“I can comfort you from a distance? Please, don’t run from me. We have shit to work through, but I’m willing. I’d do anything.” He pressed his lips together. “Do you need another minute here alone?”
“See, that was a great ask. Thank you.” I grinned at him, and he smiled back, dimples and all. “I’m okay now. We can go sit down.”
He took my hand and kissed the back of it. Then, he covered my hand with his other and guided us out of the restroom. Thankfully, it was in a dark hallway so no one saw us leaving the small room. Which would’ve been embarrassing.
He pulled out my chair and pushed me in, then returned to his side. He grinned his playboy, charming smile and then laughed.
I found my own lips curving up just hearing that sound. His laughter was contagious. Always had been. And to have him chuckle so closer to my ear, goose bumps exploded all down my neck.
“What’s funny?”
“You. Us.” His eyes sparkled over the light as he gazed at the ivy on the wall. “Call me crazy, but I love learning these new sides of you in this space.”
“Like me running away to the bathroom?”
“Mm, no, I mean, I guess. I meant more how you are in a relationship. What makes you tick. I know your love languages as a friend, but are they the same? It’s like reading your favorite book over and over, but this time, there’s a couple of additional chapters you haven’t read before. Do you realize how exciting that is?”
“That might be… the most romantic thing I’ve heard you say.” I blushed and played with the napkin. I still couldn’t grapple with being on the receiving end of this. Callum didn’t talk like this, ever. I’d never heard him speak this way about any girl he dated. Hell, he never really dated, so this felt special. My mind latched onto his kind words, already planning on obsessing over them tonight. “Plus, you still read?”
“Shut up.” He laughed, hard, and slid his leg against mine under the table. The sensation of our legs touching was like hitting an exposed wire. A buzz coursed through me, a combination of want and need. How else would it feel to touch him now that we were exploring our chemistry? I swallowed with nerves and excitement.
“Now, help me with what I need to do to get Esme on my side.”
Our food arrived, and I told him all about Esme and her brother. He talked about the team dynamics and Oliver—the passing out thing worried me. There were no more heavy talks about his dad or us or the future. For the next hour, it felt like he was my old best friend again.
Besides an occasional brush of his hand over my calf under the table, there were no touches or indications we were on a date. But that changed when he walked me to his car.
The air was charged. Thick.
He started the engine, put the car in drive, then placed his right hand on my knee again. His thumb moved back and forth over the sensitive skin, and it was like I was electrocuted. A buzz spread up my thigh, heating my whole body.
A heavy anticipation clogged each breath.Is he going to kiss me?
Did I want him to? YES. YES, I did.
But it’s Callum!
“Thank you for coming to dinner with me tonight.” Callum snuck a glance at me, lips quirked up, eyes clear and crinkled. “Our first date went well, I think.”
“You only had to follow me to the bathroom one time.”
He snorted. “Success, then. I was nervous, not gonna lie to you.”
“You, nervous?” I sat up straighter. “You’re never nervous for anything.”
“Usually, correct.” That thumb moved a little higher up my thigh. “But I’ve never done the whole dating thing, so I had nothing to fall back on, plus, it was with you. I can handle a lot of things, but disappointing you? No thank you.”
“I was nervous too. I still am,” I said softly. Sweat pooled down my cleavage the whole time we were in the car. It was like my body was preparing for the chemistry part.
His grip tightened, but he didn’t say anything else as he finished the drive to my apartment. He parked the car and shut it off before leaning back in the seat and facing me. “I want to be a gentleman and walk you to the door, say goodnight, then text you stupid memes until I see you tomorrow.”
I almost laughed. “That sounds on-brand for you, yet I sense a second half of that sentence lingering.”
His gaze dropped to my lips. “I’ve always loved your mouth, Ivy, the wild facts you say and your attitude. But I want to taste it.”
Whoa.
Molten lava flowed from my mouth to my fingers, heat pulsating through every cell.I want to taste it.That was the sexiest thing I had ever heard.
