Callie, Unleashed

By Amy Jo Cousins

If you can’t stop thinking about one man, get under another.

A scorching hot one-night stand with her ex Gabe and his current lover was just what Callie needed to start her recovery from a decade-long sexless marriage. One night only, because anything more than that with the man she’d never quite gotten over would be too dangerous. And the threesome was even more fun and filthy than she’d fantasized it would be.

Now Callie’s supposed to be moving onto new erotic adventures, without Gabe. Or thoughts of Gabe. No Gabe, damn it. But somehow her ex keeps getting caught up in her plans, and Callie can’t make herself say no when Gabe offers to accompany her—strictly as her platonic safety-measure friend—to a BDSM club.

Callie’s trying to be smart, to protect herself and explore this fascinating new world at the same time. And she does actually feel safer knowing Gabe is close when Alejandro, the sexy Dom she meets, introduces her to her first experiences with submission. But when Ale picks up on the ever-present sexual tension between Callie and Gabe, Callie’s going to learn just how far an experienced Dom can push two people who aren’t sure where their boundaries lie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Amy Jo Cousins
• Release date: Jun 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370452729

Amy Jo Cousins

A.J. Cousins knows one thing for sure: the people who read and write romance novels are the smartest, funniest, kindest, and most optimistic souls on the planet and finding a place in this community has been like coming home. She lives in Chicago, where she writes contemporary romance, tweets more than she ought, and sometimes runs way too far. She loves her boy and the Cubs, who taught her that being awesome doesn't necessarily have anything to do with winning. Please visit her online!

Book preview

Chapter

One

In the end, it was Kate who suggested inviting Gabe to accompany Callie to the kink club, although Callie settled into the idea like curling up on a pillow-top

feather

bed

.

A pillow-top feather bed with live wires running along the edges. Every time Callie let her mind wander toward what she’d arranged, a hot crackle of energy lit her up, lifting the fine hairs on her forearms and sparking a bolt of electricity down her spine until she shivered.

It’s your fault, you know, she teased the other woman, running the toe of her boot up Kate’s leg under the high top bar table.

"

How’s

that

?"

Kate had come to the bar directly from work. The smudges of dirt and peat and specks of bonemeal that clung to her denim shirt and jeans shouldn’t have been sexy, but

absolutely

were

.

There’s something about knowing a woman digs in the dirt with her hands that’s just always going to be a turn-on. Especially since I’ve seen her naked.

Seen. Smelled. Touched and licked her way all over Kate’s body until she could have identified it in the dark. Memories of that night never failed to send a zing up Callie’s spine that tingled for hours.

If you two hadn’t fucked me until my bones melted, I probably would’ve gone home, curled up into a ball, and not come out again for another six months, Callie said. Probably? Definitely. That first half-year after her marriage had ended—in a bloodless divorce that more than symbolized its lack of life—had been an interminable time. With so much space in her rooms half-emptied of furniture and in the hours of her day she’d

been

lost

.

Gabe and Kate had found her. Gabe in particular had walked her gently through a freak-out in the middle of their trio’s night together. Had sat with her and talked until she’d figured out where her panic was coming from. Understanding had brought a resolution of her old feelings for Gabe with it, then calm, and then a reawakening of desire.

Desire that she’d fulfilled with Gabe and Kate until they’d collapsed from satiation.

Or exhaustion.

She’d woken the next morning feeling at ease and happy with her determination to keep exploring her newly reborn sexuality, to go out and try new things with new people, to be settled and content, with all her lingering feelings for Gabe resolved

at

last

.

Or so she kept telling herself.

I will happily take the blame for the bone-melting fucking. Kate’s grin was sly, her booted foot bumping Callie’s under the table. You know I’m always available for a repeat encounter . . .

Callie shook her head no, smiling. Kate had made it clear the morning after their adventure that she was interested in Callie, and not just in taking her to bed again with Gabe as her partner in crime. But Callie could feel Kate’s emotions bubbling up behind her words and that was something she wouldn’t, couldn’t let progress any further.

