“Give me another!” he demanded.
Calista shook her head, handing him the spatula while she stepped out of the way in order to eat her own warm cookie.
Goran slipped the spatula carefully under another cookie, his movements careful and precise. He treated each cookie as if it were a precious thing before taking a bite, closing his eyes and savoring the warm, gooey goodness. “You’re a miracle worker,” he commented, his mouth full and he reached over to pull her into his arms, kissing her even though his mouth was full. “Do more!” he ordered when he lifted his head, his arm still around her waist.
Calista laughed, delighted with both his admiration for her newly acquired skill as well as this affectionate, snuggly side of the man. Before this ordeal, Calista never would have suspected that Goran was a snuggly kind of person.
Thinking about that, she realized that she hadn’t thought of herself as very snuggly either! She and Ayla hugged a great deal, but Astir…well, in Calista’s mind, Astir was about as snuggly as a rock! He was big and muscular and sometimes annoyingly protective. But he was also much older than she and Ayla. She loved him, but they didn’t hug often.
That was something she’d like to change, she thought, looking over at Goran who was concentrating on getting another cookie off of the cookie sheet. She laughed, rolling her eyes at him.
“What?” he growled, walking by her with his fourth cookie in his hand. He kissed the top of her head as he walked over to the television where he picked up the remote to find a movie to watch.
“You’re not going to be hungry for dinner tonight,” she called out to him, sneaking another cookie herself.
“I will be,” he called right back. “What’s your favorite movie?”
Calista stopped, her hands frozen as she looked at him. She could only see the back of his head since the sofa was facing the television, just as the kitchen did. But she saw him flipping through the channels, trying to find something in the …romantic comedy category?
Her heart melted a bit more. “You don’t need to watch a rom com,” she told him, trying to hide the tenderness she felt from coming out in her voice.
He turned his head around so that he could look at her. “You watched one of my movies last night. And besides, I’d like to know what you enjoy watching.”
Calista shivered, thinking that his eyes were lethal. “There’s a movie called Willow that I’ve watched over and over,” she told him.
He moved, turning so that he was almost facing her instead of just his face. “Willow? The one about a magical baby?”
“Yes,” Calista admitted, bracing herself for ridicule. “I love that movie.”
Goran noticed a tension in her now. Her jaw poked out a bit more and her eyes dared him to…what? Make fun of her movie preference?
He stood up and came over to her, ignoring the cookies because Calista was hurting for some reason. “Hey,” he said softly, his thumb sliding against her tense jawline. “What’s going on?”
Her chin jutted up a notch. “I’m just waiting.”
“For what?”
Her lashes lowered, hiding her eyes from his view. “For you to tell me what a silly movie it is.”
Goran hesitated for a long moment, then gave in to his instincts. Pulling her into his arms, he held her gently. Again, it wasn’t a sexual embrace, and he was starting to marvel at his need to touch this woman all the time, even platonically.
“I don’t think that the movie is silly, Calista,” he told her gently. “Let’s grab some real food,” he tilted his head towards the fruit salad sitting on the counter, “pull up the movie and just relax for the rest of the evening?”
Calista relaxed, her body almost sagging at his lack of ridicule over her movie choice. “That sounds really nice.”
They filled up plates with grilled chicken that he helped to season and roast in the oven, as well as the green salad and mixed fruit that she cut up and tossed. They both took their plates over and sat on the sofa. Goran was a typical male that evening. After eating their meal, he pulled her close, but retained control of the remote. They watched Willow, a magical movie about saving a small baby girl who would eventually save the world. Calista loved the movie because of the romantic plot twists and Goran enjoyed the movie for the fight scenes, grunting appreciatively at the sword fights and gruesome explosions of trolls.
Throughout the movie, Goran kept his non-remote-holding arm around her, keeping her by his side. Calista leaned her head against his shoulder, enjoying the movie more than ever, simply because she was sharing it with this man.
When the movie ended, Calista turned her head towards Goran and he kissed her. And he didn’t stop kissing her. When he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, he didn’t stop. When he laid her down on the covers, he continued. When he stripped off all of their clothes, he continued kissing her, touching every inch of newly bared skin. He kissed her mouth, her breasts, her stomach, her core…and continued kissing her until she screamed out with pleasure. And he kissed his way back up her body, kissing her as he entered her with almost painful slowness. It was pure lovemaking and Calista trembled as he brought her to pleasure, found his own, then continued clinging to him well into the night as they fell asleep in each other’s arms.