Page 9 of Bitten By Desire (Crooked Point #1)

Saturday

I felt a little sick after the teacup ride. Not just because of the spinning teacups. But because I kept looking back and forth as we spun, trying to spot Callum in the crowd.

I couldn’t help it. I liked Bennett, I really did. I’d been having a perfectly good evening until I’d seen Theo Gold’s name.

And now I felt like I had whiplash.

“Ohh…what about the zipper next?” Zoey asked.

My stomach churned. “Maybe we could do something a little less…upside down?”

“We could do the maze,” Bennett said. He pointed to the hay maze. It took up a third of the park.

My head was already scrambled. The last thing I needed was to get lost in there. And I didn’t love the spooky smoke pouring out of it. Had they filled the whole thing with smoke machines? That seemed like some kind of hazard. “I’m not super fond of mazes.”

“It’ll be fun,” Bennett said.

Would it really? The little hairs on the back of my neck rose. I glanced over my shoulder again. Seriously…why couldn’t I shake this feeling?

“Are you looking for someone?” Bennett asked.

“No,” Zoey and I both said at the same time. Which made our response very suspicious .

“She doesn’t even know anyone else in town,” Zoey said with a laugh. “Right, Emma?”

I nodded. But I might know someone else in town. I just needed to see Theo Gold’s eyes again. I needed to see if I’d just imagined the similarities. And then I could get it out of my head and focus on Bennett.

I looked up at the huge Ferris wheel in the center of the festivities. The view from the top would be the perfect vantage point to look for Callum. “Let’s do that instead,” I said and pointed to the Ferris wheel.

“You two should go ahead,” Zoey said. “I’ll ride the zipper and meet up with you after.” She leaned close to me. “Nice call. Super romantic. You better steal a kiss.”

I wasn’t going up there to steal a kiss. I was going up there to stalk Callum. But she didn’t need to know that.

Bennett grabbed my hand again, distracting me from my thoughts of Callum. Actually…a kiss from Bennett didn’t sound that bad to me.

Okay, I definitely had whiplash. I couldn’t make up my damned mind.

“The view from up there is going to be great,” he said.

Wait, did he somehow know I was trying to find Callum?

He must have seen the confused expression on my face, because he reached out and touched my camera.

Bennett was brilliant! “Oh, right, yeah. I can’t wait to capture the perfect shot.

” Of Callum’s face. I wasn’t going to miss this time.

I’d have the perfect shot of his booth from up there.

And if he was wandering around the fair again, I’d hopefully be able zoom in on him.

Either way, this time I’d get the picture evidence of his perfect face. I mean stupid face.

I was pretty sure I hated Callum Walsh as much as I loved him. I sighed. Why did I keep saying that? I didn’t love him.

And I knew by fixating on getting a picture of Callum, I was probably messing up my shot with a much better guy.

“So what does a bank manager do?” I asked as we got in line.

“It would be a lot easier to just show you. Stop by the bank for lunch on Monday.”

“Are you already asking me out on a third date?”

He smiled. “Zoey was with us at the coffee shop. And she’s here with us tonight. Technically Monday will be our first date.”

He had a good point. “I don’t know…” I said teasingly. “This really feels like a date to me. And it’s just the two of us right now.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

It really seemed like he knew about the Callum thing…

“I’m almost positive I saw Zoey run behind that haystack.”

I turned just in time to see Zoey’s head disappear behind the haystack. Why was she spying on us? I wasn’t going to scare Bennett off. I had this handled. I was going to get a picture of Callum and kiss Bennett. Probably all on the Ferris wheel. Easy peasy. It was the perfect plan.

Zoey’s head popped out again.

I groaned and turned back to Bennett. “I am so sorry. She thinks I’m going to ruin this date. Although I don’t know why she thinks her spying is in any way helping.”

“Why does she think you’re going to ruin tonight?”

I could lie. I could just tell him I was bad at first dates. That I had word vomit or something. But maybe it would be better if I was just honest. Ish. Honest-ish. I wasn’t about to tell him I was obsessed with Callum Walsh. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Crazier than Zoey? Not possible.”

I laughed and ignored Zoey staring at us over the haystack.

“Back in college I hooked up with a guy at a party. That is not at all something I would normally do but my ex had just cheated on me and…” my voice trailed off.

This was way too much information. “Anyway, I found out after the fact that the guy I hooked up with wasn’t a student like I thought.

