Page 95 of Breakaway Hearts
Once I hear the shower start, I rush to my phone and start shooting off texts to Margo and the guys. They’re all on their way, almost here actually, and I tell them all to just send me a message when they arrive instead of ringing the doorbell.
Even if I partially blew the surprise, I want the arrival of Reese’s friends to catch him off guard.
While I’m scrambling to get the last few dishes out of the way, a text from Margo lights up the screen. She tells me that she, Noah, and Theo are here and that Sawyer and his son Jack are about ten minutes away.
The shower upstairs turns off as I usher the three of them inside and sit them down in the dining room. I can hear them whispering and laughing amongst themselves, and I can’t help but feel a little excited.
I hope what I’m doing isn’t too much.
I hope Reese likes it.
I hope that, at least for a little while, it takes his mind off the suspension and the slump he’s been in for the past few days.
“Hey, Callie?” Reese calls.
I hurry over from the kitchen, where the oven timer is set to go off in twelve minutes, to see Reese walking down the stairs. He’s shirtless, and his abs glisten with little droplets of water from his shower. He’s toweling his hair dry and smirking at me.
“Eyes up here, Firefly.” He points to his face.
“What’s up?” I squeak.
“Did you steal my deodorant? I couldn’t find it on my nightstand.”
“No, sorry,” I say quickly to avoid having him say anything about the fact that he and I sleep in separate bedrooms. We really don’t need that fact coming out while his friends are here. “Get dressed, dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
He shrugs and goes back up to the bedroom. When I turn and head back into the kitchen, Margo is in there as well, looking through the wine rack and pulling out a few bottles.
“Figured you could use a little help,” she whispers. She grins and nudges me with her shoulder. She’s dressed nicely, in a flattering sweater and dark wash jeans, and her blonde hair is braided down her back. “Is everything else ready besides the main course?”
“I think so.” My heart feels like it hasn’t slowed for the last hour, and I shake out my hands to dispel my nervousness. “I’ve been running around like a crazy person since I got home. Is this too much? Am I going overboard?”
“No way. What you’re doing is so sweet.”
“Margo?”
She and I both turn to see Reese standing in the doorway between the foyer and the living room.Busted. We grin sheepishly.
“Oh, hey, Reese.” Margo gives him a little wave.
“Get your ass in here!” Theo yells from the dining room. “Sorry, Callie,” he says after a long, silent second.
Reese throws his head back and laughs, a throaty, full-bodied laugh, the kind of laugh I want to bottle and save for a rainy day, and my heart warms as he realizes what’s going on.
“Wait, wait? Did you organize a secret dinner for me?” He steps into the kitchen and wraps me in a hug. “What’s the occasion?” he murmurs after planting a kiss on the crown of my head.
“No occasion,” I say against his chest. He pulls back and holds me by the waist. Theo and Noah poke their heads through the dining room door before joining the rest of us in the kitchen. “I just wanted to host a dinner party, that’s all.”
“A surprise dinner party?”
“Well…”
“Thank you, Firefly,” he says only loud enough for me to hear.
The doorbell rings, and Reese gives me one more kiss before going off with Noah and Theo to answer it. Sawyer’s voice booms from the foyer, along with a shy, quiet greeting that I can only assume comes from Jake, his son.
We all convene in the living room, and as the guys get settled, Margo taps me on the shoulder and hands me a wine glass.
“I think you’ve earned this,” she says with a grin, and I accept it happily.
