Page 162

Real romanctick.

Me

It was, fuck you very much

I started typing more, but the click of Cally’s bedroom door made me stop. I quickly deleted what I’d written, replacing it with, “Gotta go. Cally’s awake. TTYL.” Then I exited the app and slid my phone onto the coffee table.

Cally padded into the room barefoot and sleep-rumpled, wearing one of those soft, fancy T-shirts he bought in bulk and low-slung flannel sleep pants with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. A pillow crease bisected his cheek, and his dark hair was sticking up in every direction.

He made his way across the room, stopping in front of me, and pulled one hand out of his pocket. He held it out toward me, his fist closed.

“I meant to give this to you when we got home last night,” he said softly, flipping his hand over and opening his fingers to reveal a simple gold band sitting in the middle of his palm. “But then you distracted me.”

It was like I forgot how to breathe for a second, my heart instantly picking up speed.

I knew Cally had gotten me a ring, so it wasn’t like this was a surprise. But actually seeing it made this whole situation feel real in a way it simply hadn’t before.

I stared at it for a few more beats, then slowly lifted my gaze up to Cally’s face. He’d pulled his other hand out of his pocket, clamping it around the back of his neck. His bottom lip was locked between his teeth, his eyebrows high on his forehead.

“Is this okay?” he asked, his voice low.

“It’s …” The word perfect died on my lips before I could push it out. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, and swallowed hard before forcing my eyes back to his. “It’s perfect, Cal.”

Cally cleared his throat, then sank down onto one knee and took my left hand in his, his fingers trembling against mine.

“I spent my whole life thinking there were certain things I wouldn’t get to have. That because of who my family is, and this game we play, I’d have to keep parts of myself locked away.” His voice hitched on the last three words, his thumb brushing gently over the back of my knuckles.

“And then you came along and completely upended my whole fucking world,” he continued, a fond, tender smile quirking his lips to the side. “You made me want things I never thought I was allowed to want. You’re my favorite person and the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life making sure you know that. I can’t wait to be your husband.” He slid the ring onto my finger. I love you so much.”

Tears welled in my eyes, blurring Cally into a hazy shape in front of me. I swiped my forearm over my face to clear the tears, then launched myself forward, tackling him onto his back.

Cally let out a startled laugh as he hit the rug, his arms wrapping around me.

“I love you,” I said, peppering his cheeks with kisses. “You mean everything to me.” His forehead. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me too.” His nose. “You’re so smart and sexy and so fucking hot.” His jaw. “I love everything about you.” His mouth.

I sat back on my heels and hauled him up into a seated position, gripping the hem of his shirt and pulling it up and over his head. I tossed it behind me, not caring where it landed, and splayed my hand over his chest, my thumb brushing over his nipple, my eyes locking on the gold band on my ring finger. I groaned and buried my face in the crook of his neck, pressing even more kisses into his skin, coasting my lips along his collarbone and down the hard planes of his chest, working my way south.

“I need you.” I hooked my fingers into his waistband and tugged.

Cally’s hips jack-knifed off the floor into a high bridge, making it easier to strip him out of the rest of his clothes.

I didn’t waste so much as a second to get my hands and mouth on him. I gripped his cock at the base, angling it toward my mouth, and rocked forward, taking him as far as I was able. I pulled back to swirl my tongue around his head a few times, then licked slowly along the underside of his glans with the broad side of my tongue the way I knew he liked.

Cally’s hips hitched forward on a groan, and I did it again.

I gripped him tighter, bobbing my head up and down until his breathing became nothing more than a cacophony of gasps and moans.

“Just like that,” he gritted out, tangling his fingers into the curls at the back of my head to press my face flush against his pelvis. I relaxed my throat the way I’d been practicing and swallowed around him. Cally arched off the floor with a roar, the muscles in his abs and thighs flexing, as hot, thick ropes of cum flooded my mouth.

When he sank back down onto the rug, I slid off and licked his cock clean with long, slow laps of my tongue until he tapped the side of my face, my cue to stop.

I slid up the length of his body so that my right elbow rested on the floor beside his head, my left hand brushing his hair back from his forehead.

He hooked his hand around the back of my neck to drag me down into a filthy, open-mouthed kiss, his hands sliding between us to dip into the waistband of my sweats. He hummed approvingly when he brushed his thumb over my slit, pre-cum leaking out of me like a faucet.

I groaned into his mouth, my hips jerking into his grip. He worked me slowly at first, long strokes from root to tip, his palm sweeping over the head with a twist of his wrist on the upstroke before dragging back down to start all over again.

I tore my mouth away to suck in a lungful of air. “Harder,” I instructed on the next pass.