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Chapter 16
“Now we see the hot Classics professor in her natural environment.” Jake spoke in a hushed whisper as he crept up on Callie at her desk the following morning, his video camera lens focused on her face. “Let’s watch as she uses her laser-sharp brain to eviscerate the conventions of Greco-Roman mythology and construct her own complex theories.”
She held up a hand, amusement sparking beneath her glower. “Go away.”
“The professor appears to be angry, perhaps because she hasn’t yet been successful in her foraging for lettuce.”
He stalked around the desk, keeping the camera on her as she made faces and rolled her eyes. She was incredibly sexy with her hair tumbling from a messy knot. Long tendrils curled around her neck, and she wore a soft gray T-shirt that didn’t hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Or that her nipples were hard.
“Hunger can arouse the ire of even the most intelligent of professors.” He zoomed in on her lips. She stuck her tongue out at him. “However, this one in particular can be sated with deep-fried pizza. Often her lowly mate will bring her an offering of junk food that he’s found in the wild, after which she allows him to bestow great pleasures upon her body.”
Callie, who was attempting to look stern, let out a chuckle. “Does she reciprocate the great pleasures?”
“Hundredfold.” Angling the camera on both of them, Jake leaned closer to her and spoke into the camera. “Observe the courtship dance of the love-struck actor as he attempts to lure the professor into the mating ritual.”
He swooped in to kiss her, managing to capture her lips for an instant before she broke away with another laugh.
“You’d better not expect to capture themating ritualon film.” She pushed at his chest, her eyes twinkling.
“Not a chance.” He set his camera on the desk and leaned in again. “Only you and me will ever inhabit that particularWild Kingdom.”
They indulged in a long kiss that ratcheted up the heat between them until Jake reluctantly lifted his head. “Speaking of great pleasures, there will be plenty more later. But now the coffee’s ready and I’m about to make pancakes.”
“You’re making pancakes?” She lifted her eyebrows. “With what?”
“Some kind of flour you had in the cupboard. And water. I threw a banana into the mix too.”
“Sounds delicious.”
“Only the best for you.” He tweaked her nose and straightened. “Eat my food, and I’ll leave you alone to work.”
Callie picked up his camera, and they went into the kitchen. After determining that the pancakes contained coconut flour, Jake poured the mixture into the pan as Callie wandered around him taking photos and video at different angles, though without the narration.
“Why don’t you use your cell phone for videos?” She put the camera down and hitched herself onto the counter to watch him flip the rather questionable pancakes.
“For better quality footage.” He tossed the pan to flip the pancake in midair. “I have a digital camera for the same reason.”
“Have you always been into photography?”
“As a hobby, yeah. Videos more than still photography. I used to make home movies all the time, usually starring our dog or a bunch of Lego figurines.”
“So movies have been a lifelong love for you. That makes it even more remarkable that you’ve made such a successful career out of it.”
“I can’t imagine doing anything else. I wouldn’t want to.” He glanced at her, his heart suddenly hitching. “What about you? Would you ever want a different career?”
She blinked, as if she’d never considered the idea. “No. I’ve been fascinated by Greek myths and history for as long as I can remember. I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, and later I just channeled that into academia. I can’t imagine what else I’d even do if I wasn’t a historian.”
“Did you always want to stay in Bliss Cove?”
“Of course.” She rested her hands on the counter behind her. “It was a stroke of luck that I got the position at Skyline right when I was finishing up my PhD. If I hadn’t, who knows where I’d have ended up? Bliss Cove is home. My family and friends are here, and of course I was grateful I wasn’t all the way across the country after my father died.”
“So you’ve never had the urge to live somewhere else?” Jake took the pancakes out of the pan and set them on a plate.
For some reason, he was getting knotted up inside over her dedication to Bliss Cove. He liked it here and all—far more than he’d expected to, thanks to her—butstayingwas never his plan.
“I don’t want to live away from my family.” Callie shrugged. “And I’m not adventurous, so…no. I’ve never wanted to live anywhere else. If I get tenure, I won’t have to.”
He didn’t want to darken her mood by asking what would happen if she didn’t get tenure—not that that was even a possibility. He opened a jar of honey he’d found in the cupboard and drizzled a spoonful over the pancakes.
