Chapter 3
“Honestly?” I asked, and he nodded his beautiful light blue almost gray eyes laser-focused on me. With any other guy, I wouldn’t have liked the attention, but with Caleb… it felt different.
I felt different around him.
Oddly safe. Seen.
But not in a soley sexual way, though there was no denying he appreciated what he saw as much as I did.
“I’m kinda stuck having to do it.”
“Stuck having to…” He frowned, and I loved the way his face turned pensive before he turned to look at me again. “Why would you do something you don’t want to do?” I laughed because oh boy, that was a loaded question!
“It’s kind of a long story.” I shrugged, not really sure I wanted to get into the nitty gritty with a stranger. Even if he didn’t feel like one.
“I have time,” he said, his tone like an oath I wanted to believe in.
“Well…” I cleared my throat and shrugged.
I almost wanted to laugh at myself. I would meet a man when I was dressed like a bum, my hair wild, and not a speck of makeup on my face.
Not that he seemed to care, but still. “Well, earlier last year, before Halloween, I had the genius idea to talk my best friends in the entire world into trying new things.”
“Oh? That doesn’t sound bad.”
“It wasn’t.”
“What happened to inspire that?” He was way too astute, and I felt my cheeks heat up.
“Honestly?”
“With me, that’s the best policy.” His answer made me chew on my bottom lip because I really liked that, too.
“Well, we’re all about to turn thirty soon, and, umm… I was thinking about how we never try new things and our twenties were almost gone. You know?”
“I can understand that. I felt that way, too.”
“You did?”
“I did, but I was also a little busy with a baby, so I didn’t have too much time to overthink it.”
“Oh! How old were you when you had your daughter?”
“I was twenty-eight when Cass was born.”
“Wow… that’s how old I am.”
“It’s a good age.”
“So, you’re...”
“Fishing to find out how old I am, Rosie?” He smirked, and a glimmer of amusement shined in his eyes.
“Maybe.” I ignored my face heating up.
“I’m forty-five.”
“That’s a good age.”
“Not too old?” he asked, and even though he didn’t ask for me, I knew what he meant. I simply shook my head. “So, you were saying? You tried to talk your friends into trying out new stuff?”
“Yeah.” I pointed toward the street we’d be taking as I kept telling my story about how we always stuck to the same holiday traditions and had never strayed until this last year, and how each time one of us did, they fell in love.
“Just like that?” he asked incredulously. I laughed.
“Yup.” I snapped my fingers. “Just like that. They all met their person.”
“And your friends want you to do the speed dating thing?”
“Well, that was kinda my fault. I genuinely didn’t think Ember would meet someone while she was isolating in a cabin, so I bet her if she didn’t meet someone, I would pay for the two of us to go to the thing at the ski resort, and since she did—“
“I’m guessing she paid for you to go?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, my eyes darting to the ground and street in front of us. “Yup.”
“You know… I think everything happens for a reason.”
“You do?” Some men said this to say it. They didn’t really mean it, and I’d met my share on different shoots. Some who said slick lines to get whatever they could from you. Whether it was for the publicity of dating a model or for a night that was usually pleasurable for themselves only.
“Yeah, I mean… at twenty-eight, I thought I was just getting my life back on track, and boom, the woman I’ve gone on a couple of dates with ends up pregnant.”
“So, did you two—“
“Break up?” he asked. “About a month before Cass was born. I mean, we had always been better friends than anything else. And when we ended, it wasn’t on bad terms. We just knew we weren’t right for one another.
Or it was more like she knew and it took me a little longer to catch up.
” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “But like I said, everything happens for a reason. If we hadn’t broken up, she wouldn’t have met the love of her life and had two more kids.
” I liked that he saw the positive in the situation and didn’t sound even a bit bitter about his ex’s happiness. It showed maturity on his end.
When he glanced at me, the moonlight hit him just right for me to see the soft pepper sprinkled through his hair, highlighting the soft creases by his eyes that made me think he liked to laugh.
It made him ruggedly handsome. Real. Unlike the male models I worked with.
Even the ones his age had so much work done, they could hardly express any kind of emotion, much less smile.
“That’s… wow…” I licked my lips and didn’t miss the way his eyes darkened. Get a grip, Rosie! “And your daughter, you said she’s a cheerleader?” My voice cracked slightly before we kept walking. The night was chilly but not cold enough for snow.