But the coach of my university’s rival soccer team. ”

“Oh.” He drew his eyebrows together. “Did he get fired?”

“That’s the thing…I don’t know. Callum just disappeared after that. And I’m not a one night stand kind of person. The whole thing just really messed with my head.” Callum Walsh had made my body feel alive. And he’d consumed my thoughts ever since. His memory plagued me.

“I can’t believe he took advantage of you. What an ass. I’m so sorry, Emma.”

That wasn’t exactly the way I’d put it. It was more like I’d willingly let him devour me.

I tried to push the memory of posing for him out of my head.

“I think I just always wanted answers about what happened.” Answers and for him to fuck me again.

God, I’d dreamt of that so many times. Stop thinking about him inside of you !

“Yeah, I get that.” He was looking at me like I was…

damaged. Like he thought Callum had hurt me.

That wasn’t what had happened. But…I did see his point.

Callum was older. He didn’t tell me he was the coach.

He had taken advantage of the situation.

Did that mean he’d taken advantage of me? I wasn’t even sure anymore.

I cleared my throat. “Long story short, I thought I saw him in town the day I arrived. But when I confronted the guy, he said I must have mistaken him for someone else. And he was going by a different name. Theo Gold. Zoey freaked out back at the real estate booth because she saw his name on the listing and she didn’t want me to ruin our date. ”

“Well that all makes so much more sense now. I thought Zoey loathed short guys or something.”

I laughed. “Honestly, she does prefer tall guys. But that wasn’t why she was rude to that assistant.”

Bennett looked over his shoulder. “Let’s go confront him right now.”

“Oh, no…that’s okay.”

“I’ll be with you. Just in case you want me to beat the shit out of him.”

I smiled. “I actually don’t hate the sound of that.

” I shouldn’t have wanted Callum Walsh to touch me again.

I should have wanted to slap him. “But…I’d rather just let it go.

It probably wasn’t even him. Zoey’s convinced it’s all in my head.

And Theo Gold really did seem confused when I called him Callum. ”

“Are you sure?” Bennett asked. “I really don’t mind.”

I looked down at our intertwined fingers. “I’m sure. Can we just pretend I never even mentioned him? ”

Bennett lightly touched the bottom of my chin so I’d look up at him. “You don’t have to pretend anything around me. And I’m not some asshole just looking for a one night stand. I want the real deal.”

The way he said it made tears pool in the corners of my eyes. I knew he wasn’t looking for a one night stand. He was ready to settle down. That was the reason why Zoey had set him up with me instead of pulling him into her bed.

But I was not going to pour my heart out about Callum Walsh and then start crying on our second date. Or half date. Or whatever this was. I smiled up at him. “Oh, really? I thought for sure you wanted me to taste your éclair?”

He smiled down at me. “Hmm.” He ran his thumb gently from my chin to my lower lip. And then he traced my lip with his fingertip. “I mean…I’m not opposed to a taste test on the first date.”

I laughed. “You’re incorrigible.”

He moved his hand to the side of my face. “No, I just know what I like.”

“And what exactly is it that you like, Bennett?”

“I thought it was obvious? I like you , Emma.”

I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

“Next!” the man attending the Ferris wheel called.

Well, that was terrible timing. I’d been seconds away from standing on my tiptoes and kissing Bennett. But a kiss high up in the air sounded pretty magical. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up the steps.

The Ferris wheel cart creaked as I climbed into it.

The last time I’d been on one of these, it had not seemed so rickety.

But nothing seemed as scary when I was little.

The sinister music still drifting around didn’t help either.

The cart creaked again as Bennett sat down next to me.

But his presence made me push away my fears.

We lurched forward and I grabbed his thigh. “This thing is a death trap,” I said.

He slid closer, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

I smiled up at him and ignored the lurch of the cart this time. The Ferris wheel was almost full, so soon we’d just be rotating smoothly. Just a few more carts to fill. We were only halfway up and the view was already amazing.

“I didn’t know there was a pumpkin patch!” I lifted my camera and took a shot of the pumpkins below.

“Are you as scared of pumpkin patches as you are of mazes?”

“I didn’t say I was scared of mazes. I said I wasn’t fond of them. I mean…what if we got separated and I couldn’t find my way out? I don’t want to become one with the maze.”

He laughed. “I’d hold your hand the whole time.”