Page 57 of The Other Side

The next words exit me as easy as air. “Sorry,” I counter, “I’m a little hung up on the fact that you brought a woman here to potentially fuck.”

“I had no intention of fucking her. Just wanted some company,” he says. “Haven’t fucked anyone since you arrived, actually.”

He slowly strolls deeper into the living room, my eyes angling up as he draws closer.

“Just seems stupid when we could be the ones fucking,” he rumbles lowly. His comment is crass and casual, breathing a tingle along my flesh. “But you want to make things difficult by parading that engagement ring and shit, so I don’t know. I’m kind of at a loss, Cal.”

There’s a dash of humor sparking his delivery, but a dangerous bite that sinks its teeth into me. His woody cologne invades my space, and I’m instantly flung into his orbit.

“You want details? I can give you those,” he says, stopping a mere inch away from me.

“No thanks. I’m good.”

His brows delicately draw in. “Are you?”

“Peachy,” I annunciate.

His eyes volley between my lips and eyes. A firestorm brews beneath my flesh, my chest pumping deeper with every second I anticipate his rebuttal.

“To tell you the truth, I couldn’t tell you what she looks like when she comes. Just like the rest of them.”

I stand unblinking, my brain repeating his words over and over.

Until I’m sure I heard him correctly.

He squints, his long fingers wagging beside his ear like he’s trying to make sense of what he’s saying. Almost like he’s talking his inner thoughts out loud to himself. “There’re all these sounds, but I never see them. I always hear them having a grand fucking time under me. On top of me …” His words trail off until he’s shaking his head. “But I never see their faces. Never.”

I sweep my eyes over his expectant stare, heat sweltering my body. A mild sigh wanders from my lips, and my fingers fiddle with the buttons of my long-sleeve crop top.

“What?” he asks, his brows jerking as he leans in an inch. “Does it turn you on when I say that?”

“What?” I breathe. My chest jaggedly pumps as I blink rapidly, his proximity lighting another match to my skin. “N-no.”

“Knowing I have to pinch my eyes closed to keep your face from slipping away. Otherwise, the moment’s obliterated for me.”

My composure withers as the sultry flame expands. “What? No. Bra⁠—”

He straightens, inhaling slowly while our eyes lock. My pulse accelerates, fluttering against my neck when his finger reaches for my denim belt loop.

I swallow thickly, our gazes dipping to where his digit is hooked. He gently tugs me, my feet shuffling toward him when I say, “I should get home to Jesse.”

My eyes pop to his, his Adam’s apple cocking as he assesses the conviction in my voice.

There is none.

His stare sinks to my lips. “But that’s not what you’re gonna do.”

It’s not a command.

He’s calling my bluff.

Chapter 19

Callie Rae

“You want something from me. You’re curious,” he adds. “I have nothing to lose, so I might as well just give you a little preview, no?”

His eyes meet mine. He’s still just as my body erupts with severe desire. An urge that I’ve repressed for far too long and is about to be unleashed.