22. Will
Chapter 22
Will
Kissing Callie adds major fuel to the fire with how badly I want her, but when she starts kissing me back…I decide I want to be lost in her blaze. Let it suffocate and consume my whole being.
Her hands wrap around my neck as I move mine from her hair to the back of her legs. I pick her up and set her on the edge of the island, hoping her legs stay locked around my waist.
One hand goes to her back while the other cups the back of her head. Callie lets out a little moan when my tongue glides against hers. She pushes back for a second, taking her coat off, but I don’t want to stop this so I follow her retreat, bringing my lips back to hers and helping her remove the layer.
Another small moan escapes her and fuck if I don’t give one in return. She tastes like everything I’ve ever wanted and as I kiss her again her hands go through my hair, gripping tight when my hands meet the bare skin on her thighs where her dress slid up. I don’t want to push her too far, but feeling Callie is reviving my soul. Fuck, we were never meant to be friends.
“Wait, Will.” Callie’s hand pushes back on my shoulders. Both of our chests are heaving from that amazing kiss, but the look on her face gives me pause. “We can’t,” she pants.
“Callie, whatever it is, I'll fix it.” Cupping her face, I choose my next words carefully. “I heard what you said about not wanting to lose this, but you won’t. I want this. I want you. And before you even argue—I heard what you said to my sisters about not dating baseball players because of an ex, but I’m not him. I don’t know if it was something he did or the schedule, but that doesn’t matter now. Hell, if it’s the fear of being traded I’m playing by Olsson’s rules to get a no-trade clause in my contract.”
Tears pool in her eyes. Fuck, maybe it’s not the baseball thing at all, maybe it’s just me.
“Baby, please don’t cry. If you don’t want this, it’s okay.”
“No, Will, that’s not it,” she cries, pushing me back so she can hop off the counter. “How could you possibly think I don’t want this? I’ve wanted this since my birthday, but we can’t. As in, we’re not allowed.”
I want to interrupt with at least ten questions, but she’s starting to use her hands while she talks and I’ve only ever had the strength to interrupt her one time and I’m starting to think that might have been the real mistake.
“I didn’t go on a date tonight—yes, I went out, but not on a date, just to breathe for a second. For months, all I’ve thought about is you! I've been fighting this idea of friends for weeks. The idea of what we could be consumed me and I thought maybe a night out would show me that I could let this fantasy go but damn it, it sucked! Being stuck as your friend sucks! That kiss that you just gave me should have been our first kiss, not the one on my birthday. And I was going to tell you that that night. I wanted to tell you that I didn’t mean for our first kiss to be that way, but then you said ‘friends’ and I didn’t want to lose you. You listen to me. You threw me my first birthday party and brought me tea when you knew I would be anxious. You fix things for me, but somehow still let me hold some control. I can’t even begin to express how much that means to me.
“And that damn brand shoot not giving you a shirt, it was torture! But then the real icing on the fucking cake. Shannon tells me that because of my job—the first job that I’ve actually enjoyed, the job I need more than anything to prove I’m not some fuck up—it means we’re not allowed to date. The guy I can’t get out of my head I’m not allowed to date.”
No, no, no. That can’t be a fucking rule. Sighing, I run my hands over my face.
“So, unless you want to lose that no-trade opportunity”—Callie’s voice starts to tremble—“and I lose my job…we can’t. And I don’t know about you but, I don’t think you could ever be this one-night fling. Getting you out of my system didn’t work before this kiss, I don’t think I’m strong enough to walk away so easily if it were more.”
Motherfucker. Callie wipes a tear off her cheek, and I can’t stand to see her upset. Stepping to her slowly, I cup her face and let my thumb wipe away another tear. “Tell me what you want me to do, Callie. Tell me how to make this better because if it’s within my power, I’ll do it.”
She looks up at me with those glossy green eyes. “Can you go back in time and make us just acquaintances again?”
I let out a forced chuckle. “No, baby, I can’t do that. Nor do I even want to. For what it’s worth, I might not know where this thing between us could go, but I know you could never just be a fling. So, if you want me to go bang on Olsson’s door and tell him fuck his rule, I’ll do it. If you need me to walk out the door right now and have us go back to being friends, so be it. But I never want to go back to how we were in Seattle. Call me a pyromaniac but I need you, Blaze, in whatever capacity I can get.”
Callie breaks eye contact as another tear escapes. Wiping it away, I take the hint, not that I blame her. When I saw that smile she had looking at the photos she took I knew what this job meant to her.
Letting her go, I sigh. “Listen, I understand, Callie. But do me one favor. Lock your door for me, or I might come back over here and beg you to change your mind.”
Those damn eyes find me again as she sucks in a breath and if I keep looking at her, I’ll start begging now. Each step to her door feels heavier and heavier, and I’m so fucking tempted to turn around but I reach for her doorknob anyway.
“Don’t,” Callie stammers, and I fucking freeze. “Will, did you ever want to just be friends?”
I turn back to face her but don’t close the distance yet. I'm not entirely sure where this answer I’m about to give will take me…but it’ll be the truth.
“Yes and no. We might not have talked in Seattle, but I knew exactly who you were. The attraction has always been there, but when you first opened your mouth on that plane something felt different. I didn’t need a damn thing from the convenience store, but I bought that fucking crossword so you’d have an excuse to get a charger. When you mumbled something about wanting to go into Spilled Tea on the second day, I only went in because I was so tired of seeing you shiver, and I needed to do something to warm you up. I blamed a lot of stuff at the beginning on this idea that we were friends and I just wanted to take care of someone again after being away from my family for so long.
“I don’t know what it was, if we’re being honest. I just knew that I kept seeking you out everywhere I went. I kept looking for any excuse to be near you—hung onto every word you said. I even went to Spilled Tea and practically begged Margaret to show me how to make that holiday drink because they were closed on your birthday. So, yeah, I guess?—”
“Wait, you made that tea?”
“Well, yeah. How I got away with that lie was beyond me, but…” I trail off as she walks up to me. I’m damn near holding my breath waiting for her to say something.
She looks up at me and the silence feels palpable in this moment but then she whispers, “Why do I feel like I should be the one begging?”
It takes less than a second for those words to process and for me to haul her cute ass flush to me. Her hands fist my shirt as I kiss her again and I lose it at the sounds coming out of her.
Her hands pull around my neck and I bring her thighs back around me. Pulling her lips back for a moment she rests her forehead on mine. “Will, I still don’t know where this can take us, but I?—”
“Hey, let’s just focus on one day at a time, baby. We’ll worry about all the other shit later, but for today—for right now—I need to know where you want me to take you because I’ve been dying to exercise my right to touch you.”