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I moan as he begins to massage my breasts, pushing them together and staring down at them like they’re the only thing that exists. I can’t think of anything else as he leans down and takes one nipple in his mouth, then the other.
There’s a flash – a look of uncertainty, an unreadable hesitation – and for a moment it all barrels into me.
But then my man presses his lips firmly against mine, and all I can think about is our pleasure.
Chapter Twenty-One
Conrad
“It’s taken a week to get it all sorted,” I mutter, leaning against the balcony railing and letting my gaze trail over the city.
The sun is rising, glittering down on the buildings below, and the few clouds are low. Some of them drift by so close to the high-rise I feel like I could reach out and touch them.
Callie’s mother, Janet, leans against the railing beside me. Over the past week, she’s really started to come out of her shell, going out most days to visit friends or to her painting club. She’s cut her hair and has booked her first grief therapy appointment.
Last night, Callie huddled close to me, her cheek resting against my chest. Her warmth always sinking into me when she presses herself close like that and said, “I hope it’s not temporary this time. I hope she can really be happy.”
Janet sighs and nods. “I guess you wanted to get the perfect spot.”
“Yes, it had to be there. It’s symbolic. It’s a way for her to honor what she and her dad had, what she and your husband had, ma’am.”
Janet smiles tightly, gazing over the city. “You’ll never be able to break that habit, will you, Conrad?”
I chuckle. “I don’t think so. A man ought to have manners around his lady’s mother.”
“I’m so happy you found each other.”
I squeeze down on the railing, letting my mind think back over the last week.
My private investigator called me and told me Alexis has been arrested for assault. Apparently, I’m not the only person she’s been stalking, and she attacked another surgeon in a restaurant. She has a weird medical fetish, a history of this type of behavior.
Maybe it was selfish, how I punched the air when I found out. But I couldn’t help it. I just wanted her – want her – out of my life so I can be with Callie in peace.
But this past week hasn’t been all sweet it’s been hard, swallowing the words I love you and will you marry me because the location wasn’t ready yet.
“I thought you were going to say no,” I joke. “When I asked for your blessing.”
That’s why I couldn’t tell Callie right after we had had our first time, when all the emotion in the world was combusting between us and there was an intense need to let it all out. I had to get her mother’s blessing first – respect her parents, her parent, now that one’s gone.
Janet shakes her head. “It was always going to be yes. I’ve seen the way she’s changed since you two met. It’s like watching a flower finally blossom. She seems so much happier with herself, so much more optimistic, so much less consumed with keeping us afloat. What a horrible mother I’ve been.”
“Grief, Mrs. Simpkins, grief,” I say, trying to comfort her. “You can’t blame yourself for that. I’ve seen what a toll it can take on a person.”
“Your father,” she mutters, nodding. “Callie mentioned he lives in Spain.”
“Old Patrick Cage, one hell of a man in his day. He worked as a mechanic and used to bare-knuckle box on the weekend. After my mother’s botched surgery, something changed in him. He couldn’t be in here anymore. The day I turned eighteen, he cashed out everything he had and left. I went off to college – worked my ass off with part-time jobs to keep myself going.”
I’ve been over all of this with Callie during the last few days, but I’m not sure if her mother knows all the details.
“Anyway, he changed. He left.”
“Do you resent him for it?”
I bite down, thinking. “Maybe I did when I was younger. But not anymore. I understand why he had to go.”
“I often wonder if Callie resents me,” she muses. “It was so unfair, how I withdrew into myself. It was like a waking coma, except I had to choose to be asleep. It was easier to stand on the sidelines of life, of myself, rather than live it. But in doing so I abandoned her.”
“You should tell her all of this, Mrs. Simpkins,” I murmur. “I’m sure she’d love to hear it.”
“Yes, you’re right. You see. This is why I couldn’t say no when you asked for my blessing. You’re always thinking of what’s best for my daughter.”
“And I always will,” I say, voice firm. “For the rest of our lives.”