“Yeah, a senior.”
“Wow, seventeen?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. Even the sound of his deep breathing did things to me.
“Does time go by as fast as parents like to say it does?”
“Honestly, I think it goes by faster.” He chuckled. “I remember when she was little, I used to think to myself how something so small could create so much chaos or need so much stuff, you know?”
“And now?”
“Now, I miss the chaos. Just don’t tell her I said that.” I laughed.
“Wait, she’s at a cheer competition her senior year of high school, and you’re here? Not there?” He groaned and took a deep breath.
Shit, was this going to be the red flag? Was he some kind of deadbeat dad trying to meet women instead of being with his kid?
“That’s a long story,” he muttered. I laughed, loving the way he used my words.
“I got time,” I said and meant it. I found myself weirdly drawn to him even though he was practically a stranger.
“Well…” he started to say, and I got lost in the depth of his voice as he explained why he was doing the whole speed dating thing and how he discovered it was also a mini ploy so she could see a boy.
“Wow,” I said when he was done. “I mean… I can see how you could be upset with your sister and daughter but—“
“But?”
“I really think what they did was done with good intentions.”
“I heard the road to hell is paved with those.” I snorted, and he chuckled.
“I just mean it’s sweet. She’s worried about you being alone when she goes away to college.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. I could see that weighed heavily on him. “And my sister, what’s her excuse?”
“Well, as a sister, I can tell you honestly that we just want to see our siblings happy. I mean, I’m sure you want your sister happy, too, right?”
“True. I guess.” He scratched the back of his neck and glanced up at the sky. I looked around. Shockingly, we’d made great time and were closer to the ski resort than I realized.
“So, you’re a forty-five-year-old single dad of a high school senior? What are you looking for, dating wise?”
“Dating wise.” His eyes connected with mine, and it felt like time stood still as we slightly moved closer to one another.
Our steps slowed down, and the side of his hand brushed against mine.
Butterflies started to come to life in my lower belly.
“Someone to share my life with.” Caleb’s eyes darkened, and my pulse picked up.
“That sounds nice.”
“Someone to share those little moments with, you know? Like when we both come home after a long day. Someone to share all the highs and lows with.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. Caleb’s fingers brushed mine, and for some reason, I took them. We found ourselves holding hands as we kept walking.
“What about you? What are you looking for?”
“The same thing,” I admitted. “Someone to spend time with. Share our lives. Have a family with.”
“You want kids?” His feet stopped walking, and mine did, too. Caleb pulled me closer to him, and I nodded as I stared up at his baby-blue eyes. “And that’s a must?”
“I want a family,” I whispered. “Kids. A couple of them running around.” I smiled and shrugged, feeling slightly vulnerable as I shared my dreams. The only one I’d ever really had that had been truly just for me.
“I’ve been really lucky in life,” I whispered. “Career wise. It kinda started right out of high school.”
“Really?” He frowned, and I nodded.
“Yeah, and I’ve done well for myself. I traveled a lot. Made great investments, and I’ve been successful… career wise. Helped my mom with my sisters.”
“What do you—“
“But the one thing I’ve only ever wanted?
It was to meet someone, my one… Does that make sense?
” He swallowed. His eyes dipped down to my lips before he nodded.
“I want my one, and I want to get married and have kids. I know it sounds stupid and maybe a little old fashioned, but… I’ve done the career thing.
I’ve traveled. A lot. And now that it’s coming to an end—“
“Wait, why would your career be ending? You’re only twenty-eight.”
“Yeah,” I sighed and shook my head. I had no idea why I couldn’t get myself to tell him I was a model. Maybe because any regular guy I’d ever talked to in the past, at the end of the day, had been seriously intimidated by my job and who I worked with. So much that we never go past a second date.
“We’re here.” I pointed to the entrance of the ski resort. He swallowed and watched me for a moment. I loved how he looked at me, like he couldn’t believe his eyes, and everything inside of me wanted to believe it was more that physical.
“Is it weird to say I’m not ready for tonight to end?” he asked, and I grinned.
“Well, you still have to give me a ride.”
“What?” His voice cracked. The surprise in his voice only made him more endearing to me.
Any other guy would have had some kind of immature response about the kind of ride they would happily give me.
But maybe that was the difference between Caleb and every other man I’d ever met?
