of course not.”
Callum decided not to argue with her about it. Instead, he just smiled. “It’s time for that nap. You’re beginning to sound a bit grouchy.”
To Callum’s surprise, she took one, which gave him the opportunity to watch her while she slept. As he gazed at her, he experienced the same intense desire that he’d always felt whenever he was close to her. At the moment, he was close, but not close enough. He couldn’t help but study her features and thought her moments of peaceful bliss had transformed her already beautiful face into one that was even more striking.
He would be the first to admit that she no longer looked like the young girl he’d seen that first day. In three years, her features had changed from that of a girl to a woman and it all started with the shape of her mouth, which was nothing short of sensuous. How could lips be that full and inviting, he wondered, as his gaze moved from one corner of her mouth to the other.
Callum’s gaze drifted upward from her mouth to her closed eyes and the long lashes covering them. His gaze then moved to her cheekbones and he was tempted to take the back of his hand and caress them, or better yet, trace their beautiful curves with the tip of his tongue, branding her as his. And she was his, whether she knew it or not, whether she accepted it or not. She belonged to him.
He then noticed how even her breathing was, and how every breath drew his attention to the swell of her breasts that were alluringly hidden inside a light blue blouse. He’d always found her sexy, too sexy, and it had been hard not to want her, so he hadn’t even bothered fighting the temptation. He had lusted after her from afar, which was something he couldn’t help, since he hadn’t touched another woman in almost three years. Once her place in his life had become crystal clear, his body had gone into a disciplined mode, knowing she would be the one and only woman he would make love to for the rest of his life. Now, the thought of that made his body go hard. He breathed in her scent, he closed the book he had been reading and adjusted his pillow. He closed his eyes and allowed his fantasies of her to do what they always did, take over his mind and do in his dreams what he couldn’t yet do in reality.
* * *
Gemma slowly opened her eyes at the same moment she shifted in her seat. She glanced over at Callum and saw that he had fallen asleep. His head was tilted close to hers.
She would have to admit that at first his close proximity had bothered her because she assumed they would have to make a lot of unnecessary conversation during the flight. She wasn’t very good at small talk or flirting. She’d dated before, but rarely, because most men had a tendency to bore her. She’d discovered that most liked talking about themselves, tooting their own horn and figured they were God’s gift to women.
She pushed all thoughts of other men aside and decided to concentrate on this one. He was sitting so close that she could inhale his masculine scent. She had enough brothers and male cousins to know that just as no two women carried the same scent, the same held true for men. Each person’s fragrance was unique and the one floating through her nostrils now was making funny feelings flutter around in her stomach.
Gemma found it odd that nothing like this had ever happened to her before, but then she couldn’t recall Callum ever being this close to her. Usually they were surrounded by other family members. Granted, they weren’t exactly alone now, but, still, there was a sense of intimacy with him sitting beside her. She could just make out the soft sounds of his even breathing.
She had been ready to go when he had arrived at her place. When she opened the door and he had walked in, her breath had gotten caught in her throat. She’d seen him in jeans more times than not, but there was something about the pair he was wearing now that had caused her to do a double take. When he’d leaned down to pick up her luggage, his masculine thighs flexed beneath starched denim. Then there were those muscled arms beneath the Western shirt. Her gaze had lingered longer than it should have on his body. She had followed him out the door while getting an eyeful of his make-you-want-to-drool tush.
She studied him now, fascinated by just what a good-looking man he was and how he’d managed to keep women at bay for so long. A part of her knew it hadn’t just been the story Zane had fabricated about a woman waiting for him back in Australia. That tale might have kept some women like Jackie away, but it would not have done anything to hold back the bolder ones. It was primarily the way he’d carried himself. Just like Ramsey. In his pre-Chloe days, most women would have thought twice before approaching her brother. He radiated that kind of “I’m not in the mood” aura whenever it suited him.
But for some reason, she’d never considered Callum as unapproachable as Ramsey. Whenever they had exchanged words, he’d been friendly enough with her. A part of her was curious about why if he wasn’t already taken; he’d held himself back from engaging in a serious relationship with a woman. Perhaps he wanted a wife who was from his homeland. That wouldn’t be surprising, although it was ironic that his mother was American.
“Oh.” The word slipped through her lips in a frantic tone when the plane shook from the force of strong turbulence. She quickly caught her breath.
“You okay?”
She glanced over at Callum. He was awake. “Yes. I hadn’t expected that just then. Sorry if I woke you up.”
“No problem,” he said, straightening up in his seat. “We’ve been in the air about four hours now, so we were bound to hit an air pocket sooner or later.”
She swallowed when the airplane hit a smaller, less forceful pocket of turbulence. “And they don’t bother you?”
“Not as much as they used to. When I was younger, my siblings and I would fly with Mom back to the States to visit our grandparents. I used to consider turbulence as exciting as a roller-coaster ride. I thought it was fun.”
Gemma rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing fun about the feel of an airplane shaking all over the place like it’s about to come apart.”
He released a soft chuckle. “You’re safe, but let me check your seat belt to be sure.”
Before she could pull in her next breath, he reached out to her waist and touched her seat belt. She felt his fingers brush against her stomach in the process. At that precise moment, sensations rushed all through her belly and right up her arms.
She glanced over at Callum and found her gaze ensnared by the deep green of his eyes and those sensations intensified. She knew at that moment that something was happening between them, and whatever it was, she wasn’t quite prepared for it.
She’d heard about sexual awareness, but why would it affect her now, and why with someone who was almost a total stranger to her? It wasn’t as if this was the first time she and Callum had been around each other. But then … as she’d acknowledged to herself earlier, this was the first time they had been alone to this degree. She wondered if her new feelings were one-sided, or if he’d felt it, as well.
“You’re belted tight,” he said, and to her his voice seemed a bit huskier … or perhaps she was just imagining things.
“Thanks for checking.”
“No problem.”
Since they were both wide awake now, Gemma decided it was probably a good idea to engage in conversation. That would be safer than just sitting here and letting all kinds of crazy thoughts race through her mind, like what would happen if she were to check on his seat belt as he’d checked on hers. She felt heat infuse her face and her heart rate suddenly shot up.
