I’ll take it. It’s better than being ignored all goddamn night.
If Calypso wants a fight, I’ll give her that.
“Maybe you should,” she spits and stands to her full height.
I push off the dresser and do the same. Her arms are crossed, but mine are casually tucked into my pockets. The easiness in my posture is driving her insane.
“Say it,” I taunt. “Say you want me to leave, Calypso, and I will.”
She’s fighting every instinct she has to spit those words out—to hurt me before I have the chance to hurt her.
I won’t, I silently promise her.
“You should leave,” she states again. There’s less heat in her voice but a new layer of insistence. “I can’t give you what you want.”
My brows furrow. “How do you even know what I want when we’ve never once talked about what happens after the recital?"
“You wereengaged, Liam. Recently.” She shoves my chest. “She couldn’t give you what you wanted. Why do you think I can?”
Is this about kids? A wedding?
Does she think I wanted all of that?
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say firmly.
I grab her hands when she tries to shove me again. Her attempts are weak. Even with her full force, I doubt she could move me very far.
“You don’t even want this,” she argues, changing tactics. “Wantme.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” I growl in frustration.Nowshe’s going to piss me off.
She sneers at me. “I’m not anidiot, Liam. You only wanted to win over this town and save Stanley’s companies.” She pulls her hands away and dramatically starts clapping. “Well, good fucking job with that! Everyone’s starting to love you. Go on then.”
“I don’t care about anyone else, Calypso.” I huff out a frustrated breath and roughly rub my eyes. “You know that, even if you don’t want to admit it.”
“How am I supposed to know it when you don’t say it?” she throws back. “You’ll let me cook you dinner; you’ll sleep in my bed and use my shower; you’llfuckme, but you’ve never actually said anything!”
I shake my head and let out a scoff. “That’s a lie, and you fucking know it. I’ve told you plenty of times how much I care about you, how I’ll be here as long as you want me. Do you need more?”
She’s silent; both of our chests are heaving.
“Do you want to hear how fuckingcrazyyou make me, Calypso?” I say and step closer. Our chests are almost flush, both of us panting. “How you areallthat I think about? That I haven’t felt the way I do with you, with anyone else? Even before that blind date, I hadn’t stopped thinking about the gorgeous woman who decided to spend her time with a chump like me when you could have had any man in that lounge. When I saw you at Max’s that night…”
I close my eyes and shake my head, thinking back to the moment she walked up to the table. I recognized her immediately—it would’ve been impossible not to when I had spent more than a few nights wondering if I’d ever see her again. I didn’t even know if she was from San Diego at that point.
I swore I was dreaming at first. Then she plopped down into the seat across from me, looking just as surprised to see me, and I knew the universe was rewarding me. Maybe it was taking pity on me. I wouldn’t have even cared if I was being pranked because she was rightthere.
“It felt too good to be true. Then I saw you again, at the farmer’s market. I thought maybe I did something right in a past life, or I helped an old woman cross the street and forgot about it.” Her frownalmostbreaks but she bites her cheek, stopping herself. The raging fire in her eyes is beginning to simmer, my words banking her anger. “So when Pippa brought up the rumors, I used it.”
Her face slowly starts to harden again and she adds a few inches to the space between us.
“To get close to you,” I clarify. “I used those stupid rumors as an attempt to spend more time with you. I never thought it would work and yet, here we are…” I raise my arms to the side and shrug. “I’m trying to follow your lead here, Calypso.”
She almost breaks. “Don’t.Don’tfollow my lead. Not if this matters.”
She needs me.
Calypso needs me to teach her how to be loved again.
