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“You know I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t,” I chide. I slide my hand from his shoulder, up his neck and cup his cheek with my palm. “I’m ready to start this new life with you. I’ve always loved you but… it got buried for a while. Now, it’s out and I don’t want to waste anymore time having you wonder what my feelings are. I’m with you to the end.”
“Christ,” he mutters before crashing his mouth down onto mine for a soul-stirring, heart-rending, life-altering kiss that at once shatters me and puts me back together. Lifting his lips from mine, his eyes burn into me with an intensity that makes my skin tingle. “I love you so much, Juni. It hurts sometimes because it’s so powerful, but I can’t imagine ever feeling any other way.”
I smile at him, my thumb stroking his cheekbone. He looks so earnest and adorable and yet hot at the same time. I realize as much as I love my new friends and how I was looking forward to a drunk night out with the girls, I now want nothing more than to go home with my man and cuddle. I know without a doubt Jenna would understand.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say, loving how his eyes flare in surprise and then gentle into love.
“No, you should stay and have fun. I’ll lurk somewhere you can’t see me and take you home when you’re ready.”
Smiling, I go to tiptoes to give him another kiss. “I appreciate the thoughtfulness.” I look around the dance floor, noting all my friends have left since it’s a slow song. Not even Brienne and Drake are out here. My gaze going back to Callum’s, I put it all in perspective. “I’ve got the rest of my life to have fun with these women. But our life together—our forever—starts tonight. So how about you take me home right now?”
“Don’t need to be asked twice,” Callum says, grabbing me by the hand and leading me from the dance floor.
CHAPTER 28
Juniper
It took a bit longer to get out of the club than we’d anticipated but there were hugs, then pictures, then more hugs. None of the women begrudged me leaving early and most final embraces were with whispered words of support and shared joy for my reconnection with Callum.
On the way home, we hold hands over the center console, weirdly slipping into a committed life together by making mundane plans.
“Want to go for brunch tomorrow?” Callum asks. “There’s a really neat place over in the Strip District I’ve been wanting to try.”
“Sounds great. And we can swing by and see my dad on the way back.”
“We can go anytime you want,” he says, squeezing my hand and giving me a glance. “I’ll give you the world, Juni.”
We come to a fortuitous stoplight, which lets me undo my seat belt and lean across the console to kiss him because his words touch me so deeply. I’m again buckled in my seat with our fingers laced by the time the light turns green.
“If we could sneak in a vacation between now and training camp,” Callum says as we enter his neighborhood, “where would you want to go?”
“Really?” I ask, turning to look at him and feeling a flush of giddy excitement. Joshua and I never went anywhere together outside of business trips and that disastrous trip to New York, and when Callum and I dated, we were too poor to do anything.
Callum laughs. “Yes, really. What would be a dream vacation?”
I nibble on my lower lip, not wanting to be too ostentatious. “Um… maybe like Montana or Wyoming? The New England states?”
Callum chastises me. “Dream bigger.”
“New York City?”
“Bigger,” he presses.
“Paris?”
“Now you’re talking,” he agrees as we pull into the driveway. He releases my hand to press the garage door opener. “I’ll get my assistant to block out time for me.”
When the car is parked, Callum takes off his seat belt and leans across to kiss me. When he pulls back, he says, “Paris in the summer with my girl. What could be more romantic?”
He makes me breathless and my voice has no lift whatsoever. “I can’t think of anything else.”
Callum presses a kiss to my forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I reply, and we both turn away from each other to open our doors.
Except I see something from the corner of my eye—a dark streak by the driver’s side and then Callum’s door is wrenched open with such force, it hits the metal storage cabinets he had custom installed in his garage.
I scream as a gun is raised, pointed right at Callum’s face, held by a black-gloved hand. My eyes lift and I see Joshua wearing a maniacal grin, bending down to stare at us.
