ROSE
The morning light filters through Callum’s flat as though it’s been softened on purpose, warm and slow, I think the world knows I need gentleness today. I wake curled into him, his arm heavy around my waist, his breath steady against the back of my neck. For once, I don’t wake with a jolt of panic. I don’t feel as though the world is waiting to pounce the moment I check my phone.
It’s because of him.
His thumb starts tracing slow circles on my hip even before he’s fully conscious. “You awake?” he murmurs, voice gravelly with sleep.
“Mm-hmm.” I turn, and he’s already watching me, hair messy, eyes warm enough to melt bone.
“Morning, beautiful.” He leans in, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. Soft at first, then firmer, as if he can’t help it. I feel the warmth of last night flood through me again. The way he held me as though he’d been starved for touch and I was the only thing that could satisfy him.
I curl into him, and his hand slides through my hair, fingertips brushing the nape of my neck. “You overthinking again?” he asks.
“What makes you say that?”
“You always go silent like this. Eyes soft. Breathing slow. Like you’re bracing for the world to ruin something.”
Heat pricks behind my eyes. “Maybe I am.”
He presses his forehead to mine. “No one is ruining us,” he says, firm and gentle all at once. “Not her or strangers online. Not anyone. Understand?”
I nod, even if I’m not fully sure I believe it yet.
Callum pulls back just enough to study my face. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
My heart stutters. “What is it?”
“There’s a charity thing today at the rink. Annual fundraiser. Families, kids, games, skating, stalls, all that.” He shrugs as though it’s no big deal, but there’s something careful in his eyes. “The team go every year. And I want you with me.”
My pulse jumps. “Are you sure? I mean, won’t that be…”
“Public?” He finishes for me, then nods once. “Yeah. Very.”
I swallow hard. “Callum,”
“I’m sure,” he says before I can talk myself out of it. “I want the world to see me with you. And I want you to see that everyone who matters supports us.”
“But Talia’s?—”
“I don’t care what she’s doing.” His voice dips into something protective, almost fierce. “And neither does the team. They’re ready for us to show up together. Properly together.”
“You’d do this? For me?”
“For us.” He cups my cheek. “I’m not hiding you anymore.”
Something warm unfurls in my chest, so tender it almost hurts. I bite my lip, trying not to let the emotion spill over. “Then, yes. I’ll go with you.”
His smile is devastating. “Good. Because I didn’t plan on taking no for an answer.”
He kisses me again, deeper this time, hand sliding behind my neck, pulling me closer. I melt into him, every nerve buzzing with the echo of last night’s intimacy. When he finally pullsaway, he smiles. “Let’s have breakfast,” he murmurs. “Then get you something warm to wear. It gets cold on the ice.”
“Are you sure I won’t be in the way?” I question.
He scoffs. “You’re never in the way. You’re exactly where I want you.”
It shouldn’t make me blush as much as it does. He sees it and grins like he was hoping for that reaction. And the anxiety loosens its grip. He wants me there. With him. Publicly.
The world can say what it wants; Callum’s made his choice. And I start to think I’m allowed to believe in us.
