Page 154 of On The Rocks

“You wanna shut your mouth?” he bit back.

I laughed. “Okay.”

“Jesus, woman,” he muttered, dropping his credit card on the table. “I’ll pop a fucking vein if you ask me that shit again.”

“No need to be so alpha about it,” I sassed.

Callum placed some bills on the table and stood. “Let’s get you home before you say something else to piss me off.” He took my coat from the back of my chair, helped me up, and slipped it over my shoulders. Then, pulling my hair from my collar, he leaned down to kiss the side of my neck.

A delicious shiver went through me.

Callum took my hand and led me toward the doors, saying goodbye to Giovanni and a couple of other people he knew as we left. His arm slid across my shoulders, and we started for the apartment.

“You cold?” he asked.

“No,” I replied, and although it was late on a chilly February night, I really wasn’t. My husband resembled a furnace with the amount of heat he radiated. I was never cold when he had his arm wrapped around my shoulders and he pressed against his body.

I’d missed it, and not just when we walked together. I’d missed it curled up against him on the couch, reading or watching TV, and I’d missed it in bed, too. I’d missed him coming into the distillery, lifting my ass onto the table, curling his hand over my hip, and kissing me stupid, and I’d missed hanging out in the bar watching him banter with Donovan and his friends.

I just missed him.

The first drop of rain landed as he walked me down the side of the bar to the back door.

“Good timing,” he muttered. “Looks like it’s gonna bucket down.”

I poked my key in the lock. “You go. If you run, you won’t get caught in the downpour.”

Callum’s expression fell. He’d wanted to come up; I kinda knew there was an expectation of it. The problem was, if he did, I knew I wouldn’t want him to leave. It wasn’t that I still held a grudge or that he hadn’t shown me he was finally taking our marriage seriously. I knew he was trying to do better.

The fact was, he terrified me.

Kicking Callum out of the apartment and out of my life had been traumatic. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I couldn’t think straight, and I was sad all the time. Letting him back in was proving to be just as traumatic because what if it went wrong for a second time? I wasn’t sure I’d survive it intact.

When everything was said and done, it all came down to trust again, and I didn’t know if I was there yet.

Callum’s strong hand turned me to face him, and he leaned down to kiss my forehead. “Goodnight, baby. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

My eyes widened because I’d forgotten about it. I’d been holed up in the distillery all day. “Damn, that’s why Giovanni’swas so busy.” My eyes lifted to meet Callum’s. “I didn’t get you anything.”

“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I just want a kiss.” He took a step closer. One hand slid into my hair and angled my chin up. His neck bent, and he touched his mouth to mine before pulling away.

Heat pooled between my legs, and I blinked up at my husband with a dazed expression.

His forehead rested on mine. “Goodnight, wife.”

“Hmm,” I murmured, smiling dreamily as he turned me around and gently pushed me through the door.

“You’ll get wet,” he warned me.

Already am.

“Lock the doors behind you,” he ordered. “I’ll bring you coffee tomorrow.”

I sent him a soft smile. “Goodnight,” I murmured, then I floated inside, locked the door, and proceeded to float up the stairs to let myself into the apartment, all the while wondering to myself if just one little make-out session would really hurt. I mean, he did buy me dinner, and it was Valentine’s Day.

My little giggle faltered in my throat when I noticed a light coming from the open door of the spare room.

I was sure it wasn’t on when I left. I hadn’t been inside that room all that day. I slept in Callum’s bed every night just so I could inhale his gorgeous, manly scent.

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