Page 42 of Sunkissed Colorado

“It wasn’t your fault.”

After Jessa had died, I’d felt guilty already for keeping Zandra from the bonfire that night. Because if she and Jessa had come to that party, things might’ve turned out differently. They wouldn’t have been at the creek.

But there’d been a lot of stuff going on for me as well. My home life as a kid had never been easy. But I wasn’t going to bring that up and make this conversation about me. Wasn’t going to make excuses for myself either.

“I noticed how you withdrew from everyone,” I added. “I should’ve said something.” Even if I’d been an idiot teenager myself and hadn’t known how to handle my own experiences with grief, much less Zandra’s. Even now, I still wasn’t all that great with the heavy stuff.

“It’s okay, Callum. You and I weren’t friends.”

“That doesn’t matter. I should’ve tried to help. Made sure you were okay.”

“There was no way I could’ve been okay after losing her.” She smiled ruefully, then announced, “I need more ice cream.”

“Rest is yours.” I handed her the carton, which had about a quarter left.

“So generous of you. Considering it was mine in the first place.”

My grin was dazzling. “I’m just that kind of guy.”

She took a huge bite, then winced. “Ouch,” she said, mouth full. “Shouldn’t have done that.”

“Ice cream headache?”

“Oh yeah.”

“My mom had a trick for that when I was a kid.” I gently massaged the top of her head with my fingers. Zandra tensed, and I pulled back. “Sorry. Should’ve asked first.”

She was still holding herself tightly, but her shoulders lowered a bit. “It’s okay. Go ahead. It was…nice.”

My fingers trailed down to her neck to work into the tightness there. Zandra moaned softly, and the sound shot straight through me to my dick.

I imagined my hands exploring other places, finding all the spots that would make her moan again. All the pleasure I could give her. With my mouth. My cock.

“He had a thing for you,” I blurted.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Tommy Pickering. That’s why he wanted you to come to the bonfire that night. Why he brought it up in our English class. He was into you. Tommy didn’t deserve you. That’s why I put a stop to it.”

“You stopped me from becoming Mrs. Pickering? I’ll never forgive you.”

I snickered. “Look at you, making jokes.”

“I make plenty of jokes.” Her arm brushed against me as she shifted. “Besides, if Tommy had tried anything back then, I would’ve kicked his genitals so hard he’d be coughing them up.”

“Ouch. Vivid image.”

“I didn’t need you to defend my honor.”

“Trust me, my reasons would’ve been more selfish than that.” I still had my hand on the back of her neck. Something possessive and ugly twisted in my chest, which was weird. I’d never been jealous over another girl. Nobody but Z. “I might’ve had a little crush on you.”

She gaped at me. “Liar,” she scoffed. “You had cheerleaders and popular girls falling all over you.”

“The one has nothing to do with the other.”

“You barely ever said anything nice to me.”

“I said hi to you all the time.”