Sheer Bliss (6 page)

“
I’m sorry, Calla.” Caleb
reached to remove the washcloth but Calla gently swatted away his
hand.

“
Keep it there. The lather
works better when your face is wet.”

“
My face is fine, Calla. I
never wanted you to be miserable. I’ll apologize every day if
that’s what it takes.”

She ran the mug under the
sink’s spigot, then picked up the horsehair shaving brush from her
lap. The wooden handle knocked rapidly against the ceramic as she
ground the bristles into the later. “Caleb, I’m fine now. My Mom
and friends told me I’d live, and I have. It’s not like I spent all
this time being bitter, either, because you and Teresa turned out
happy.”

Caleb’s heart fluttered at
that. Much as he had resisted the marriage initially, he also
succumbed to the lovely she-panther’s charms, cherishing her until
the very end.

“
We haven’t palled around
since, but it never meant I wanted to hit you with my car every
time I saw you,” Calla was saying.

“
Thank you, for that,”
Caleb said, catching that arched brow again. “I’m sorry if I in
some way prevented you and Teresa from becoming better
friends.”

“
That was more me, I
guess.” Calla sighed. “She had invited me to the reception, since I
wasn’t a shifter and not permitted to attend your super secret
mating ceremony.” She screwed her face into a silly grin as she
said this.

Caleb laughed. “It’s not
as prurient as you’re thinking.”

Her smile quickly fell. “I
hope she wasn’t disappointed when I didn’t show, but then I figured
she was too busy to have noticed.

I would have
noticed
. Hell’s bells, if only the panther shifters allowed for
polygamy…

“
Well, I know she came
into the salon more than once, so thank you for not burning her
hair off.”

Calla removed the
washcloth and glared at him. “Now come on, I’m not
that
evil. Although, I admit have occasionally fantasized of burning
something else off.” She winked to set him at ease.

“
Maybe I should have taken
this shave to Gillette,” he mused, his voice low.

“
Caleb, I’m teasing,” she
scolded. Then, more quietly, “Teresa never knew about us, did
she?”

He waited for Calla to
finish slathering his upper lip and chin with the warm, pungent
cream before answering. “If she did, I never told her. I never got
the impression that she knew anything.”

Calla looked as though she
wanted to say more. He wondered if she imagined an alternate track
in the course of their lives—if he and Teresa turned out unhappy,
and his wife jealous of his past relationship with the salon owner.
He hadn’t lied about Teresa—after an awkward and brief courtship,
he came to love his mate, yet still thought fondly of Calla.
Despite living happily as a married man, though, jealousy tended to
grip his heart whenever he spotted Calla with another man. In the
past, he chalked it up to being concerned for a friend.

Seeing her with Maya last
night had roused that familiar, unwelcome feeling. Yet, for his
tendency to act protective toward Calla, he didn’t want to know why
the woman remained single. Best not to lift the scab from another
old wound, he decided.

He tried not to move
around too much as Calla coated his throat with the thick, white
cream. “Okay, Santa,” she said teasingly, “let’s make you look more
respectable.” The blade she’d chosen, thankfully, didn’t resemble
the Reaper’s scythe, but it appeared nonetheless lethal. Caleb
fixed his gaze on Calla’s eyes as she worked, hoping to find more
warmth than mischief. To her credit, her face offered nothing more
than serious concentration on her work.

He should be so cool when
dealing with a tense situation.

Minutes dragged on with
only the sound of metal scraping against skin to irritate his
super-tuned panther hearing. The average human might detect
something faint, like a distant Velcro strip ripped from its base,
but to Caleb it sounded much louder. The only thing that threatened
to surpass that was Calla’s heart as it beat harder and faster. The
heady scent of bay rum had clearly touched her, too, as he noticed
her expression softening with each turn of the blade.

She worked in a steady
rhythm—shaving one patch, rinsing in the nearby low spigot stream,
then wiping the blade clean on the washcloth draped over her knee.
Here she only spoke when she needed him to tilt his head one way or
the other, and by the time she reached the far side of his face she
had to raise up a bit to better shave under his right
ear.

Her breasts drooped
perilously close to his face, so close he could peer past the first
undone button of her blouse to glimpse the lush curve of one mound.
A quiet sigh escaped him as he thought of burying his face deep
into the soft valley while his hands roamed free to cup her flesh
and pinch her nipples into pebbled, inviting peaks. So what if he
still had sticky lather on his face? He’d rub it gently into her
own skin as he tested the smoothness of Calla’s shave.

He stilled, sensing
Calla’s brewing arousal. Had he felt the hand holding the blade
tremble? No stinging sensation followed, which meant she had the
good sense not to continue.

“
I think we’re just about
done here.”

Calla’s voice sounded even
shakier. Soon the scent of her arousal overpowered that of the bay
rum soap. “Let me just get a warm towel to finish you
off—”

Caleb waited only for
Calla to set aside all of the shaving items. Once unencumbered, she
made to rise from her seat but Caleb pulled her quickly onto his
lap as he sat up straight. “Don’t worry about it,” he whispered,
leaning close to inhale the sweet blood pounding in her temples.
Her entire body thrummed with want and she nearly vibrated into
him, coaxing his cock to life from within its tight denim
restraints.

She gasped, surprised by
the move, but didn’t resist. Instead she offered him a numb stare.
“Y-you need something on your face,” she said, her voice breaking,
“to keep from irritating…”

Right now the only thing
irritating Caleb was the ache in his groin. His panther strength
took charge and lifted Calla’s lithe frame with ease until she
straddled him in the chair. “I need you,” he said, nearly growling.
He watched her eyes widen and mist over, and all of a sudden they
were both eighteen years old again—aware only of each other and
oblivious to any forces that sought to tear them apart.

