Callum & Harper (Sleepless 1)

Callum groaned into his fist. “God, you’re making this hard on me, Harper.”

“Go into the bedroom then if you can’t handle it.”

“No, no. I can handle it. I-I’ll be good. I promise,” he remedied with little boy-like excuses.

I laughed.

I shimmied out of my panties, not quite being able to bend all the way over, then stepped out of them before turning towards the shower. Before I knew it, Callum was at my back, running his hands up my sides, up my neck and back down, all the while kissing my shoulder.

“Callum,” I playfully admonished.

“Fine,” he grated before forcing himself to sit back down.

I tied my hair up, having just washed it that morning, and stepped into the water. It felt amazing on my back and I sighed at the relief it was giving my poor muscles.

When it felt like all the kinks were worked out of my back, I poured a generous amount of white ginger infused body wash and began working it over my legs and over the rest of my body. I turned around and found that Callum was leaning against the wall, the shower curtain pulled slightly back so he could see me. His eyes looked faintly glazed over. I smiled innocently at him. He flirtatiously smiled back, the grin touching his eyes. He turned his head trying to stay cool and rid himself of his shit-eating grin.

“It won’t work,” I told him, making him smile even wider. He coughed into a fist and righted his expression only to lose it again, making me laugh. “You’re adorable.”

“And you’re sexy as hell, Harper. Please tell me you aren’t going to shave.”

“Not needed,” I told him. “I did that this morning.”

“Then what are you we still doing here?” He asked.

“I’m rinsing the soap from my body,” I teased, having more fun than I thought I’d ever have teasing Callum.

“You’re done,” he insisted. “You’re rinsed. If your back wasn’t so newly healed, I’d have already tossed you over my shoulder.”

“Callum!”

“Get out.”

“So bossy. Sheesh,” I teased. I stepped out of the shower and towel dried off. “Go back to your bedroom. Get comfortable. I’ll be there in a minute.”

He hesitantly obeyed me, walking backwards from my room. I shut the door in his face and almost laughed out loud at his stunned expression. I put on deodorant, spritzed myself with a little Wild Bluebell and paced slowly in front of my drawers. Don’t be a coward, Harper, I told myself. It’s for him, just put it on.

On my wedding night, Cherry had passed me a little discretely wrapped box through my overnight bag. When I unwrapped it that night, I blushed like a school girl at its contents. She’d bought me a sweet, little baby doll nightie. At the time, I was so incredibly embarrassed but now it seemed like the perfect thing to wear. Huh. Maturity. Who’d have thought.

I slipped it over my body, reveling at how soft it felt against my skin. I wrapped my robe around myself, shook my hair out, applied a little mascara and lip gloss and opened Callum’s door. Seductively, I leaned against the door jamb, preparing to shed my robe but he wasn’t there. Jeez, you’re bad at this, Harper. I closed my door and the room went pitch black.

Slivers of lit the frame of his bathroom door. I listened for a moment. The shower was running. Laughing, I slid my robe off and laid it across his reading chair in the corner of his room. I crawled over onto the bed, leaning my back against the pillows at his headboard, stupidly shifting my body this way and that, trying to decide which was sexier. Nothing was sexy enough, I’d decided and thought about surprising him in the shower.

I knee walked to the edge of the bed, trying not to make too much of an effort but just before I was going to spin my leg down and off the bed, Callum opened the door, steam spilling out beneath him. His hair dripped onto his broad shoulders. I sucked in a breath in total disbelief that the impressive specimen standing before me was actually my husband.

He stopped short when he saw me and his mouth dropped open, matching my own. “Oh. My. God.” He said, sauntering over to me, his towel still around his waist, and stood in front of my kneeling form at the corner of the bed.

He bent his head to mine and kissed the sense out of me. If you’d asked me my name, I’d have told you wrong. He had that kind of ability and he was mine, maybe it was because he was mine and because I loved him the way I did that his spell could cast itself over me with such ferocity. He moaned into my throat, causing a pool of heat to settle in my lower belly.

He gently laid me on my back, being careful not to bend me or put any strain on my back. Callum explored me with his hands and the heat that spread into my belly spilled over every inch of my skin, making me flush from head to toe.

Callum made love to me for the first time as husband and wife right there on those dark sheets, in that dark, cool room.

And it was the most amazing experience I’d ever had in my entire life. Both our pasts escaped our conscious that night. It was just the two of us, together, desperately in love with the other.

His body fit mine like a glove.

Callum was right. He was so worth the wait.