Page 107 of Sunkissed Colorado
Callum
Manny
I want you both here Monday morning at 9 for a business meeting. I know there’s over a week left in the trial period, but I don’t need it. Made my decision. Don’t be late. Callum, that’s directed at you.
I decidedto ignore that dig at me being late. First, I was hardly ever late.
Second, and far more importantly,what? Who the hell told Manny he could move the damn deadline like that?
A jolt of sudden panic seized me. It was Friday, and we were home. Zandra and I had been at the brewery that morning, then came back here for some lunch and to take care of household stuff before we returned to the brewery later for the dinner rush.
Also for a midday roll in the sheets, because we couldn’t help ourselves. With Zandra around being gorgeous all the time, I needed orgasms with her twice a day if I could get them. And luckily, she seemed to feel the same.
With every day that counted down toward Manny’s decision, I’d been getting more restless. Yet I wouldn’t have brought that deadline forward for anything. Because that could mean an end toeverything Zandra and I had right now. An end to our perfect arrangement—living together, working together, sharing meals, sex, cuddling…
Not cool, Manny. Not cool.
This meant I had to move up my other plans too.
I went into Zandra’s room. Her door was cracked open, so I knocked, pushing it without waiting for a response. She was sitting on the bed with Chloe in her lap and her phone in her hand, looking so cozy that I was halfway across her room before I stopped myself.
A soreness started in my chest, and I resisted the urge to rub at it.
“Did you get Manny’s text?” I asked.
“Just did.” Her expression was unreadable. “He wants to see us Monday.”
“Think it’s a good sign your grandpa decided early? Or a bad one?”
She scooped up Chloe in her arms and got off the bed, approaching me. “For you or for me?”
Somehow, I found my smile and my cocky attitude. “Obviously for you. I’m not worried.”
“Bringing the smack talk late in the game? You’re not the one who’s been smuggling my grandfather nuggets and treats this whole time.”
“But I’m cuter,” I said breezily. “That counts for a lot.”
“And there’s the typical Callum O’Neal overconfidence.”
We were joking around like usual, but it seemed forced. Like we were both acting out our roles. Friends who gave each other shit, but didn’t want anything deeper. Coworkers whose biggest concern was the end of Manny’s trial period.
I couldn’t believe that almost two months ago, a promotion was the only thing I was stressing over.
A few days had passed since Ian turned up in Silver Ridge and we’d had that confrontation with him and Z’s parents. I knewZandra was feeling a lot of ways about all of that, so I’d been trying to keep things light and easy.
Even though this restless, unsettled feeling in me was anything but.
Zandra also knew about my run-in with Tommy, at least the part where Tommy had denied harassing her. Both Zandra and I weren’t so quick to believe him. Without some kind of evidence beyond pure suspicion though, we had nothing to prove Tommy had targeted her or vandalized Hearthstone.
If he kept staying away from her, that would be enough for me. So long as I could keep her close.
Now this.
I scratched beneath Chloe’s chin, and she rumbled with a purr. “Hey, no matter what happens, you’re welcome to stay here. The guys like you. And we’re all adoptive dads to Chloe now, so if you move out, you’d have visitation to deal with.”
Zandra snickered. “Living here has been a good setup.”
“It’s a perfect setup. It doesn’t have to change.”
