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Chuckling, Leah reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. “You’d have to keep your hair short, so everyone can see it.”
“Of course.” He grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “We’d better get going.”
Leah followed Callum out to the car, aware of an enormous shift within herself. She felt at once overwhelmed and excited by it.
CHAPTER NINE
Over the next few days, Leah’s place was a hive of activity. Everyone was there to help, making the process much easier, as long as they weren’t working on top of each other. To start with, all the furniture had to be removed. What could be salvaged was put in the shipping container, what couldn’t was thrown in a big dumpster. From there, the kitchen cupboards, flooring and skirting boards had to be cut out. Callum and John worked on the flooring in the loungeroom first, allowing William to come along behind with the skirting, then Mikayla and Leah to paint. Then Callum and John worked on the bathroom while William and Juniper installed the kitchen cabinets.
It was well organized and efficient. The only thing slowing them down was having to wait for the paint or glue to dry. But it was pure torture for Callum. He felt Leah’s eyes on him throughout. Following him. Watching him. Smiling at him when he looked at her. She sat next to him at every coffee or lunch break and he couldn’t not touch her. They ended each day, after everyone had left and Callum was about to drive her back to his parents, having some alone time. He was very careful not to let it get out of hand, but with each passing moment, that was becoming increasingly hard to do.
By the end of the third day, with the house repairs complete, Callum hefted his toolbox into the back of the truck. Then he leaned against it, folding his arms across his chest. Waiting.
“I know. I’m so thrilled. Thank you so much. All of you.” Leah led everyone out of the house. The goodbyes seemed to take forever. Nora and John left first. He noticed that his mother didn’t ask him if he would be back for dinner. Then Mikayla and Rafe left, but not until Rafe all but dragged Mikayla to the car. She seemed to be in for a long chat, shooting Callum mischievous looks the whole time. Finally, Juniper, William and Billy left, but not before Leah had had to run back inside to find one of Billy’s wooden frogs.
Then they were alone. The gloaming edged around them, the sky a soft dark blue as the first hint of stars twinkled high above them. Leah stood on the front porch, leaning against the railing, her arms folded across her middle. She looked so beautiful in the shadowed light, her eyes glowing, a knowing smile curving her lips. He stood for a long moment, gazing at her, willing the breath to return to his body. Then he was closing the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her waist as she slid her hands across his shoulders, her fingers toying with the hair at his nape. She stood on the top step, looking down at him.
“Thank you for my house,” she said softly, dropping her forehead to his.
“You’re welcome.”
She kissed him then, so softly it was barely a whisper across his lips. And again. Light. Teasing. Her kiss was like ambrosia. He wanted more. So much more. Perhaps she sensed his urgency because she pushed her fingers into his hair and slanted her lips across his, sighing as she opened her mouth. It was the sigh that did him in. It burned through him, fueling the fire he had banked so carefully over the last few days. He pulled her hard against him, skimming his hands down to her bottom as he stepped up onto the deck. He molded her against him, walking her backwards until her back hit the front door.
Her kiss was hungry, demanding, her hands digging into his shoulders. He slid his hand down her leg and lifting it, hooked it over his hip. The sound Leah made when he pressed himself against her pushed Callum over the edge. He reached for the buttons of her shirt dress and started to undo them. But they were small and he was in a hurry, so he ripped her dress open. Oh god, she wasn’t wearing a bra. He palmed one breast while bending his head and taking the other in his mouth. He rolled his tongue over the taut nipple, the feel of Leah’s fingers, urgent in his hair, spurring him on. He kissed his way up her neck. Hot, burning kisses until he found her lips.
“God, Leah,” he said, his voice guttural as he slid his hand down her body, skimming the tips of his fingers over her underwear. He pushed his tongue into her mouth as he rubbed her through her underwear. She was so hot for him. It was all Callum could do not to drop his pants, lift her up against the door and pound into her until they were both half dead. But he couldn’t do that to her. Not for their first time together. But he could make her come. Right here. Right now. He could feel her come on his fingers. With her leg still high on his hip, she was wide open when he slipped his hand inside her underwear. She gripped his shirt with tight fists when he started moving his hand against her, sliding his fingers into her. God, she was unbelievably hot. Incredibly sweet. So wet.
He slipped his arm around her shoulder to hold her up as he increased the pressure with his hand. Her head fell back against his arm. Her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged as she lost herself in sensation.
“Let go, sweetheart,” he said before claiming her lips in a last scorching kiss. She broke apart then, crying out against his lips as she climaxed, her body jerking against him.
She still gripped his shirt and she rested her forehead against her hands as she took a deep, shuddering breath. Callum wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. He frowned as he felt tension hit her and she pushed at him.
“Leah?”
“I have to go.” She kept her head down so he couldn’t see her face. “You have to go.” She pushed at his chest and he took a step back. “Please go.” She didn’t look at him as she turned to the door, slipping inside and closing it behind her. The snap of the lock clicking in place hit him like a punch to the guts. He had no idea what to do. No idea what could possibly have upset her. He stood on her front veranda for a long moment, wrestling with himself about what he should do. If she was distressed, he didn’t want to leave her alone. But if he was the cause of that distress, he needed to leave her alone. He saw a light flick on through the frosted glass of the bathroom window, then the sound of the shower running. With no other option, he left.
***
Callum arrived at the lighthouse very early the next morning. He had passed a sleepless night with no real clue as to what he should do next. He was utterly confounded. In all his multitude of experience with women, nothing had prepared him for how to deal with this situation. He kept asking himself if he’d pushed her too hard, if he’d forced her. But that just didn’t feel right. She had been totally into it, he was sure of it. He considered texting her. He’d considered texting her every other minute for the past twelve hours. He got out of the truck and grabbed his toolbox from the back. He planned to get stuck into laying down the decking on cabin twelve. Maybe it would be enough to take his mind off his dilemma.
Cabin Twelve at the Blessed Inlet Lighthouse was the last of the artist’s huts to be built. It was a whim of Juniper’s, really. The original plan had been for ten self-contained huts, nestled amongst the tall gums behind the Long House. But right here, on the edge of the cliff, there was space for two more, albeit smaller than the others. The view of the rolling ocean and distant horizon should have been soothing to Callum. It wasn’t. As he set to work, far from it taking his mind off his dilemma, it seemed to amplify it. He just couldn’t focus, his mind drifting back to Leah. To the taste of her. The sight of her. Her scent. He heard a car driving up the road. Leah, in the Mazda that John had arranged to be delivered to her. It couldn’t be anyone else at this hour of the morning.
As he heard Juniper call out to Leah and her quiet reply, he stayed where he was, tucked behind the Long House, out of sight. He knew Leah would see his truck and know he was there. He hammered in a strip of timber with much more force than was necessary. He could have used the nail gun, but he needed the outlet of whacking the nails in with brutal force. As he worked, his frustration grew. He just had no idea what was going on with Leah and no idea what to do about it. Having this sort of dynamic with a woman was such a new experience for him and he didn’t feel like he was coping with it all that well.
“Jesus, son, what sort of bug’s crawled up your ass?”
Callum glanced at John, standing a few feet away with his hands in his pockets, an amused glint in his eyes, his toolbox at his feet.
“Nothing.” Hammer. Hammer. Hammer.
“Didn’t want to just use the nail gun?”
“Nope.”
“Right, I’ll leave you to it then. I want to finish the bathroom fittings in number three.”
“Fine.”
