The Wolf’s Contract Marriage by Layla Silver
Chapter 6 – Teagan
I swallowed dryly against the slight burn of the curry that was in the back of my throat. Caelum and I really did need to talk, but now that I had the full brunt of his gorgeous dark brown eyes, I found it hard to focus on the essential things.
I picked the label on my lemonade bottle with a thumbnail distractedly, which pulled my gaze away from his and allowed me to gather my thoughts.
"So, what do we need to talk about?" he requested gently, and the soft, satisfying rumble of his voice sent shivers down my spine.
“You. Me. Everything.” I flicked my gaze to his and then back down at the label I was shredding.
"Okay. Let's start with something easy, then. Tell me something, anything, about yourself."
Well, I've turned my back on my family; I find it hard to settle down in one place for any length of time, and, oh, yeah, I transform into a wolf whenever I feel like it.
I shook my head inwardly at myself. I couldn't reveal my true nature to Caelum—not now, perhaps, not ever.
"I have an older sister, Ainsley, and a younger brother, Grayson," I blurted out without thinking about it. "Ains is a hotel manager, while Gray runs a brewery."
"Interesting." I looked up at Caelum's word and found that he'd leaned forward on his elbows at some point while I was talking as if intent on hearing every word I had to say.
“And you?” He had his undivided attention on me, and I felt slightly uncomfortable because of it. “Tell me something, anything, about yourself.”
His full lips quirked up in amusement at hearing his words parroted back at him. “I'm nearly finished with the site I took you to today.”
“Oh yes? What are you going to do once you're done with it?”
"That is the million-dollar question, Teagan." He sighed tiredly before rubbing his hand over his face. "Barry keeps wanting me to sign on to other projects that sound incredibly boring. I need to stay local, though, for Tavi's sake. Provided I manage to work something out with my ex-wife."
I nodded, and the pure frustration and pain in his voice made my heart ache on his behalf. I wished I could come up with some sort of answer for him.
I stared down at my lemonade bottle with enough intensity to set it on fire as a plan slowly started forming in my head.
I took a deep breath and, with difficulty, dragged my gaze up to meet Caelum's once again. "I think we should have sex."
Caelum stared at me without responding for a few seconds, and I watched as my words slowly sank in. “I'm sorry, what did you say?”
“I think we should have sex.”
He folded his arms firmly across his chest, looking suspicious. “Why?”
“You quite clearly need help. Help that I can give you...”
Caelum started shaking his head emphatically before I'd even finished my sentence. “No. This is my fight, and mine alone.”
I reached out across the tiny table and took one of his hands in my own. "Clearly, you have a lot to think about."
"No, I don't," he argued with a frown on his face. "You're not helping me, and that's final."
"Last I looked, I was a grown woman who could make her own decisions," I replied hotly. "Sleep with me. Maybe it'll help make up your mind. At any rate, it'll make you less stressed. If we aren't compatible and you really don't want my help, I'll leave, and you'll never see me again. If we are compatible, there should be nothing stopping you from saying yes. Of course, we can always make a prenuptial agreement, keep our money in separate bank accounts... but in the meantime, I can help."
He frowned at me, clearly thinking it over. “And the first step is working out if we're compatible?”
I nodded and couldn't stop the grin from spreading over my face. Caelum was getting it. "The first step is working out if we're compatible."
“I've never been one to turn down the offer of sex from a beautiful woman,” he murmured huskily, and his fingers on the hand I was holding stroked sensually over my own.
"It would be stupid of you if you did," I agreed and bit my lip as his fingers stroked from my palm, all the way up my arm to my shoulder, and then back down again. I was getting goosebumps from his touch.
“So when do you want to do it?” He was trying to sound nonchalant, but I could hear the undercurrent of excitement in his voice.
“When we get home?”
Caelum looked me up and down appreciatively and his eyes that were usually quite dark were almost black with desire. “When do you want to leave?”
I looked down at our empty plates and my lemonade bottle with only the dregs left. "Now?"
“Can't argue with that,” he replied, and his voice, somewhat impossibly, dropped even lower, causing another shiver to run up and down my spine.
I got to my feet and pulled a face at the screeching of the table legs over the tiles. I heard Caelum's soft chuckle from behind me before I felt his warm, large hand splayed over my lower back again. "Eager, are we?" he murmured sinfully in my ear, and it was all I could do to not whimper in reply.
I had been entirely correct when I'd seen him shirtless this morning. He was definitely going to be an absolute sin in the sack.
And I, for one, could not wait.
***
It wasn't long before we were back at Caelum's place.
The atmosphere in the car had been quiet, save for a local radio station playing softly in the background. My stomach flipped with anticipation, however, every time Caelum looked at me out of the corner of his eye. His dark gaze was still as intense as it was in the restaurant, and it did nothing to calm me down. If anything, it excited me more.
