Claiming Callie: Part two Read Online Free Page B

take ten minutes, tops.”
    “Fine,” Maya says, her tone light, but her expression is less convincing as she glances at Dean and Callie. Her eyes land on their clasped hands a nd dart away again.
    “So, where were we?” Greg asks as he sits back down.
    Callie smiles and crosses her legs, angling her body toward Dean. She runs a finger across his arm in a way so natural that it almost convinces him that she ’ s done it a million times.
    “He didn ’ t date a whole lot in high school, and once he did start dating more, I was already starting school here, so I didn ’ t see much of his girlfriends. Until he enrolled at Pitt. Once he got a more serious girlfriend, I saw them together. That ’ s when I knew. The first time I saw him kissing this other girl, it just hit me. I became this jealous, raging lunatic.” She laughs. “I tried to hide it, but eventually he figured it out...” She shrugs, pressing her body into his side.
    Dean tries not to stare at her while she talks. He tries to focus on the things she ’ s saying. He needs to know them so that he can play along with this charade, but he can ’ t help himself. He watches the way her glossed lips move as she speaks. He takes in the perfect curve of her ea rs, the little gold hoops she wears, and notices—not for the first time—how tiny they are. She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear and all he wants to do is run his hands through it. To see if all that spun gold is as soft as it looks. His eyes move to her face, absorbing her feminine features—the soft slope of her nose, the bow of her mouth, the curve of her jaw...
    Callie clears her throat loudly, breaking through his thoughts. His focus slowly returns to the situation at hand and he realizes she ’ s waiting for him to say something, to complete the story. Not entirely sure where she left off, he takes a shot, saying a silent prayer that it ’ s right.
    “Uh, yeah. As soon as I realized her feelings for me, I was sold. I ’ ve always liked her,” he says, his voice so ft. He glances at her, wondering if she can see the truth of his words in his eyes. “She was my first crush. And for a long time, the only girl I ever wanted.” He pauses, his gaze lingering.
    Reach out and touch her. You ’ re allowed, remember? You ’ re supposed to be her boyfriend.
    He reaches a hand out and gently tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear. It ’ s smooth like silk, soft. And as he inhales to finish what he was saying, he breathes in the clean scent of her lavender shampoo. His stomach clenc hes, and he ’ s too aware that her side is pressed into his, their hands still intertwined, hers resting on his leg.
    Swallowing, he says, “Once I came to school, I figured I had to move on. That there was never a chance for us. But…”
    He loses his train of th ought. Again.
    Damn, why can’t I focus?
    Because Callie ’ s gazing into his eyes, and that soft blue makes him forget where he is. He forgets that Greg is sitting across from him and Maya is hanging nearby, watching, taking pictures.
    He reaches out and lets hi s thumb gently graze the side of her face. But after a moment, her eyes flicker away from his to something beside them. The corners of her mouth draw up in a smile, and she leans into him. She begins to whisper, and before he can comprehend what she ’ s sayi ng all he can think is that this looks intimate: the very goal they want to achieve.
    “I think it ’ s working,” she says.
    He blinks, feeling numb and completely alive all in the same breath, and it takes him a second to realize she ’ s referring to Maya—their effort at jealousy—and not his own plan of capturing her heart. As dawning sinks in, he glances next to him. Maya stares at them while she bites her lower lip and quickly glances away, but not before he is able to glimpse the anxiety in her expression. He turns his attention back to Greg, whom Callie ’ s chatting with, and the spell is broken.
    “When Dean saw how