Spicy (21 page)

Callie

Phoenix has taken Thalia home to her
parents for the weekend so after landing at the airport, we collect Phoenix’s
car from the parking lot and are now heading toward Reece’s apartment.

After spending the night in the hospital
and then last night at my parents house, I was only too glad to get on a plane
to head back to where I consider my home. My parents wanted us to stay longer,
but not only was Reece uncomfortable staying with me in their home, he was
itching to get back to see his sister, Mara. I have to grin though because I’m
sure he’s more concerned about the fact that she’s alone in his apartment with
Donovan, who she apparently has a crush on. I’m kind of looking forward to the
show that’s about to transpire. I only hope Donovan has behaved otherwise it
could get ugly.

“Callie, you hear me?”

“Sorry, lost in thought,” I reply.

I glance over to him and he looks to be
nervous about something.

“You really didn’t hear a word I just said,
did you?”

“Um.”

“Callie,” he says in frustration. “Have you
got any idea how hard it was for me to work up the courage to ask you to move
in with me, only to have you not hear a word I spoke?”

He pauses and I laugh with how he’s just blurted
that out.

I honestly don’t know what to say. He wants
me to move in with him? I start to smile, liking that idea. Living with him
won’t be easy because he can be an ass when the mood takes him, but what about…

“What about Donovan?” I curl toward him on
the seat as he negotiates us through rush hour traffic wondering whether I
could live with Donovan as well. Don’t get me wrong; I like Donovan – a
lot. He’s good to talk too, but I’m not sure whether or not it would feel
awkward living with him as well after sleeping with him.

“I’ve already spoken to Donovan, and he’s
cool with you moving in. He’s been keeping his eyes open for another apartment
close to the one we’re sharing, but nothing’s come up yet…and before you say
anything he’s been looking before we got together.”

I rest my head on the chair and just gaze
at the guy I’m in love with. His dedication to me over the past couple of days
has been amazing. He hasn’t left my side other than to use the bathroom. We’ve
already agreed to stay at my place tonight so that Mara could carry on sleeping
in his bed. Tomorrow he planned on putting her on a plane home. Somehow I don’t
think it’s going to be as easy as he thinks.

“Yes.”

“You serious?”

“Were you?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Then so am I. I’ll move in with you Reece.
I love you and can’t believe you were nervous about asking me.” I stroke his
arm and take his hand when he offers it, sliding my fingers between his.

“I’ve never asked anyone that question before,
and the thought of you turning me down made me want to puke,” he admits with
slight color in his cheeks.

“Aww. I told you, you’re sweet.” I grin
knowing on the surface he wants me to think he hates that word, but I think he
loves me calling him sweet.

“You are going to have to find a different
word to describe the ‘sweet’ stuff I say to you. I’m a guy and ‘sweet’ doesn’t
cut it.”

I chuckle, trying not to let a full belly
laugh out because I don’t think he’d be impressed, plus I’d probably end up coughing
as my throat hasn’t completely healed. Clearing my throat, I say, “I can
understand that so what about ‘wicked?’ Instead of saying ‘you’re sweet’ I
could say ‘you’re wicked,’ although it doesn’t describe the situation well
because you really are sweet.”

That’s it, I can’t hold my laughter in
anymore, and end up having tears streaming down my face. He is so easy to
tease. There is no other word to describe him sometimes, other than sweet,
although he does do wicked things to me with his mouth and other parts of his
body.

“You need to stop, Callie. Right now.”

Of course that makes me laugh harder, even
the threat of my throat hurting like crazy later doesn’t stop me. I feel him
swerve to the side, hit the brakes, unclip his seatbelt and then his mouth is
on mine. Hot and possessive. Wet and hard. Dirty and sinful.

Seconds from climbing onto his lap, he
pulls his lips from mine, albeit reluctantly. “You drive me totally crazy.”

“Mmm.” My brains turned to mush. “Can you
do that again?”

I close my eyes in pleasure as he caresses
my face. “I’d love nothing more than kissing you again, but I’m kind of worked
up so I’m thinking it’s going to be best if we carry on to the apartment.”

Glancing at his groin I see what he means.
“Okay.”

“Good girl.”

~ * ~

The sound of Donovan shouting in the
apartment is what greets us as Reece pushes the door open. “You need to go
home, Mara and get outta my hair. I don’t want you here and all you’re going to
do is cause problems for Reece.”

This
isn’t good and if the poor girl has a crush on Donovan then his words will
break her heart.

I push past a frozen Reece and walk into
the apartment. They both freeze and turn to me, Donovan looking pissed and Mara
looks like she is ready to burst into tears. But she pulls herself together and
proceeds to ignore Donovan, who keeps looking at her. Is he trying to catch her
eye? I don’t know Donovan that well, apart from the sex thing, but it looks
like he either regrets his words to her or he regrets Reece and me hearing
them.

As no one seems ready to break the silence,
I move forward and sit beside Mara on the sofa. “Hi, I’m Callie. You’re
brother’s girlfriend.”

Her eyes widen. “That’s a first… Its…”

“Don’t be a bitch, Mara,” Reece growls, and
I notice Donovan tense.
Hmm.

Mara takes a deep breath and ignoring her
brother looks back to me. “I was about to say, it’s nice to finally meet the
girl whose managed to capture my brother, but now, although it’s still nice to
meet you, are you sure you can’t do better than him?”

I glance to Reece who looks ready to bust a
gasket. “There isn’t anyone better than my guy.”

“Okay, Mara. What’s going on? Why are you
here instead of at home with Mom?” Reece asks her pacing back and forth in
front of us.

“I want to go to college here. I’ve spoken
with the college back home and they’ve emailed all my files, or whatever, to
the college here. So, I’m all set. All I need is somewhere to live,” she
announces this so quickly I’m hoping Reece followed the gist of what she said
because I don’t think she’s going to want to repeat it.

