Page 48 of Playing Dirty
She nodded once, her hand still resting on my arm like she didn’t want to lose her place.
I angled the screen toward her and hit play. The glow lit her face in soft gold, catching in her hair. She leaned in, close enough that I could feel the faint brush of her shoulder against mine, the warmth of her tucked into the space between us.
On-screen, Matt came into view—walking up the path to a small house with a tidy yard, a swing set in the back. A woman stepped out to meet him, dark hair pulled back, an easy smile on her face. Two kids barreled toward him, squealing his name.
He bent down, scooping them both up like it was the best part of his day.
Callie didn’t say a word. Didn’t flinch. Her fingers tightened briefly on my arm, then relaxed again. She watched the whole thing with the kind of focus you see in people who’ve already guessed the ending—they just need to see the proof with their own eyes.
When the video ended, I let the screen go dark and set the phone on the table.
“Well,” she said, her voice steady, “that’s that. I feel sorry for his wife.”
No tears. No cracking voice. Just a quiet acceptance that landed harder than anything else she could’ve done. I’d braced for her to shatter, and instead she’d just… absorbed it.
I found myself watching her more than the phone, taking in the way she sat there—shoulders squared, glass still in reach, eyes forward. Stronger than I’d given her credit for. Stronger, maybe, than she realized.
We didn’t rush to fill the silence. Instead, we let it stretch, the only sound was the soft tick of the clock on the far wall. I reached for the bottle, gave us each the last of it, and set it down again.
We drank slowly, the warmth curling in my chest, softening the edges of a conversation that should’ve hurt more than it did. Somewhere between the first glass and the last, the space between us had closed. Our knees brushed. Neither of us moved away.
“You know,” she said after a while, turning her empty glass in her hands, “this might be the most expensive peace offering I’ve ever made.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Worth it?”
Her gaze flicked up to mine, the faintest smile at the corner of her mouth. “Guess we’ll see.”
There was something in her eyes then—something unguarded, softer than I was used to seeing from her. I reached up without thinking, brushed a loose strand of hair back from her face. My thumb grazed her cheek, and she didn’t pull away.
Her breath caught.
I leaned in, slow enough to give her time to change her mind. She didn’t.
The first kiss was soft, deliberate—an answer to a question we hadn’t quite asked out loud. Then she shifted closer, her hand sliding up to my shoulder, and it deepened. Not rushed. Not frantic. Just certain.
When we finally broke apart, our foreheads rested together, both of us breathing just a little harder.
“This isn’t about Matt anymore,” she murmured.
“No,” I said. “It’s about us.”
And for the first time, the house didn’t feel empty at all.
The kiss didn’t end so much as change, our mouths slowing before we pulled back just far enough to look at each other. Her eyes searched mine like she was weighing something—then whatever it was tipped in my favor.
I shifted closer, my hand sliding to the back of her neck, feeling the heat of her skin under my palm. She let out a breath that brushed against my jaw, then leaned in again, this time with a hunger that hadn’t been there before.
The wineglass in her hand made it to the table without a sound. My own followed. And then there was nothing between us but the warmth of her pressed against me, her fingers curling into my shirt like she’d been holding on for far too long.
The house was quiet, but it didn’t feel empty anymore. It felt full—of her, of us, of everything that had been sitting unsaid between us until now.
Chapter Fourteen
The First Time Again
Callie
Rhett’s kiss didn’t fade so much as sink into me, like he meant to leave it there for later. My pulse hammered, matching the weight of his hands where they framed my jaw, his thumb sweeping along my cheek like he’d been waiting years to do it.
