She cleared her throat. “Um. He leant it to me, Nora. Don’t blame him.”
Mom’s eyes darted from Callie to me a few times as a sly smile slid across her face. “Well, well, well. I see you two finally got your heads on straight. Good to hear.”
Now my face was heating up, and from the looks of it, Callie’s was quickly changing from pink to red.
Mom sighed and leaned back on the exam table, a satisfied smile on her face. “Hell, now I might actually get some grandbabies. You know your tomcat brother won’t give me any anytime soon.”
Callie turned wide eyes to me, but I just shook my head and smiled. Today, we weren’t going to worry about grandbabies. Today we were just going to be thankful that Callie was by my side. We were going to be thankful Ma was okay. We were going to be thankful that things were looking better than they had in a while. The rest could wait for later.
***
“Don’t be mad.”
I’d just opened my front door to find Callie with a wary look on her face. Without a word, I grabbed her hand and led her to the couch. I sat down, pulled her onto my lap, and wrapped my hands around her waist.
“Okay, what is it?”
She bit her lip and eyed me warily. “You promise not to get mad?”
My fingers crept under her shirt so I could feel her smooth skin. “I can’t be mad about anything with you sitting on my lap like this. Hit me.”
She shot me a small smile before sighing and looking down. “I can’t tell my family about us right now.”
My heart squeezed a little in my chest, but I took a deep breath and asked, “How come?”
She looked back up, opened her mouth and let it all tumble out. “Well, since Nana’s up for a visit, I thought this would be the perfect time to tell everyone, and I was going to do it at breakfast, but then Ellie and Abey came down and said they had something to talk to us about and wanted us to meet them in the conference room so I figured I’d wait and find out what they had to say, right?”
She took a deep breath and started right back up, “So, we all file into the conference room and Ellie drops the bomb that she’s pregnant and she and Abey are having their mating ceremony in only six weeks. How was I supposed to tell them after that?! I didn’t want to steal their thunder and I didn’t want to make it about us when it’s supposed to be about them right now. They’ve been through so much and they really deserve to be happy and I didn’t want to take any of that away from them. But I know I promised you that I’d tell them about us, and I don’t want you to think I’m going back on my word because I’m not. Now I’m conflicted about what to do and I’m worried you’re going to be mad at me.”
Honestly, I was out of breath just listening to her.
I tucked a wild curl behind her ear. “I’m not mad, love.”
“You’re not?”
I shook my head and dragged her a little closer. “How can I be mad when I have you and you love me?”
Her shoulders slumped and she smiled before leaning forward and kissing my lips. “I really do.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and sighed. “We’ll just tell them after the ceremony.”
She pulled back and eyed me cautiously. “That won’t upset you?”
I shook my head, making sure I kept eye contact with her, so she’d know I meant it. “Nah, I don’t care. A few more weeks of sneaking around isn’t gonna kill me.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing her tits against my chest, and I was instantly hard. “It is kinda hot sneaking around, isn’t it?”
My lips curled with a smile as I pressed them against the pulse in her neck. “Everything is hot with you.”
She giggled as I stood up with her in my arms and stalked across the living room.
“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly.
“My room.”
“But it’s not soundproofed,” she hissed.
I shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to learn to be quiet, Ms. McCoy.”
She smirked at me as I stepped into my bedroom and kicked the door shut. “No promises.”
Chapter 37
Callie
“Think you could save the next dance for your boyfriend?” a deep voice whispered in my ear.
I smiled into my glass of moonshine, my eyes darting toward him. Honestly, I’d barely been able to peel them away since I spotted him in the crowd earlier.
It was the night of Abey and Ellie’s mating ceremony, and most of us were more than a little tipsy beneath the white tent and twinkle lights. Wyatt was dressed simply in a pair of light tan slacks and a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up his thick forearms. I’d never seen him look more handsome, and I’d seen him with his clothes off.
I set my drink down and took his hand, letting him lead me onto the dancefloor where he pulled me close and breathed me in. “Is that what you are? My boyfriend?”
He leaned back far enough to meet my eyes. “Why?” he asked cautiously. “What would you call me?”
It sent a small shot of pain through my heart that he still wasn’t as confident in our relationship as I was. That he still questioned things like this. That he had to wonder how I felt. It just meant I needed to work harder to erase those doubts of his.
I smiled wide at him and shrugged. “I just think of you as mine. I don’t need a title.”
His