“You can’t stay here with Donovan and me,
plus Callie is moving in with me.” He shakes his head.

“Why can’t I move in here? You have a
sleeper sofa. What’s the problem?” she asks looking so innocent.

I hide my grin behind my hand.

“I might be your brother, but Donovan is no
relation and the last thing I want is to find you in his bed. For god’s sake,
Mara he’s eight years older than you, there is no way you can stay here.”

“Now wait a minute,” Donovan interrupts not
looking happy, “Yeah, I’m eight years older than her, but there is no way
she’ll ever be found in my bed. She’s like a sister. What’s happened to trust?”

“Fuck.” Reece is still pacing and now he’s
rubbing his neck in frustration. “I’m sorry,” he says to Donovan.

“I need to calm down,” he tells the room in
general before looking back at his sister. But you can tell he’s losing his
steam as he stares at his deflated sister. “Stay here for now, but we’ll talk
tomorrow when I’m not so tired and I expect you to talk and not shout as well.
Donovan can referee.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Hoping this confrontation is over with for
today, I stand and walk to Donovan who hugs me, and whispers, “Are you
alright?”

“Yeah,” I whisper back.

“Get off my girl and go and get your own
damn girl.” Reece looks at Mara again. “And not my sister.”

I roll my eyes and taking his hand lead him
back out of the apartment after saying our goodbyes to everyone, hoping he
manages to keep his temper tomorrow.

Walking down the stairs to the exit, I
nearly plow into Reece, who stops dead in his tracks. He turns around to steady
me, and keeping his hands on my arms, he says, “I love you.”

I smile and taking hold of his face, place
a kiss to each of his eyes, then his nose and ending with a soft touch of our
lips. “I love you, too.”

“You’re not going to leave me, right?”

I start to laugh when I realize he’s
serious. “I’m moving in with you. Does that say I’m leaving you?”

“I’ve never had this, and everything with
you terrifies the life out of me.”

He makes my heart squeeze, seeing these
cracks in his badass exterior. “This between us frightens me as well. I know I
don’t say it, but it’s a big step we’re taking…and we’ll take it together.”

“Together… I promise,” he says, sealing his
promise with a kiss.

Mara

Watching my brother leave with his girl
makes me want to pack my bags and follow him. Anything other than staying here
with
him
. I’ve been in love with
him
for as long as I can remember. Yeah,
I had a schoolgirl crush on him, but my feelings have grown into something
more. Into love. My heart breaks every time he says something that I don’t want
to hear. Like he doesn’t want me here, well, that is something I know already
without him shouting it at me. I mean he’s been the most un-hospitable person
ever.

Turning up on his doorstep in tears, you’d
think that he’d have hugged me, but not Donovan. He’d clenched his jaw, opened
the door wider so I could enter and then asked “What have you done now, Mara?”
Because it was me. I’d needed a hug and I’d needed someone to listen to me, but
he wasn’t willing to do either.

Ever since I turned sixteen he’s kept his
distance and always stays well out of my way when he comes home with the guys
and visits with Reece. It hurts. It hurts a lot.

Out of the three musketeers, Donovan is the
most laid back, but not with me. With me, he acts like I have the plague or
something.

Since the door shut behind my brother,
Donovan’s been standing across the room alternatively glaring at me and looking
out of the window.

My bedroom is calling because all I want to
do is lock myself away and cry. He’s never going to look at me the way I want
him to. I can’t stay here anymore. I’ve only been here a few days, but I can’t
stay here and watch him be with someone else. It’ll hurt too much. And he’s
made it clear that he doesn’t want me and never will.

A tear escapes as I quickly get to my feet
and make for my room.

“Mara…”

I stop with my hand on the door handle
refusing to look back at him. “What?”

Goose bumps form on my arms as I feel him
walk up behind me, a breath away from touching me. It’s difficult to breathe
with him being so close. I rest my forehead against the door as Donovan
surrounds me with his heat, resting his forearms at either side of my head
causing his chest to rest softly against my back.

“Mara… I’m going to move out.” He clears
his throat. “I’ve already found somewhere so I’ll be leaving in about a week.”

My breath catches in my throat because I
wasn’t expecting him to say that.

“It’s not right, us both living here
together without Reece being here. People will get the wrong idea… Mara, please
look at me.”

Shaking my head, a shiver wracks my body
when he nuzzles my hair from my face and breathes on my neck. It feels as
though he’s about to kiss me or it might be wishful thinking on my part.

“I’m too old for you,” he whispers so close
to my ear that lightening shoots straight to my core and my nipples pucker,
desperate for his touch. “Mara,” he trails along my neck with his lips, “are
you listening to me?” He nips my earlobe with his teeth as his hand lands on my
hip.

“Mmm,” I reply, breathless.

Releasing the handle, I place both my hands
on the door in front of me and push back slightly, making full body contact
with Donovan, who sounds as though the air has just left his body. He’s solid
against me. Rock hard and I don’t just mean his abs.

The hand on my hip slides around and he
splays his fingers against my belly, which is fluttering with butterflies. His
other hand covers mine on the door as our fingers entwine. I’ve never felt so
hot, wet, aching – aroused.

Donovan drops his head to the curve of my
neck and breathes – heavily. “You’re killing me.”

He briefly presses me closer to him before
letting me go, albeit reluctantly.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this. It won’t
happen again,” he apologizes and then I hear his bedroom door slam shut.

My tears start to flow from my eyes as I
slowly push my way into my bedroom and closing the door behind me, I lie across
the bed and cry.

Now I know he isn’t indifferent to me, it’s
going to hurt all the more knowing he isn’t willing to do anything about it.