“
Caleb,” she began, but he
refused to let any hesitations tamp down the emotions charging
through him. He took her parted lips in searing kiss that instantly
melted away any apprehensions stiffening her body. As their tongues
mated with growing hunger she leaned heavily into him and slid her
arms under his to clasp his back. Caleb had little trouble
familiarizing himself again with her—she hadn’t changed much since
they first got together. He supposed having a genius beautician as
a mother prepared her well for graceful, slow aging.

All those places where
they fit perfectly—his hand on the small of her back, her thighs
pressed against his pelvis—kept them locked in a passionate embrace
that erased any attention Caleb kept to time. Minutes, hours could
have passed and he wouldn’t have cared. Let them miss the damned
Indian Summer Ball, and the next one, too. He refused to leave this
spot.

The only thing that could
make it better, though…

He broke free from the
kiss and nuzzled under chin, nipping at her throat as his free hand
played with her buttons. “You expecting anybody else today?” The
question came out between pants.

“
Uh-uh.” Calla took in a
deep breath and swiveled her hips into him. The heat radiating from
her jeans—from her sweet pussy—further taunted him. One more thrust
and he’d come right there.

Like hell would it happen
while still clothed.

One by one her blouse
buttons popped free and Caleb dipped his hand to peel down one lacy
cup of her bra. Immediately he zeroed in for a taste, licking the
rosy brown skin to a fine pucker before pursing his lips over the
hard bud. He tugged on it until she cried out, then licked away the
sting. “Let me have you,” he pleaded. “I want to taste so much
more, but this…can’t wait.”

* * * *

As Caleb spoke, his hand
found her denim-covered pussy and stroked it hard. Even with the
rough, thick material buffering his touch, the sensation set
Calla’s lust ablaze. She thrust into his hand, wanting more of that
incredible feeling.

This, she had failed to
achieve last night on her own. With little concern that a walk-in
seeking a cut and/or curl might discover her humping a customer at
the back sinks, Calla longed to discard her blouse entirely and let
Caleb lave more attention on her breasts. She wanted him inside
her, too, filling her to satisfaction with his thick, throbbing
cock. She supposed she had desired that all along in some
capacity—either as a husband or a friend with benefits. It amazed
her how quickly any animosity between them faded once their bodies
connected. It seemed almost as if…

Calla gasped when Caleb’s
other hand slipped under the waistband of her jeans and teased the
G-string against the cleft of her ass.
As if we were meant to
be
, she thought of this easy reintroduction to their passion.
Memories of the few lovers she’d entertained between then and now
appeared transparent and underwhelming in her mind. Straddled on
Caleb’s lap, aching and wet and close to orgasm, she found a
comfort she savored.

The realization
electrified and frightened her. With Teresa gone, did this leave
Caleb free to love on his own terms? Dare she risk handing over her
heart again only for some panther elder to appear out of nowhere
with another eligible shifter bachelorette?

An urgent throbbing grazed
her pussy. She didn’t need to cup the bulge between Caleb’s thighs
to know he was hard and ready for her. After gazing into his eyes
as his heat and arousal enveloped her, she decided to live this
moment and enjoy the hell out of it. Why deny her passions and
stumble home tonight to an empty bed and an unfulfilling session
with a battery-operated cock? If she had a future with Caleb, fine,
but she was more interested in the present.

She kissed him again,
nearly devouring him. “Pants. Off,” she said after breaking
away.

He offered her a wicked
grin as she slid off him to undo her own jeans. “Not even going to
lock the door? You’ve become more dangerous.”

“
If somebody walks in, I
suppose I’ll become more popular, too.” Jeans and thong pooled at
her feet, she stepped out of the puddle and helped the more
reticent Caleb undress. “Lord knows I could use the business,” she
added.

Caleb’s jeans being tight
around his thighs, they took a minute or two to work loose. Once
free of them, the man had no trouble stripping off his briefs to
reveal a long, thick cock bobbing to attention in a nest of dark
curls. Delicious and dark, it glistened at the tip, which alerted
Calla to the urgency of their desires. A long, slow oral
orientation would have to wait…assuming the benefits stretched into
the future.

He rested back against the
low chair, supporting his upper body by grasping the armrests. “You
don’t need a reputation, however,” he said.

“
If it makes you feel any
better, nobody can really see us for the register counter and other
stations along this wall, and I’ll keep my shirt on.
Okay?”

If he appeared
disappointed that she chose to keep her breasts covered, any hint
of a frown twisted into a pleasured moan when Calla straddled him
again and mounted his cock. No question, she wanted this—her
wetness made it easy for his shaft to fill her.

She balanced her frame on
the balls of her feet and grasped the lip of the sink behind his
head. Confident she wouldn’t collapse, she thrust her lower body up
and down and squeezed her pussy muscles around his cock. The
sensation of the raised veins and soft skin creating friction
against her slick inner walls ignited a tingling that pooled more
heat in her belly. Her clit, just brushing against Caleb’s curls
with every downward turn, itched for more pressure.

Caleb must have detected
her frustration, or else watched her look down at where they were
joined. One hand cupped her ass as though to guide her while the
other reached under to fondle the burning nub. “Next time,” he
said, his breathing labored, “in bed, and taking it slow. I want
this sweet pussy in my mouth, bucking against me as you come again
and again.”

She focused on the
rhythmic rise and fall of his chest as they fucked, and
unconsciously picked up the pace. She wanted to come now, yes, but
his words bothered her. If the idea of a “next time” encouraged her
to end this time more quickly, she wished she could control
herself. Between a desire to draw out their passions and plan
future trysts, Calla’s feelings twisted in her mind and overloaded
her senses. The faster she bounced on his cock, though, resolved
everything for her.

“
Shit.” Caleb hissed
through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m coming,
babe.”