Dare Me

“Dirty, nasty. Tell that boy what you did!”

No, no, no. I shook my head for Trish, digging my heels into the carpeted steps, reminding myself she couldn’t tell me what to do anymore, repeating it till I didn’t hear her voice any longer. I know what I did. I had to do it. I had to. Hot tears fell but when I opened my eyes, they were stone because Trish was gone. I breathed out hard as I kept climbing up. I’d gotten rid of her.

But my relief was short-lived.

Lightning flashed through the domed window and my heart slammed when I saw Callum’s long silhouette gliding across from me, ascending the opposite staircase. Trish was gone but Callum had found me and he was still furious. If he wasn’t before, he certainly was now. His wolfish gaze hounded me, his every step matching mine, but I was too far from the bottom to stop and turn around. So I kept going up. I felt his seething eyes locked on me the whole way, rattling my bones. I told myself to simply beat him up the stairs – to lock myself in some powder room till he’d taken a breath and looked something other than enraged.

The landing at the top of the staircase was a patch of square marble. Callum reached it a step after me, striding firmly behind me through the dark hall. His footsteps were neat, angry and assertive. My pulse scattered everywhere.

“I’ll be down in a minute!” I exhaled over my shoulder. I was nervous and breathless and he only came faster.

“I don’t care when you’ll be down.”

My pulse rose with the speed of his step.

“Just give me some time, Callum,” I begged as I gathered my dress. I went so fast in my heels I felt like they might break and I thought for a moment he’d finally gone because I didn’t hear him anymore. I tossed a look over

my shoulder and saw nothing in the dark hall. I let out a long breath.

But suddenly, I heard his growl.

“You’ve had enough time.”

I gasped when Callum threw me up against a wall. I couldn’t see a thing but I could feel the cold marble behind me. He pressed my hot skin against it. “I won’t let you run from me again, Lake.” His hand encompassed my throat, his words intense, breathing into my mouth. “Tell me where you went.” I breathed hard, couldn’t speak if I wanted to. “Tell me!” I stared up into the domed skylight, like a massive eye raining tears with me. A flash of lightning and I saw the fire in Callum’s stare as he pushed himself against me. “I’m choosing you, Lake,” he hissed. “I want you. I love you. I love you more than anything else in this world and I know I need to spend the rest of my life with you.” I gasped as he thrust his tongue in my mouth, his kiss immediately dominating me. His words seeped like medicine into my soul but just as I kissed him back, he ripped his lips from mine. “But I can’t fucking do it if you don’t tell me everything, so tell me everything – now.”

“Callum – ”

He thrust against me. “Do it.”

“I just – ”

He thrust again. “Now.”

“Let me get my head straight, Callum!” I shoved him, thrusting my hands in my hair. Fuck. How easy was I? He said it. I love you. Three words from him and I was back to asking myself if I could tell him. I almost wanted to. But how? I tangled my fingers in my hair, tearing apart my up-do. I felt Callum’s hands increasingly impatient on me, tugging at me, ripping at me and stretching down my dress. “Callum, I don’t even know where to start – ”

“Find a place,” he growled, jerking me into his chest. My dress slid out of place on my body. “Do it now.” He fisted handfuls of silk jersey. I felt my breast expose, cold air hit my legs. “Go. Go on, Lake. Do it.”

“Stop it!” I resented the rush as much as the time and the place. “Callum, can’t you just – ”

He slammed me back on the wall. “What?” he demanded.

“I can’t think right now, Callum!”

“Even better. Don’t think, just speak. Let it out. Let it all out and tell me!”

“I will, okay?” My angry words took him by as much surprise as they did me, but everything about him was still hard. His glare was steely and unforgiving. His cock was stiff, pulsing with pressure against my belly.

“Then go on.”

“Not here.”

He tightened his fist on my dress. “That doesn’t work for me.”

My chest pressed so tight to his I had no idea whose pounding heart I was feeling. “It’s going to have to work for you, Callum!”

“I don’t trust you enough for that!”

“Fuck you.” His words stung me, stabbed straight through my heart. I shoved him and he thrust back. I pushed his hands off my body but they grasped at me harder. “You don’t trust me, Callum?” I writhed away as he tore at my dress. “You don’t trust me even a little?”