14. Callie

My plan to deal with Eli reached an unexpected hitch.

Regardless of my feelings toward him or the entire situation, my mother was doing better at the new facility. They provided me with daily updates via text, which was a nice touch. Each message included a photo and an update on how her day was going. Within three days, she was smiling in those pictures, and on the fifth, she called me herself.

Hearing her voice say my name made me break down in the middle of my kitchen. I had almost given up that any part of my mother was able to come back to me like that. Whether it was the new medication or the excellent care, I didn’t care because she said my name. She asked me how work was, and she asked after Bianca.

Rich people really did have access to medical care, which was utterly mind-blowing. Since then, it was easier to follow Bianca’s last suggestion of allowing Eli to foot the bill until he asked for something in return. Then, my next steps would be based on what he wanted from me, and in the meantime I would continue to scrape together what savings I could in order to pay him back. Or I’d have to take over the cost of the facility. Bianca and I had googled the amount and it was sickening.

Eli didn’t ask for anything, though.

The days crawled by, and I didn”t hear a peep from him. Every email I received made my heart stop, and every call made me jump with the expectation that he was finally reaching out. But he didn’t. I half considered taking that step myself, but the thought of calling him sickened me. So, I settled into my new anxious, confused existence and just waited.

“Callie?”

Sawyer’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. Glancing up from my desk, I let the aggressively chewed pen lid fall from my lips, catching it in my palm as I met his gaze.

“Yes?”

“Could you come here?”

“Mhm.” As I stood, he vanished back into his office. With only a few seconds to spare, I pulled up my calendar to double-check if we had some kind of meeting or something today, but there was nothing scheduled. Sure, I’d been a little bit distracted lately but as far as I was aware, today was a smooth sailing day.

Clutching a notepad to my abdomen, I slipped into his office.

“Close the door.”

I obeyed, then moved closer to where Eli was seated on the couch near the large bay windows overlooking the city. The view was stunning at this late in the afternoon, with the sun stretching its golden fingers around the buildings in a vain attempt to keep from setting. Sawyer was basked in the warm, orange glow, his eyes fixed on me as I stood near the end of the couch.

“Callie.”

“Yes, sir?”

“You’re distracted.”

“Excuse me?” My heart rate ticked up slightly.

Sawyer arched one brow. “I’ve noticed it quite clearly these past few days that you’re distracted and off your game. Is something bothering you?”

The urge to come clean rose like vomit in my throat, and my lips trembled slightly from how desperate I was to keep them closed. I told myself over and over that I couldn’t burden Sawyer with my own mistakes, but his voice was so surprisingly gentle that the temptation was strong. I wanted to sink into his arms and cry. Tell him all about my mother and Eli. The debt. The bills. The tricks Eli pulled.

But I couldn’t. It was too much and I didn’t want to see the disappointment I felt in myself, written all over Sawyer’s face.

“I’m fine,” I lied. “If anything, I’m just tired. We’ve been so busy after all.”

Sawyer’s face didn’t change so it was impossible for me to tell if he believed me or not. He was surely only asking out of politeness, at the very least. He already had so much on his plate with the patent pending, and Kane working out a good deal for the both of them. It was a lot and my disastrous life didn’t compare.

“I’m just focused on the launch of the new drug. I really want things to go well after how hard you have worked, how hard you’ve all worked.”

I was talking to fill the silence when Sawyer still didn’t say a word. When he remained silent for a second time, I held up the notepad in my hand, seeking a distraction away from me as a topic.

“In fact, I’ve been compiling the test data into bite-size portions so that the shareholders can see the benefits at a glance. Everything from cost to the success of the drug is included, and I even included a section on how those under the life insurance we offer would be an investment. There”s no need to pay out if people aren’t sick, y’know?”

“Sit down,” Sawyer said. “Drink?”

As I sat down, he stood and moved to the oval drinks cart near the wall unit. Normally, I would decline but given the rising summer heat, it would be refreshing.

“Sure, uh… just water though, thank you.”

Ice clinked into two crystal glasses, then he filled them both with water from a glass pitcher and returned to the couch with me. He set my drink down on the table in front of us, keeping his own in his hand and then he angled his body toward me.

My next breath in was filled with his sexy, woody scent and it was enough to make me dizzy. This was the man that bent me over his desk and fucked me like an animal, and being this close again while also being alone was enough to ignite all sorts of feelings deep inside me.

A desire to be held. A desire for comfort. To be touched and soothed.

“Show me,” Sawyer said quietly, holding my gaze as he took a slow sip of his water.

“Sure.” I nodded quickly, brushing hair away from my face while I angled the pad toward him. Together, we poured over the data and how promising it looked from a business and a consumer standpoint. Sawyer and Kane would surely rocket to the top as soon as all the legal side of things was squared away.

“The testing has been phenomenal, and I think even those who received a placebo showed no effects, which just proves how good the drug you have is. With Kane’s help in distribution, too, and with his new finance plan, then we’re looking at taking a loss for six to eight months. But,” I chuckled softly. “It should even out by the end of the year, and you’ll be in a good position to ship worldwide.”

“A risk,” Sawyer said, his voice low. “But risks are exciting.”

As I lifted my head to respond, Sawyer’s lips suddenly landed on mine. They were cold from his drink and the touch was a shock. I gasped slightly, and then Sawyer’s hot tongue teased over my lower lip, chasing the coldness away.

