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He gives me a pitying frown. One I fully deserve. “Love is a special thing, Cal. It rules not only our hearts but our minds. It slams into us when we’re least prepared for it. It moves in and doesn’t care if it’s invited or not. It removes our choices and our rational thinking, and either makes us whole or leaves us in ruin. But no matter what, love comes with one universal truth—you cannot fight her. You can only hope to survive her.”
Numbly, I reply, “It’s just a lot all at once. I’ll adjust. I always do. I’m not in love with her.”Yet.
“Best advice?”
“Shoot.”
“Remember that right now, this is bigger than just you. Focus on what you have to and push aside what threatens you.”
I swallow thickly at that and force myself back under control. “I will.”
If only it were as easy as it sounds.
19
Iend up pacing Callan’s bedroom, staring around, taking it all in, trying to figure this out. It’s a lot. I went from being me, Layla Fritz, med student, to… fake engaged to Callan Barrows, who looks way too lickable only wearing a towel and helping with a traumatized little girl.
I don’t regret it. I don’t.
I’m just freaking out a little.
It’s a normal reaction to this level of rapid change, so I’m not fighting it. I’m embracing it, hoping it passes quickly because there is a little girl waiting for me downstairs, a classroom after that, and a fucking ring. It’s the ring that pushed me over the edge.
I don’t know how to wear the ring.
I remember Amelia’s. It’s the same one she’s still wearing on her hand now. It belonged to Oliver’s great-grandma, and it meant something to him. This ring means something too and it feels wrong to slide it on.
I’m doing my best to remember the higher purpose for why I’m here. But between a hot and sexy Callan with abs for days, wet and wearing nothing but a towel, staring at me like he wanted to devour me while being adorable and flirty, my baser instinct is screaming for me to run and run fast.
I won’t.
I’m a pull-her-shit-together-and-rise-to-the-challenge sort of bitch so I know I can master this one. It’s just an adjustment. This situation is nothing a double espresso, electrolyte-infused water, bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel, and a little perspective can’t cure.
There’s a tap on the bedroom door and I jolt, which then makes me laugh because that sound wouldn’t have startled a mouse, and here I am jumping like someone just poked my ass with a branding rod.
“Come in,” I call out, laughing even harder because this is his room and not mine, and I’ve officially lost it. The door opens and in walks a cautious Callan, his face now stoic and reserved without a drop of the heat and smolder he was showcasing before.
I blow out a relieved breath. Thank God, right? If he had even an ounce of sex in his eyes, I would have climbed him like a mountain and claimed his land for my own.
“Hey. Sorry. I...” He shakes his head and stares down at the box in his hand. “It feels weird to give you this, doesn't it?”
My legs collapse on me and somehow I’m sitting on the edge of the bed. He joins me, holding it between us as we both stare down at it.
“Zax bought it for Suzie only she died the day he was planning to give it to her.” He releases a heavy breath. “Layla…” His eyes rise to mine. “I think you’re amazing. You are all passion and fire and unbridled wildness. But within all that is a heart of pure gold. You are fierce and loyal and smart and funny and quirky. I thought all these things about you before you showed up on my doorstep Friday night, but they’re multiplied by a billion now.” His elbow hits his thigh, and he props the side of his face up with his hand, twisting to meet my eyes. “I know giving you this ring sucks. I know it does. I know I’m asking a lot from you, and so far, you haven’t asked for anything in return. You’re a selfless angel and it’s not lost on me.” He stares down at the box. “I don’t think I would have bought you a diamond,” he muses, almost as a side note, and I smile, weirdly curious and a lot flustered after all he just said about me. A man has never been so effusive with me before and it’s doing things to me, so I focus on the easy question.
“What would you have gotten me?”
A smile blooms across his lips and his gaze cuts to mine. “My first thought is a sapphire because of your eyes, but that also feels a bit generic. You’re not generic so I doubt I would have found what I was looking for in any regular jewelry store. It would have had to have been special and unique like you.”
My heart is fluttering like a jackrabbit and I’m growing breathless with it.
He opens the box to reveal a huge princess-cut diamond bracketed by two smaller heart-shaped ones. It’s absolutely stunning and not meant for me and it gets me choked up that the man who bought this ring with so much love in his heart was never able to give it to the woman it was intended for.
It’s a ring that deserves to be on a beloved’s finger.
“Suzie was a lot like you in many ways,” he murmurs absently, staring at the ring. “I think that’s why if I have to give you anyone’s ring, I guess I’m glad it’s hers even if this thing between us is not real. Suzie was fire and earth and air and water. She was life and rode it hard and to the fullest each day. That’s what I think of when I see this ring. So wear it when you need a little bit extra, and it will get you there.”
He takes the ring out of the box and slides it on my finger and fucking hell, it’s a perfect goddamn fit. His thumb plays with the stone on my finger, sliding it back and forth and I hear his breath catch.