I found myself swallowing dryly when the comforting purr of Caelum's car cut out as he pulled up outside his house. While I had been the one to put sex on the table, it had been a long time since I'd actually last done it.
“Teagan?”
“Hmm?” I forced myself to look over at him, to meet his dark, sinful gaze with my own.
“We don't have to do this.”
I shook my head firmly. If we didn't do this, then he wouldn't let me help him. But, on the other hand, I really wanted him to give me a chance, and if sleeping with him was what it took, then so be it.
"No, I want to," I reassured him with a nod. "It's just been a while."
His lips twitched fractionally in what I assumed was amusement. “I haven't exactly had women falling at my feet since I broke up with my ex-wife.”
“With your looks?” I scoffed. “I find that hard to believe.”
“On the contrary. Nobody wants the baggage that comes along with me.”
With a deep breath, I decided to take the plunge. I stroked a finger under Caelum's chin and over his cheek, enjoying the sensation of his five-o-clock shadow beneath my fingertips. He turned his head in my direction, and I leaned forward to capture his lips in my own.
He let me control the intensity of the kiss for a few charged seconds before he yanked me impatiently into his lap. Caelum growled as he tangled his fingers in my hair and tilted my head to the exact degree he wanted me to be at. He bit at my bottom lip until I gasped with pleasure before he licked his tongue into my mouth. Our tongues battled playfully for dominance as he stroked the fingers of his other hand up and down my back.
When I pulled away to catch my breath, it was to find the windows of the car had fogged up, and the steering wheel was digging uncomfortably into my back.
“Caelum,” I panted, unable to really say much more than his name.
“Mm?” His eyes, almost black with desire, blinked open lazily, and he seemed to have a hard time focusing on me.
“I'm not having sex with you in the car like we're a pair of horny teenagers in the parking lot of a drive-in.”
Caelum stared at me for a few more seconds before my words seemed to sink in. "Fair enough."
I managed to wriggle back over to my side of the car with difficulty. How I did it without sticking my foot or my knee anywhere painful, I would never know. But, when I was finally in the passenger seat, it felt like some kind of triumphant miracle that I'd made it.
Caelum had been watching me the entire time, and when I'd finally settled, I heard a soft chuckle pass from his lips. “That was... quite a show,” he assured me when I glared at him.
“Shut up.”
That only intensified his chuckles, and he shook his head in amusement at me as he got out of the car. I followed his lead, and together we walked up the path to the house's front door.
I had been slightly nervous before I'd kissed him, but while I was in his lap, I'd felt his erection poking into my hip. All it did was excite me more than before, and I was slightly ashamed to admit that I was wetter than I'd been in recent memory.
“You sure you're ready for this?” Caelum rumbled gently in my ear as we walked up the three steps it took to enter the house.
"More than you know." I found myself shivering. Whether it was a reaction to the slight chill in the air or the desire in his voice, I wasn't entirely sure.
"Then after you, milady." He deftly unlocked the front door and pushed it open with one smooth movement before gesturing for me to go in ahead of him.
I barely had enough time to put my stuff down on the couch before Caelum gently grabbed my arm and whirled me around to face him. He trailed his nose over my jaw, all the way down my neck, and back up again. He kept pushing me backward before my back hit the front door. The second I stopped moving, he pinned my hands above my head and attacked my mouth with his own again.
I couldn't stop myself from moaning into his mouth or crooking my leg around his waist to pull him closer against me. He chuckled softly against my lips and released my wrists before deftly picking me up like I weighed no more than a feather. I wriggled slightly in his grip and positioned myself more comfortably. Caelum's breath caught in his throat while a choked moan fell from his lips as my hips ground against his erection.
I smirked inwardly. It was nice to know that Caelum wasn't entirely in control.
He turned on his heel and walked us blindly down the passageway. I knew the exact moment when he crossed the threshold to his bedroom because his glorious, spicy scent surrounded me like a blanket fresh from the dryer. Caelum kissed me fiercely one last time before he tossed me gently onto his bed.
I bounced slightly on his mattress until my attention was arrested by the sight of Caelum undressing. If I'd thought he looked terrific this morning, he looked ten times better now, shucking his clothes off for me.
My gaze raked appreciatively over him as each patch of his skin was slowly revealed to my hungry eyes. His shoulders were broad and muscled, and his stomach was flat and tight. Clearly, the man worked out in some way, and I found myself almost licking my lips at the idea of running my tongue all over him.
“I see you watching me,” he said matter-of-factly, and I immediately started blushing. “Like what you see?”
“Hell yes.” My words were fervent and barely above a whisper as I watched him pull his pants off.
“You know,” he said, sounding almost like he was talking nonchalantly about what to bring with to a family picnic, “it isn't really fair that I'm almost naked, but you're still fully clothed.”
