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I immediately follow the sound of her voice to the sitting room in the front of the house, where she is standing in front of the fireplace. Her eyes scan the pictures sitting on the mantle before picking up a picture of Clayton and me from graduation.
“My best friend, Clayton,” I say as I stop beside her. “It’s from the day we graduated from university and were ready to change the world.”
“Was the real world everything you expected it to be?” Ava asks, placing the frame back on the mantle.
“Not even a little,” I respond, flashing her a bright smile. “Univeristy doesn’t prepare you for the real world. Living life does.”
“I never thought about it that way. I’ve always been so focused on my goals and never thought about what it means not to be in college anymore.” She turns toward the window.
“No one ever does.” I watch as her eyebrows pull down as if deep in thought. “Someone has been telling you what to do your entire life.”
“You sound like that was a million years ago for you.”
“It was. I graduated in 2003.”
“That makes you…” Her mouth moves as she counts off the years in her mind. “Forty.”
I nod, taking a step closer to her, but she backs away until she collides with a small end table. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” Her voice quivers as her pupils dilate.
I watch her chest rise and fall quickly as her body sways toward me. It’s like she is being pulled closer to me by an unknown force.
“I need you to be sure, Ava.” My voice takes on a gravelly tone as I give in to my desire for her.
Electricity sizzles between us as I lean toward her. My eyes scan hers, but I don’t make a move closer. I’ve started every kiss we’ve shared today, but I need to know she’s all in. That I’m not the only one putting my heart on the line.
“Yes,” she whispers as I capture her mouth. This time, I have her right where I want her, and I’m not letting her get away.
CHAPTERFIVE
AVA
“Mine,” Callen growls, nibbling his way down my neck as he wraps his arms around my waist and lifts me into the air.
A burning need flows through my body as he storms toward the couch.
“This is insane,” I respond as my legs widen just enough for his body to drop between them.
A million other reasons it won’t work between us filter through my mind. I need to focus on making it through one of the toughest master’s degree programs in the world while also trying to find my footing in a new country. The last thing I need is a man disrupting all my plans for a one-night stand.
“What are you thinking?” Callen taps the center of my forehead before planting a small kiss on the tip of my nose. “I can practically hear the gears turning in your head.”
“What do you want out of this, Callen?” Emotions clog in my throat as I think about the million ways this could end, only one of them with a happy ending.
I’ve always been a glass-half-empty kind of girl. Some people call it pessimistic; I call it being realistic. Fairy tales are stories we’re told as children so we don’t know the bad things that go on in the world.
“Your heart.” Callen leans back slightly and cages me in with his arms. “I was lucky enough to find love once. Never once did I believe I’d be lucky enough to find it again.” He stares deeply into my eyes, searching for something before he continues speaking. “I know it’s crazy, but you are the person I can picture spending the rest of my life with. I’ll back off if you tell me no, but I know you want this as much as I do.”
I look directly into his eyes, swirling with desire and something else I can’t place. Callen is giving me an out, letting me know I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to. But the thought of climbing off this couch and walking out the door, possibly never seeing him again, terrifies me. I want to believe every word he’s saying, that he took one look at me and knew we would spend the rest of our lives together, but how can I be sure? Is one night with him worth a broken heart?
Yes. Yes, it is.
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering if things would have been different if I’d taken a chance on Callen. If I’d thrown caution to the wind this one time and just let my heart lead the way.
“Don’t make me regret this,” I whisper, afraid of what the morning will bring. “Even if it’s just for tonight, I want to be with you.”
“The things I plan to do to you…” he groans as he rocks forward, his cock brushing against my clit.
