"Please." He rolls his eyes. "I'm obviously the mysterious coffee shop owner across the street. Very brooding. Excellent hair. Makes a mean latte."
"Of course you are."
"You know," I say, my voice barely above a whisper, "I think part of me always wanted to be someone you'd remember like that. Someone worth building wholeworlds around."
"You've always been my whole world. I just didn't know how to deserve you."
"And now?"
"Now I'm going to spend every day trying."
The fire pops and crackles, casting shadows that dance across the walls. Salem's purring has reached jet engine levels, and Caleb's hands haven't stopped their gentle exploration.
"What about you?" He asks softly. "What have you been up to while I was gone?"
I shift against him, hyper-aware of every point where our bodies connect. "I visited my parents in Bali."
"How are Sage and Jasper?" His hand slides higher up my thigh. "Still chasing enlightenment across continents?"
"Still nomadic as ever." I try to focus as his fingers trace idle patterns through my leggings. "They were teaching at this amazing retreat center near Ubud. The whole place was surrounded by rice terraces, like emerald stairs climbing into the clouds."
His thumb finds that sensitive spot behind my knee, and my breath hitches. "Sounds very you."
"It was exactly what I needed." The words come softer than I mean them to. "We did sunrise meditation at Tanah Lot temple, this incredible ancient sanctuary built right into the volcanic rocks over the ocean. The energy there . . ." I trail off, suddenly remembering our fight about my 'witchy woo-woo bullshit.'
"Hey." He shifts, and suddenly I'm being lifted into his lap. "Look at me."
I end up straddling him, my hands braced on his chest. His heart thunders under my palm. "Caleb—"
"I was an ass." His fingers flex on my hips, holding me steady. "What I said about your spiritual stuff? I was being a dick because I was scared."
"Scared of what?" My voice barely carries over the fire's crackle.
"Of how much I wanted to believe in it. In magic, in fate, in something bigger." His hands slide up my back, pulling me closer until our foreheads touch. "You see the world in this incredible way. All this beauty and meaning and possibility. And I was too busy being terrified of my own feelings to appreciate that it's one of the things I love most about you."
The word 'love' hangs between us. "You—"
"Love that you believe in something bigger?" He smirks. "Yeah. Love that you see magic everywhere. Love that you probably did seventeen different crystal rituals while you were in Bali."
"Twenty-three, actually."
His laugh rumbles through both of us. "Of course you did."
One second, I'm staring at his mouth, and the next I'm crushing my lips to his, pouring everything I'm feeling into it. His hand tangles in my hair while the other grips my hip, hauling me closer until there's no space left between us.
When his teeth nip at my bottom lip, I shiver. His hands travel down, gripping my ass and pulling me flush against him.
"Stay," I breathe against his lips. "Please."
He eases away, only far enough to meet my gaze, and the raw need in his eyes sends a shiver down my spine.
"I want nothing more," he says. "But not if you think this is only about—"
"It's not." I grab his face between my hands. "I want you to stay because I wantyou. All of you. Not just this."
"Yeah?" His thumb traces my bottom lip, and I have to resist the urge to bite it.
I lean in. "Stay because I want to wake up with you. Because I want morning coffee and stupid jokes and everything else. Stay because—"
