The Coincidence 06 The Resolution of Callie & Kayden (12 page)

‘Wow, aren’t we a little bit cocky today.’ I retaliate with an arrogant squaring of my shoulders as I reach into my pocket. ‘But we’ll see who’s the cocky one after I text Seth.’

His amusement suddenly shifts to worry as I pull out my phone. ‘Seth knows he’s not supposed to tell you.’

I raise my phone up in front of us and wiggle it around, teasing him. ‘Seth is terrible at keeping secrets. You and I both know that.’ I really don’t have any intention of texting Seth. I’m simply having fun and hoping he’ll just tell me whatever his little secret is.

‘Callie, don’t,’ he warns, but he’s fighting back a smile.

I let mine slip through, though, full on grinning as I run backwards toward the door. ‘I’m totally doing it.’ I laugh then whirl around and burst through the doors. Snow is tumbling from the sky and the wind is howling, but I continue to sprint down the sidewalk toward the parking lot.

I know he’s going to catch me soon, my short legs don’t stand a chance against his long, very in-shape ones, but I’m still going to try my hardest because it’s fun and I’m enjoying myself. And really that’s kind of the point of everything, isn’t it? To enjoy life and have fun. I spent so much time never smiling, laughing, enjoying anything, and I feel like I missed out on so much, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make up for it now, or for the rest of my life for that matter.

‘You think you can outrun me!’ Kayden calls out, laughing, his heavy footsteps close behind.

‘Of course I can!’ Laughter sputters from my lungs as I veer to the right and try to race across the snowy lawn, but it’s chilly enough that the snow is freezing the moment it touches the ground, making it slippery and complicated to run on. I curse as my feet try to part ways from underneath me and my hands shoot out to my sides in an attempt to keep my balance.

Right as I’m about to fall flat on my ass, a set of strong arms wrap around my waist. A split second later, a warm chest presses against my back as I’m helped to my feet.

‘You’re really asking for it, aren’t you?’ Kayden whispers in my ear, dragging his teeth across the sensitive spot of flesh right below it as he helps me stand back upright.

I shiver and not from the cold. ‘Maybe.’

His fingers dig into my flesh right below the hem of my black T-shirt. ‘I’ll take your phone as payment for saving your cute little ass from falling.’

I grip my phone in my hand, my eyelashes fluttering against the thick snowflakes. ‘No way.’

He chuckles lowly, a deep noise that vibrates from his chest and I have to bite down on my lip to keep from whimpering. ‘Okay, I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.’

‘Isn’t this the hard way already?’ I sound breathless.

He laughs again and then, without warning, his fingers sneak up my shirt and he starts to tickle me.

‘Stop!’ I shout through my laughter, my legs giving out on me. I almost buckle to the ground, but he’s there to hold me up and he keeps tickling me until I almost pee my pants.

‘Fine! I surrender! I surrender!’ I gasp through my laughter when I’m about one second away from having an accident.

His fingers instantly stop moving and he kisses the back of my head as he takes the phone from my hand then frees me from his arms.

I spin around and cross my arms over my chest. ‘That was cheating.’

He grins proudly as he hides my phone in the pocket of his coat. ‘No way. That was completely fair. It’s not my fault you’re tiny and adorable.’ He pokes me in the ribs.

I glare at him, pretending I’m upset. ‘If it wasn’t for the snow, I would have been able to run faster.’

‘Yeah, but I wasn’t really running. Just walking swiftly.’ He’s so smug right now. I’ve never seen him act like this – so confident. It’s sexy and I can’t help but jump onto him and kiss him right there in the middle of a blizzard.

He doesn’t hesitate, kissing me back with equal hunger, his hands sliding underneath me and cupping my butt. He groans when I bite at his bottom lip, and I gasp as his mouth trails down my jawline, leaving a path of heat simmering against my snow-kissed skin. The mix of heat and ice sends a combustion of sensations swirling through my body. It’s blissfully amazing. Mind-blowing. I want more.

‘We should go back to your dorm,’ I say, my head tipping back as his mouth finds the hollow of my neck. I tangle my fingers through his wet hair and guide him closer. ‘Or someplace where we can be alone …’ I trail off as his phone starts going off in his pocket and this time I’m not as surprised when he breaks the kiss, but am still equally as disappointed.

