“I know you feel something for me, Nikki.” His stare and his voice turn determined. “I can tell by the way you melt against me every time I touch you. I can tell by how happy you are every time we’re together. I can tell by the way you looked at me in the hot tub that night, when I started to tell you how I felt about you—about us. I can tell that I mean something to you. You’re just scared to commit because of what happened with your dad.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s so bloody obvious you’re scared of getting close to someone, of losing someone again.” He tugs a hand through his hair, an outward display of the frustration that’s clearly coursing within him.

“Don’t!” My voice booms through the festival noise. Callum has no business bringing up my dad in a situation that’s strictly me and him. I can’t believe he would even try. “Don’t say another word about my dad. And don’t try to armchair diagnose me.”

In two steps he’s close to me again. “It’s okay to be scared, Nikki. I’m scared too.” His face, his tone, it’s all soft now. “But fuck it, I want to give us a shot. Because that’s what you do when you lo—”

For a split second, his eyes widen, but then he reins it in quickly when he furrows his brow and pulls his lips into his mouth.

I can’t unhear what he said. The beginnings of the “L” word.

“What did you say?” My voice is a scratchy whisper.

His chest heaves when he takes a breath, and then he takes my hand in his. “I . . . I’m in love with you,” he finally says.

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Just a shudder of a breath. My hand goes limp in his. It’s lucky he’s holding on to me, because his words are an invisible truck hitting me at full speed. I’d be facedown in the dirt if I were standing on my own.

Callum is in love with me.

Callum is in love with me.

No matter how many times I silently repeat it to myself, it still rattles me to the core.

“You . . . you’re in love with me?”

My brain flashes back to our last night together, to the last words he spoke before I fell asleep.

I hold my hand up at him. “Wait. The other night . . . did you say . . .”

He nods. “I said I loved you. But you were asleep.”

The words send shock waves through my body and brain that are so powerful, all other sensations are rendered null and void. He leans forward until our bodies press together, and then he runs his hand through my hair before settling back onto my cheek.