“All I’m hearing,” he said as the kiss broke, leaving me breathless. “Is that you are distracted because you are far too focused on work. The extra tasks you’re taking on of your own initiative are admirable, but not at the expense of your time.”

“But focus is good,” I murmur, letting the notepad slide away from my fingertips when Sawyer took it from me. “You need it.”

“I need you here and present, so frankly I think we need to break your focus on the project.”

Before I could answer, his lips were back on mine, and he silenced all arguments that rose in my mind. It was selfish of me to lean into the kiss, but with everything else going on, this was the first time my mind had fallen quiet since the excitement in the elevator with Liam.

I wanted to hold onto that, so I kissed him back as eagerly as I could. Sawyer kept the pace slow. His hand cupped my cheek, then slowly slid up to cradle my ear and up to my hairline. His lips weaved over mine, focusing more on kissing my lower lip with each passing swipe of his tongue. I reached for his shirt, and the silk slid warm under my fingertips when I stroked his chest.

The kiss ended. My face flushed far too hot, but as I took a deep breath to steady myself, he kissed me again, and this time the chill was sharper. Our mouths locked together and our hands wandered. Then I teased my tongue against the seam of his lips and licked my way inside. It was there I came into contact with the ice cube he was holding in his mouth and he passed it over to me with a roll of his tongue.

As soon as it was in my mouth, he broke away from my lips and kissed my jaw. He trailed a path of hot-and-cold open open-mouthed kisses down my throat and the combination of temperatures was driving me crazy. Every warm press of his lips was followed either by a hot flash of his tongue or the ice-cold touch of another cube he held in his mouth. The lower he kissed, the more his tongue chilled and it became a dance of his warm lips and ice-touched tongue.

Goosebumps rushed over my skin when he reached the valley of my breasts. Sawyer didn’t move to remove any of my clothes and instead kissed over my breaths through the open collar of my shirt. My heart raced and tingles shot like sparkles all over my body, starting from each spot that he pressed the ice and let it linger. Cold water droplets rolled over my skin and settled between my breasts, disappearing into nothing with the heat of my body.

“Sawyer,” I moaned softly, my breath catching in my throat. His thick hair threaded through my fingers as he moved, and my mind was utterly silence. No worry and no concern. I was strangely at peace, which made every touch from his addicting. My focus was on the warmth beading between my thighs and the tightness building in my core.

By the time Sawyer lifted the hem of my shirt and kissed my warm abdomen, my own ice cube had melted and I yelped lightly at the harsh cold of the fresh cube in his own mouth.

“I love the sounds you make,” Sawyer said, his lips remaining on my skin, causing his beard to tickle against me as he spoke. He kissed across my abdomen, dipped the ice cube into my bellybutton, and then continued down past my navel to the hem of my skirt.

I was flushing hot and cold, growing restless with an urge to move but Sawyer’s hands were firm on my waist and then my hips. I wasn’t moving until he let me.

His knees thumped softly onto the floor when he finally slid past me, and his chilled lips kissed over my bare knees. From this angle, I lost my grip on his hair so I turned to the couch instead and grabbed onto the cushions above my head. Sawyer weaved his hot and cold path all the way up my inner thighs, pushing my pencil skirt up at the same time.

Each kiss sent a pulse of want through my body. Each lick sent my heart racing a beat faster, and before I knew it, I was panting and whimpering. Sawyer kissed the very delicate skin of my inner upper thigh, and then he used his tongue to hold the ice cube against my panties.

“Oh god!” I lurched forward, held in place by his hands as the biting cold seared through the thin fabric and pressed against my pussy. It was such a strange sensation – sharp cold against overwhelming heat.

I almost couldn’t breathe and an unnatural heat swamped me from head to toe. The only chillness that remained was the ice against my pussy, and the occasional tingle from his lingering kisses.

Sawyer held the cube there until my panties were soaked, then he pulled back slightly.

“I can feel your pussy throbbing against my tongue. Are you that hungry for me?”

“Yes,” I whimpered without hesitation, and the fabric against my fingers started to burn from my tight grip.

“Good girl.”

I melted. Sawyer pulled the edge of my panties to the side, the pressed the melting cube directly between my outer lips and against my clit. It took all my effort not to scream at the sensation that balanced the fine line between pleasure and pain. He held it there, and just as the cold started to become too much, his tongue replaced the ice and warmth swept through me.

It was a dance between his warm tongue, the cool ice, and my throbbing core. Every lick, kiss and press of his lips sent me higher and higher, and each time I grew close to my rapidly built orgasm, the ice was enough to pull me back slightly.

I lasted until the ice melted completely. Then Sawyer created a small O with his lips around my clit and suckled rhythmically. That was all I needed to tip over the edge and I came hard with a cry that I muffled into my forearm.

Sawyer continued to suck through the initial powerful pulses of my orgasm, then he soothed my aching pussy with a few long, slow licks.

When he pulled back and kissed my knee, his beard shone with my juices, and his eyes twinkled with a mischievous I’d never seen before.

My body was hot and cold, my core throbbed and my chest ached as if I’d just run a marathon.

It was… amazing.

“The next time you’re too focused,” Sawyer said, kissing my knee once more. “You come and see me. That’s an order, not a request.”