Page 46 of Inseverable (Carolina Beach)

“Trin.”

“Or like thongs or edible panties and such?”

“Trin.”

“Do you like cherry or strawberry?”

“Trin.I have to get back to work!”

“I meant on your ice cream. Get your mind out of the gutter, soldier.”

I try to storm off like I’m offended only for Callahan to wrap his arms me and lift me in the air. I squeak as he nibbles my neck.

“You really know how to drive a man crazy, you know that?” he murmurs against my ear.

“Is that good or bad thing?” I ask. I laugh when he doesn’t answer. “Sounds like it’s a good thing to me.”

He lowers my feet to the ground. This time he’s the one eyeing our intertwined fingers. “How did this happen?” he asks.

“You holding my hand?”

He quirks his eyebrow. “Among other things.”

I shrug. “It was bound to happen.”

He shakes his head and chuckles as we resume our pace. “Was it?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean we’ve been going steady for like three whole weeks now.”

Callahan almost grounds to a halt at my comment, but then pushes forward. It’s similar to people who are walking along, and suddenly remember something they forgot, but then say screw it anyway, and continue on their merry way.

“Something wrong?” I tease.

He regards me out of the corner of his eye and pretends to scowl. “Going steady for three weeks?” he repeats.

“Mmm-hmm,” I say.

“Christ,” he mumbles back.

“You’re cute when you’re all broody, Batman.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

My focus trails from his face and way down south. “You’re right. You’re definitely more like Thor, God of Thunder. After all, isn’t he the one?” I pretend to fan myself. “Whoo, with the giant?”

“Trin!”

“I was going to say hammer. See there you go again, taking a perfectly innocent conversation straight into Smutville. Shame on you; trying to corrupt an innocent little thing like me.”

He throws his head back and laughs, but then pulls me against him. I wind my arms around his neck, slowly losing my smile. For all I joke, I mean it when I say that I’m scared. I’ve never experienced this connection and draw I feel with Callahan.

His heart makes mine shatter into a million pieces all the while melting what remains, and his soul, while bruised and battered, holds strong in spite of the blows it’s taken. Given what he’s survived and endured, I’m in awe of him. That doesn’t mean the pain he buries deep isn’t something I long to spare him from.

The kiss he meets me with reignites my smile. I confess, that while it was his appearance that first made me want to know him, it’s the man beneath all this muscle that makes me want to keep him.

I stiffen. The thing is, I won’t be able to keep him long.

“Something wrong?” he asks.

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