Page 67 of Hit the Ground
My brows shot up. “I do?”
“You do. Since you decided to ditch me, I’ve been reading on my own. You didn’t tell me book two was going to put me through the wringer.”
My smile grew so wide my cheeks ached. “I’m pretty sure I warned you it would be emotional.”
“Did you? I don’t recall that,” he shot back. “Now, you’ve got to let me read to you. Fair’s fair.”
My heart kicked. “You want to read to me?”
“I do. If I have to go through Fathaniel’s fuckups, I’m bringing you along with me.”
I laughed, settling deeper into the couch, and tugged a blanket over my lap. “All right then. I’m ready to get back on this journey with you and our bumbling hero.”
There was the rustle of pages, a low clearing of his throat, then his voice slid through the phone like molasses. I closed my eyes and let him take me through the story, his deep rumble filling every quiet space in my living room.
Somewhere in the middle of a paragraph, I realized I was happy. Genuinely, truly happy. And hopeful. I wanted this with him every night.
When he finished the chapter, there was a pause. “Are you still with me?”
“I am,” I said, tired but nowhere near ready for this to end. “I could listen to you all night.”
“If you’re not careful, I might take you up on that.”
Some time later, after Fathaniel had fallen for another one of Tarkarian the wizard’s tricks, I went to sleep with Caleb’s voice still in my ears and near certainty this wouldn’t be the last time.
Chapter Twenty-six
Caleb
Jessetrailedaftermeinto Gray’s Diner. Usually, my patience with him was close to infinite, but he’d dragged his feet getting out of the truck then moved across the parking lot at a snail’s pace for no good reason. I was at the end of my rope.
“You forgot to check in with the hostess,” he said from behind me.
“Don’t worry about it,” I gruffed over my shoulder. “I see Alice over there. Let’s go say hi.”
“Ms. Clark?” Suddenly, he was right beside me, craning his neck. “She’s here?”
She was. We were now seven minutes late, and she was sitting by herself in a booth, a hardback book open in front of her, a glass of water sweating beside her cast.
As we approached, she looked up as if surprised, though the corner of her mouth was already lifting.
“Caleb,” she said with a teasing lilt. “And Jesse. What are the odds?”
Jesse grinned. “Pretty high, I think. There aren’t a lot of places to eat around here.”
“You have me there,” she conceded.
I stepped closer, resting a hand on the back of her booth. “Are you here alone?”
“I was,” she said, sliding the bookmark I’d given her between the pages before closing the book. “But I’d much rather have company. Would you two like to have dinner with me?”
I didn’t even have to look at Jesse. He’d already started toward the empty side of the booth, and I followed, lowering myself across from her. The light from the overhead fixture fell across her face, making her eyes sparkle.
She met my gaze for a second then glanced away, fingers brushing the edge of the bookmark like she couldn’t help herself.
“How’s the hand?”
“Still attached.” She waved it in front of herself.