I sigh, hopping off him as he retrieves his phone. He reads the screen and then grins. ‘You know what? That sounds like a great idea,’ he says, lacing our fingers together as he tugs me toward the parking lot. ‘And I know the perfect place.’

It’s taken me a couple of weeks to set this up and even longer to get the balls to do it. But after that night I spent with Callie, talking and reliving our past, I knew I had to. I have to give Seth most of the credit, though, for helping me out and for managing to keep it a secret. In the end, it was my speech about how Callie deserved this that won his sworn secrecy over.

I’m nervous the entire drive there, not just because I’m not sure how she’ll react, but because I’m uncertain how I’ll react. It feels like things are moving so quickly suddenly, not just with Callie and mine’s relationship but with life. I feel like sometimes I’m running my hardest to keep up with it, except when I’m with Callie. With her, I feel like we’re walking through it, enjoying every moment together. And that’s how I decided.

It was time.

‘Where are we?’ she asks, leaning forward to get a better look at where we are through the veil of snow hitting the window.

I turn off the car and the wipers stop, making it even harder for her to see. ‘It’s a surprise.’

‘At a park?’ she questions as she unfastens her seatbelt.

Nodding, I grab the door handle and push it open. ‘Yeah, follow me.’

The park is just part of the surprise. The rest of it is what’s right behind the building the park is connected to.

Her perplexity makes this even more entertaining as we get out of the car and she follows me through the snow and around the swing set to the slide. I’m rewarded even more when I start climbing up the ladder and her jaw drops.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asks, dumbfounded, as she watches me climb higher.

I glance over my shoulder back down at her. ‘If you want to find out, you’re going to have to follow me.’

She eyes the soaking wet ladder with skepticism, but I know she’ll do it – she’s too brave to let a little wet metal get in her way. And just like I knew she would, she starts up the ladder. When I reach the top, I hop into the tunnel slide and go down it, getting rewarded with a sopping wet puddle at the bottom and a bump on the head from the to-do list I had Seth secure in the slide just before we got here.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to put it there.

Reaching up, I unhook the string holding it in place and remove the small whiteboard. Seth’s erased the entire list, except for number one hundred fifty-five which might be my favorite number now. I tuck the board into my side, face down so the marker doesn’t get smeared by the snow.

‘You want me to slide down this?’ Callie calls down through the slide with bafflement in her tone.

I lower my head into the slide and yell, ‘Hell yes!’

There’s a pause and then I hear her squeal as she lowers her feet in then slides down.

‘Holy crap!’ She jumps up when she reaches the bottom as her ass gets wet. ‘That’s cold.’ Once she gets her footing, she looks from me to what’s in my hands. ‘What are you holding?’

‘Your surprise.’ I hand it over, still face down, but it’s more because of my nerves than the fear that it’ll get wet and ruined.

She rubs her lips together as she raises her brows at me. ‘You stole my whiteboard?’

‘No. I had Seth borrow it for me.’ I tap the back of it, noting that there’s a slight tremble to my fingers, something I blame on the snow, completely lying to myself.

A cloud of fog encircles her face as she releases a large exhale. Suddenly, she’s nervous, as if she’s realized this is no longer a game, but a very serious, life-altering moment.

‘I’m afraid to turn it over,’ she whispers, but does it anyway.

I hold my breath as I watch her read the two simple, but very momentous words written in red marker, along with the arrow pointing forward at the apartment complex straight across from where we’re standing. She must read it a few times because it takes a little bit for her to look up at me.

‘Welcome home?’ Her brows dip and her head angles to the side as she looks from me to the board, then her gaze tracks the direction of where the arrow is pointing. I know the moment it clicks in her head what I’m trying to say with this whole charade because her breath catches.

‘You and Seth are always doing crazy things like this whenever you ask me out or try to cheer me up,’ I tell her and nonchalantly shrug when her gaze locks on mine, even though I’m squirming in my skin. She hasn’t shown any signs of being happy and I’m getting worried that maybe this isn’t what she really wanted. ‘I thought maybe it was my turn’ – I brush her hair out of her eyes – ‘to do something surprising for you.’

