Callahan's Fate (12 page)

Cal thought so, too, but he wasn’t ready
to admit it.
 
If he did, it might jinx
everything, and he wasn’t willing to take the risk.

Chapter Eight

The first time
Raine
read
A Tree Grows
In
Brooklyn,
Francie Nolan ranked as her favorite character.
 
Later, she admired the mother, Katie, for her
strength and endurance in a life of unrelieved poverty.
 
Now, as she re-read the work with her
students, she liked Officer McShane most of all.
  
It didn’t take much imagination to figure
why—Callahan.
 

Throughout the slow hours of her day,
moving from one location to another via a series of buses and trains,
Raine
had thought of little else.
 
Their late-night conversation haunted her,
and she hoped she had helped as much as he claimed.
 
No guy had ever moved into her life with such
an impact or so fast, but their connection was real.
 
Every time he kissed her, his lips sent
unholy fire blazing through her veins, and his touch evoked a passion beyond
any she’d known.
 
She didn’t think it
would be long until they became intimate, and she anticipated it with hunger.

At the Thirty-Fourth Street Station,
Raine
spilled from the crowded car, part of the homeward-bound
exodus.
 
As she maneuvered her way toward
the stairs to the street, she thought she caught a glimpse of Bull.
 
A cold fear seized her heart, but when she
turned around to check, he’d vanished.
 
The possible sighting left a small uneasiness, but when she came out
into the late afternoon sunshine and saw Callahan, she pushed everything else
away.

He stood near a lamppost, still in
uniform, and when he spotted her, a grin spread over his face.
 
Raine
smiled back
and walked into his open arms. His shield, worn around his neck, bumped against
her, solid and heavy. He held her for a brief moment and deposited a light kiss
on her lips. “Hey, doll,” he said. “How did your day go?”

“Slow, but all right,” she told him. In
his crisp blues, he oozed sex appeal.
 
As
good looking as he was in everyday clothing, his uniform made him all the more
handsome. “Are you still on duty?”

“
Naw
, I’m
through.
 
I haven’t been home yet. I
waited for you.”

Raine
linked her arm
through his. “I’m glad you did.
 
So where
are we headed?”

“My place, so I can change,” Cal told
her. “Then we’ll go eat.
 
Whatcha
want?”

You,
she thought, but
said, “Chinese is fine, or pizza, or whatever.”

“How about Italian?” he asked. “See, I
know this place…”

“Sure,” she replied. Wrapped in a cable-knit
sweater, she shivered when the wind blew. “Aren’t you cold in shirtsleeves?”

“
Naw
, I’m hot-blooded.”
He lifted one eyebrow and leered so she’d know how he meant it.

She touched his forehead with the back
of her hand. “Hmm, you don’t have a fever.”

His dark eyes met hers, candid and open.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

Reminded of an old Peggy Lee classic, “Fever,”
a tune covered by several major artists
,
 
Raine
sighed. “Maybe I shouldn’t be either.”

Heat crackled between them, as volatile
as summer lightning. “As soon as we get to my place, you can check me out
thoroughly,” Callahan said.
 
His lips
curved into a devilish grin. “Right now, you might be arrested for accosting an
officer.”

The idea titillated her. “I’ll take the
chance.”

Her nipples tightened with imagination,
and her pussy moistened as she indulged in a few momentary fantasies.
 
A sweet, erotic chill that had nothing to do
with the weather rippled down her back.
 
Raine
inhaled his delightful male musk, a combination this
late in the day of his soap, deodorant, and cologne mixed with a little
sweat.
 
Food moved to second place on her
inner needs list.
 
She wanted Callahan
and now.

By the time they reached his apartment,
Raine’s
body tingled with anticipation, and the tension
stretched between them tighter than well-strung barbed wire.
 
Callahan unlocked the door and swung it open,
then gestured for
Raine
to enter. “Go ahead, make
yourself at home.”

She strolled through the kitchen and sat
down on the couch.
 
His blankets and
pillows were in a tangled heap on one end. He hung up his cap while she removed
her sweater. Cal unbuttoned his uniform shirt and placed it on a hanger, then
stripped off the T-shirt he wore beneath it.
 
Raine
ogled his trim torso, his flat belly,
and broad shoulders with a growing lust. “Nice,” she said, and he turned toward
her, grinning.

Raine
gasped.
 
She stood up and crossed the floor with three
steps. “What happened?” she asked. “You were hurt.”

Her fingers touched a round, raised area
on his left shoulder.
 
Still pink in the
center, the surrounding skin had the shiny look of new growth.
 
Although she brushed lightly, she saw Cal
wince and removed her hand.

“Yeah, shot,” he said. “It’s no big
deal.”

To her, it was huge. “Callahan, it
is.
 
How did you get shot?”

He stood facing her, no more than a few
inches between their bodies, and shrugged. “I was on duty, answered a domestic
disturbance call, and the old gal shot me.
 
She didn’t mean to—she was aiming at her husband, but she couldn’t shoot
for shit.”

With her imagination working overtime,
Raine’s
mind played a series of awful images. “It must’ve
hurt.”

Cal glanced down at the wound.
“Yeah, some.”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Back in June,” he said.

“Is it still sore?”

