I whipped my head around to stare at him, my body only following to angle itself toward him a fraction of a second later. “Excuse me?”
His mouth tugged into a small smile, but his eyes didn’t soften. “Excuse you for what? Of course, I’d pay for it.”
I crossed my arms, trying to shield myself from the sheer weight of the certainty in his tone. “That’s ridiculous. We can’t just take your money for?—”
“I’m serious about this,” he interjected gently, but his voice was edged with something I couldn’t quite name. “Look, I know ours will be a marriage of convenience, but legally, you’d be my wife and Brody will be my son. Iamgoing to take care of you both. That’s not negotiable, Maisie.”
For a second, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. As I looked at him, I realized that he really did mean it. I saw it in his face and I heard it in the quiet conviction in his voice. He didn’t care about the money, but he did care about using it to look after us.
“Thank you,” I finally murmured, lowering my gaze to my lap and picking at the pale pink polish on my nails that was starting to chip off. “I think this could be good for Brody. For instance, I knew he was good, but I haven’t even thought of those things as possibilities for him.”
When I finally looked up, Callum was still watching me, his expression unreadable but intent, like he was seeing past every wall I’d put up. That was the problem I’d been dealing with since Friday. I could feel something brewing between us, but it was nowhere near as simple as the arrangement he’d initially proposed.
The air between us settled into a silence that wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable either. It was charged, heavy with all the things we weren’t saying, but I knew there was something I should say before he left here today.
“I’ve already reviewed the paperwork with Georgia,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “I’m ready to sign it whenever you are.”
Callum’s eyes lingered on mine before eventually he gave a slow nod. “Would you like to come to our family dinner this week?”
“Family dinner?” I echoed, caught completely off guard.
A faint smile curved his mouth. “It’s on Friday. I’ll text you the details?”
“Uh, sure,” I muttered. If we were getting married, then I supposed we had to meet the mighty Westwoods sooner or later. A trickle of nerves ran through me anyway. “What are they like, your family?”
He chuckled, his head shaking as he looked up at our house, but there was a thoughtful glaze to his eyes that made me wonder if he was even seeing it. “They’re not as bad as most people think. We’re a pretty normal family, actually. Dinners can be loud and lively, but they’re not always. It depends on everyone’s moods. Sometimes, they’re strained. Sometimes, we argue. Sometimes, everyone is on the same page and it’s actually pretty fun.”
Finally, he turned back to me with a slight smile. “I hope you’re ready for invasive questions and sisters-in-law who’ll try to pull you into everything they do.”
My eyelashes fluttered in surprise. I hadn’t considered at all what it might be like to marry into their family, but before I could even begin to process that, he leaned over and pressed the barest kiss to my forehead. It was fleeting, hardly more than a brush of warmth against my skin, but it left me frozen in place, my knees threatening to give out even though I was still sitting in the van.
It was such an intimate gesture that I nearly fainted, and by the time I’d blinked myself out of it, Callum was out of the van and he was setting our things down on the sidewalk. I half-climbed, half-stumbled out after him, wondering how someone like him could do something so naturally sweet.
Add that to everything he’d said on Friday night, and I was seriously starting to doubt that I knew who he was at all. Callum waved to catch Brody’s attention, saluting him with a wink and calling a goodbye.
Brody grinned until it looked like his face was about to crack, dropping everything to race over and toss his arms around Callum’s waist. “Bye, Cal. Thank you for the ride and everything.”
Pride swelled through me.He said thank you!
Callum chuckled and ruffled Brody’s hair. “Any time. See you around, buddy.”
When Brody released him and went back to his friends, Callum came over to me, dark hair sweeping across the top of his forehead and those blue eyes much too disarming as they locked on mine.
“We’ll talk later?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Thank you for everything, Callum. Honestly. I have no idea what I would’ve done without you riding to the rescue this weekend.”
He smiled. “You would’ve figured it out, but I’m really hoping you’ll never have to again.”
I looked up at him, seeing nothing but sincerity and openness in his eyes. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“I do.” He took a minuscule step closer to me. The strong column of his throat moved as he swallowed. “If you’ll let me, I’d like to be here for you, Mais. For Brody, too. I know there’s a lot we need to figure out and that my reputation precedes me, apparently, but you can count on me. I want you to know that.”
“It’d be a good start,” I admitted, but my head was still spinning. Callum had never exactly been known for being Mr. Reliability but the years could change a person. “Brody loved having you there this weekend. It meant a lot to him.”
Callum slid his hands into his pocket, but the gesture was more than just casual. It almost seemed like he’d done it only to give his hands something to do that wasn’t reaching for me. I had to be imagining things, though. If he’d wanted to reach for me, he probably just would’ve done it. He seemed like the type.
“It meant a lot to me, too,” he said finally, eyes never leaving mine. “You’re still worried I’m going to disappear, aren’t you?”
