Calum would not let it go. “Why?” When I said nothing, he went on, “I’m not going to drop this, Bree. If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I’m stubborn.” So he wasn’t a liar, and he was stubborn. Two things I shouldn’t know about Kyle’s brother that I did now…along with how soft and gentle his lips felt like on mine.
Ugh, I guess I should just tell him, that way he could shut up about it.
“I wish I wouldn’t have let you kiss me,” I muttered quietly, frowning to myself. The kiss was nice, yes. The kiss was amazing and something that I’d never forget, but that was the problem. I’d never forget it, and Calum would go on, live his life, completely forgetting about little old me. No one ever spent the time to remember me.
That must’ve not been what he was expecting. “Why?”
“Because,” I said, practically shaking—something he surely could feel through our hand-holding, “you’re just going to leave, anyway. This isn’t…I don’t kiss people and then never see them again. That’s not me.” It had to be something he’d thought about. Twenty years without a kiss, and then to have my first taken by Calum, a man who wouldn’t stick around…could I be more stupid?
Plus, the guy just got out of a relationship. Even if he was sticking around, I knew enough to know I’d only be his rebound.
He said nothing, only staring at me, which prompted me to add, “And you just got out of a relationship. I’m not a girl you can hook up with and leave.” Just saying those words hurt; my throat felt dry, like I’d just coughed up a few knives as I spoke. “Who knows? You might go back home and find that your ex wants you back—” This was a lot to unload on a second date.
Hence the many, many reasons why I simply did not date.
“My ex cheated on me with my best friend, so I don’t think I’ll be taking her back, ever,” Calum told me flat-out, and the ugly truth of it made me freeze and look at him. He wasn’t lying; I could tell by the way his brows furrowed, his lips frowned, and his hand squeezed mine even harder. So hard it almost hurt, but not quite. “So yes, I am a newly-single man, and I am well aware that you’re not someone to hook up with and dump. I wouldn’t do that to you, and I’d never hear the end of it from Kyle.”
That much was true, I knew. Michelle would rant to Kyle, pretty much force Kyle to be a dick about it to Calum.
“I know I’m not going to be here forever,” he went on, “I know I live a few hours away.” The tight way he held onto my hand finally softened, and his thumb ran over my knuckles as he was lost in thought. “I always said I could never do a long-distance relationship.”
I closed my eyes, having expected him to say something like that. This, whatever it was, was dead in the water from the very beginning. That much shouldn’t surprise me.
My eyes opened when I felt a tug on my hand, when I was drawn into a wide, strong chest. Calum hugged me, leaned his cheek atop my head as he stared out at the lake and the glimmering reflection on its surface. He was warm. So very warm. All I wanted to do was lose myself in that warmth and stop my mind from overthinking everything.
“Call me weird,” Calum murmured, “but there’s something about you, Bree, something I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to go home and never see you again.”
These words felt too real to be coming from Calum on our second date. These words…I never imagined anyone would ever speak them to me, let alone possibly mean them. I remained quiet, because I was at a loss for words.
He pulled himself off me, saying, “Why don’t you let me worry about that? Let me worry about what’s going to happen next, okay?” Calum’s free hand ran along my neck, tilting my head toward his, and once again I was breathless. “All I want you to do is believe. Everything I’ve told you I meant, and I want you to believe it.” And then, before he said anything else, he kissed me again—harder, this time, more sure of himself, more sure of me.
And, crazy declarations aside, you know what? He was right.
The kiss was better the second time.
When I got back to the house, no one was up. Michelle was off with Kyle, and my parents were sleeping. I tiptoed through the house, up the stairs to my room. In the darkness, I kicked off my shoes and shedded my sweater before crawling into bed.
Tonight had gone…not at all how I’d imagined it would. Calum had kissed me three times. Twice at the park and once before I came inside.
My heart still beat fast in my chest, a traitor through and through. I knew I shouldn’t let his kisses affect me so. He might’ve claimed he wanted to continue to see me, even after he went home, but I knew better than to think this would continue. I was too old, too jaded for crushes. I knew they never worked out for me. Calum might think he wanted to see me more, but I was sure all it would take was time for him to realize that I was nothing special.
Time, or another girl.
Not his ex, though. Once a cheater, always a cheater, but that was just my opinion on the matter.
He’d asked for my
