A/N This part is also posted as an extra chapter on Hearts Unchained. 

The windows of our apartment glowed in the dark night, seven embers to guide me home. I couldn’t wait to get up there, but I also wanted to savor the moment before I surprised my husband. He was up there, probably binging on chips and beer because I wasn’t there to celebrate Valentine’s Day with him. He couldn’t be more wrong.

I pulled up my phone and pressed call, eager to hear Cal’s voice on the other end. The ring sounded in my ear again and again, and I had a moment of doubt until he picked up.

“Hi love, happy Valentine’s.” Cal tried to sound cheerful, but as always, he failed to hide his emotions from me. It was one of the things I loved about him. The tone of his voice gave him away every single time.

“Hi, happy Valentine’s. How is it back home?”

“A bit lonely without you.”

I smiled. He wouldn’t be lonely for much longer.

“I’m lonely too. So tell me about your day.”

While Cal talked in my ear, I started to walk, cradling my phone to my ear to hear his soft breaths on the other side. If I hadn’t been on my way into his embrace, I would have hated to hear the evident disappointment in every tone he spoke. As it was, it only fueled me to walk faster, to take the stairs two at a time and speed toward the elevator.

“…so now I’m watching an episode of Game of Thrones,” he said, ending his short monolog.

I wished he would continue so he didn’t hear me talking from the hallway. Staying in the elevator for a moment longer than necessary, I said, “And what are you going to do after that?”

Cal chuckled. “Perhaps I’ll let you stew instead of telling you all the details.”

“Tell me, babe. What will you do? I want to know.” I knew he could hear the suggestion, and it was only a matter of time before he would say all the dirty words I wanted to hear. He always knew how to turn me on over the phone when I was away on photo shoots.

I snuck up to the door, taking one careful step after the other while Cal’s voice spoke words that set my blood on fire.

Pulling out my key with care, I waited for the tell-tale ‘clink’ to give me away. I breathed deep in relief as the key slipped into the lock without a sound.

“Am I getting you excited, husband?” Cal asked, playing coy to tease me further.

I was excited, but for more reasons than he thought. I knew that I would hold him in my arms if I opened the door and called out, but it was a sweet pleasure to stand there and wait, to prolong the suffering so the relief would taste even better.

“Cal, can you do something for me?”

“Yes.”

“Remove your shirt.”

“Yes…” His voice dropped a few tones, hushed and almost feverish.

I smiled; I wasn’t done with him yet.

“Is it gone?”

“Yes.”

“Let your fingers touch that burning skin across your stomach, lower and lower…” I could hear his breathing pick up, and mine soon followed. “Let your touch tease the skin beneath the hem of your boxers.”

“I’m not wearing any boxers…” he replied, forcing me to stifle a sound that wanted to push past my lips.

“Are you wearing any pants?”

“Not anymore.”

“Are you naked?”

“Yes.”

That was it. While I continued to give him hushed instructions of how he should touch his body, I turned the handle as carefully as I could, pulled the door open and walked inside our apartment. Cal was nowhere to be seen, but there were traces of him everywhere. The episode of GOT was paused on the TV; a beer can and a bag of chips stood on the table just as I had predicted. I got out of my shoes and tip-toed toward our bedroom.

The lights were dimmed down, but I could still see the outline of my naked husband on the bed, touching himself just as I had asked him. I could hear his soft moans both from the phone and from inside the room for double effect. Taking a deep breath, I walked through the doorway.

I wondered if he knew I was there. Surely, he had heard me at some point—either my hushed words or my soft footsteps. His eyes were closed, breathing ragged. I wanted nothing more than undress and wrap my naked body around his. Or perhaps the other way around—him around me.

He looked thoroughly vulnerable where he lay, exposed and stroking himself. His beautiful face was scrunched together as he expressed his desire. I was afraid I would scare him, but I couldn’t wait any longer.

“Cal, open your eyes,” I said and heard my voice echoed in the phone lying against his ear.

He listened and stared at me with wide eyes. “Ay…” He was breathless.

“Come here, lover of mine,” I said, sitting down on the bed and opening my arms.

He crawled over, blinking away the confusion in his eyes. “I should slap you for this,” he said, but there was no real threat in his voice, only relief.

“I know.” It was the only thing I managed to say before he kissed me like there was no tomorrow. An assault of the best kind possible.

“You tricked me out of my clothes,” he mumbled against my lips.

“That I did.”

“Only fair I remove yours, don’t you think?”

“You should,” I breathed back.

His hands fought to open my jacket, ripping it off my shoulders. Cal was rarely violent but in bed he was a beast, and I loved it.

While I kissed his jaw, he took hold of my shirt to pull it over my head.

“Wait.” I fumbled to open the first couple of buttons so he wouldn’t choke me or destroy the shirt—which was likely otherwise.

