Page 130 of Shattered

Callum laughed. “Come with me.” He quickly set her down and tossed some clothes her way while he threw on a pair of shorts. Then he grabbed her hand and walked to the kitchen.

“We have vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and rocky road. Although you can’t have rocky road. So you have to choose between the others.”

Sam furrowed her brow. “Why can’t I have rocky road?”

“Because, I am allergic to nuts, and if you eat nuts I can’t kiss you.”

She looked at him with a wide-eyed expression as realization set in. “I guess I’m never eating nuts again.”

Callum smirked in triumph. “Good call.”

“I’ll take the chocolate,” she said with a definite nod.

He lifted a finger into the air. “Also a good call.”

He lifted her up on the counter as he fixed their bowls. She had expected him to bring her hers when he was finished, but instead he walked toward the back door, slipped on some flip flops, and winked as he walked outside. She followed him.

It should have been pitch black at this time of night, but with the illumination in the sky from Charleston off in the distance and the lights that followed the path before them, she could see exactly where they were headed.

“The dock?” Sam questioned as they slowly inched further and further away from the pristine white house and manicured lawn behind them.

“It’s my favorite spot. I tend to balk about coming here, but to be completely honest, it's my most favorite place. Well, itwasmy most favorite place.”

She scooped up another bite. “Where’s your favorite place now?”

He looked down at her then. “Wherever you are.”

She stopped and pulled him down into another kiss, but he quickly pulled away.

“If you don’t stop, I’m going to end up taking you on the dock.”

“I wouldn’t mind it.” She shrugged her shoulders as she continued on ahead of him.

*******

They sat outside, eating ice cream and talking for the better part of five hours. It wasn’t until the sun started to rise on the horizon that he picked up their bowls to head back to the house.

“Aren’t we supposed to be waking up in an hour?” Sam questioned as she leaned against the railing.

“Supposed to? Yes. But is that really going to happen? Probably not.” He laughed a little. “I’ll set an alarm for noon in case we aren’t up by then. My guess is Kristin’s still going to be out for a while as well.”

“Probably,” she agreed with a laugh and a yawn and then she felt him wrap his arm around her waist and lift her over his shoulder. She screamed in delight. “What are you doing?”

“I’m taking you back to bed.”

“I can walk.” She laughed with the words as she watched the dock slip further away.

“You can. But this gives me a perfect view of your ass.” She guessed he was going to slap her butt then so she tensed, but with the bowls in his other hand, he couldn’t. Instead, she felt him tilt his head and place a kiss directly under where the hem of the shirt fell.

She burst out laughing. “Did you just kiss my ass?”

“Yep.” He slowly placed her on the ground as they reached the back door. “And I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of ass-kissing in the future. Both metaphorically and physically.” He wiggled his eyebrows as he ushered them inside.

Chapter 52 - Callum

He had never been so happy. He had also never hated the sunrise so much. Because once that light started to rise above the horizon, he knew the weekend was over. He said a silent prayer that this didn’t mean their little bubble they had cocooned themselves within would pop.

When they crawled back into bed, he contemplated how he would get through the next days and weeks without being constantly by her side. He wasn’t sure if that was love or infatuation; maybe a little of both.

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