Once You’re Mine: Chapter 40

Calista belongs to me.

She always has in my mind, but now I have her body. I’ve marked and claimed it, indicated by the cum on her skin and the splotches of red blooming along her neck and chest. The only thing that I’ve yet to possess is her heart. I need that as well.

More than anything.

She trembles underneath me, staring up at me, her face stained with tears. Using the back of my hand, I brush away the dampness and study her response to my touch. She leans into me and closes her eyes, a gentle sigh sweeping past her lips.

No one else has been there for Calista like I have. It’s only fitting that I be the one to comfort her.

“Are you all right?” I ask. When she nods, I narrow my gaze. “Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m fine, Hayden. I’m just… tired.”

“Tired?”

She gives me a smile meant to reassure me, but it doesn’t quite penetrate the worry gathering at the back of my mind. “You kind of wore me out,” she says. Despite her cheeks being flushed from exertion, she blushes. “It’s never been this way for me.”

“Me either.”

The truth is out in the open before I can think to recall it. Any regret I had at exposing my innermost thoughts evaporates at the warmth brightening her hazel eyes. Calista gazes up at me as though I’m her savior. I suppose that’s true.

But I’m also her enemy, the man who killed her father.

Any feelings she’s developed for me would wither and die if she were to learn about that. Even for the sake of the truth, I can’t tell her. Losing Calista isn’t worth the risk. Nothing is.

“Hayden, please don’t say things unless you mean them. You don’t need to protect my feelings.”

She has no idea how false that statement is.

I lift a brow. “I’m telling the truth.”

“But you’ve been with so many women.” She shakes her head, drawing my gaze to the dark strands. “It’s hard to believe that sex with me is different.”

“Everything is different with you.”

For starters, I never became obsessed with or stalked other women. I didn’t have to chase them either. But most importantly, no one else has made me feel. With Calista, I’m beginning to experience the full spectrum of emotion. It’s unnerving yet I’m powerless to stop it.

“That’s sweet of you to say,” she whispers. “I appreciate it.”

I scoff. “I’m not trying to be sweet. I always mean what I say or else I wouldn’t bother saying it to begin with. So believe me when I tell you that I’ve never met anyone like you.”

This woman affects me in ways I couldn’t predict. Even now, I’m surprised by my behavior and thoughts when it comes to her. And I hate surprises. I suppose Calista’s presence in my life is the only one I haven’t minded. I did in the beginning, but now?

I can’t imagine living without her.

“Honestly, I can say the same thing about you,” she says. “Harper thinks you’re crazy.”

I might be. “What do you think?”

She scrunches up her face in a way I find endearing. “I think you’re insane, but if that’s the case, then I’m crazy too because I like it.”

If you only knew the things I’ve done… and will do for you.

“Your opinion is the only one that matters,” I say. She beams up at me and that familiar ache in my chest returns. The one that only happens because of Calista. “Let’s get you to bed.”

She nods, but when I lift my torso she goes completely still and squeezes her thighs. A wince has her brow wrinkling and I immediately stop moving.

“Callie?”

“It’s fine.”

“Look at me.” She flicks her gaze to mine and I search it, finding unease and needing to reassure her. “You shouldn’t be sore for very long.”

“It’s not like I’m a virgin, but I—”

I slam my mouth to hers, smothering the words that could send me into a rage. Calista yields to me, her lips parting and her body softening underneath mine. I kiss her until she wraps her arms around my neck, any lingering discomfort far from her mind.

“If you say another man’s name while wearing my cum on your skin, I’ll kill him,” I say. I might anyway since he had the privilege of your body before I did. “One thing’s for certain, I’ll be the last person to fuck you.”

“Hayden.” My name is a gasp. Or perhaps a wheeze.

“Good girl. That’s the only thing I want to hear from you.”

“Oh, my God.” Calista’s gaze bounces back and forth between my cock and her cunt. It makes me hard. Then her chest starts heaving with her jagged breaths, bringing my attention to her beautiful tits. Now I’m ready to fuck her again.

“Did we stain the couch?” she whispers.

Amusement comes barreling up my chest. It catches me off-guard, but at the look of exasperation on Calista’s face, I don’t stop it. My laughter rings out in the open room. I can’t remember the last time I laughed like this.

She slaps my arm playfully. “I’m being serious, Hayden.”

It takes me a minute to get myself under control. For once, Calista has made me lose myself, but I can embrace it. “Nothing’s wrong. I told you I’d wreck you. Now let’s get you cleaned up.”

Her bewildered expression morphs into horror when I pull her into my arms, ready to carry her to the bathroom. “The couch,” she wails softly. “I’ve ruined it with our… sex.”

I laugh again, louder and longer than before. “It’s not ruined, it’s improved.”

“Ew, Hayden. Just ew.”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”

“I need some sanitizer or you’re going to have to get rid of the couch. And that woman’s picture,” she mutters.

I almost laugh for a third time. The photograph in my room is of Calista. One day I’ll tell her, but not tonight.

After setting Calista on her feet in the shower, I angle the spray away from her until it’s the right temperature. Then I wash her from head to toe. Enjoying every fucking second of it.

She blushes furiously the entire time, but that only adds to my pleasure. I haven’t taken care of a woman like this since my mother, and it’s soothing in a way I didn’t expect. Maybe because my mother was drugged out of her mind when I looked after her. Memories surface, disturbing the serenity I’ve found with Calista and I’m quick to dismiss them, but it’s not without effort.

“Thank you,” Calista says, once she’s dressed in my t-shirt and lying in my bed. “You didn’t have to do all that.”

“Yes, I did. I take care of what belongs to me.”

“Including me.”

“Especially you,” I say.

She mocks me with a frown, but it melts away the second I climb onto the bed and pull her to me. Contentment like I’ve never known surrounds me like a blanket, offering warmth and peace. All because of the woman in my arms.

“Go to sleep, Callie.”

She salutes me with a yawn. “No problem, sir.”

“We need to discuss your flippant behavior at some point.”

“Yup.”

I grin. “You think I don’t hear the ‘fuck you’ when you do that?”

“Yup.”

With a laugh, I swat her ass, making her yelp. I massage her skin while using my other arm to keep her in place. “I think you enjoy testing my patience.”

“Yu—erm, yes, I do.”

My smile widens. “Sleep now.”

“I can’t when my ass is on fire.”

“Language, Miss Green.”

Calista lifts her head from my chest and kisses me, startling me with her uncharacteristic display of affection. Now I’m the one who’s been wrecked. My heart, wherever that fucker might be, bleeds for her.

“Good night, Mr. Bennett.”

“Good night, baby.”