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The dark hair now too short to flop on his forehead.
The smirk as he watches me ogle him.
I think I fall in love with Caleb a little more every time I look at him.
“You missed a spot.” I touch the tip of his nose, where the skin is peeling in response to intense sun exposure. New freckles dot his nose and cheeks as well.
Caleb sighs. “I was wearing a hat. And sunscreen. I just sweat it off.”
“It was that hot?”
“Ridiculously so. High nineties every day. Hit a hundred a couple of times. Each year I say I’m not going to go back…”
“And yet each year you go again.”
“It makes Landry summers feel cool in comparison,” Caleb tells me.
“Right. Because you spendsomuch time in Landry during the summer.”
The sentence slips out before I filter the words, and I watch them register on Caleb’s face. Guilt. He looks guilty for going to the best baseball camp in the country, and the same emotion swamps me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I just missed you.”
“I missed you too, Matthews.” He tugs me to him, and I sink into the first kiss we’ve shared in twenty-seven days.
“It was the last time,” he says when his lips leave mine.
I know the words are meant to be a reassurance, but they’re the exact opposite. Caleb won’t be returning to the baseball camp in Georgia he’s attended since graduating high school because next summer he’ll either be at a professional team’s training camp or done with the sport for good.
That may mean he’s not spending a month in Georgia, but it won’t mean he’s spending it here in Landry instead.
“Good.” I don’t let any doubts leak into my voice.
We only have five days together before he heads back to Clarkson. I’ll have plenty of time to stress about the future after he’s gone.
Right now, I just want to soak up his presence.
“Did you eat?” Caleb asks me.
I shake my head. “I was waiting for you.”
Caleb kisses me again. This time, it’s more than a quick peck of greeting. It’s heat and tongue and urgency. I melt against him, not caring that people are probably watching us. Lust leeches away any inhibitions.
“Damn. I missed you, Matthews,” Caleb tells me when we finally break apart. Hunger is clearly reflected in his blue eyes. Along with some sadness. Because we say those words way too much to each other.
Missing someone can be interpreted as a gift. It means it’s someone you care about enough to. It’s also an awful ache with no easy remedy or cure.
“Doesn’t seem that way,” I tease, turning my head so I’m pressed up against the hollow of his throat. He smells the same as always. Like spearmint and woodsy cologne and Caleb.
I feel his lips press against my hair before he pulls me over to where Colt is grilling.
“Did I mention how much I like this dress?” he asks as we walk across the grass, flashing me a cheeky grin.
“Not with words, but I kind of got the sense you liked it just now.”
He laughs. “I like the dress.”
“It’s one Cassie gave me.”
