Page 60 of Falling

He turns to face me. His knee bumps the tray, and he moves it so it’s still within reach but not between our knees anymore.

“What if I went back with you?” he asks.

My heart gallops away with me, but everything else comes to a standstill. I stare at him until he starts to fidget.

“Not a good idea?” he asks.

“I just—what do you mean?” I frown. “How would that even be possible? You have so much going on here.”

“I have people I can call when I need extra hands. It would take some rearranging, for sure. I’d have to enlist my family’shelp. If anything went haywire, Theo would know what to do. And Sofie’s Aunt Hilary and her wife Abby often take care of Sofie’s horses and they’re really good with them. Different responsibilities with the cows and goats, but they’d pick it up fast. They’ve offered to help if I ever need a break. I’ve rarely taken one, so I think my family would bend over backwards to be helpful and say, “Please,get out of here,” if I ever asked.”

My eyes fill with tears and panic flashes across his face. I reach out and grip his hand.

“Or I can try to do whatever you need from right here,” he hurries to add.

“You’d really do that?” I ask, my voice cracking. “You’d come with me?Callum.”

“Oh,” he says, relieved. “Of course. If you think it’d help.”

I lean up on my knees, pushing the blanket out of the way, and move until I’m as close as I can get without being in his lap. I put my hands on either side of his face, and time halts when he looks up at me. His hands fist my shirt at the waist and that alone makes me breathless.

“What did I do to deserve you?” I whisper.

And then he kisses me.

For all his rough edges—his deep, grumbly voice and the callused hands and hard muscle—his lips are the softest, and his tongue is the sweetest.

Does he ever know how to use his mouth. It decimates me.

I can’t get close enough and he must feel the same, because his hands drop to my backside. He moans his approval and tugs me until I’m straddling him, his hands staying put as he squeezes my cheeks and kisses me.

My head falls back when I feel how hard he is against me,the thin layers between us making itgloriouslyevident, and his mouth trails down my neck.

I whimper and he rocks up, and it feels like heaven hitting me in the perfect spot, but in the next second, he picks me up and sets me across from him.

We stare at each other, chests rising and falling.

His eyes trail down to my bare legs, my blue lacy boy shorts showing.

“Fuck,” he mutters.

Does he not want me?

Oh God, this is so embarrassing.

“I want you so bad I can’t think straight, Ruby,” he says, swiping his hand down his face.

I don’t think I said anything out loud, but maybe he can see the mortification all over my face. Or maybe he’s just saying how he feels…I really hope it’s that.

“But you’ve been through a lot. Seeing that bastard talk to you the way he did today and now here I am, mauling you in my house not long after. That’s not much better. You werecrying.Hard,” he adds.

The relief I feel from him saying he wants me is acute.

“Please, maul me,” I say.

My lips part when he looks at me.

His eyes take me in, my face, my mouth, the nipples that are straining against my shirt.