Emotional attachment was not on Callie’s agenda any time in the near future. She wouldn’t hurt Kate by using her for sex—even totally banging sex—when she couldn’t return her affection emotionally.

Especially when she kept waking in the middle of the night, sweaty and tangled in her sheets, her body still humming with desire, and all she could remember of her dreams was Gabe’s voice murmuring in her ears. Gabe’s hands grasping her

hips

hard

.

Kate stirred her cocktail with its tiny green straw and looked up at Callie, smile still mischievous. "Gabe is available too,

you

know

."

Kate was fucking psychic.

No, thanks. Callie’s laugh was sharp but genuine. The last time I tied myself up in knots over that man, I married someone who didn’t fuck me for most of a decade.

Yeah, that’s no good, Kate said. She bumped her knee against Callie’s and wiggled her eyebrows. Small teeth peeked out between full nude lips when she smiled. "But you don’t have to let yourself get tangled up, you know. Just use him and

abuse

him

."

I wish. God, if I could do that, I’d just fuck that man nonstop. They exchanged a look that meant hell, yeah, we would, right? but Callie sobered up, running her fingertip down the condensation on the side of her glass almost wistfully. If only. "It used to irritate the crap out of me when I’d hear people say things like, ‘Women can’t have sex without getting emotionally attached.’ I always wanted to butt in and say, ‘Yes, we can. Guys don’t have a lock on wanting to get laid.’ But I don’t know. I don’t know if I get attached when I have sex with anyone, or if it’s just Gabe. But there’s something about

that

man

. . ."

Yeah, there is. Kate sighed in unison with Callie.

I’ve slept with him once, now, in a decade. And if I did it again, I’d end up halfway to being in love with him by the time I put my clothes back on. Which was half truth, half lie. She was seriously worried the halfway point had been passed somewhere in the middle of the flirtatious game of Cutthroat she, Kate, and Gabe had shot at the pool hall that night. "I’d turn it off, if I could. But there’s never been a time when I haven’t wanted

that

man

."

The front door to the bar opened and closed around a short-haired woman heading out, pushing a gust of frigid air their way. Callie shivered at the cold and sighed, knowing it would take forever for the high-ceilinged room to warm up again. They were sitting too close to the door, but she’d wanted privacy for her conversation with Kate, and the four tables the quiet bar offered were scattered close to the entry.

Coming home with us was dangerous, huh? Kate teased, pulling a soft blue scarf from her coat sleeve and passing it to Callie.

Yes. And you guys broke me! Mostly playing, she vamped up the outrage, admitting to herself that she sort of meant it. She wrapped Kate’s scarf around her neck, which helped some but not enough. What Callie really wanted was a blanket. Or a Snuggie. She didn’t care how stupid she’d look if she could only get warm again. "Seriously. I thought I’d go out and sleep with a bunch of people. Have some adventures. Get it out of my system. But after

you

two

. . ."

Kate let the silence hang between them for a moment before finishing Callie’s sentence. Everyone else seems a little . . .

Boring! Yes. She covered her face with her hands and moaned at her own obnoxiousness. "Is that awful? Regular one-night-stand sex is boring! And most people aren’t any good

at

it

."

Another kick under the table. "You can’t really blame total strangers for not knowing what gets you off, Callie. It’s not entirely their fault if they’re bad in bed. Some of it’s just part of being new lovers."

Callie glared through her fingers covering her face. "You weren’t bad in bed, and I’d only met you a couple hours before."

Leaning in close, Kate pursed her mouth and whispered, "Yeah, but I had the Gabe advantage, and he definitely knows what gets you off. Or at least what worked for you ten

years

ago

."

Turns out nothing much changed there, Callie murmured, heat creeping into her face. Pulsing under her skin. The idea Kate had sparked mesmerized her. So you two, what? Talked about me? She squirmed in her seat just thinking about it. Gabe talked about fucking me, described it to you in detail, and you listened? Remembered what I liked when we were all together?

