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“Studying?” Callum asks me, my phone pressed to my ear as I head into my new home. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for it to not feel so new, but I’m just not there yet. I guess it’s like getting a brand-new car and doing everything you can to preserve that new-car smell.
I sigh once I step inside, taking off my shoes and then locking the door. “Yeah, gonna get to work on that whiskey case, you know?”
“You could come here and study with me,” Callum suggests, and I can hear his smile over the phone.
I snort. “Yeah, right. You and I both know that that won’t happen. We’ll be making out for such a long time that Luna will get jealous, and I don’t want to upset her.”
“Yeah, she’s gotten territorial as of late. She’s more your dog than she’s mine.”
“Well, she’s our dog, if you keep it up,” I say. It’s finally summer, and I’m the idiot that decided to take summer classes to get ahead in the program, and while the semester isn’t more than six weeks long, sitting in class on warm balmy evenings when I could be hanging out with Callum and Luna sucks. “Did you eat?”
“Yeah. I tried to make a new dish, and it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped.”
“Wanna tell me about it?”
Honestly, I just like listening to Callum’s voice. It’s deep and raspy and soothing in all the right ways that I find myself sinking down onto my couch, lying down on my back and gazing at the ceiling, phone pressed to my ear. He regales me with the story of trying to make Korean fried chicken—which is different than regular fried chicken, he assures me—and how Luna wanted to get involved.
She likes to get entangled in everyone’s feet as soon as you’re in the kitchen, which is cute, but also dangerous. Callum’s gotten burned a couple of times with boiling water for pasta as he’s tried to side-step her and stepped hard on her tail to catch himself from dunking his face in the pot.
When I saw it happening before my eyes, I yelled at Luna to go to her bed, and the dog sulked for the entire night.
Callum’s softer with her, more lenient, and while he’s a big guy that’ll be able to deal with her bigger frame (the vet told us she’s going to hit close to eighty pounds), she can’t go being in places where she’s not supposed to be—or so I’ve read. Dogs need structure, like babies and kids do.
“You should really put her in your bedroom when you cook, Callum. If you get another second-degree burn, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“She knows I’m a softie, though, sweetheart. I have no defense against her. Have you seen her eyes?”
“That dog has you wrapped around her paw, and you’re happy to be there.”
“She deserves everything, don’t you, girl? Don’t you?” I can hear him talk to Luna over the phone, and I find myself grinning at the ceiling, my toes wiggling with how cute he’s being. “She also told me to tell you that she misses you. We haven’t seen you in a couple of weeks other than for our walks. I know you’re busy, your schedule is more hectic than mine right now, I know. This isn’t to put pressure on you, just to tell you that I miss you.”
“You do?” I ask, grinning even harder.
Callum’s been talking to someone—on the phone for now, but maybe he’ll graduate to a face-to-face appointment soon—and he’s been much more open with me. It’s nice to see. I can’t fault anyone for trying to work on themselves, and Callum’s doing it. That’s to be commended.
“I miss you, too. I miss my Callum-and-Luna-snuggle time. It’s like the best place to nap. I got you at my front and Luna at my back, while I’m in the middle of the bed. I’m telling you, that place right there, in the middle of your mattress, it has magical properties, the very fountain of youth.”
Callum laughs, and it’s a wonderful sound. “We’re here if you need us.”
“I know, I know. Hey, I actually wanted to ask you something...”
“Oh? Okay.” I can almost picture Callum sitting straighter in his seat, giving me all of his attention. Luna whines somewhere in the background, and after some rustling, I’m pretty sure she just plonked herself in his lap when she is not a lap dog, in any way, shape or form.
“Did you want to be my date for my cousin’s wedding in October? I didn’t formally ask you, I just assumed you would want to come with me. If you’re able to. The wedding’s on a Saturday, and I’m going to have to be awake at the crack of dawn, so I’ve gotten my schedule all figured out. You let me know if you can make it. I would love to be there with you.”
“I...I don’t really know how to dance. Isn’t that, like, the whole point of a wedding?”
“And the eating, and the drinking. Dancing comes third, I think. How did I not know that you can’t dance? Callum, that’s not real.”
“No, you should see me. I’m really terrible.”
“Okay, well, you can watch me dance and give me compliments,” I snicker, nodding to myself. “I’m going to be wearing a very pretty dress.”
“You’re gonna look like a princess, huh?”
I scoff, delighted that he’s flirting with me. “That’s gonna be my cousin, Vick. Her dress is out of this world, and she hates it. You’re going to meet my family at the wedding. I’m sorry in advance, but we can be a lot.”
“Families usually are. Don’t you think I should meet everyone beforehand? Wouldn’t that be better?”
I frown. “I mean, sure, if you want. I can introduce you. When are we thinking this is going to happen?”
Callum sighs. “So don’t get mad at me, but I dropped off some food at your front door, got lucky following some random guy inside the building, and I’m kind of in the hallway, staring at the elevators. It’s some of the food I made, and it microwaves really good. I just wanted to make sure you had something to eat.”
“Callum,” I groan. “You did not just reverse-Houdini me food, and then pull a disappearing act,” I say, getting to my feet and rushing to my front door, unlocking it, then yanking it open to find a paper bag with food inside left on top of the welcome mat. He even left a note on a white card inside, and honestly, words cannot begin to describe how much I love Callum.
Honestly. Words cannot describe.
“Come back, come back. You’re here, and I want to see you.”
Callum sighs, and I know I’ve won. I leave the door wide open, place my bag of food down at my kitchen table, and then slide on my socked feet to the door, peeking my head out to see him walking toward me, this big hulking guy with shorn hair and eyes that look like they could set you ablaze on the spot, coming toward me with a sappy smile on his face.
I did that, I put that smile there.