“We should change that, shouldn't we?” I asked with a mischievous grin as I grabbed the hem of my shirt in my fingers and pulled it as sensually over my head as I could.
Caelum made an appreciative noise as my front was revealed to him. Then, without warning, I suddenly felt self-conscious and made to cross my arms over my chest.
"Don't you fucking dare," he growled possessively. "You're gorgeous, Teagan. Don't you dare think of hiding it from me ever again, you hear me?"
"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," I mumbled. But, unfortunately, it was depressingly accurate too. My previous boyfriends barely gave my body a second look, and those that did felt they had to tell me what needed to be 'fixed.'
"Now that's just sad," Caelum said as he crawled up the bed to help me get out of my pants. Within seconds, I was in my underwear and trying not to squirm under his heated gaze. "I definitely need to go about changing that. This is gorgeous..." He gently kissed my left eyelid. "And this is gorgeous." He did the same to my right eyelid. "And this is stunning." He dropped a tiny kiss on the tip of my nose. "And this is beautiful," he mumbled into my skin as he kissed all the way down my neck. "But these..." He grabbed my boobs and rolled them in his palms through my bra, causing me to arch my back and gasp. "These are the prettiest boobs I have ever seen."
“I'm glad you think so,” I choked out softly.
"I do. But I bet these beauties will be twice as pretty once they aren't being obscured by this pesky bra." He reached around my body to unlatch the clasp.
Without being able to help it, I moaned as my boobs popped free from the confines of the underwear. My nipples pebbled in the cool air, and I watched as Caelum's gaze zeroed in on them before he ducked his head down. Seconds later, I felt the warmth of his lips on my left nipple while he rolled the right one between his fingers.
I arched my back and moaned while my fingers found their way into his hair. "Caelum," I gasped as he bit down lightly on the sensitive little nub. The sensations of his mouth and fingers on both my nipples at the same time were driving me absolutely wild.
I whimpered when he'd had his fill of my nipples and then pulled away to kiss me on the lips. “Ready for more?”
I nodded wordlessly, and he chuckled before moving down my body to settle his head between my thighs.
“Wha—what are you doing?” I gasped.
“Having dessert.” His eyes were all but glowing from between my thighs.
“You don't have to...”
“Nonsense. I want to.”
“None of my previous boyfriends wanted to go anywhere near... there.”
Caelum's gaze flicked down to my mound. He visibly licked his lips before he looked back up at me. “Haven't we already discussed and decided that your previous boyfriends were idiots who had no idea what they were doing?”
Before I could reply, he ducked his head down and sucked my clit into his mouth with unerring accuracy. I nearly orgasmed on the spot. As it was, my thighs tightened around his neck, and my fingers found their way into his hair.
He hummed with amusement at my reaction but didn't slow down with what he was doing. With every suck and lick to the sensitive little nub at the apex of my slit, I found myself winding tighter and tighter, like a key in the back of a clockwork device was being turned. Caelum, for his part, kept up whatever he was doing with his mouth—it seemed like he was intent on getting me to climax before doing anything else.
If I hadn't been in such a haze of lust, my heart would have been warmed by how Caelum took care of me. He was making sure I was sorted out before even beginning to work on his own boner. I was almost sure that it was so hard it was probably painful.
"Caelum..." I warned on a moan, and my fingers tightened in his silky smooth locks. He massaged my thigh reassuringly.
Without warning, he sucked my clit into his mouth and bit down lightly on the ball of nerves. My back arched off of the bed, and stars erupted behind my closed eyelids as I came. I was vaguely aware of someone crying out with pleasure; it was only once I returned to myself when I realized it was me.
“That was quite a show,” Caelum said huskily as he lifted his head from my mound.
My cheeks warmed up embarrassingly. “Sorry,” I mumbled, apologizing for the noise I'd made.
"Nonsense. We're alone. You can make as much noise as you want. And if the neighbors complain, well, they're just jealous." He winked, and I felt a giggle bubbling in my throat. "Now, before we go any further, I need to discuss something with you."
As Caelum settled down on the bed beside me, I sat up as much as I could, leaning against the pillows. I was anticipating by the look on his face that something serious was about to go down. "Yes, Caelum?"
He studied me closely for a few seconds. “Are you on birth control?” he blurted out eventually.
I wasn't expecting that, but after a moment or two of thought, I understood why. Caelum's ex had tricked him into getting her pregnant. He just didn't want history to repeat itself.
"Yes. I've been on the pill since I was eighteen. Do you want to see the receipts?"
Caelum looked at me through slightly narrowed eyes, as if debating whether he could trust me or not. I knew when he'd made his decision, as he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “That's okay. I'm going to trust you. Just don't make me regret it. Please.”
“You won't regret trusting me, I promise.”
A crooked, insanely sexy smile spread slowly over his face.
“Now, where were we?”