Page 134 of Sunkissed Colorado

“I need to tell you?—”

Callum, I have to

He held up a hand. “Let me go first.”

Fine, I mouthed.

“I love you, Z.”

Oh.

Even with all the other surprises I’d endured the past several hours, his words stunned me. Then a toasty-warm feeling spread through my body. Gooier than a gluten-free brownie sundae with oat milk ice cream. Better than a field of sunflowers and spiked cocoa around a campfire.

My thumbs tapped as fast as they couldon the screen.

I didn’t get to say it first.

He grinned. “So competitive. You can write it now, if you want.”

But if I had any voice left to me, I had to use it for this. “I love you, Callum,” I rasped aloud.

“Fuck, baby. That’s what I like to hear.” His grin was mile-wide as he kissed me, then rested his forehead on mine. I put my hands on his face, holding him there.

When he pulled back, I typed something else.

I love you, baby boy.

His laugh was so loud the nurse popped her head in to check on us. “Careful or I’ll start singing and dancing,” he said when she was gone. “I love you, Sunflower.”

Love you so much it scares me.

“Good scared or bad scared?” he asked.

Good scared. The kind that makes me want to be braver than I ever thought possible.

“I know exactly how you feel.”

THIRTY-FIVE

Callum

I hadn’t just charmedZandra. Hadn’t just won her over. I’d made her fall in love with me at the same time I fell in love with her.

How badass was that?

“Do you need more water?” I asked, noticing her cup was nearly empty. I gave her a refill to sip through a straw, pulling my chair as close to her bed as I could get.

But while I was fussing over her, trying to enjoy the natural high of knowing she loved me back, there was a dark shadow in the back of my mind.

It was hard for me to think about what happened last night. Running into that building, seeing her on the ground.

I’d never been that scared in my life. Not when I was deployed and getting shot at. Or in other fires, no matter how intense. Nothing had come close to the agony of carrying her out of Hearthstone and feeling her limp in my arms.

So, we were never doing that shit again. It was decided. Zandra would stay out of danger from here on out.

Next time I saw Ian, all I could say was that it wouldn’t be pretty. The man’s only hope was that the police would find him before I did. Even if the fire was just a freak accident, a randomcoincidence, Ian had left her there instead of trying to help. After six years of dealing with his version of love, it was a wonder Zandra was willing to try again with me.

I was going to love her the way she deserved.