Chapter 27
Nia
By the time I finally made it upstairs, my feet were begging for mercy.
I slipped my heels off the second the door closed behind me and let out a long sigh, tossing my room key onto the console table before leaning against it for a second.
The evening had been perfect. Better than perfect.
I could still hear the music, still feel the warmth of the ballroom, still picture Cal's hands settling on my waist when he'd found me on the dance floor. My heart hadn't settled since.
I laughed softly to myself as I crossed the room and caught my reflection in the mirror. "Oh, Nia," I whispered.
I reached for the complimentary bottle of water on the counter.
Empty. Of course. I groaned quietly before opening the mini-fridge.
Nothing but soda. I needed cold water. Real cold water—the kind that only came with too much ice after one too many glasses of champagne.
I grabbed the silver ice bucket from the counter and headed back toward the door.
The hallway greeted me with complete silence compared to all the laughter and music only minutes ago, leaving behind nothing but soft lighting and the distant hum of the ice machine farther down the hall.
The dress suddenly felt heavier than it had downstairs.
Maybe because the night was over. Maybe because I couldn't stop thinking about him.
Cal. I smiled despite myself. He'd looked impossibly handsome tonight—the clean-cut fade, the sharp lines of his beard, and the way his eyes had never really left me no matter who he was talking to.
I had caught him staring more times than I could count.
Every single time, butterflies had erupted in my stomach like I was twenty years old all over again.
That dance... Lord. If Mars hadn't interrupted us, I wasn't sure either of us would've walked away pretending we were still just friends.
I shook my head with a quiet laugh. Get your ice, Nia. Go to bed. Stop thinking about him.
I had been standing there for a long moment when I heard the familiar click of a door opening. I looked up.
Cal. Every thought instantly vanished.
He stood only a few feet away, one hand still holding his room key, his clean t-shirt fitted across his chest. He looked exhausted, but he also looked at me the exact same way he'd been looking at me all night.
Like I was the only woman in the world. Neither of us spoke; neither of us seemed capable of it.
The hallway faded until there was nothing left but the space between us.
His eyes searched mine, and my pulse began to race.
I knew that look. I'd seen pieces of it for months, but tonight it was no longer hiding.
"Cal..."
My name barely left my lips before he was standing in front of me. The kiss stole every remaining thought from
my mind. Everything I'd been holding back for months poured into it without either of us saying a single word.
When we finally broke apart, I realized we were standing inside my room.
I couldn't remember either of us walking there.
Time no longer felt real. It felt suspended, as though the rest of the world had politely stepped outside and closed the door behind it.
We stayed wrapped around each other, laughing quietly between kisses, neither one of us wanting to create even an inch of distance.
Looking at him this close almost hurt. He reached up and brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear, his fingertips lingering against my cheek.
The tenderness in that simple touch made my chest tighten.
He looked at me as though he was trying to memorize my face—as though he was afraid he'd wake up and discover I'd only been a dream.
Then he spoke. "I love you, Nia."
The world stopped. Every thought in my mind simply evaporated.
I stared at him, searching his face, wondering if I'd imagined the words.
He was standing in front of me with every wall he'd ever built torn down, loving me in the only way that had ever truly mattered.
My heart swelled so quickly it almost hurt.
Of course I loved him. I'd loved him for far longer than I was willing to admit.
I'd buried it beneath jokes, basketball debates, late-night phone calls, and carefully drawn boundaries because losing his friendship had always terrified me more than hiding my heart.
Now he had handed me his. Completely. Without asking for anything in return.
Words abandoned me. Nothing I could say felt big enough. Instead, I reached for him. My hands found his face, and I kissed him with every ounce of love I'd been carrying in silence, hoping he could feel everything I couldn't seem to put into words.
When we finally pulled away, our foreheads rested together.
Outside, the city lights shimmered beyond the curtains, but neither of us looked away from each other.
He kissed me again, slowly and reverently, as though he wanted to memorize every second of finally loving me without pretending it meant anything less.
I answered him with the same quiet certainty.
There were no more doubts. No more almosts. Only us.
The peace of the moment completely enveloped us, allowing every defense to slip away as I finally gave in to the reality of what we were.
Looking up at him, I was struck by how breathtakingly handsome he looked with the powerful weight of his body draped comfortably over mine, his eyes holding a gaze so intense it made my chest ache.
Our bodies moved in a flawless, instinctual sync—a perfect alignment of rhythm and breath that made everything else outside this room vanish entirely.