I wave him over, shoving my phone into my back pocket, doing a little cha cha of the movement to get him to laugh at me. He shakes his head fondly, and there’s a tightness in my chest that means my love is getting too big for my ribcage again, and I honestly don’t know what to do about it.
If only Google had an answer.
“Hi,” I chirp when we’re practically toe to toe, and I throw my arms out, waiting for my hello-hug, and Callum obliges, sweeping me up in his arms and lifting me clear off the floor. I laugh and kiss his cheek. “Hi, Callum. Come on, come inside and have some food with me. We both know your portion sizes are good for two people.”
When I’m back down on the ground, I grab his hand and bring him inside my new place, the one he has yet to see for more than a few moments. I wanted it to be perfect, to perfectly reflect who I am, but it’s less about what’s in a home, and more about the who.
With Callum inside of my new home with me, everything just feels better, just right.
“It looks good, sweetheart, really good.”
I shrug, looking around my home as if seeing it for the first time. “It’s cozy and comfy and basically everything I want. Do you see how many blankets I have? Too many, but that’s the way I like it. Come on, let me get this re-heated, and we can have dinner together.”
Callum helps me in the kitchen, taking orders of where things are, taking them down for me as I plate everything for the two of us and then pop them in the microwave. As the dishes spin inside, Callum has his arms wrapped around me in a hug, and I’ve got my head planted on his chest, squeezing him as tight as I can around his waist and ribs. Honestly, I’m going to need to hit the gym, find the time in my busy schedule so I can make him feel my hugs just like how I feel his, like they’re grounding, anchoring.
We share the meal together, eating more than chatting, and it’s nicer now, that I don’t have to scramble to find things to talk about, to try and figure out why Callum is silent when it’s just something that he prefers, to bask in the quiet moments when he’s at his most relaxed.
After we’re done and we’ve cleaned up, it’s to the couch for some cuddle time, Callum taking his seat first and then waiting for me to dictate where I want to sit—next to him or not, but I choose violence and place myself in his lap, looping an arm around his shoulders and kissing his cheek with loud sounds that make him laugh. Honestly, Callum needs to be drowned in affection, and I volunteer as tribute.
“You didn’t answer me before,” I murmur after I kiss Callum, sighing against his mouth. I’ve missed this, being this close, even though it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve had proper cuddle time.
I can’t go over to his place for nap dates, I’d lose too much time, and there’s always so much to do. Especially now since I’m getting training as a backup manager for the night shifts at L’Arsenale, learning the ropes from my boss who got promoted. It’s a lot take in all at once, but that’s how life goes, it seems—you go on an even keel for the longest time, and then everything seems to happen all at once.
“Did you want to come to my cousin’s wedding with me?”
“I don’t have anything to wear, actually. I...uh,” Callum sighs. “I have to go shopping, and I hate shopping.” He blinks his eyes open to look at me, his hand rubbing up and down my jean-clad thigh. “I’ll see what I can do with work and then figure it out from there.”
“Okay.”
“About the other thing, though,” he says, biting at his bottom lip in a way that is utterly and totally distracting and unfair.
“Other thing? What other thing?” See? He makes me stupid because now all I can think about is how much time I have left before I have to study my ass off to kiss my boyfriend breathless. The answer is less than forty-five minutes, and I’d rather be doing the kissing instead of the talking, but Callum’s looking at me with questions in his eyes. “Sorry, what?”
He grins at me, and I feel like a kick to the chest, making my breath rattle in my throat. “About meeting your family before your cousin gets married. Do you think that’s something you’d want to do?”
“Introduce you to my family?” I scoff, grab hold of his shoulders and squeeze hard. “Callum, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Hell, yeah I want you to meet my family. I’d say to go right now but I’ve got that case to finish for tomorrow, and I want to at least get a first draft of my introduction for my business ethics essay next week. You know how busy Grand Prix weekend gets. We’re going to be slammed at work. Slammed.”
Callum smiles, his eyes sliding closed with it, and I lean down to kiss him some more.
“Quick,” I say, “I’ve got forty-five minutes before I have to hit the books again. And I promise you I will schedule something on our days off so we can meet my family—something casual like a dinner at a restaurant, on neutral ground, okay? Although my mom’s going to want to cook. Nope, scratch that, you’re going to be held hostage at the Prewitts’ house, and there’s nothing I can do, sorry.” I kiss his cheek, then blow a raspberry, making this hulking man that looks like he could kill you with his pinky finger laugh like he’s a little kid.
Which obviously, just makes me want to find every single one of his tickle spots and have him at my mercy.
When Callum catches his breath, he kisses me back, giving as good as he gets, and then pulls back to look at me, his eyes warm and soft and pretty perfect for me. “What did you have in mind to do in those forty-five minutes, huh?”
I get to my feet, holding out my hand for him to take, waiting for him to tell me yes or no. When his big hand dwarfs mine, I start walking backwards, knocking into some furniture because I don’t have this place perfectly mapped out yet in my mind, but I’ll get there. Callum glares down at the coffee table like it insulted me and he will set it ablaze with his stare alone.
When he looks back to me, his face is soft and open, and incredibly cute and hot, a mish-mash of everything he means to me.
“I could think of a few things. Race you to my bedroom!” I yell, whirling around after dropping his hand, running down the hall and almost making it to my bedroom before Callum catches me.
“You didn’t win,” Callum says, lifting me up in his arms so I have to wind my legs around his waist, and huh, this is what it’s like being this tall. “I did.” He grins at me, and honestly, I can’t let him think he’s won, nope, can’t do it.
When I pull back for air, it’s to find Callum’s lips looking a little swollen from my kisses, but his smile is beyond gorgeous. I tilt my head at him, Luna-style.
“We’ll see about that.”
