“There’s that competitive spirit.” I felt my lips curl into a grin, that old spark I used to feel with her combining with all the new stuff tumbling around inside. “I was wondering if you still had it.”
“I still have it,” she said.
I deliberately let my gaze drift over her, starting at the top where her dark hair was hanging in loose waves to her shoulders, across her soft, skater-style wrap dress, to the comfortable sneakers on her feet.
“Yeah,” I finally agreed. “You’ve definitely still got it.”
Maisie’s cheeks flushed, but her grin was still playful. “There comes the charm again. I’m going to have to watch myself around you, aren’t I, Callum Westwood?”
“Definitely not.” I pushed away from the railing and fell into step beside her after she’d bought a bag of pecans. “In fact, you should just fall for me now, then I can pack in the old charm for good and save us both a lot of trouble.”
She chuckled. “Somehow, I don’t feel like I’d be saving myself a lot of trouble if I did that. How many girls have fallen for you? A thousand? Yet, here you are, on a date with someone who answered a newspaper ad.”
“You’re one to talk,” I argued lightly. “How many guys have fallen foryou? Yet here you are, on a date after answering said ad.”
She scoffed. “No one has fallen for me.”
I actually laughed at that. Really laughed. “Bullshit. Every guy on the hockey team had a crush on you back at Cal Poly.”
“Every guy?” She tipped her head back to look at me, widening her eyes before she rolled them. “That’s revisionist history. There is no way that’s true.”
“It’s not only true. It’s an absolute fact.” I popped a pecan into my mouth. “At least half of my teammates talked about you. The other half were just jealous.”
Instead of arguing this time, she flicked her gaze up to mine. “What about you?”
Suddenly aware of the way the lights painted gold in her hair, I held her gaze and dipped my chin in a nod. “Yeah. Me too.”
Her smile softened. “It’s funny. I had a crush on you, too, you know. Not that it mattered, except for…”
“The party,” I finished for her.
The memory rose sharp and vivid in my mind, the music pounding, the way we’d danced until we’d both been slick with sweat, laughing at nothing before tumbling out into the cool night and kissing like we’d been waiting all year for it.
A one-night spark I’d never quite managed to shake.
“I told you all of this the other night,” I said quietly. “Why are you suddenly believing me now? You didn’t seem to then.”
“I think I just needed some time to make sense of everything,” she admitted. “It’s not easy to rewrite history the way I’ve understood it for years just because I have your perspective to include now.”
“Yeah, I get that.” I couldn’t believe she’d had a crush on me either. After the way she’d left that morning, I’d kind of thought she’d woken up repulsed by the fact that she’d slept with me. “It sort of makes me wish we’d spoken like this that night instead of only doing it now.”
Around us, the crowd swelled tighter as it got later, a crush of costumes and chatter. Someone in a skeleton mask shoulderedpast, nearly knocking Maisie sideways. I reached out and grabbed her hand without even thinking about it.
The second our palms fit together, heat shot straight up my arm. Her hand was small against mine, but her grip was tight and she didn’t let go. Neither did I.
We pushed through the fray until the street opened up again, but her fingers remained curled around mine like they belonged there. I glanced at her, ready for her to laugh it off, but she just looked back at me, her eyes bright and a smile tugging at her lips that made me suspect she knew this wasn’t nothing.
“So, uh, this whole marriage thing,” she said suddenly, and I expected the topic to make things awkward. I expected either one or both of us to pull away, but still, neither of us did.
My heart thudded behind my ribs. “What about it?”
She blew out a breath, brushing a strand of hair back with her free hand, but her eyes were still on mine, only a tiny bit less bright than they had been a moment ago. “I don’t need a big wedding. I don’t even need a real one, if I’m being honest. I’m just not that girl. As long as we can, you know, make things work, it doesn’t have to be fancy.”
I studied her, hearing the sincerity in her tone, and something inside me tightened. The more time I spent with her, the more the whole marriage arrangement felt like an excuse, like even if it wasn’t on the table, I’d still be right here, still chasing her.
“I’ve been wondering about the formalities myself,” I said carefully. “A couple weeks ago, I was all about going down to the courthouse and just getting it done, but that doesn’t feel right anymore.”
Because I think I would’ve been trying to pursue you anyway, and even though you’ve already said yes, I still want to do right by you. By us.