“Sometimes,” he said. “
Raine
, it’s all right.”

 
Curiosity mixed with concern fueled more
questions. “Were you in the hospital?”

He sighed and shook his head. “You
ain’t
gonna
quit until I tell you,
are you? Okay, already. I got shot and bled like hell.
 
My partner called for an ambulance, and they
took me to St. Barnabas, treated me in ER, and kept me overnight.
 
They tanked me up on pain meds and sent me
home,
then
I had a little surgery to repair some
damage right after the Fourth of July.
 
I
went back on duty August 1
^st,
and I’m good now.
 
It’s almost healed as you can see, just a
little sore sometimes.
 
I’m lucky. The
old lady could’ve been a little lower and shot me in the chest or even the
heart.”

Tears formed in her eyes, and her throat
knotted shut. “You could have died.”

He wiped an escaping tear away with one
finger. “Yeah, well, I didn’t.
 
Don’t
start bawling.
 
It’s over and in the
past.”

“But it could happen again, couldn’t
it?”

The downside of dating a police officer
hit her hard.
 
Every time he walked
through the door could be his last, and each shift could bring new injuries.

“Yeah, but it’s not likely, doll.
 
Don’t you worry about
it.
”

Raine
snorted. “I
can’t help it.”

She knew now if she hadn’t before,
without any doubts.
 
I love him. Oh God, I love him.

On impulse, she bent forward and touched
her lips to the edge of the wound in a light, tender caress.

Cal drew a hard breath and exhaled it
slow. “Oh, baby.”

When she raised her head, he kissed her,
his mouth hot and hungry against her lips.
 
He locked his arms around her and pulled her tight against him.
 
His cock bulged in his uniform pants and
moved against her with definite interest.
 
Raine
rested one hand on his right shoulder
and put the other around his waist.
 
His
kiss ignited her smoldering desire into an explosion she couldn’t contain if
she’d tried.
 

She responded, eager as Cal to lock
lips.
 
As his mouth moved over hers with
increasing urgency, she kissed him back.
 
The contagious fever consumed her and she returned fire for flame.
 
Her hands strayed down his smooth skin, and
she savored how it felt.

Callahan tightened his embrace but freed
one hand to rake through her hair before it came to rest holding the back of
her head.
 
He kissed her hard and fast
enough she couldn’t breathe, and before he paused so she could draw breath,
Raine
thought for a moment she might pass out.
 
Her head whirled with giddy passion and a
delightful dizziness she’d never known before.
 
With quick hands, Cal managed to undo her blouse and remove it, then her
bra.
 

He pulled back, panting, and for a
moment she feared he might tell her they should stop.
 
Instead, Callahan pressed his hot lips to the
tender spot at the base of her throat and kissed her with delicate finesse.
 
Raine
shuddered as
he shifted left and nibbled, his teeth creating exquisite sensations.
 
After leaving his mark, Cal planted his lips
between her breasts.
 
His fingers
caressed her nipples until they hardened and became so sensitive, so charged
with need
Raine
thought she would scream.
 
He tweaked them and she bit her lip to stay
silent, but when he took one into his mouth and suckled, she moaned.
 
Then he did the same to the other, and any
last ounce of control she’d had melted.

Raine
tugged at his
belt and struggled to unfasten it, but Cal took over and had his pants removed
in record time.
 
She shimmied out of her
skirt and peeled down her panty hose.
 
Callahan hooked his thumbs into the waistband of her panties, and when
he pulled down, she stepped out of them.
 
Standing skin to skin, want consumed her, and she touched him
everywhere.
 
Her hands stroked down his
sides and she took his cock into one hand, savoring the stiff weight of
it.
 
Cal groaned and pulled her against
him, his mouth moving in a line from her throat to her pussy, using both lips
and tongue.
 
When he reached her crotch,
he used his hand to massage her mound in a rapid circular motion that brought
her to the brink of orgasm.
 
Then he
reached within, using two fingers to fondle her clit, and she whimpered in
response.

Her legs became rubber, flexible, and so
weak she doubted she could stand much longer.
 
Raine
let go of his dick and clung to him as
every nerve ending in her body shrieked for release from the mounting sexual
tension.
 
She quivered with need and
trembled with desire.

Callahan swept her off her feet and
carried her the few feet to the couch.
 
He put her on her back, and she scooted until her head rested against
the pillows.
 
Raine
kicked one leg up to rest against the wall and spread the other wide.
 
He dived between them with Olympic skill and
the grace of a dancer,
then
entered her.
 
His rock-hard cock hammered between the warm,
wet walls of her pussy, and she tightened her ass to caress him with a
squeeze.
 
Sensual sensations rolled over
her, as powerful and regular as ocean waves, and he rocked back and forth, each
stroke delivering a new burst of pleasure.
 
Raine
planted her left leg against his back
and held tight.
 
Her fingers clawed at
his back, digging deep and pulling him closer.

His breath came short and fast as he
worked in and out of her body at a constant pace.
 
Everything else faded to black as she focused
on making love with Callahan.
 
Her
physical delight intensified to the point where it became almost pain, and she
needed release.
 
Raine
held back as long as possible to make the climax the ultimate experience, but
when she heard the things he said, she lost control and yielded to the
explosion.