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“Yep, that’s my timer. Good to see you kept your word.” He held up his phone, letting her see that he had indeed set his phone for two minutes.
“I should withhold these, considering you doubted me, but I’m feeling generous today.” She pushed the plate toward him.
“You shouldn’t have taunted me to do it.” He bit into the cookie and moaned, the sound tiptoeing down her spine. “Fuck, these are delicious.”
“Glad you like them.” Astrid lifted her glass, hoping the tartness of the lemons and the ice in the drink would cool her down. That moan of his had her remembering the other times he made that sound.
For the next few minutes, they sat and enjoyed the snack under the warm California sun. Birds chirped in the trees as insects called to one another and a butterfly flittered around before disappearing over the fence.
If she wasn’t aware that there was someone trying to get her, she could almost let herself believe that everything was right in the world. But it wasn’t, and Callum still hadn’t told her how the meeting went.
If it was bad news, he would’ve told her. Or he would’ve looked unhappy when he’d walked in.
He’d done neither of those things, and apart from the little shadows she spied in his gaze, he seemed content.
“I know I fired a lot of questions at you, probably too many to remember, but are you going to tell me what happened?” she finally asked when the cookies had been eaten and the lemonade drunk.
“It went well. I still have a job. And yes, I’m still protecting you. No, you don’t need to call Ox because of my previous comment. Also, you don’t have to message Penni. And yes, I do everything Penni tells me to do too,” he finished with a big grin as if he’d just aced a test.
Astrid’s mouth dropped open. “You remembered everything I said?”
“That’s what you got out of that? Did you hear what I said?” He was smiling that happy, full smile again, and her heart fluttered with emotions she wasn’t used to feeling.
“I did,” she whispered, attempting to reconcile how much her life had changed in such a short time..
A warm hand cradled her cheek, and she looked up to find that Callum was squatting in front of her, concern highlighting his brown eyes.
How had she missed him moving?
It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was in front of her. Going with everything that was consuming her, she cupped the back of his head and leaned down to kiss him. His lips welcomed hers, and she tasted the combined tart and sweetness of the lemons and chocolate. A combination that tempted her to want more.
Somehow they ended up on the ground, his arms around her and her breasts squashed against his chest. The concrete base of the patio had to be digging into his back, but he didn’t let on to her that he was in any distress. If anything, he deepened the kiss as if he couldn’t get enough of her. She would never get enough of him. She knew deep in her soul that he was the one she hadn’t known she’d been searching for.
A squawking of a bird overhead shattered the haze of wantonness that enveloped her the second she kissed him.
“We could take this inside. It will be more comfortable,” she suggested, lifting herself away from him, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do.
“We could, but...” Suddenly, Callum’s demeanor went from relaxed to tense and the cookies Astrid had consumed coalesced into a heavy ball in her stomach.
“But?”
Callum’s arms tightened around her and in a couple of movements he was standing with her cradled against him. She looped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. Whenever he was around, she felt cherished and protected.
What was going through Astrid’s mind? A tumult of expressions flashed behind her hazel eyes. He would ask her, but first, he needed to tell her about what he’d learned during his meeting with Ox.
He’d planned to tell her everything when he walked in, but the sight of her hair caught up in a messy knot on the top of her hair, the shorts she wore that showcased her long legs fried his brain, and all he wanted was to have her in his arms.
Now, though, now he needed to tell her.
Once he got them inside, he lowered her to the ground, but kept an arm around her and led her to the living room.
“What you’ve got to tell me is serious, isn’t it?” she asked as she settled herself on the sofa.
“Yeah it is. Cass was able to find out some information about the tattoo that you identified.”
Astrid swallowed as her eyes widened, and she swallowed as if bracing herself for whatever it was he was about to tell her.
The last thing he wanted to do was worry her, but he wasn’t going to keep anything from her. She needed to know what was happening. It was her life, after all. “The guy who was killed and the one chasing you are members of the Ramirez drug cartel out of Mexico.”
