Page 60 of I Wanna Text You Up

“Are yousure?”

“Yep. Now toss me theball.”

I follow the instructions he gives me then we’re off to the races. I’m playing catch—rather badly I might add—for the first time in my entire life. It’s kind ofcool.

“How is it you’ve never played catchbefore?”

“I think it’s a combination of two things: I’m a girl, and I spent some of my prime catch-playing years bouncing from home to home.” I just barely catch the ball Caleb throws my way before lobbing it back at him. I cringe when he has to head far right to catch it before it hits the ground…again. “By the time I settled in with Sofia and Rafe, I was too invested in my art to pursue sports. They never pushed it either because they aren’t sports people themselves, or at least they used to not be. Now they play a lot ofgolf.”

“I guess those are valid reasons. What were you like in high school? What did you do for fun if you didn’t playsports?”

“Boys.”

This time he misses my first near-perfect throw out ofshock.

“Zoe.”

“What?” I shrug. “It’s true. I had a new boyfriend every couple months my first twoyears.”

“Just the first twoyears?”

Even though so much time has passed, I still feel the tiniest of tugs at my heart thinking about my high schoolboyfriend.

“Yep. I had a steady boyfriend the last twoyears.”

“You guys split because ofcollege?”

“More like split because he couldn’t keep his dick to himself. He ended up getting my ex-best friend pregnant the end of senior year. Last I heard they got married after the baby was born and were divorced six monthslater.”

“That’s…”

“Sad, I know. I feel bad forthem.”

“Wait.” Caleb takes his glove off and walks toward me. His blue eyes are lit with marvel. “You feel bad forthem? After what they did toyou?”

“Yes. We were kids, they made a mistake—that doesn’t mean I wanted anything but happiness for themboth.”

His stare bores into me, eyes still sparking. “You’reamazing.”

The words are whispered and then his mouth is on mine. This kiss is more passionate than our last as his hands cradle my face. He sets me at just the right angle, his tongue pressing against the seam of my lips, begging forentrance.

I grantit.

We kiss like we’ll never kiss again. Our tongues run together, exploring, learning. My hands grip his waist as I pull him closer to me, wanting to feel his hard body againstmine.

Our kiss grows more intense, his hands now roaming into my hair. He grips me harder, but soft enough that it doesn’t hurt. The pressure feels good, feels right. Our bodies mesh together and when he rocks against me, I can feel the affect our connection is having on him. My hands dip under his shirt and up as I feel my way across his muscled back and around to his sculptedabs.

I begin to dip my hands into the front of his jeans but Caleb pulls away, his lips lingering on mine with a slow, lazytouch.

“We should probably stop before this goes any further and I’m not able tostop.”

I jerk away from him, the reality of what we’re doing setting in. I draw my hand to my mouth, touching the lingering tingle I feel there. I relish how good itfeels.

“Caleb…w-we can’t keep kissing likethis.”

“Why?”

“Excuseme?”

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