Page 104 of Thin Lives

“I can’t,” she interrupted quietly. “Please understand why, Cal.”

It would make things a great deal harder—maybe even more dangerous. He would have to rethink, and plan all over again. It would be like starting over at square one.

“I do understand,” he finally said.

Calisto dropped his hand from her face, unsure of where to go next. Emma must have not liked that he let her go, because she was back in his arms before he’d even blinked once. In that one second, as her arms linked around his neck her hands tangled into his hair, and he swallowed her in a hug, time ceased to exist. The world stopped moving.

All was almost right.

He needed his child, too.

For now, with Emma in his arms, this was as close to perfect as he was going to get.

“I don’t want you to go back,” he murmured into her hair. “I want to keep you safe, like I should have been doing for all these months. I’m sorry you were alone again—you should never be alone when someone loves you.”

Her lips pressed feather-light to his neck, making heat dance over his skin. It was hard to ignore the way the heat traveled lower instantly, and the way he could feel her soft curves molding perfectly against his.

It’d been too long for him and her.

Far too long.

Memories had sustained his need for a short while—that wasn’t going to last much longer for Calisto. Not when he had Emma close, even if for a short while.

“I wasn’t alone—I had Cross.”

Calisto’s gaze was drawn to the soft arch of Emma’s lips, and then she was raising up on her tiptoes to press a quick, searing kiss to his lips. She tried to pull away, but he refused to let her go, dominating the kiss until she was tipping her head back and gasping for air.

He didn’t mind.

That just let him kiss down the delicate column of her throat, feeling her swallow and her muscles work under his licks and nips.

“I missed you, Cal.”

“You’re going to stay,” Calisto whispered against her skin. “At least for a little while—give me that, Emma. You want it, too, don’t you? Haven’t you missed this, too?”

She shivered, and he took that in like a drug straight to his vein.

“God, yes.”

That was the only confirmation he needed. He took care not to damage the red dress with the tag still tucked inside as he pulled it off her body. Calisto’s gaze swept her form, taking in the curves and skin he’d been without for far too long. Emma let him explore with his mouth and hands as he walked her back to the bed.

“Leave the heels on,” he said.

Emma grinned. “Yeah?”

“You’re going to need the extra couple of inches.”

Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. “Oh?”

Calisto took another step forward, crowding Emma at the footboard of the bed. She couldn’t move further as he leaned over her, taking her mouth with his own in another long, hot kiss.

“Fuck,” she mumbled against his mouth. “I did miss this.”

“He doesn’t … touch you … does he?”

Calisto had asked the question quietly, but his fingers clamped onto her hips and held tight. She was his, and the thought of her being touched by another man, even if that man was her husband, pissed him off like he couldn’t explain.

Emma’s fingers slid under his jaw, and Calisto met her gaze. “No.”