Understanding flickered across his face, bringing a touch of humor to his brown eyes. “Evan? That was my sister.”
My brain stopped working. “Your… sister?”
“Her name is Penny.” A trace of the cinnamon roll I knew and loved appeared, present in the dimple in his cheek. “She and her party just returned from a quest and I went to check on her.”
“Oh.” Damn if the twisting in my gut didn’t instantly dissipate with the relief. “That makes sense.”
Talk about one massive misunderstanding. One that could’ve been avoided if I’d just asked about it sooner. I used to scream at romance book characters for doing that same shit, and I’d been just as silly.
“Did it bother you?” Callum slowly pulled me closer, bringing our bodies flush. “When you thought I was meeting a lover?”
“Um.” Electricity buzzed in my veins. “Well, you’re my best friend. If you’d met someone special, I thought you’d tell me.”
“That’s the only reason you’d be upset? Because I didn’t tell you?” As his gaze lowered to my mouth, his long dark lashes created shadows on his cheek bones. “Or because you hated the thought of me touching someone else?”
Our lips were millimeters apart. “Cal, I…”
“Don’t you see it, Ev?” Callum’s nose brushed mine. “There’s only one person I see. Only one I want to touch.” His voice cracked. “He’s beautiful and clumsy and so damn perfect.”
Throat tight, I couldn’t speak. Didn’t know what to say even if I could.
“Dammit, Evan.” A tear slipped from the corner of his eye. “I think I’m in love with you. And I don’t know what to do.”
The haze in my mind lifted. Everything became so damn clear. Relief came with that clarity. Excitement and a touch of anxiety did too, the type of giddy nervousness that came from loving someone and learning they felt the same.
I’d been right.Callum was one of my fated men.
As for the delayed realization? Why it hadn’t been instant? Lupin said my choices had unlocked new love routes. It soundedlike the trip to Exalos had triggered mine with Callum. More so, him seeing me with Rowan. It had led us to this moment, heartfelt confessions beneath a fir tree in the early morning light.
“Please say something,” he rasped. “Tell me you hate me. Tell me you feel the same. Just tell me something. Anything. Because this silence is deafening.”
But I couldn’t. I didn’t have the words. So, I did the only thing I could do.
I rose up and kissed him.
He froze against my lips, breath hitching. I placed another kiss to his mouth, then another.
“Ev…” He fisted the back of my hair, gripping the strands. He still didn’t return the kiss, but his body tensed like he was fighting hard not to. “What are you…”
“Kiss me.”
A heartbreaking sound tore through his throat. “I can’t.”
“Why?” Cracks opened in my chest.
“Because the captain doesn’t know about any of this.” His voice reminded me of thin glass, so close to shattering. “I swore to myself I wouldn’t do this. Telling you was a mistake. I… I should leave.”
“Don’t go.” The center of my chest constricted, like the thing living inside it desperate to break free curled in on itself.
“I… we can’t…” A quake went through his body, and he drew back from me with pained brown eyes. “Loving you means betraying the one person I respect above all others. A man who’s fought by my side and bled for me. I… I’m sorry.”
He took a step back.
“Wait.” I needed to explain that I’d already talked to Maddox and the others about it. And that they’d given their blessing. “You’re not betraying hi—”
“Eh, Lieutenant?” Quincy called from the back porch. “We’re about to head out.”
“I have to go.” Callum’s expression morphed into something agonizing before he turned and headed toward the small stable.
