“Hey, Cal?” She waited until he hummed in acknowledgment from down the hall. “You been kissin’ anyone else?”
“Nope. You?”
“Not a dang soul.” Her heart raced as she opened her mouth again. “So no kissin’ anybody else for either of us?”
Thin arms wrapped around her belly, and lips, warm and soft, pressed to the curve of her neck. Calum’s breath ghosted alongher skin, and she shivered as she tilted her head. Her gut lurched at the gentle scrape of his teeth. Warmth poured through her, and she exhaled shakily. His lips brushed against her flesh as he replied:
“Sounds good to me, babe.”
Her voice trembled when she said, “I find out you kiss anyone else but me, and I’ll make you regret it.”
“You threaten me a lot,” he laughed before kissing her neck again. “I like it. Makes me feel like you care.”
“Cal… I’ve cared about you since the day we met.”
“And that’s why I like you.”
“Kiss me.”
He did.
ten
Calum
KISSING RETT HAD QUICKLY become Calum’s favorite pastime. Ever since that night in the pool, he craved the taste of cherry. He needed the feeling of her fingers wrapped in his hair, the warmth of her arms around his neck. It didn’t matter that she was short enough he had to stay bent over. All he cared about was that she never stopped.
Exploring the mobile home with her was more fun than he expected. He didn’t know what possessed him to suggest they finally do it—he’d only promised to keep her from asking again in the first place—but he had. And he wondered, as they made their way carefully through the place, what it could have been like if he’d grown up in Oak Creek.
Would he and Rett still have started dating? Or would she have seen him like she saw the rest of the boys in town—off-limits simply because they knew each other too well? Would he have had the courage to be her boyfriend sooner if he hadn’t been so closed off in the beginning? If he hadn’t clung so tightly to his ‘I don’t need anybody’ mindset?
But as he stood there kissing her, hands pressed to her lower back to hold her against him, Calum found he didn’t really care. Despite everything, she wanted him enough to never kiss someone else. Her lips parted beneath his, and he dove headfirst into the fact he was gone for her.
Cherry lip balm and coconut shampoo would always be a part of him.
They clambered up the tree to sit against the trunk, her back to his chest. His mind replayed the second he realized the kisses weren’t just something to do. That Rett wanted to be with him.Him. A boy who was so angry at the world and all its injustices.
He knew all the damage he’d ever done to Las Vegas would never compare to the damage his father caused by walking out. Calum could only do so much in his absence, and it shouldn’t have been his responsibility.
“You wanna go to the Halloween party this year?” she asked suddenly, her voice echoing in the stillness.
“Do I have to?”
“No. Just figured I’d ask.” She sighed, letting her head drop back to his shoulder, and stared through the empty branches at the sky. “Can’t believe you’ve been here for two months. Remember when you hated me?”
“Oh, I never hated you,” he murmured. “I hated being here. You make it okay.”
“Told you I’ll be here long as you are.”
Rett exhaled slowly and relaxed further against him. It should have been uncomfortable, with hard wood beneath his butt andbehind his back, but she was so soft in front of him. So warm and real. He would never comprehend how he got so lucky as to have someone like her care so much.
The cold October wind rustled through the branches, rippled along the water below, and Calum knew Oak Creek wasn’t so bad. Different, just like Rett said, but not bad. A late-season bird cried in a tree across the river, and the horizon swallowed the sun. He rested his head against the trunk of the tree and stared up at the sky.
Stars glittered into existence, bright beacons of light to guide sailors to shore. Travelers to home. Him to Rett. It was far too soon to think she was more than someone he liked to kiss, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the future.
Calum could stay in Tennessee, stay withher. He could go wherever she did around the country. He could go home and have a long-distance relationship with her, or no relationship at all. No matter what, they would always look at the same stars and moon, and he would always wonder if she was thinking of him, too.
He could love her.