He was a grown, responsible man, while everyone else had been stupid boys.
Even the older ones I’d taken a chance on in the past.
“Would you like to walk by the lake?” he offered and quickly added, “I can go get you another coat if it’s too cold.”
“You want me to go back to your room?” I wasn’t sure if I was testing him or teasing him. The idea of going back to his room and see just how much more compatible we were didn’t sound half bad to me. There was no denying the mutual attraction.
“No,” he quickly answered and winced. “I mean, I wouldn’t say no but…”
“But?” I found myself asking a little too breathily.
“But I don’t want you to be cold, and the lake’s so pretty.” He pointed out, “Plus, there’s no rain like you said there would be.” That made me laugh.
“There will be,” I promised. I could smell it in the air now that we were closer to the lake. “I’m good for a walk,” I agreed even if I thought rain was coming. Squeezing my hand, he led the way down to the lake in a comfortable silence. There was something comforting about being around him.
Caleb Walker made me feel all sorts of things. Safe. Excited. Calm. Turned on. Seen.
He led us down the way. The water was eerily still and beautiful. We stopped at the edge, and he moved behind me before wrapping his arms around me, pressing his front to my back, sharing his body heat with me.
“This okay?” he murmured, his lips a breath from the shell of my ear.
“Perfect,” I whispered and meant it. My heart began to gallop inside my chest.
“Warm?” I nodded, trying to find the courage to turn around. But I knew the moment I did, I’d kiss him.
“Thank you for tonight,” I said softly.
“For a walk?”
“For the best date I’ve ever been on.” And I meant that. I’d been flown to Italy and Dubai in the past. Men had planned lavish things, not because they thought I would enjoy them but because they wanted to throw their money around like it was something that could impress me but never had.
“This wasn’t a date,” he might have mumbled, but I could hear the smile in his voice.
“I don’t know about that. Has all the fundamentals of a date,” I whispered.
“How so, Rosie baby?” The timbre of his voice made me shiver.
“You picked me up from where I live,” I checked off.
“In a bakery?”
“Above it, actually.” I smiled. “We walked under the stars and had really great conversation.”
“True.”
“And now we’re trying to avoid it from ending.
” I licked my lips and turned around. “Sounds like a really good date tome.” My hands moved to rest on his chest as I looked up at him.
“Caleb?” His chest rose and fell, and his hands splayed open at my back.
The heat burning through the heavy material of my hoodie made me yearn for more.
My lips tingled, and I couldn’t believe what I was about to ask him for.
“Yeah, Rosie?” he rasped. One of his hands moved to my face, gently brushing away some of the wilder tendrils of hair that had come loose during our walk.
“Do you think—“ I couldn’t believe I was about to do this. I was about to ask a man, a practical stranger, to kiss me after only having met him an hour or so ago. “Do you think—“
Wet hit my forehead, and I frowned. Drip. Wet hit me again.
“What was—“ But I didn’t get a chance to ask anything else. Not when wetness hit my forehead again and again.
Drip. The top of my head.
Drip. My face.
Drip.
“Rain,” we both whispered and started to laugh. Anyone who might have seen us probably thought we looked like lunatics with the way we laughed.
One moment, it was raining mildly, and the next, it felt like the sky opened up and a deluge fell.
Big fat raindrops fell. Pelting down on us.
Soaking us. It was beautiful. I loved the rain.
And there was something about standing in front of Caleb in that moment, sharing it with him, that made it feel not just special but magical.
“Dance with me.” His tone was more of an order than a request, one I didn’t have in me to deny. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted more.
Dancing in the rain was perfect. Wetness clung to our hair and clothes while the moon played as our very own spotlight that reflected against the lake.
He spun me and held me. Surprising me with how graceful he could be despite his height.
Our bodies swayed to a beat we could only hear in our hearts.
The warmth of his body was just enough to take away the bite of the chill in the air.
“Caleb,” I rasped, my chest heaving up and down against his as I stared at his beautiful light blue eyes.
“Rosie.” He swallowed. The motion drew my eyes to the way his Adam’s apple bobbed. He had a great neck, long and slightly corded with lean muscle and a smattering of freckles. I wanted to kiss him there. I wanted to kiss him everywhere.
I wasn’t sure if his head dropped first or I rose on the tips of my toes, but we both moved, and when our lips found one another, it felt like I was home.