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“Ran into a wall.” Jack sighed and let his tailgate down so he could sit. “Seeing Olive and Jesse like that today fucked with my head. My dad wasn’t around and I remember being that little kid, angry at the fucking world on the days you were supposed to bring your dad to school.”
I swallowed a stupid knee-jerk response and sat next to him. “It makes sense that you wanted to bash Taylor’s head in, then.”
“It’s embarrassing to have fucking unresolved daddy issues at twenty-three.” He groaned. “I should be celebrating today. Instead, I’m acting like a baby.”
“Celebrating?”
Andrew scowled. “He says Olive chose him.”
My stomach tightened. “Bullshit.”
Jack smiled finally. “Jesse even said he wanted me to be his dad.”
“It’s not over until she tells two of us to fuck off.” Andrew crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t believe I was feeling bad for you a second ago. Now I just want to punch you.”
I nodded. “Let’s go back to talking about your daddy issues, asshole.”
21
***Olive***
“Youdidn’thavetodo this, Caleb.” I climbed into his car and leaned across the console to kiss his cheek. Without his last minute assistance, I might’ve been walking to work in the surprise rain shower that had struck. It didn’t occur to me that it might’ve been weird until I’d already done it and it was too late. “Um… Sorry.”
“You’re kidding, right? Did you just apologize for kissing my cheek? You could climb over here and kiss every part of me and I wouldn’t complain, sweetheart.”
I flushed pleasantly. “I heard a rumor about you.”
His smile fell. “Shit.”
Laughing, I buckled my seatbelt and let my body relax into my seat. It molded to my body perfectly and was the most comfortable car seat I’d ever put my butt in. “I’ll tell you in a second. Just let me enjoy this for a minute.”
He drove away from my apartment silently and shifted in his seat as the silence stretched. “Look, I’m sure what you heard was shitty. Most likely, it was true. I’ve never been into relationships before and I’ve pissed a lot of women off along the way. I’ve always tried to be honest about what I want, but-”
I giggled. “Jack texted me and told me to say that. Now I know why.”
Caleb’s jaw muscles flexed. “Well, he played that one smart.”
I reached over and rested my hand on his arm, hating the frown on his face. “If I was able to have a relationship right now, Caleb, I wouldn’t judge you for your past. You’re sweet to me and you make me laugh. You woke up early to take me to work, just because. Plus, you kiss like a god. Those are the things that matter.”
He stopped at a red light and turned to face me. Instead of gloating about the god comment, he looked serious. “You’d be different. You’d absolutely wreck me, Olive.”
My breath caught in my throat. After days of only hearing from the guys in text form, being in front of Caleb was almost gutting in how beautiful he was. His normally playful blue eyes were serious as they moved to my mouth.
“I would never want to wreck you, Caleb.” I leaned towards him, drawn to him like a moth to flame. “Don’t let me be different.”
A horn blared behind us and we slid apart, the moment broken. Caleb slipped back into his happy personality easily and by the time he parked outside of Jolly Pines, I’d laughed so hard I thought I was going to pee in his fancy car seat.
I glanced up at the building and still felt a pang of guilt for missing work before. Of course, Jerry was fine with me not coming in, but I still felt bad. I didn’t like flaking on my responsibilities.
When Caleb got out of the car with me, I tilted my head at him and raised my eyebrows. “What are you doing?”
He met me at the front of the car and slid his hands into my hair, lowering his mouth to mine in a fierce kiss. My purse slipped out of my hand as he tipped my head back and kissed me deeper. When he pulled back, his eyes were dark blue orbs of fire. “Too fucking late, Olive.”
I was different. I tried to hide the selfish smile that wanted to twist my mouth. It wasn’t fair to take from him what I couldn’t give back.
“Go ahead and feel special. I know that you’re not ready to date right now. You’ve said it a dozen times and we’re stubbornly choosing to keep trying anyway. I’m just getting my foot in the door for when youareready.” He pressed his lips to mine again in a lingering kiss. When he pulled away, it felt like neither of us wanted to.
“Little Kitty! We need you in here! Bring your boyfriend! The Trashed Twins are demanding that they be allowed to model for the art classes!” Kitty faked a gag. “Save us all!”
