“None.” He leaned forward, scrutinizing me further. “I’m sober, Cal. Not to mention, one hundred percent serious about this.”
“Hold on a second. Walk me through this. I mean—” He scratched his barely-there stubble, looking confused as ever. “You know my reputation, don’t you? I date women for six weeks only, Stella. From that fact alone, I sure as hell am out of the running for taking someone’s innocence. Besides, you should wait for a worthy man, like your husband-to-be. I’m sure he’d appreciate that… that is, if he was into innocent women.”
Goodness, I was practically offering him sex, but he was putting me down mildly. WTF! I was not a little girl anymore. I craved to be in a committed relationship more than anything, however how the heck did I go about it when I couldn’t go all the way through? I mean, there’s only so much hand and blowjobs one could do before it became a dull, tedious chore.
“Let me clear something up for you, okay? I would’ve let any of my boyfriends take it. Heck, I’ve been in so many close calls and there is nothing more that I want right now than to be rid of it. As much as I want to get it over and done with, I can’t for the life of me break a promise.” I licked my lips, looking at him to see if he was getting my drift. Sure enough, he was waiting for me to go on. “Mom gave me the whole safe sex spiel when I started asking questions about when I could start dating. I wasn’t sure what prompted her, but she made me promise that it’ll be my husband who I gave it to.” I sighed, remembering that memory. “She died two months after, so I hope you understand. If this were the last thing I could do to keep that promise, I’d stick to it. So, now I hope you understand my position. I’m sure it’s easy, Cal. I mean, if it’s me in particular, then I wouldn’t mind doing it in the dark.”
“I’ll think about it,” he finally rasped at me, eyes intense.
Sex with Callum…
Fuck.
Yes.
Chapter 4
Callum
“I’ll think about it,” I heard myself say. Was I truly losing my mind here? Richard would torch me alive if he saw where my mind was taking me right now.
But Christ! Could anyone blame me? Stella came in here, looking like an uptight executive with the tight matching skirt suit outlining everything. She stood there, whilst I stared, half hoping she’d rip her clothes off and seduce me with some thigh-high stockings and bustier.
My reaction to her was normal, but still, it wasn’t a good thing. I wasn’t going to take her as I’d usually done with the women I dated and ravished on sight. I could go with the detached, somewhat clinical route; awkward and uninteresting. Or maybe I could even go in, break it open and then that would be it.
Surely this problem wouldn’t be such a big deal, right? Then why was I sweating profusely when I thought of her underneath me, writhing… legs hooked on my hips…
Really, I needed to think this through before I let my dick decide for me. I mean, it had done a lot of the deciding in the past, yet in this instance, I needed my top brain functioning properly. This was Stella and I’d cut my finger off first before I hurt her.
If this was what she wished in order to have a better chance at healthy intimacy with her boyfriend, then surely I was doing it for a good cause?
“I’ll let you know my decision this weekend. I also forgot to mention that we’re to leave this Friday afternoon and won’t be back until a week after.”
“A week?” Stella squeaked.
“Tell your friend that I’d be more than happy to find a replacement in your absence. This was, after all, unplanned and I don’t want to jeopardize anything for you. You worked hard to get where you are.” I genuinely smiled at her, eyes roaming appreciatively. “I’m proud of you, Stella.”
“That’s very sweet of you, Cal. Thank you. That really means a lot to me.” She slowly stood up, purse in hand. “I’ll let Luciana know about your offer as well as looking into whether I can take some of my work with me. What time will you be picking me up?”
“I’ll be there around four,” I responded before getting up from my chair and moving towards her. “And Stella, I need you to pretend that we’re madly in love. So, expect that I will be practically glued to your side.”
Stella nervously smiled. “Yeah, I sort of knew that. You know, newly engaged and all; so it’ll going to be a lark,” she rambled, blushing more with every word that came out of her lips “Shit, Cal. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m nervous. Blaming coffee here; I had over three already.”
I arched my brow at her, amused at her reaction. “You sure it’s not because you’d be spending a week with me?”
“Love the sense of humor, Cal.”
Stella, you are far too lovely for your own good. “See you in two days.” I softly brushed my lips against her cheek and then delicately whispered into her ear, “We’ll be sharing a room together. I’m sure we’ll have a lot of things to discuss.”
Stella didn’t even say a thing, but instead, she bit into her lip and tried as calmly as possible to leave my office.
“Stella is off-limits, you worthless swine!” I muttered, half hoping that I’d get this under control in two days time.
Clinical route it was. It was the only way possible.
Sexual thoughts in regards to her should be vanished. I wasn’t going to succumb to my body’s reaction. Heck, I might need to have a healthy dose of a warm woman’s body before I leave in two days. This had to stop and I was damn well going to do it.
Richard and the von Berg’s didn’t deserve such disrespect.
Chapter 5
Stella
“My mother and grandmother will be interrogating you, so I apologize in advance,” Callum said as he slowly pulled to the curb. “It just occurred to me that we’re almost there and you haven’t said much since we left London. Are you feeling unwell?”
“What if they don’t like me?” This was one of the things that was eating inside me, but most of all, I didn’t want to disappoint Callum. This was his family and I knew it might sound idiotic to some, yet I wanted him to be proud that I could pull it off without a hitch.
Callum’s eyes danced before he opened his car door and spun around the vehicle towards mine. He pulled my door open and carefully guided me out of the car. I didn’t know what was going on, but we were in a quiet street, with barely any cars passing by.