A weird kind of after-the-fact voyeurism, maybe, imagining the conversations between Gabe and Kate, but it was turning her on like whoa. The idea that Gabe still remembered what she liked in bed and had taken pleasure describing it to Kate was . . . scorching.

And that’s definitely not going to help your sexual frustration levels any,

so

stop

.

Kate was leaning toward her. Licking her lips. "Yes. That’s exactly what

we

did

."

Callie caught herself, trembling on the edge of her seat, unable to resist diving psyche-deep into a reenactment of that imagined conversation. . .

Wait. You asked Kate to meet you for a reason, remember?

The air she sucked into her lungs didn’t have enough oxygen

in

it

.

Remember. Adventure. No emotions, just sex. Satisfying your curiosity with someone who doesn’t mean anything. Who won’t get attached. To whom you won’t get attached. You’re not doing this again, the Gabe-intensity thing that just fucks you up in

the

end

.

Okay. We need to change the subject. Like, now. She uncrossed and re-crossed her legs, forcing herself not to rock against the pressure. Jesus. She was going to leave a wet spot on the chair when she

stood

up

.

Kate gave her about two seconds before going in for

the

kill

.

"How many people have you actually slept with

so

far

?"

Not enough, Callie growled, then grinned at Kate’s laugh. "I met this guy at a work event who was in town visiting one of his clients. They brought him to an industry cocktail party I go to. He was fine. Gorgeous, actually. It was totally distracting, because I kept looking at his body and losing track of things. It was like doing Brad Pitt. I couldn’t stop thinking, Holy shit, this is the best-looking guy I’ve ever fucked in my life. Look at those abs. He looks like he’s photoshopped."

Ha. Kate’s snort caught the bartender’s attention. The woman standing near the taps had short, two-tone, punked-out hair and muscled arms in a sleeveless T-shirt. Clearly it was warmer behind the bar than on the floor. The bartender looked from their glasses back to their faces and lifted an eyebrow.

Callie shook her head. No thanks. If she had another drink, she’d risk a dangerous lowering of her willpower and could very well find herself waking up in Kate’s bed the following morning. Or talking Kate into calling Gabe for another three-way rematch.

Who else? Kate asked.

Someone I met online. Talked a good game via email. Was all hesitant and awkward in person. Kate mock scowled at her, and Callie threw up her hands. "I know. I’m asking a lot. Setting the bar too high. Expecting people to think outside the box. Pick a cliché.

I’m

it

."

Kate’s answer was to slide off her chair and slip onto the one next to Callie, instead of across from her. When Kate slung an arm around her shoulders, Callie let herself be pulled close for a hug. You’re not a cliché. Far from it. Setting the bar too high? Maybe.

I know. I think I need a new strategy. But explaining that strategy was challenging her tongue all of a sudden, jerking her to a stuttering halt. Instead of pushing through it, she let herself sink into the comfort of physical contact with a woman she was surprised to find a friend, even after Callie’s gentle rejection.

The song pulsing in the background ended, a new ‘70s classic grooving its funky beat seconds later. The bar was definitely a lingering outpost from an era that time forgot.

Stayin’ alive, indeed.

I like the new haircut by the way, she said after quiet moments passed.

Kate sat up and rubbed her buzzed hair with a restless hand. "Thanks. I’m still getting used

to

it

."

What prompted the change? May I? She lifted a hand. Kate’s hair had been shortish ever since they’d met, but the near buzz cut was a new thing. At Kate’s nod, Callie gave in to the urge to pet her and ran a palm over the soft,

bristly

fuzz

.

"My gaydar for lesbians sucks. And I don’t know if all the Asian gay girls are hiding or something, but it’s like being Korean just screams straight girl at the bars. I can’t get a date to save my life," Kate said, smiling ruefully. She tilted her head, pushing her skull into the