love with Theseus as soon as she saw him on the dock, which probably isn’t that dissimilar from a gazebo—why are you laughing?”
“I don’t know who those people are.”
“They’re from Greek mythology. I teach it at the community college. It’s not as fancy a position as Lennox has with his powerful law firm, or Finn with his architectural firm, but it suits me. I’m a good teacher.” Not so subtly, he moved closer to me. “I have patience and a love of the subject material.”
“You have good hands too,” I mused idly as he cupped my hips. Then I laughed again, feeling like the hugest fool who had ever lived. “You’re really a professor? I thought you were a flighty artist with an inconsistent income.”
“I really am a professor. And I can be flighty. And my income can be inconsistent, though less so in the past couple of years thanks to my paintings.” He rubbed his thumb over my lower lip. “But I’m exceptional at making promises. I don’t give my word unless I can keep it.”
“Callum,” I whispered, but I wasn’t strong enough to hold him off.
Not when I so badly wanted him to line up our mouths and kiss me like he’d missed me so much over the past six weeks. Just as I’d missed him.
He slid his fingers through my windswept hair, his lips gentle and persuasive with that undercurrent of need that had me rising to my tiptoes to meet his kiss. I wound my arms around his waist, nestling them under his long coat, and just allowed myself to sink into him. To enjoy for a moment without thinking about the next.
Breathless, we finally parted a few minutes later. He ran his fingertip between my breasts and kept on going, stopping just above my belly button. “Do you really think so?”
The wonder in his question made a lump form in my throat. “It’s a definite possibility.”
“If you are, if we are, I’ll do everything in this world to make you happy. I swear it on my life.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I’ll make both of you happy and me too. Or you know, all four of us—” He laughed as I punched him in the ribs. “Ow. My woman is strong.”
“Is that what I am?” I was still dazed from all he’d said.
Words were easy. Emotions and actions weren’t. And if he was faking his reaction to the possible existence of this child, then he had me fooled. His sincerity was as much a part of him as his cedar scent or the misty gray of his eyes.
Or his sweet, confusing heart.
He drew me against him and brushed my hair off my cheek. “If you’ll have me.”
“I’m scared.” Admitting it was probably the hardest thing I’d ever done.
“Oh, baby, I am too.” He pressed my hand against his chest so that I could feel his rapid heartbeat through the material. “But it’s a good scared. It means I want this. I want you and what can be. Whatever is meant for us. I’m right here, ready to take every step with you.”
My lips quivered into a smile as I put my sunglasses back into place. “Is that casual lunch still on the table? Because suddenly, I’m starving.”
I wasn’t lying. For the first time in a while, all I wanted was a big juicy cheeseburger and thick steak fries from the diner. Or that poutine from Gina that Paisley had mentioned.
And if some of the reason my appetite had returned was because of this impossible, incredible man beside me, well, so be it.
I wasn’t running anymore.
“Absolutely. Your choice. Let’s go.” He started walking around the Jeep to the driver’s side, but I grabbed his hand and held on tight as he looked back at me.
“After we go buy a pregnancy test? If you wouldn’t mind being there while I make sure.”
This time, I wasn’t even surprised when he spun me around. Although I made him put me down a lot faster, since my stomach and I weren’t on the best of terms when he tried stuff like that.
But the rest of me secretly loved it.
God, I was a sap.
The whole way to the drugstore a town over, Callum rubbed my knee and smiled at me every time our gazes locked. Which was often.
When I’d told him where to go, he hadn’t even questioned why we had to travel so far when there were stores in town.
And when I went in the store’s small, dingy bathroom to