Page 103 of It's in the Contract
Forty-Two
After a luscious dessert of dark chocolate torte (me) and crème brulee with raspberries and whipped cream (Zeke), we walk along the wooden pier, the waves splashing below. A bright moon peeks out from gray clouds overhead, and the salty sea air hits my nose.
The fall chill makes me shiver, and I step in close and lay my head on Zeke’s shoulder. He wraps an arm around me, and I feel perfectly warm. Perfectly content.
Zeke stops and turns to face me. The starlight makes his eyes shine, and the moon casts a glow on his skin. He shrugs out of his jacket and holds it out. I slip in one arm and then the other, and I’m enveloped by his warmth and his glorious scent. “Callie, when you rejected me, I was hurt. But mostly I was afraid that I had ruined our friendship. Our very real friendship.”
I step in and pull him close. It was real. It was always real. Zeke wraps his arms around me, and the pressure is so comforting. I belong here. “It was real to me, too. From the beginning.”
A breeze rustles the trees further along the beach, and the gentle waves of the Puget Sound sway the pier beneath our feet.
“Honestly, I almost didn’t come to the dance,” Zeke says. “I couldn’t bear to see you dancing with anyone else. But I couldn’t bear to not go, either.” Zeke pulls back to look at me. “I felt so stupid. I knew you had all these pressures on you, and I still took a leap . . . and I was wrong. I shouldn’t have jumped in like that. I should’ve talked to you before asking you to the dance.”
“You weren’t wrong.” I look into his deep brown eyes. “Your instincts were right. What I wanted . . . what I needed . . . it was you. It was always you.”
Zeke cups my face and strokes my cheek with his thumb. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone, Callie. I couldn’t not go to you. I couldn’t not be with you. Even if friends was all you wanted, I wanted that, too.”
The rain starts to drizzle. For once I don’t worry about what the rain will do to my hair or makeup, because I know Zeke doesn’t care about any of that. He wants me for who I am. Zeke’s black curls catch the raindrops.
Zeke’s gaze goes from my eyes to my lips and then back to my eyes again. I lean forward until our faces are inches apart, and my body tingles with anticipation. He closes the distance with a soft touch of our lips.
The kiss is slow and sweet and tender and . . . everything. It’s a protective kiss, a promising kiss, a kiss that screams,You are my only. You are my forever.
It’s the best kiss of my life.
The rain pours harder, slipping down my cheeks, but there is nowhere else I’d rather be right now.
Zeke pulls back, just slightly. “Is that okay? Was that?—”
I cut him off by wrapping my hands around the back of his neck and pulling him down for another kiss, deeper this time, filled with need. I hungrily explore Zeke’s beautiful, perfect lips. His arms go beneath his jacket that I’m wearing and curl aroundmy back, flush against my bare skin. I shiver, and not from the chill.
“That was not in the contract,” I say, breathless and giddy.
Zeke grins. “No. It definitely was not.” He leans forward and kisses me again. His lips trace my jaw and move down my neck, tasting the sensitive skin there before moving onto my bare shoulder. My face turns up to the rain.
“Are you wearing Armani Amber cologne?” I ask, breathless.
Zeke laughs into the space between my shoulder and neck. “I don’t wear cologne, Callie.”
I freeze. “So this whole time I’ve been guessing your cologne, the scent was just you?”
Zeke looks at me, eyes shining. He nods.
I lean into his arms and press my lips to his.
Forty-Three
I throw back the covers. Sunshine streams through my window, and dewy droplets from last night’s rain still linger on the panes.Did last night really happen?A giddy smile takes over my face.
Butter snuffles and snorts, in her own bed for once, having a doggy dream. I check my phone by my bedside and there’s a text from Zeke.
Good morning, beautiful. How did you sleep?
I beam. Is this what love feels like?
Amazing. You?
I couldn’t sleep at all. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.
