Chapter 26
CALLUM
Is This What You’ve Been Waiting For? - Amy MacDonald
Right on time, Alejandra appeared at the stand he’d spent the past two hours fixing up. Asma had called him twenty times. He’d picked up on the fourth and threatened to file a restraining order. She wasn’t even mildly deterred.
Alejandra walked up with a beer in her right hand and handed it to him.
“God, thank you,” he said with a grateful smile, waving goodbye to the volunteers. They had been nice, until they’d needed him to tell them where to put every single freaking box.
“How was it?” She looked around at the stand now branded with Lamina’s corporate logo and colors and too many brochures, in his opinion. “It looks good. I would’ve helped.” A smirk and a tiny wave with left fingers.
He shook his head. “It was horrible. You spared yourself hours of pointless Asma threats from afar.”
She chuckled, and he finally stepped out of the stand, putting on his jacket.
Fuck, he needed fresh air—real air, not the kind that came through a dusty event stall. The day was still gray, but Alejandra’s presence brightened everything.
Now he stood directly in front of her. No stall between them. Just the two of them.
“If I lean down and kiss your cheek, will you hit me with your sling?” he asked. “We didn’t say hello properly.”
“Not sure I can move the sling fast enough, but don’t worry. You can,” she smiled, cheeks flushing.
He didn’t waste another second.
His body closed the small gap between them with an almost predatory grace, and his left hand rose to cup the side of her neck, fingers brushing against the delicate skin just beneath her hairline.
He leaned in slowly, and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her soft cheek. For a moment, the world shrank until it was just them.
When he pulled back, their eyes locked, and for what felt like forever, neither of them looked away. His blue gaze held hers, searching, teasing, and impossibly intense.
Time seemed to stretch, the air thick with unspoken words, with memory and desire tangled together, until even a single breath felt like a trespass.
“You cut your hair,” she acknowledged, stepping slightly back. Her cheeks were still pink.
He ran a hand through it. “Yeah. I always do that. For charity.”
Alejandra tilted her head. “Charity?”
“Yeah. There’s a barbershop near my house that once a year donates the proceeds to a local hospital for a pediatric cancer research program.”
“That’s so thoughtful and you unfortunately look good both ways.
” Alejandra sighed, dramatically, and Callum did something he hadn’t done in ages.
Probably since he was ten—he fucking blushed.
He could feel the heat in his cheeks, and how Alejandra clearly noticed it since her eyes started to shine with mischief.
He cleared his throat. “Thanks.”
Alejandra chuckled, clearly enjoying how flustered he got.
“So, wanna grab a bite? There are some food trucks in the Athlete Zone.”
“Can I enter that zone?”
“You’re with me, so yes. Privilege of being supposed to compete but almost dying on tour.”
“Dark humor stage—fits you.”
“I do my best,” she said with a tired grin. “How long are you staying in Ericeira?”
“I leave the day after the event ends.” A grin spread across his features. “Already missing me?”
Alejandra shook her head, a tiny smirk playing on her lips, “Just wondering.”
She motioned for him to follow her, and they entered the Athlete Zone without issue.
Everyone knew Alejandra, and it quickly became obvious to him that she was avoiding most conversations.
When people approached her, she was polite, but kept the interaction short, using him as an excuse since they were catching up.
While they were heading towards the bar, he arched an eyebrow. “So... am I being used as a buffer for unwanted questions?”
Alejandra chuckled. “I didn’t think of it like that until the first one came along. But yeah, you’re basically shielding me from annoying conversations. Which means you’re stuck with me for the rest of the event. Just letting you know.”
“That sounds like a threat,” he teased. “But I’ll be willingly captivated by you, Alejandra.”
Stopped in the line for the food, it happened again. Neither of them spoke. Just... looked at each other. There was an entire universe in those green eyes, so many nuances he wanted to grasp. There was sadness and grief, for sure. And definitely lust.
Fuck, he wanted her. He could picture it all too clearly—going down on her, that wouldn’t hurt her shoulder. Tasting her on his lips. Two fingers in, her moaning his name, hips bucking against his mouth.
“Team Cale!”
Ilias interrupted his very inappropriate thoughts, patting Callum on the shoulder. Sofia was behind him.
Alejandra blinked, cheeks flushing deeper.
“What did I tell you, Callum?” Sofia smirked. “She’d be uptight at first, but then she’d loosen up.”
“Sofia!” Alejandra screeched, shooting her a death glare.
“What? It’s true,” Sofia said, smiling at Callum, who only nodded in agreement.
“How are you two doing? Having fun?” Ilias asked, cutting the line by joining them.
“Yeah, waiting to grab some food.” He hadn’t seen Ilias since the wedding, and he wanted to ask him how he was, if he was ready for the competition, but the surfer just beamed at him, interrupting Sofia mid sentence while she was chatting with Alejandra and announced, “We are going to have a baby!”
Callum’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh my god—congrats!”
“Thanks,” Sofia said, glowing. “Not many people know yet. But Ilias is making sure to tell everyone.”
Alejandra smiled so widely her eyes shimmered with love, as though it had washed away the panic that had consumed her only minutes earlier. She wrapped her arms tightly around Ilias, congratulating him.
“I’m so happy you came, so we can celebrate together,” Ilias said with a smile, pressing a kiss into her hair as he held her against him.
The gesture was instinctive, deeply familiar—the kind born from years of shared moments between competition, inside jokes, and showing up for each other without question. Watching them together, Callum understood immediately that theirs was the kind of friendship that had long ago become family.
“Ale has known since January,” Sofia informed Callum, who had been staring at the interaction with soft eyes.
“It was my token for self-pity,” Alejandra added, brightly.
“Evil,” Ilias added, chuckling.
“I know,” Alejandra grinned, as the line advanced. “How do you feel, Papi?”
Ilias laughed, tilting his head backwards. “Habiba, now you have to call me Papi, from now on.”
“Ale…” Sofia sighed. “Why do you give him these ideas?”
Alejandra chuckled, as they got closer to the bar.
“I feel great. I—” For a second, Ilias didn’t look the bright and bubbly person he had started to know, but he looked more thoughtful. “I hope I’ll be a better father than mine.”
“At least you had one,” Callum found himself spilling. Not that it was a secret, but info dumping people on his sad fatherless life wasn’t something he usually did.
He could see the three’s expressions shift from happiness to pity, so he promptly waved them off. “It’s alright. No need for pity. My grandfather has been the best father figure I could ask for.” And that, somehow, seemed to make them all at ease.
Alejandra, probably noticing how reluctant he felt to continue chatting about it, even though he had been the one starting the topic, decided to change the subject asking Ilias when he was going to compete.
“Heat’s off today. Swell’s too big,” Ilias said, pointing to the waves. “Ever surfed, dude?”
“Yes. A couple of times, but I’ve never considered myself good at it.”
“Wait,” Alejandra’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “You didn’t tell me!”
“Back when I was younger. I’m from a town in West Wales. Great waves for those who know how to ride them.” He looked at her, heart thumping. “I should take you there sometime.”
Alejandra smiled. “I’d love to. I’ve never been to Wales.”
And the way she beamed at him... God. He wanted to see that every day for the rest of his life.