The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

come into contact with the lines of his lean chest muscles, his fingers drift downward across my body. Instead of putting them inside me again, he directs his hand to the upper part of my inner thigh.
    He maintains my gaze, like he’s afraid that if he looks away I might panic. “You can tell me if you want me to stop. You know that, right?”
    I nod. “I know. I trust you.”
    Smiling, he moves his thumb back and forth and my body begins to tremble. He continues to do the same thing, moving his thumb up across my inner thigh, making a path across the center of my legs, and then moving it to the other thigh. Back and forth, his fingers never enter me, like he’s teasing me. And it’s driving me crazy, to the point that I’ve become mortified at the pleading noises that keep fleeing my lips and the way my toes curl every time he’s about to slip his fingers inside me and then retracts them.
    Finally, he moves his fingers away from my skin, and then he watches me, panting, and his eyes are blazing with something I’ve never seen before.
    I don’t know what he wants from me, but I can’t take it anymore. “
Kayden, please
, please don’t stop.”
    Apparently that’s what he wanted, because a smile curves at his lips. He undoes the button of his jeans, grinning the whole time as he kicks them off. It’s weird to see him this happy, but nice too. When he returns to the bed he lays his body down on top of me.
    He studies my face for an eternity, like he’s memorizing it.
    “What?” I ask, self-consciously.
    He shakes his head, still studying me. I’m worried he’s going to start going off on how beautiful and amazing I am, but the corners of his mouth just quirk. “I was just thinking how I would have never gotten here if it hadn’t been for you.”
    I wiggle my arm free from my side and run my finger along the outline of his jaw. “That’s not true. I didn’t even do anything really.”
    He turns his head and presses his lips against my palm. “Yes, you did,” he whispers against my skin. “You saved me countless times. Not just from getting my ass kicked or calling the ambulance, but because you showed me that you cared.” He shrugs and moves his mouth away from my hand, looking a little embarrassed. “You showed me that I’m worth caring for.” His eyebrows instantly knit. “But I want you to know that you don’t have to stick around. I’ve still got a ton of shit I have to work through, and you have your own. I don’t want to put that on you.”
    I say the first thing that enters my mind. “Kayden, I love you.” Then I press two fingers over his mouth, so he knows he doesn’t have to say it back. The tremble in my heart matches the one in my hand as I move my fingers away from his mouth.
    His breath hitches and falters and then his eyes start to water over. Mine pool with my own tears. It’s amazing how once sentence—three single words, eight letters—can have so much power. In a moment like this, even our breathing stirs the sorrow, the agony, and the happiness that we’d both buried below our hearts, underneath the immense pain.
    I’m looking into his eyes and he’s looking into mine and I wonder if maybe it wasn’t coincidence that brought me to him that night in front of the pool house. Maybe it was fate that guided me there so I could save him and he could save me and then it could lead us here to this moment where we are both completely content and free and glad we’re alive.
    He starts kissing me and I feel his tears drip against my cheeks and mix with my own tears. I open up my legs and he keeps kissing me as he thrusts inside me, slowly and perfectly in rhythm. I thread my fingers through his soft, damp hair, and then move my fingers down to his cheek, feeling his stubble and the slight unevenness of his jawline. His hands explore my body too, touching every inch of it, his palms callously against my skin, but I enjoy every minute of it.
    Sliding his hand to my knee, he tips to the side and brings my knee up as he keeps rocking into me. I’m climbing higher, faster, and my hands cling to him, gripping onto his shoulders. He kisses me with more passion than he ever has before, delving his tongue into my mouth and then sucking my tongue into his. He bites at my lips, nibbles at my neck, and grabs at my breast until a passionate fire combusts inside me. I cry out as I arc into him and my head falls back against the mattress. I gasp, waiting for him to catch up with