely in
agreement with you,” Honor stated firmly when she could speak through her
laughter.  “Love is definitely an emotion that’s highly overrated, in my
opinion.”

“You only say that
because you’re determined to avoid what you feel for a certain sexy lawman,”
Harmony teased, elbowing her little sister playfully.

“I’m saying that
because love inevitably complicates what could be an otherwise wonderful
relationship,” Honor retorted with a hard look at her elder sister.  “Not all
of us are looking for matrimonial bliss, Harm…some of us just want peace from
overbearing would-be protectors.”

“Preach it, sister,”
Melody muttered, bobbing her head in agreement.  Cal still insisted on being
with her most of the time.  Yes, those pesky untraceable phone calls had
continued until she’d gotten a new phone a week ago, and she
still
felt
like someone was watching her at times, but honestly, she thought that was more
because of Cal’s constant worrying than because someone was actually stalking
her.  All in all, other than those annoying hang-up phone calls, things had
been quiet for her since Christmas.

Well,
mostly
quiet. 
Almost entirely quiet.  So close to completely quiet, that the one little bit
of noise there’d been had been absolutely negligible.

Yeah, she knew she was
lying.  Sue her.  If Cal had learned what happened, she’d never be given a
second’s peace or tranquility again.

Besides, a single note
hardly qualified for red alert status, did it?  So, she had received that one
stupid note under her windshield wipers late last month… she was choosing to
believe that was a case of mistaken identity.  Honestly, the missive hadn’t
even counted as a note, per se.  It had been more of a quickly jotted message. 
A cryptic message, that’s true.  But a message, nonetheless.  Strangely, it had
only held four little, seemingly harmless words.

I’m still watching you.

“Melody!” she finally
heard Harmony yell loudly. 

“Sorry,” Melody
apologized quickly, blinking the fog from her eyes.  “I just drifted away there
for a sec, ladies.”

“What you did was turn
white as a sheet,” Honor chided, her keen eyes skating over Melody’s face as
she shot Harmony a worried frown.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

And because Melody
badly needed to confide in someone she could trust not to overreact, she shared
about the note and phone calls with the McKinnon sisters.  Both women listened
closely, often exchanging concerned looks with each other as she explained what
had been happening since she’d moved to Paradise, finally ending her story
with, “So, now you know it all…what do y’all think?  Am I just being a nervous
Nellie?”

“No!” Both sisters
proclaimed in unison.

“Look, Melody, I get
it.  You don’t want to trip Cal’s crazy switch by telling him about this stuff,
but you gotta know, if something happens to you, he’s gonna lose his mind!”

“She’s right,” Honor
agreed with a slow nod.  “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Melody.  It’s like
the sun rises and sets on you for him.  It’s true; he’s gonna be furious that
somebody is threatening you, but he’s definitely gonna be
more
furious
if something happens and he’s been kept in the dark that there was a potential
threat.”

“Y’all don’t
understand.  Cal is just now starting to relax and allow me a little freedom. 
If he believes Brad is starting his crap again, he’ll kill him,” Melody
fretted, rubbing the back of her tense neck. 

“That’s true,” Harmony
murmured.  “When Jake was talking to Cal last month at the diner about the way
things were with Brad, he said then that Cal wouldn’t have a problem snapping
that asshole’s neck if he felt like you were in danger from him.”

“Zeke told me the same
after what happened at Christmas with you eatin’ that poisoned cookie,” Honor
added softly.

“Not poisoned
exactly…just poison to me,” Melody explained unhappily, groaning as she buried
her face in her hands.  “What the heck do I do?” she moaned.

“I could talk to Zeke
about it,” Honor offered mildly.  “See what he advises.”

“It’ll be easy enough
for her to do since the Sheriff is livin’ with her now,” Harmony added
playfully.

Melody’s head jerked
upright at that news, her eyes wide as they met Honor’s.  “What?!”

“He’s not livin’ with
me,” Honor returned with a growl.  “He’s just stayin’ with me for the moment.”

“Same difference,”
Harmony sang, leaning against the counter and dropping her chin in her hand. 
“He’s under the same roof as you.”

“How did
this
happen?”
Melody asked eagerly, almost bouncing with excitement.  Everybody in town knew
that Zeke was in love with Honor – even if Honor refused to believe it.  The
fact that he’d managed to convince her to let him stay with her in her home was
HUGE! 

“I don’t know,” Honor
huffed.  “He showed up at the house Christmas morning mad as a wet hen ‘cause
I’d slipped off from Patience’s house by myself to fix Christmas dinner. 
Before I knew it, he’d weaseled his way under my roof by bellyachin’ about how
somebody had deliberately cut my brake lines and how I was in danger. 
Again
. 
Like that’s something new.  Truth is, I was bullied and bulldozed into
submission, blast it!  That blame man might as well have driven a tractor right
on over me.”

Melody nodded her
commiseration.  “That’s how it starts,” she stated morosely.

“How what starts?”
Honor questioned.

“The hostile takeover
of our heart, my friend.  Our local Sheriff is making his stand and planting
his flag on your hallowed ground.  I know all about it; Callum pulled the same
stunt.”

Honor made a face.  “I
don’t think I like the sound of that,” she muttered.  “Sounds like an
invasion.”

“Because that’s what it
is.  An invasion of the heart,” Melody enlightened the younger woman as Harmony
nodded with a wide smile.

“Oh, crap,” Honor
breathed as comprehension dawned.  “I’m
never
gonna get that man out of
my house, am I?” she wailed plaintively.

“Doubtful,” Melody
shared truthfully.  “But the good news is that they fix stuff,” she offered
weakly, searching her mind for something that would take the look of abject
horror off the other woman’s face.

Patting Honor’s hand as
the young woman stared off into space, Harmony smiled and shrugged her
shoulders.  “Honor will be fine.  Don’t worry, Mel.  She just needs to wrap her
head around the simple fact once and for all that Zeke is never gonna give up
on her.  Much the same way you need to realize that Cal is on your side here. 
Tell him what’s been happening so that he can help you figure out what to do.”

“I wonder if I could
get rid of the stubborn mule if I had Abel put it in writing and served him an
eviction notice.  He could do that for me; he’s an attorney,” Honor mumbled
aloud to herself as she drummed her fingers against the counter while she
stared off into space, deep in thought.

Melody and Harmony
choked back chuckles at the younger woman’s babblings.  Looking at Harmony, Mel
whispered, “Are you sure your sister’s okay?”

“I’m fine.  I was just
deliberatin’ my avenues of attack,” Honor announced firmly as she visibly
forced herself back to the present and looked at them.  “So, am I tellin’ Zeke
about this rigamorole?”