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“That I’ve been with a lot of women?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
She looked at him then, surprising him with a smile. “I’m sure, since I’m the one benefiting from all that practice you’ve had.”
“Oh, right.” He didn’t quite know how to respond to that, so he continued. “So after a lot of partying, dating, all of that…It just got old. Or maybe I got old,” he said, a tinge of self-deprecation in his tone. “I started wanting something more meaningful. Something more long term, I guess. When you start thinking that everyone you meet is only out for your fame, or your money, it does something to you, you know? It’s unhealthy cynicism and I hated it.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. “I met Karla at a party in Beverly Hills. She didn’t know who I was. Pretended she didn’t know who I was,” he corrected. “She was charming, beautiful, funny. Everything I wanted. And she was so into me. Me, I mean, not the money and shit. Or so I thought.”
Leah put the paint brush down and looked at him steadily.
He stared out at the ocean. “I was thinking of asking her to marry me. I’d even started looking at rings. Then one day I woke up to find a picture of me all over social media. Asleep in bed. The sheet pulled down just enough to let everyone know sex was involved.” He paused, letting the feelings of anger and betrayal wash through him. And the hurt. “It had some tagline about catching the prize. I can’t remember exactly. I’d told her I didn’t want to go public, because I was just so tired of all of that. But she just had to let everyone know. So I broke it off and came home.” He glanced at Leah, then quickly away. She was still sitting on the floor, listening to him intently. It made him feel…petty. “I feel like such a dick.”
“Why?”
He flicked another glance at her, almost smiling at the small frown between her brows. “It seems like such petty bullshit to get all tied up about. Poor Callum, lots of women want to sleep with him.” He swallowed. “You know, when some people are…” he couldn’t go on. She had spent nearly a decade in an abusive marriage and he was bitching about rubbish.
She rose to her feet, moving over to him and slipping her hands over his shoulders. “I don’t think it’s petty to want something real for yourself. Or to feel hurt when someone lies to you about it.” She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.
He put his arms around her waist, resting his head on her breast. Letting out a breath when he felt her fingers in his hair, he said, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” She pushed at him and he leaned back to look up at her. “You know what you need?”
“You.”
“Hey, that’s what I was gonna say.” She slipped into his lap and he ran his fingers up her spine, smiling when she shivered, finding her lips with his own.
“Not in front of Bluebell, though.” He pushed to his feet and threw Leah over his shoulder, grinning when she giggled, and headed to the bedroom.
***
A long while later they lay in Leah’s bed, limbs entwined. Rain pelted the roof, the occasional flash of lightening lit up the sky. Thunder rolled along the horizon. Leah’s phone pinged. Sighing, she reached for it. Callum felt her tense the second she looked at the screen.
“What is it?”
“The fuckhead. What would he be texting me for?” She clicked through to the message. “He needs to see me.”
“Fuck that.”
“Yeah, fuck that.” She shot off a quick reply and moved back into Callum’s arms.
“What did you say?”
“I said, fuck that.”
Callum laughed. The phone pinged three times in quick succession. Leah groaned. “You could leave it,” he said as she reached for her phone again.
“He’ll just keep going.” She read the messages. “He says it’s a matter of life and death. Very urgent. Blah blah blah. He’ll get my address from my parents and come to me if I can’t get to him. Jesus, desperate much? I don’t want him to come here, Callum.” The agitation in her voice was obvious.
“Okay. Then we’ll go to Melbourne.”
“You’ll come with me?”
“Yes.”
She leaned over and kissed him. “Thank you.” She rested her head on his shoulder again.
He traced a lazy trail down her back to her bottom and back up. “Has Mik said when she wants to go dress shopping?”