She’s silent for what feels like forever, although her eyes never leave mine. It’s like she’s trying to read my mind or see into my soul or something. If anyone could, it’d be Callie. I just wish I could do the same with her right now because her quietness is becoming maddening.

‘This is what you want?’ She gestures at the board then the apartment complex without looking away from me.

I nod. ‘More than anything.’ Then I hesitate. ‘Is this what you want, though?’

She eyes me over for a moment or two longer like she’s searching for a hidden answer somewhere inside me. She must find it because suddenly she’s dropping the board onto the ground and throwing her arms around me.

‘Of course this is what I want.’ She hugs me more tightly than one would expect those thin arms of hers to be capable of. ‘I’ve wanted it for a long time.’

I hug her back with everything I have in me. ‘I think I have, too, but was afraid to admit it to myself, afraid to let myself have something good.’ I pull back to look at her. ‘Sorry it took me so long. Do you forgive me?’

‘There’s nothing to forgive.’ She slides her hand down my arm and threads our fingers, beaming as she looks up at me. ‘Now, let’s go see it.’

I scoop up the now soaked whiteboard and lead the way across the park to the sidewalk where we trot up the stairs of building number three.

When we reach the second floor, I take the key out of my pocket and nervously unlock the door, fumbling a few times before I finally manage it.

‘Welcome home,’ I say, then push the door open.

‘It’s really small,’ Kayden says as he steps aside to let me enter our apartment. Yes,
our
apartment. ‘But it’s what we can afford, so …’ He trails off, ruffling his damp hair into place as he closes the door.

‘That’s okay.’ I take in the space that I’ll now call home. It’s not furnished yet, so it probably looks bigger than it really is. There’s a living room, which I’m standing in, and it’s attached to the dining room/kitchen that has a doorway that I assume leads to the bedroom. The space in front of me is about twice the size of the dorms, which sounds big, but it’s really not. I don’t care, though. At all. ‘I could live in a storage room and be okay with it as long as you were there.’ I’m starting to sound like one of those sappy romance books, but oh well – it seems fitting for the moment.

‘So you’re okay with it?’ Kayden stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans, appearing anxious. His brown hair still has drops of snow in it and his cheeks are red from the cold, and I just want to throw my arms around him and hug the crap out of him again.

So I do.

‘It’s perfect,’ I tell him, squeezing him tightly so he’ll know just how happy I am. His arms circle around me and we share our first hug in our very first home. ‘But I have to make sure’ – I slant back and tip my chin to look up at him – ‘that you’re okay with this because we’ve only been talking about it and then all of a sudden you get a place, and I just want to make sure that it’s what you really want because I don’t want you to feel pressure or anything. I can wait if I need to.’

He snorts a laugh, and when my brows knit, he says, ‘Sorry. It’s just that you kind of sounded like a teenage guy right there trying to convince his girlfriend he’ll wait to have sex with her.’

My cheeks heat, but I start to think about if he ever used that line on Daisy and my elation sinks. But then I realize that it doesn’t matter what happened with Daisy because he and I are here and he’s mine now, not hers.

‘You want to show me the bedroom?’ I give him my best come-hither look that probably comes off more along the lines of looking confused. At least, that’s what I think until his eyes drink me in and he bites at his bottom lip hard.

‘You’re starting to get a dirty mind.’ His smoldering gaze and husky voice sends warm tingles across my skin.

‘It must be Seth’s influence on me.’ My voice is off pitch. ‘Sometimes, it’s like he’s still going through puberty.’

Kayden shakes his head, laughing softly under his breath. ‘All right, no more talking. Let’s go show you our bedroom.’

We’re about halfway across the living room before our lips connect and the clothes start coming off. Shirts are discarded, shoes are kicked off, and we end up leaving a trail of clothing to the bedroom. It’s a little chilly in there, but I don’t care. Kayden can keep me warm, which is exactly what I tell him as we sink to our knees on the tan carpet and I yank his belt off.

‘We should do this every night,’ he says, unhooking my bra and pulling it off. ‘Only in a bed.’