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“Right,” I agree, though we both know it’s just an excuse to give me some breathing room. My sister would love nothing more than to see me with Callum. Though, to be fair, I think she would be overjoyed to see me accept any male at this point. After being the one to nurse me back to health after my rejection and subsequent acceptance of said rejection, she’s desperate to see me get some kind of fairytale ending for myself.
Her perfect mating with Jimmy gives her rose-colored glasses.
I tuck my purse into a desk drawer and drop my keys beside it. I hadn’t expected this conversation to get so serious so suddenly, and now my wolf is desperate to run. I can get my things tomorrow.
“See you tomorrow, boss.” I smile softly at him so he knows I’m not leaving on a bad note. Just a confused one…
“I’ll have the Duran contract ready for you to send back in the morning.”
I head for the door that leads to the small entryway between the office and the main entrance. Our building is small since Callum owns a construction company. The only two offices here are the one we share and one for Rudy, his architect.
I pause just before I walk out, something he said still weighing heavily on my chest. I tell myself not to say it, not to give him hope when I’m still so uncertain. But there’s one inevitable thing I know to be true, regardless of what I decide.
“Hey, Callum?” He meets my gaze. “You deserve to be chosen.”
* * *
My sister is waiting on the front porch when I run up, her lips pursed in disapproval when she sees my light gray fur on display. She shakes her head as I shift back to human form, standing naked in front of her as she heaves a long, exaggerated sigh.
She shrugs out of her long sweater and tosses it over the porch railing at my face.
“If I don’t get that back within twenty-four hours, I swear I’m going to show up at your house and pour bleach on your shoe collection,” she growls.
I let out a horrified gasp. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me. If you’re going to insist on shifting unannounced, the least you can do is leave some clothing over here for the occasion. I tried to tell you to leave some things in the closet in the spare room when you moved out.”
I sheepishly tug her sweater on over my head, the material falling nearly to my knees. She did tell me that, I just didn’t want to intrude any more than I already had.
I spent nearly three years living in my sister’s house before I finally got my shit together enough to move out on my own a couple of months ago. And honestly, I should have done it sooner. I think it’s done me a world of good to be on my own. I spent too long second-guessing myself after…him.
I shake the thought off. He’s only on my mind because of my conversation with Callum.
“Next time I’m over, I swear I’ll bring a couple of spare sets of clothes. You’re the best,” I say in my sweetest voice. The little sister one that got me out of all kinds of trouble growing up. Tevin was a hard ass raising me, but Tasha could always be convinced to cave on almost anything.
“Yeah, yeah.” Tasha waves me ahead of her into the pretty farmhouse she shares with Jimmy. “Let’s grab a bottle of wine and you can tell me why your wolf is out.”
“She just needed some exercise,” I answer innocently.
Tasha snorts. “Try again.”
“Callum and I had a… talk.” I don’t really need to elaborate more than that.
“Hmm,” Tasha hums. She pulls two giant tumblers out of the cabinet and pops the cork on a bottle of red wine. She’s clearly read the situation appropriately if she’s forgoing actual wine glasses.
“Am I being stupid?” I ask bluntly.
She sets the wine down and looks at me across the counter with sympathetic eyes. “No, Tess, of course not. You’re just being careful. There’s nothing worse for a wolf than whathedid to you. It makes sense you’d be hesitant to go all-in with someone else after that.”
“But you think I should try with Callum anyway?”
“Yeah, I do,” she agrees. “Sometimes the only way to get over pain is to get through it.”
“I’ll think about it.” I reach across the counter and take one of the tumblers so I can take a long gulp of wine.
“Callum putting the pressure on again?” Jimmy asks as he breezes into the kitchen just in time to see me practically chugging the drink.
“Have I really gotten that predictable?”
