Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
“Just with myself.”
Callan’s eyes grew hot. “Do you think Elle would miss us if we stayed in here a bit longer?”
I was already pushing him back on the bed. “We have to be really quiet, though.”
“I’m not the one who can’t keep quiet,” he panted as I yanked at his zipper.
“Just for that, I ought to torture you, but we don’t have time.” I straddled him, bending over to swallow his laughter in my kiss.
What followed next was a quick, quiet fuck in my old bedroom … and it was awesome.
Afterward, as we righted our clothing and tried our best not to look like we’d had sex, I suddenly remembered Mhairi.
“Shit.” I paused at my bedroom door.
“What?” Callan asked, alert.
“We had sex without a condom again.”
“I thought you were on the pill.”
“Well, Mhairi, my photographer, is pregnant, even though she was on the pill. So no more condomless sex.”
Callan’s lips formed a moue.
“Are you actually pouting?”
“No. Maybe.”
“Maybe baby?” I asked wide-eyed.
Callan’s eyes flared. “Right. You’re right. Condoms from now on.”
Glad we were in agreement, I strode out of the bedroom, reaching back for his hand. He took it, but even though he was holding onto me, I almost stumbled on the stairs when he said, “Taking you bare will be something to look forward to when we are ready to get pregnant.”
“Right,” I squeaked out, doing my very best to hide my inner MY BOYFRIEND WANTS TO HAVE BABIES WITH ME SOMEDAY scream.
The man had made quite the one eighty in the past few days. Almost losing me really had shaken the bachelor out of him.
I was still reeling from this astoundingly ecstatic news when we wandered into the sitting room to find Elle curled up on an armchair. She took one look at us and scrunched up her face. “You two did it in your bedroom, didn’t you?”
Callan made a choking sound.
I gaped in horror. How the feck did she know that?
I glanced down at our clothes to make sure everything was in its right place. It was!
“Aw, you did.” Elle grimaced as she got up to stroll toward us. “What is it with this family and the sex mania?”
“It’s not sex mania.” I turned to watch her pass. “Sex is a perfectly—Grandma Elodie! Grandpa Clark!” I gaped at the two people sitting on the sofa situated against the back wall of the room. The two people we had not noticed upon entry.
Callan spun around so fast, he stumbled into me.
Elle smirked devilishly at me. “Oh, Grandma Elodie and Grandpa Clark are back.”
My expression promised retribution. Whether it was two days or two years or twenty, I’d pay my wee sister back for this moment.
Grandpa Clark was visibly struggling to restrain his laughter while Grandma Elodie stood from the sofa and primly said, “Elle, fetch clean sheets from the second-floor laundry cupboard, will you?” Then the grandmother who flinched at discussions about farting held out her hand to my boyfriend and said, “Elodie Nichols, Beth’s grandmother. How should I address the man who just had sex with my granddaughter in her childhood bedroom?”
Elle broke out into peals of laughter in the hallway as Clark covered his with a few coughs.
Sometimes, I really hated this family.
But Callan, unperturbed, took Grandma Elodie’s hand and shook it congenially. “I’m Callan Keen. If it’s any consolation, the sheets are clean.”
My eyes practically bugged out of my head.
But Grandma Elodie nodded. “Good. You don’t scare easy. Maybe this one won’t pee his pants when he meets your father.”
Thankfully, Callan laughed while I wished the floor would swallow me whole. “Okay, very funny. No more sex talk in front of the grandparents.”
“Yes, I’d prefer that too. But you’re not running away. Come join us for a cup of tea.”
I looked at Callan and he nodded, his countenance telling me he was cool with that.
And that’s how we spent the rest of our evening, with my grandparents, over tea and biscuits. To my delighted surprise, Callan was totally at ease with them, and as we walked home to Loverose Lane, I felt a lightness I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Grandma Elodie and Grandpa Clark liked Callan. I could tell. And Elle did too.
That was good … because I more than liked him.
I was so head over heels in love with this man, and the only thing better than that was the possibility of my family falling in love with him too.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CALLAN
Ihad to compartmentalize.
With the tabloids running that story about Beth and Erstwhile, my gaffer was concerned my head wasn’t in the game. I had to prove to him and myself that when I walked onto that pitch, everything else but the match fell away.
There were two weeks between our last and next game. In that time, we trained hard. And when I wasn’t with the team, I was with Beth. Although we’d hung out with Baird and John a few times, most of my downtime was spent with only her. That’s why I needed to compartmentalize … because being with Beth was all-consuming. The sex was somehow even better now. I hadn’t thought there were any walls between us in that department, but Beth opened the floodgates, and it was wild, adventurous, and addictive. I couldn’t get enough of the woman. She was willing to try anything with me, and I was high on her.