Page 92 of Holiday Hopefuls
Even Lillian seems a little more attentive today.
It’s the men I have to keep an eye on, especially after the conversation I had with them at Callie’s school. Prescott will probably be the easiest to persuade that Callie really is worthy of her family name. Chris and Ira, on the other hand, will take some convincing.
“Oliver?” Callie looks up at me from the floor, hands open for her turn holding the mugs while I sit down beside her.
In one fluid motion, my knee is touching hers as I cuddle up as close as possible. Taking my cocoa, I press a soft kiss to her hair.
She hums in appreciation, though I honestly don’t know if it’s for my kiss or the hot chocolate topped with extra mini marshmallows.
Despite our objective of gaining her family’s acceptance, Callie snuggles into me, completely at ease in her surroundings.
Desperation to talk through everything with her rears its ugly head, and I take a quick inventory of my features to make sure I don’t look like I’m anything but a fool in love. And with Callie, that's like breathing.
Later. That will come later.
Ira leans forward, taking one of the rolls. “I still can’t believe Calloway helped make such perfection.” He turns the treat this way and that way.You think he’d be less obvious about looking for imperfections.
“Callie and I bake together regularly,” I shrug, “we’ve definitely taught each other a thing or two. Didn’t you say you’ve been baking since college?” I ask, turning to my girlfriend.
“About then,” she answers around the half of a roll currently in her mouth.
Ira frowns. “Really? I had no idea you were so talented, Calloway.”
“She’s very talented,” I interject. “For instance, she managed to both flummox my annoyingly astute receptionist and trail glitter all through the practice the first time I met her.”
Callie shoots me a grin. “Are you all still finding glitter?”
“In the most obscure places,” I smirk.
Prescott frowns. “I thought you met in Calloway’s classroom?”
Dammit.
Red crawls up Callie’s neck, blending with her hair. Tension radiates through her frame and into mine.
“That was when we officially met,” I clarify. “But she had come by the practice first to talk to one of my partners about his daughter. I saw her that day and knew I had to meet her.”
Callie tilts her head back, eyes searching mine. “What can I say? I know how to make an impression. Especially when someone is a bit of an ass.” She grins. “That’s when glitter really comes in handy.”
“Just wanted to make sure you stayed on my mind?” At this point, I don’t even care if the rest of her family is watching us.
“You caught me,” she says, voice low. The sparkle in her eyes just about does me in. “It’s how I get all my guys.”
Leaning my lips down to her ear, I murmur, “You sure got me, Ms. Rutherford.” Even though the others have forgotten us once again, I don’t want them to hear what’s only for Callie to know. “And I hope you’ll never let me go.”
Callie shivers, and I tuck her in as close as possible.
It’s the sound of my name that pulls me back into the larger conversation happening around us. “Sorry?” I reluctantly tear my eyes away from the woman consuming every part of my being.
Lillian reaches for a napkin, wiping off professionally polished fingers. “I asked if you were planning to join us at the firm’s annual New Year's party? I’m sure Calloway would love your company.” Here, Lillian almost looks like a normal mother and not the privileged woman less concerned with her daughter and more concerned with the fact that the man she is dating has a doctorate. “And I know Ira and Prescott’s colleagues would enjoy getting to meet the impressive man Calloway has miraculously managed to snag.” There it is.
The immediate acceptance of the invitation sits on the tip of my tongue. Anything to guarantee more time with Calloway Rutherford. But as I glance down at Callie, somethingunreadable crosses those mesmerizing features. Something that gives me pause.
Something that causes my heart to clench.
17
Callie