“No waiting…”

I chuckled but stopped as my skin became exposed to the cold air. The heat and the cold mixed together underneath Cal’s magic hands. It was my turn to become helpless, and more so when he let his tongue taste my sensitive neck. No longer in control, I let him do what he wanted with me.

He let me fall down on the bed and straddled my hips. “I don’t know if I should punish you or pleasure you for this stunt. Letting me think I would spend Valentine’s Day alone.”

“Both?” I suggested, fighting to keep my breathing even as my eyes roamed from his swollen lips to his exposed chest. The man I had loved for so long, a love I thought forever unrequited. I closed my eyes, overwhelmed from his touch and the feelings spreading from my skin down to my very core.

“Both it shall be…” Cal whispered in my ear.

I wasn’t prepared for the proximity, so my entire body shook and my hips bucked toward his.

“Nah-ah,” Cal chided. “No pleasure until you’re begging for it.”

“Please,” I pleaded right away.

He chuckled again and let a lone finger trail from my lips, down across my chest all the way down to the hem of my jeans. “We better remove these first, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” I could barely find my breath, but I had to answer.

His weight lifted from my body, and I felt him tugging at my jeans, opening them much faster than I ever could. Impatient, I thought, but held it to myself. I didn’t want him to taunt me more than he already would—I was certain that was my punishment.

With a swift pull, my pants were gone and thrown across the room.

“Now, what was it you said? Fingers caressing the skin beneath your boxers?” Cal teased my sensitive skin, brushing softly along the hem.

I wanted to order my boxers removed, but I knew that would prolong my waiting. He would do his best to make me fall to pieces under his expert hands.

“You’re awfully silent, babe,” he said, placing his lips around one of my nipples to tug it with his teeth.

I couldn’t rein in the sound of appreciation even if I tried.

“That’s more like it.” He gave the same treatment to my right nipple, biting down hard enough for me to yelp.

“This is what you get for tricking me, babe.”

“Please…” I pleaded again, not knowing exactly what I wanted, or if I wanted more or less.

“Be careful what you’re asking for…”

He wasn’t kidding. His unyielding touch was everywhere; his lips caressing my skin; his teeth nibbling at my soft spots. I tried to return the favor, but he took hold of my hands and put them above my head. “Keep them there, husband.”

I groaned, hoping he would understand how hard it was to keep my hands off of him. I wanted to touch him just as much as he wanted to touch me, but I also liked when he took control and had his way with me. He was the perfect top from the bottom.

“I’m going to fuck you, and then you’ve got the rest of the night to make love to me,” he whispered against my lips, and I knew exactly what he meant.

With my hands ordered away, Cal prepared himself, making sure that I saw every single part of the process. My erection throbbed at the sight of his fingers playing and stretching, pushing inside and out again until he moaned together with me. I was leaking, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. I was trapped; he was in control.

He leaned over to our nightstand, picked up a bottle of lube and lathered the slick liquid over my erection. The cold burned against my skin, and it only became worse when his hand closed around me to spread it out evenly. I wanted to close my eyes and just feel, but I couldn’t keep my eyes away from him. He was stunning. A light sheen of sweat covered his face and torso, making his skin shimmer in the dark.

His dark eyes found mine, and then he lowered himself onto me, pulling me into his heat until I was locked in his tight hold. Oh fuck, I said to myself, hoping that I could hold for as long as he wanted me too. I hadn’t seen him in two weeks, and now this. It was enough to send a man spiraling out of control.

I pushed my fingernails into my palms, trying to keep afloat as he started to move and slam himself onto me again and again. I had known it was coming, but it still caught me by surprise every single time.

My beast: a savage in bed. My lover, my husband, my everything.

“Oh fuck!” This time I cried it out loud. I didn’t stand a chance if he continued like this. Not when he was pushing me inside of him again and again without compromise.  

I wanted to touch him, but that would come later. When we were sated from our first round, I would take my time with him and make us both feel something entirely different. This wasn’t about touches like that. This was about pent up passion, pent up frustration and overfilled buckets of love.

I could feel him shaking above me, straining to keep going, straining to keep the pace.

“Cal, please…” I pleaded again.

“Yes.” He was out of breath, but he still kept going. “Touch me!” he ordered suddenly.

My hands flew to his body, holding him steady with one, while caressing his pulsing erection with my other one. I could feel how close he was. It would just take a little…a little more. I bucked my hips, and that was it for the both of us. His shivering frame became a shaking mess, falling on top of me as we came together.

“Thanks for coming home,” Cal whispered, too tired to make another noise.

“Of course. Valentine’s wouldn’t be the same without you.”

“I should hope so,” he huffed and pinched my sore nipple.

I guess I deserved that…

Now, the only thing remaining was round two, three, four…and more.