Page 83 of Make it Real
“By someone, you mean Callie,” Jed said, hugging me tighter to him. “And she does it by stealing all the cards.”
“In my defense,” I piped up, “my gran and her friends are usually ruthless, but forsomereason, they were extra accommodating with Jed, and fell all over themselves to help him win. Someone needed to put him in his place.”
Wade smirked. “Make no mistake, Callie, you’ve put him in his place.”
Ty and Booker chuckled, no doubt thinking of our mini-confrontation in the barn. I hadn’t given it a ton of thought in the moment, I’d just been mad and had no problem telling him. But now, I had to marvel a little that I’d held my ground. Normally, I made sure to avoid conflict, but with Jed, I hadn’t even considered backing down.
Was it weird that I liked that?
The night went on, everyone joking and teasing and telling stories while I reveled in my cozy spot in Jed’s arms. But eventually, the evening broke up, first when the parents left to pick up their kids from grandparents, and then everyone else made their own goodbyes. By the time Jed drove me back across town, I hovered on the edge of sleep, needing only one too-long blink to send me into sweet dreams.
He glanced over at me, a little smile playing along his mouth. “I thought for sure you were going to fall asleep back there.”
“It was so tempting. Like seriously, that would be the best cure for sleeplessness ever. If I could turn Jed snuggles into a gummy supplement, I’d make a fortune.”
His laughter rumbled to life. “Darlin’, my snuggles are only for you.”
Yeah, I liked the sound of that.
He pulled up to my house and helped me down from my side of the truck, locking my fingers in his, our palms tight together. Our feet made small sounds as we walked through the grass, the evening quiet and calm. The windows were dark, no grannies peeking out at us tonight.
“Goodnight, Callie Lou.”
His soft, low voice sent my insides tumbling.
“Night.”
He’d said goodbye but made no move to leave. We stood on the porch watching each other, the air around us stilling as though the world had held its breath. I was wide awake now. Every cell in my body had keyed into this moment and was taking notes for future generations.
We looked and looked like we needed to get our fill of each other’s features, mapping out every line and curve. Like nothing had ever been more important than eye contact. The longer we stared, the more I filled up with a tingling electricity I wanted to convert into action until I positively crackled with it.
And then, we co-captained the ship.
We reached for each other at the same time, and his mouth finally met mine. Our first kiss had been abrupt and awkward, our second brief and sassy. But this kiss was luxurious, soft and slow, a gentle caress. Mouths, lips, hands moving in a leisurely stroll, the journey far more vital than reaching any destination.
Jed gave with every touch of his lips, the play of his tongue, the stroke of his hands over my back. Like he’d found the book ofHow to Kiss Callieand had studied up until he’d become a pro. Or maybe he’d written that book. My thoughts swirled in and out of focus, even as I tried to etch every second of this kiss in my mind.
My brain shut down, and my heart took over, confirming my affection for this man in every frantic beat. Sure, okay. Affection. Even unable to string together a coherent thought, I knew affection was too small a word. The word I wanted to use planted itself squarely in my head, written in sparklers until it burned my thoughts.
Love. That was definitely the word.
After minutes, hours, days, we finally broke apart. I opened my eyes, and—fool that I was—I sighed. His lips curved as he traced one hand from my temple behind my ear and along my neck.
“Me, too, darlin’.”
I rolled my eyes at both of us. “Take that smirk on home, then.”
He gave a crisp nod as though it’d been an order. “Yes, Cap’n.”
Laughing, I shooed him off the porch. If he didn’t leave soon, I’d pull him in for a repeat of that kiss and risk blurting out all the squishy feelings going on in my heart. As much as I might want to, I still wasn’t sure that confession wouldn’t shatter everything between us in an instant.
TWENTY-EIGHT
jed
Beingbrother of the bride should not have made me nearly as nervous as I was. Hell, I’d been Wade’s Best Man and I hadn’t been this antsy, and I’d had to give a speech. Today, I’d only be a glorified chauffeur, virtually unnecessary, but nerves poked and prodded as if I’d be saying vows, too.
Yeah…maybe not the best analogy.
