Page 110 of Sunkissed Colorado

“Not knowing what?”

“Is this a date?” she demanded.

I grabbed her hands, gently pulling her out of the truck. “Would I invite my family if this brewery thing was a date?”

“That’s not an answer. You said you’re surprising me with something later.”

My thumb brushed over her lower lip. “Let’s worry about that when it happens.Later. Right now, I want to take you in there and introduce you to the people I’m closest to. I want them to get to know you. Because you’re important to me, Sunflower.”

I kissed her then, soft and sweet, then held out my hand. But my Zandra rarely backed down from me. So I should’ve known she wasn’t done.

“I need to know how to act. Are we supposed to be together in front of your family or not?”

“Z, I don’t intend to hide from my family. I want them to know about us. But even more than that, I’m trying to show you how great things could be. You’re big on data and all that. So I’m giving you more data. Enough to convince you.”

“How great it would be ifwhat?”

“If you were really mine.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Zandra

If you were really mine.

I couldn’t believe Callum had said that to me, then continued to saunter inside the brewery to meet the others like he hadn’t just opened up my ribcage. My heart was out of control. Something wild and hopeful unfurled its wings in my stomach.

How was I supposed to act normal around his family when the man had just said a thing like that?

He stopped as he held the door open, looking back at me. “Dane and Grace are here. Come on. I can’t wait for you to meet them.”

I hurried to follow him.

The brewery was housed in a typical mountain-style building, but the interior had been renovated to be slick and modern. “Wow,” I said, glancing around and trying to steady my nerves. “This is impressive.”

“It is.” Callum’s hand found the small of my back as we walked deeper into the space. “But not as great as Hearthstone.”

“Definitely nothing compared to Hearthstone.”

Dane and Grace were already standing at the counter to order. They turned as we approached, and Grace’s face lit up with such genuine warmth that some of the tension in my chest eased.

“Zandra!” she said. “I’m so glad you could come. We’ve been dying to officially meet you.”

“Uh oh. What’s Callum been saying about me?”

“Only good things,” he murmured in my ear, “since you stopped hating me.” Callum was so close behind me that his chest brushed my back, and I felt his hand resting on my hip. And of course, Grace’s eyes tracked that immediately, widening slightly.

“He told us you’re running Hearthstone together,” Dane said, leaning against the counter. “That’s got to be interesting, working with this guy.”

“It has its moments. Though he’s actually not as impossible as he pretends to be.”

“Hey,” Callum protested before kissing the side of my face.

Okay. So we were diving right into thetogetherstuff. He’d said he wasn’t hiding this—us—from his family, and Callum was being true to his word. He could’ve given me a bit more warning though.

Dane and Grace exchanged a curious glance. There was a definite sense of awkwardness, like they weren’t totally sure if I waswith himwith him. Made sense, since Callum had never even had a girlfriend before. I hardly knew what I was doing with him either. Or where this was going.

Yet I also realized how much Iwantedthem to like me.