Page 96 of Fallen Hero

I knew she was awake, but I wasn’t ready for her to roll away—wasn’t ready to lose her to any regret she may have.

That would kill my soul.

It had been a long time since I’d woken up in bed next to a woman. So long, it felt like another life—and not a good one worth remembering. And I’d certainly never curled around a woman with the sole purpose of holding her close, not wanting to let go.

“What are you thinking about?” Calli asked softly.

Of course, my smart girl knew I was awake too.

“How much I like lying here with you.”

Calli shifted her ass deeper into my crotch but abruptly stopped when her bare ass met my hard-on.

“Ignore it.”

“It’s kinda hard to ignore.”

I didn’t want to be that asshole who couldn’t control his base urges. I’d done what I could so she wouldn’t feel what her warm, soft body was doing to mine. Now she knew and, like me, she’d have to ignore it for now.

“What about you?” I asked. “What are you thinking about?”

“That I wished we weren’t ignoring your penis.”

Penis.

Christ, she was cute.

“Just to say, Calli, boys have penises. Men have cocks. Dick is also acceptable. Never peen, penis, or willy.”

“Is that in the Man Rulebook?”

“Yep. Page one, paragraph two, right under the one that explains how to be a gentleman.”

“Did you read paragraph one or skip straight to two?”

“I skimmed it.”

Her hand resting on my forearm started skimming. “I don’t believe that. I think you read every word.”

I was far from gentlemanly, though for her, to her, I always would be. If gentlemanly included introducing a plethora of new-to-her things I could do to her body that would culminate in her having more orgasms.

“Love you think that, baby, but stop being a smart-ass and tell me what you were lying there thinking about before my cock took your attention.”

I felt her body start to shake before I heard it. My mind rewound and I tried to remember if I’d ever heard her laugh. I couldn’t remember a single moment since I’d met her back in Mexico where she laughed. I lay statue still and took in the sound.

“Before your cock caught my attention, I was wishing I could stay here all day and not have the world intrude. That for the first time maybe in my whole life, I feel . . .”

I gave her a moment to finish her thought. When it was clear she wouldn’t, I prompted, “You feel what, Calli?”

It took a couple more seconds before she answered, “I feel like the world doesn’t suck. That maybe, I don’t know . . . I could be happy, be normal, be safe.”

“You can be all those things. But normal, that shit is overrated,” I teased, and kissed the top of her head.

Her hair was still damp from last night’s bath. A first for me. The thought of crawling into a tub and washing a woman’s hair had never occurred to me. The comparison wasn’t close, but I liked that after Calli gave me what she gave me, I could give her something clean and untainted. That was hers and hers alone.

“I’ve made my decision,” she announced. “After I get Tom what he needs, I have one more thing to do, then I’m out. I don’t know what I’ll do. I have money. I can take my time, find a place, figure out what I’m going to do . . . but whatever it is, it won’t be this.”

I didn’t have a good feeling about this. Mostly because I didn’t want to think about what happened next. That invite could come in anytime, then she’d be gone.