Page 104 of He Loves Me Knot

“I’m making you go skinny-dipping.”

No way.

“I don’t think so.” She grabbed the covers and this time, tugged them farther away.

Callum stood and stripped the top sheet, then, as she squealed, he scooped her into his arms. He set her on the floor slowly, and she came to the tips of her toes, her arms wrapping around his neck like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Oh God, are we really doing this?

Because she had a feeling she knew what he was up to.

Her confidence in that fact had only grown with the kiss on the boat earlier. With that knowledge came a sense of power.

Callum wants me.

So he’s doing everything to avoid intimacy.

Her lips skimmed his jawline, traveling down his neck as his hands slipped around her waist, pushing up her shirt and settling against the bare skin on the small of her back.

His breathing had gone shallow, and she didn’t have to see that piercing gaze to know he feltdesire.

Raw, fiery lust surged through her, making her core lurch and tug, her underwear growing wetter by the second. “We don’t have to go outside,” she whispered, and her hand traveled down, settling on his chest. His skin was hot, searing her palm and making her suck in a breath. His nipples had gone hard, his chest taut with tension. “It’s not going to keep us so busy that this won’t happen, Callum.”

“Let’s just go outside, Liddy. Knock something off that bucket list.” His low voice had a rough edge to it that she hadn’t heard before.

I’m right.

He’s trying to tempt me with something else I want...to keep me away from him.

Despite that, one hand had traveled up her bare back ever so slightly, his palm sending goose bumps up to her shoulders.

“What are you so afraid of?” She stepped back and pushed her penguin pajama pants off her hips, trying to quell the quiver of her own stomach. A T-shirt and underwear were no less revealing than that damn bikini she’d had to wear the day before, but this was different.

His rejection could undo me.

But with each breath, her fear seemed to slip away.

He hadn’t moved. She went back toward the bed, her fingers shaking as she reached for the bedside table. Then she flipped on the light, the orange glow spilling through the small room.

“You wanted me to strip down.” She reached for the hem of her shirt.

Callum drew a sharp breath. “Don’t.”

“Or what?” She teased him by raising the hem slowly, revealing her flat belly, the very edge of her breasts. His intense, dark stare followed her movement, his gaze hard as steel.

“Or I’ll kiss you so hard that we won’t just end up panting on the side of a boat, but completely naked, with you screaming my name as I take you.” He stepped closer to her as though he couldn’t stay away. “And I can’t promise it’ll be ever anything more than that, Liddy. I’ll wreck your heart, and I won’t be sorry.”

She almost smiled.

He’s conflicted because he cares.

Of all the fucking things I didn’t expect, it was that Callum Scott might truly care about hurting me.

His words made her want to sink back and melt against the bed. “You’re going to ruin me, is that it?” She arched a brow and licked her lips. “The thing is, Callum, if you don’t care about me, then why are you warning me? Why are you stopping yourself?”

His eyes were dark as he stood only inches away, obviously willing himself not to touch her. “Because I know who I am. I’m never doing another relationship.Ever.I will ruin you. And I won’t like it. But it still won’t stop me.”

The hardness of his words, the threat of potential heartbreak, seemed to feelstrangely. . .like a challenge.

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