Page 112 of Let Me Be the One
To his surprise, she didn’t immediately refuse. “If I agree, are you going to assume I’m still shaken up over a snake?”
“I’ll assume that, like me, you prefer not to sleep alone.”
Callie rubbed one eye. “If you prefer that, you could have said so at any point over the last many days.”
So she would have been fine with him making nightly calls? Nice. He could hopefully build on that. “You could have said so, too. Last I saw, your parents were visiting and your ex was coming over, and then…nothing.”
“You already knew how I felt about Sutter!”
“But I didn’t know how you felt about me.”
Frowning, she grabbed up another cookie and muttered, “I came to dinner when Addie invited me, and you weren’t there.”
“Because I had a longtime customer with an enormous downed tree blocking his driveway.” He watched her devour the cookie. “I wanted to be there, to see you.”
“Oh.”
Warming to his grievance, he said, “And I would have liked to introduce you to Rebel, but instead you had Liam do it.”
Sounding grumpy, she said, “Liam doesn’t confuse me.”
“Callie.” With a touch to her stubborn chin, he turned her face toward him. “You were a grade school crush, then a high school fantasy. Having you here, right next door, threw me hard.”
“You wanted me to leave.”
“At first, because I thought that would be easier.” He slid his hand to her jaw, then let his thumb brush her downy cheek. Fortunately, she hadn’t hit her face in the fall. She could have broken her nose, or shattered a cheekbone. He braced himself against those disturbing thoughts. “Now I know different.”
“Now…you want me to stay?”
“The things I want with you…” It was difficult to put them into words. “Even though we didn’t see each other, I knew you were here.”Notback with Sutter. She hadn’t returned to her old, easier life.
If he told her that he hadn’t trusted in her convictions, her anger would return so instead he leaned in and kissed her. With his mouth lightly touching hers, he said, “I like having you here.”
She pressed closer, and the kiss she gave him was not that of a wounded woman. He accepted—he couldn’t have done anything else—but he didn’t let it get out of hand. Whether she realized it or not, she was badly hurt. For certain, she’d feel every ounce of pain tomorrow.Already in his mind, he had rearranged his schedule. Hell, he’d rearranged Addie’s and Kam’s, too.
The second she let up, he said, “Let us stay the night.”
“Us?” she breathed.
“Blu and me. I promise we won’t be in the way.” He practically held his breath…until she nodded.
“I’d like that.” She yawned. “For now, I think I’m ready to go to bed.”
Not surprisingly, his body had ideas that his brain knew weren’t possible. “I’ll take Blu out first. Do you need help into the bathroom?” The sooner they got done, the sooner he could hold her.
“Not in this lifetime.” She popped the last cookie into her mouth, and then let him take the tray and ice packs. “I’ll leave out a spare toothbrush for you if you want.”
“Thanks.” Tomorrow, he’d talk to her about bringing over a few things—and food for Blu. He wasn’t moving in on her, he told himself.
But he’d damn sure take advantage of the time she gave him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TANNER’S PREDICTION THATshe’d feel worse in the morning proved true. It took all of Callie’s concentration just to stand upright and move.
“Told you so,” Tanner said low as he got up to help her.
“Shush it.” After a very sound sleep with Tanner curled around her and the soft sounds of Blu’s snores filling the air, she was more sluggish than usual. Still, she managed to shuffle into the bathroom mostly on her own steam. Tanner stayed at her uninjured side and Blu kept pace behind them.
