Page 116 of Protecting You
He pressed the lightest kiss to her lips.
It wasn’t their first kiss, the shocking one at the restaurant with Charles as their audience.
It wasn’t all the kisses between then and now, designed to fool their observers.
It wasn’t that quick peck he’d given her in the garden.
This wasn’t Caleb, computer hardware salesman.
This was Callan, the man she’d secretly dreamed about for a decade.
She didn’t think, just slid her hands behind his head and pulled him closer, wanting more of him.
The world narrowed to that house, that kitchen, that spot, until nothing else mattered but his lips touching hers, his fingers lacing into her hair. His hand on her back, holding her close.
His warmth. His breath. His scent. His everything.
This man who’d done so much to protect her. Who’d put himself in danger to keep her safe. Who’d confessed he’d had a crush on her before and, if his touch were to be believed, whose crush had morphed to something bigger and more powerful than she’d ever imagined.
Her attraction to him expanded, exploded. She cared about Callan. More importantly, shetrustedhim. She’d never thought she could, but she did.
He ended the kiss, crushing her to his chest.
His racing heart thumped against her ear. A groan started low in his belly, escaping on an exhale.
She wasn’t sure what to say. Of all the boyfriends in her past, none of them had ever made her feel anything close to this. Callan wasn’t unsuitable. He wasn’t controlling. He wasn’t slow or inept. He was everything she’d ever wanted.
It was glorious.
It was…terrifying.
Because during the kiss, maybe over the previous few days, Callan had slowly pulled her heart nearer. Now it was his. He’d captured it. The question was, what was he going to do with it?
“Alyssa.” His voice was low and rumbly, sending shivers over her.
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
The shivers turned cold. She stepped back. “Okay.”
“Don’t. I don’t… It’s not that I didn’t want to or didn’t enjoy it.” His arms dropped to his sides. “It’s just…I have Peri. She has to be my priority. I can’t get sidetracked until I figure things out with her.”
“Right. No. I get it,” she lied.
She didn’t get it at all. Couldn’t a man have a daughter and a girlfriend? Didn’t people do that?
They did, and he could. He just didn’t want to make the effort. Not with her.
She was a fool for thinking…anything.
This was why she chose unsuitable men. When they let her down—and theyalwayslet her down—it didn’t hurt.
This hurt. This was excruciating.
She returned to the table and pulled her laptop close. “I have some updates.”
“We should talk about?—”
