He didn’t hesitate to nod.
His phone rang, and he didn’t know the number.“One second,” he said, then answered.
“Hey,” Grace said on the phone.“Guess what?”
A smile curled on his lips, and a warm light like the glow of sunrise dawned in his chest.“What?”
Alicia excused herself to the kitchen.
“I have a new phone number,” Grace explained.“Not a phone number that forwards to another number and then another number.”
“Nice work.How’s that feel?”He leaned back.It had only been a couple of hours, but he needed to hear her voice more than he realized.
“Strange—Callum, I miss you.”
He ran a hand over his face and rubbed his eyes.“Miss you too, babe.”
“I wish you’d gone to your dad’s.”
“I had to run.”
“Work?”
“No… just errands.”
“How does this work?Us?”she asked quietly.
“I’ll visit you whenever you ask me to.”
“Like a long-distance romance?”
He hadn’t found the words to describe what he wanted, and those fell short.Callum wanted so much more.“If that’s what you want to call it.”
“It’s ridiculous, but I want everything to go back to how it was.”She half-laughed.“Except for the part with the guns and fires and abductions.”
He loved her more than he knew how to explain.They could be together.Live together?Why not?He didn’t know—but he knew Dominic had rushed her, and now everything needed to slow down.“That’s not ridiculous.”
“Can I call you tomorrow?”she asked.
She’d gone from stripping off her clothes and demanding he fuck her to her asking if she could call.“Call me a hundred times a day.Any time you want.”
“Are you still my white knight savior?”
His lips quirked.“I’m your everything.”
“You are.”
She ended the call.Callum let out a heavy breath and petted Sherlock after he jumped onto his lap.
Alicia padded back into the living room.“How’s our girl?”
“Excited to have a real phone number.”
Alicia rested her hands on the wingback chair.“Believe it or not, that’s one step in the right direction toward permanence.”
That was a good way to look at it.He gave Sherlock another scratch and stood.“Thanks for listening to me.”
“Of course.Where to now?”
