Every Kiss(88)

“I’m staying, Wes. I don’t give a damn what you say.”

He narrows his eyes. “I don’t need you here to cheer me up. And you know what happens when we’re together. We get a lot closer than we need to be, and right now, I just don’t have my head on straight.”

“You? Without your head on straight? Hard to believe.”

“Okay, smartass, you know what I mean. We can’t do this. I won’t do this. You just need to go back to your simple, uncomplicated life, and let me deal with my own shit. On my own.”

I shove past him and walk in the door. He’s not going to make this easy at all, but I’m sticking to my guns. He can try to push me away all he wants. If I didn’t think he had any feelings for me, I wouldn’t press the issue at all, but I’ve seen his calendar with my name at the top of his list every day since we met. If Wes doesn’t want to admit it, that’s fine, but I’m no quitter. I won’t give up on him. I won’t fail him like he thinks every other woman has.

“What are you doing?”

I plop onto his couch. “Staying. Deal with it.”

“Why are you so damn stubborn?” He stalks across the room and hovers over me. Yeah, sure, he’s getting irritated with me, but I think it’s just a scare tactic. “I do not want you here right now. I don’t understand why you don’t get that. Just go home.”

I cross my arms over my chest as butterflies erupt in my stomach. Tension crackles in the air between us. “No.”

“Callie,” he growls, placing both hands on the back of the couch and leaning in closer. His close proximity is completely unnerving, and an unexpected heat blooms just under my skin. “Leave. Now.”

I feel his warm breath at my lips, and I look up at him. He’s trying hard to intimidate me. He wants to upset me enough that I want to leave. But he’s failing miserably. Instead of making me want to run, he’s only making me want to tear his clothes off and throw him down on the floor. And when his glance falls to my lips, I know he’s thinking the same thing.

Before he loses that thought, I act on it. He starts to move away when I reach for him, but I get a hold on his shirt before he can get away. “Don’t fight this anymore, Wes. You can’t make me leave, and I know that you don’t truly want me to go. I need you just as much as you need me, so I don’t care what you do or say. I’m not walking away.” I pull him down just enough to barely skim my lips along his cheek. “Don’t push me away anymore,” I whisper.

Wes just glares, nowhere near as compliant as I hoped I’d make him. In one swift motion he straightens, grabbing my arms and pulling me up with him. I think he’s dragging me into his bedroom at first, but when he turns toward the foyer, I realize how wrong I am. He’s literally pushing me out. He lets go of me and opens the front door, letting it swing wide open with enough force that it knocks into the wall. “Go,” he orders, pointing toward my car.

“Nope,” I spit out, putting a little extra emphasis on the “p.”

Wes lunges at me, gripping the top of my shoulders, and for a split second, he scares me enough that I wish I hadn’t crossed him. “Callie, why are you so stupid? Why do you . . . why are . . .” He’s seething, unable to even form a complete sentence. “Just . . .” He groans so loud that I can feel it rumble in my chest.

“I’m not leaving. You can kick me out of this house, if you think that’s what you need to do, but I’ll just sit on your porch. You might want to run, but I’m sure as hell not going to anymore.”

His chest heaves in and out, and his jaw muscles bunch and work as he clenches his teeth. I can feel his fingers digging into my shoulders as his anger increases with every breath. “Why? Why would you stay?”

My answer to this question will either make or break this moment. He needs reassurance. He needs to know, for once, exactly how much he means to me. I can’t expect honesty and trust from him unless I take a leap myself and give it to him. “Because somewhere along the way, we became more than friends. Because I truly care about you, no matter if you want me to or not. Because even though my life would be so much simpler without you in it, being away from you hurts me more. Because, Wes, no matter how much you’ve tried to shut me out, I’m still falling in love with you.”

As soon as the last sentence falls on his ears, his arms drop to his sides. The tension and anger immediately melt away, only to be replaced by sadness. “No, you’re not. You’re just trying to fool me into believing it, so I’ll let my guard down. This isn’t a game, Callie. I’ve never given you a reason to love me. And if you really knew everything about me, you never could. There’s a lot you don’t know.”