Afterward, the frantic energy of the night dissolved into a profound stillness, leaving my naked body intertwined perfectly with his in the warm tangle of the sheets, completely anchored by his embrace as I finally drifted off to sleep.
When I opened my eyes, the morning sun was just beginning to filter through the curtains, and the first thing I realized was that I hadn’t run.
Usually, panic would have kicked in by now, driving me to slip out of bed and leave abruptly before the reality of the morning could catch up to me.
Instead, I remained completely wrapped in his strong arms, flush against the heat of his chest. The steady, soft sound of his breathing anchored me, soothing a restless part of my soul that had been fighting this for months.
For once, the urge to flee was entirely gone, replaced by a deep sense of peace that made me feel incredibly safe.
I shifted slightly, intending to settle even deeper into his embrace, but the slight movement was enough to break his sleep.
Cal’s grip tightened instinctively as his eyes flickered open.
He looked down at me, a slow, lazy smile spreading across his face, but beneath the warmth, a flash of genuine surprise crossed his features.
He was completely caught off guard by the fact that I was actually still laying there with him.
"You're still here," he said, his voice thick with sleep and surprise.
"Well, this is my room," I said jokingly.
A quiet chuckle escaped him as he brushed his thumb across my hip. "I was beginning to think you were going to disappear on me again."
I smiled, resting my chin against his chest. "I've been surprising myself a lot these days."
He leaned down and kissed my forehead, lingering there for a moment before pulling back just enough to look at me. As comfortable as the silence was, there was something sitting heavy on my chest.
"Cal?"
"Hm?"
"About last night..."
His expression softened. "What about it?"
"You know... what you said."
His smile grew, warm and completely certain. "That I love you?"
My breath caught at how effortlessly the words rolled off his tongue, as though they had always belonged there. "Yeah," I said quietly. "That."
I searched his face for even the smallest hint of hesitation. There wasn't one. "So... that wasn't just some heat-of-the-moment thing?"
He laughed softly, shaking his head. "Nia.
" He reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine.
"I am in desperate need of you in my life.
It took watching you become someone else's...
" He paused, swallowing hard. "It took almost losing you for me to realize I wasn't afraid of ruining our friendship.
I was afraid because I was already in love with you. "
Emotion tightened his voice, but he never looked away. "I'm sorry it took me so long to admit it."
My eyes welled with tears as the sheer weight of his honesty washed over me, completely erasing the final walls of my doubt.
"I don't know if I'll always have the right words. I don't know if I'll always get it right. But I know this."
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles.
"I am absolutely in love with you. I don't know if I'll always be everything you need, but I'll spend the rest of my life figuring it out, one day at a time."
My chest ached so deeply it almost hurt.
I'd known Cal for years.
I'd seen him confident.
Cocky.
Competitive.
Protective.
I'd never seen him vulnerable.
Not like this.
And somehow...
I loved him even more for it.
A smile found its way onto my face through the emotion.
"When did you go soft?"
I laughed quietly, poking a finger against the center of his chest.
He caught my hand before I could pull it away.
"The moment I realized how much you mean to me."
I felt my cheeks warm.
"I don't know what to do with this version of you."
"You could kiss him."
"I guess I could."
I leaned forward and kissed him, slow and unhurried, smiling against his lips when he smiled back.
"I'll make us some coffee," I said, slipping carefully out of bed.
Before I could take another step, his hand landed lightly against me with a playful smack on my butt that made me gasp.
"Cal!"
The sound echoed through the room before dissolving into laughter.
He grinned without a trace of regret.
"I couldn't resist."
I shook my head, laughing as I bent to retrieve his white button-down from the floor.
The fabric swallowed me as I slipped it over my shoulders, rolling the sleeves once before leaving the buttons mostly undone.
"You look better in my shirt than I ever did," he said, admiring me from the
bed.
I laughed again as I reached for the coffee maker to start a pot of coffee
when we were interrupted by three slow, deliberate knocks on the door.
I frowned.
"Room service?"
Cal shrugged from the bed.
"I didn't order anything."
Still smiling, I pulled the door open.
The smile vanished instantly.
David stood in the hallway.
His overnight bag rested beside his leg, and a hopeful smile had already begun to form before his eyes found mine.
Then they drifted lower.
To the oversized men's shirt hanging from my shoulders.
Then past me.
"Who is it, Nia?" Cal called from somewhere behind me.
David's eyes lifted over my shoulder.
Everything inside me stopped.