‘Scout’s honour.’
‘You and those scouts,’ I say, clearing my throat. ‘So, to be clear, what is your actual opinion on the event-planning career path?’
‘Very positive. I’ve seen how hard you work. How organized you are in the office, which makes it all the more adorable that you are not remotely organized out of hours. The mess you’ve been making grabbing stuff out of your bag,’ he says, smiling softly to himself. ‘You’re so in tune with other people’s needs. You have so much to juggle to get everything to come together. How well you work under pressure. I was there at that YouTuber’s launch party, remember, where the mother was being so demanding?’
I giggle. ‘The one where Ellie kept saying “the vibes are immaculate”.’
‘Iknewyou were trying not to laugh at that, too.’
Neither of us is moving.
‘Huh,’ I say eventually, mind reeling with brand new facts. ‘Wemight have established that I misheard you, and took offence at a comment you didn’t actually make.’
‘I think we might.’
‘But what we haven’t got to the bottom of is why you are so rude to me all the hot damn time.’ I fold my arms across my chest.
‘Well, you’ve answered that already,’ he says.
‘How’s that?’
‘It all goes back to that first morning in the kitchen. While I was chatting to Jan, explaining about my allergy, I saw you walk past the kitchen. I heard the derisive snort you gave when I told her I couldn’t drink the frothy stuff. I thought you were being a real dick about my milk allergy.’
‘Oh,’ I say. ‘I wasn’t. I thought you were being a real dick about my job.’
‘I wasn’t.’
‘I’m actually very sorry to hear you have a milk allergy,’ I say. ‘Can’t be fun. Also explains a lot.’
‘It does?’
I can’t tell him that without giving away that fact that in my world, we’ve been living this Monday on repeat for five days solid now. I can’t tell him that this explains why he got so grumpy with me when I asked to borrow his mini pot of milk for my coffee a couple of days ago. I’d just thought he was acting like his usual bellend self! Turns out he thought I was once again poking fun at his actual allergies. Who does that?! And the fact that Ellie said Callum made her a vegan cheese toastie after the infamous Christmas party when I know that he’s not a vegan. And possibly the fact that he carries a first aid kit around with him wherever he goes? Or maybe he just really likes taking care of people. I don’t know yet, but I’d like to find out.
‘Looks like we both got the wrong end of the stick,’ I say after a pause.
‘Yes, it does.’
‘Callum?’ I say, suddenly very much done with chess.
‘Moss?’
‘I’m going to need you to come over here now.’
He cocks his head.
‘Yes, ma’am,’ he says, crawling on all fours towards me. Very gently, he takes the jeroboam out of my hands and sets it down next to me. I part my legs so that he can get closer and hear his sharp intake of air. His face is centimetres away from mine now, so close I can feel his shallow breaths against my cheek. My back is up against the wall and he wraps his arms around me, scooping me up and onto his lap. I twist my legs behind his back.
‘You don’t hate me,’ I whisper, incredulous.
‘You don’t hate me either,’ he replies, nose nuzzling the nape of my neck.
‘You were actually wrong, earlier,’ I say.
Callum pulls back the tiniest bit, gives me the sexiest cross look I’ve ever seen.
‘Are you always going to be this difficult?’ he grumbles, sending kisses from my neck up to my ear lobe.
‘It’s possible,’ I murmur through a sigh. ‘I just meant that you were wrong when you said you think I like you a little bit. It’s more than that.’
