Page 142 of On The Rocks

Callum sat on the couch next to me, smiling when he saw me touch my amazing gift. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

My eyes prickled. “I didn’t expect anything, especially after...” I cleared my burning throat, trying to pull myself together. After a long pause, I asked, “Are you okay? You seem really subdued.”

“Nothing feels right without you,” he admitted softly. “I’m not saying that to try to make you feel bad for me, but you’re right, I am subdued, and that’s why.”

“I feel the same way,” I told him gently. “But I need more time.”

He sighed and nodded. “I know.”

“Whatever happens, we’ll always be friends,” I assured him.

He reached out with his arm that was stretched across the back of the couch and gently twisted a lock of my hair around his finger. “Miss waking up to this,” his fingers swept down to my lips, and he tapped the bottom one, “and these.” His hand dropped, and he laced his fingers with mine. “Telling a lie is easy. It’s living with it that rips you apart. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

I smiled softly because, for the first time, I believed his apology.

“Let me stay with you tonight,” Callum suggested softly. “I don’t mean for sex. I just wanna hold my wife. I wanna feel close to you again.”

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. It was tempting, but it felt wrong. “Well, that kind of defeats the purpose of breaking up, doesn’t it, you eejit?”

He let out a snort. “Guess so. Okay, let me take you on a date.”

“A date?” I inquired. “We’ve never been on one of those.”

“Exactly.”

I got to my feet and began to gather my belongings. “I’m not ready. Just give me some time.”

“Throw me a bone here, Maeve,” he pleaded. “Come and spend New Year’s Eve down here. I’ve asked the DJ to play again, and the Speed Demons are coming.”

I slipped my coat over my shoulders and turned to face him. “I’m not really into the whole New Year thing, but I’ll come down for a drink, okay?”

“Right.” He stood from the couch and followed me toward the rear door. “I’ll see you upstairs.”

Chewing on my lip, I walked through the back hallway with him close at my heels, pausing as I put one foot on the stairs. “Well,” I murmured awkwardly. “Goodnight then.”

Callum chuckled and stepped up next to me before gently turning me toward him. “Goodnight, wife,” he said huskily, leaning down and leaving a lingering kiss on my forehead.

My heart fluttered as he stepped back down.

He watched me walk up with a soft look on his face that made my belly turn to mush, and I fought the urge to ask him upstairs for a drink.

It would’ve been easy to fall back into old patterns, but I knew I would’ve resented myself for giving in. Callum was behaving exactly the way I needed him to, but I also needed to see an effort to want to be with me, and I needed to see change.

Something he’d murmured earlier resonated deeply with me because it rang so true on every level.

‘Telling a lie is easy. It’s living with it that rips you apart.’

I never doubted Callum O’Shea loved me, but sometimes, love wasn’t enough.

My husband needed to prove I could trust him, too.

CHAPTER 29

CALLUM

NEW YEAR’S EVE

Ihadn’t seen Maeve since Christmas Day. It was like she’d fallen off the face of the planet. If the crates of booze weren’t left outside at the end of every day like normal, I would’ve worried myself sick about her.

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