I tried holding back just to prove him wrong—that it’d be longer than a minute—but I knew he wasn’t being literal, and I’d already lost track of time.

Instead of trying to hold it in any longer, I relaxed against him, letting his lips suck my clit in bursts, his tongue flicking over the bundle, and then I fucking exploded.

Every star, every galaxy, bursted behind my eyes as I squeezed them shut and tried to keep quiet. The last thing I needed was someone hearing what was going on in here.

He continued sucking on my clit, and once my thighs relaxed the slightest bit around his face, he moved his tongue to my entrance, licking up every last drop of me. I gathered the skirt of my dress, moving it away so I could slide off of his face.

Once I was straddling his hips again, he smiled up at me. “Baby, it should be illegal to taste that good.”

“Probably all the sweets,” I joked.

He sat up, placing his hands on my waist as my arms came around his neck. “I don’t know what it is, but keep doing it. I want you to ride my face every night.”

My fingers slid into his hair. “Every night, huh? You’re going to come here that often?”

He shrugged, his hands idly running up and down my sides, the fabric of my dress bunching up with each swipe. “Or you guys could move into my house, and we’d see each other all the time.”

My fingers froze in their strokes. “What?”

He blushed, but it felt like all the blood had drained from my own face. “When you’re both ready, of course. I don’t know when your lease is up here, but we could figure something out. I have the space, the land. It’s a little farther from town, but we’d see each other every day.”

“Callan—”

“I know. You don’t have to decide right now. I just wanted to throw the idea out there.” His face fell a bit, but he covered it with a smile.

He wasn’t expecting me to answer right now—he’d never put that pressure on me, but I also didn’t know how I would tell Avery if I did decide that would be the best move for us.

She’d stay at the same school and nothing would change aside from our house, but then again…everything would change.

Callan and I would be more official than just a title to our relationship. We’d be living together.

It shouldn’t scare me, but somehow it did.

I hadn’t lived with anyone else since Jason, and with how things were going with that right now, I didn’t want to bring any more of that drama into his life.

“Sage,” he started, giving my hips a small squeeze. “You don’t have to decide right now.”

“I know. It’s just…” How did I even explain that it wasn’t him I was nervous about living with? It was merging my life with someone else’s again with the risk that it could go south. Callan would never treat me the way Jason did, but it also didn’t ease that part of my brain that would always be terrified of the possibility.

His hands came up to cup the sides of my neck. “Get out of that beautiful head of yours, baby. I’m not him.”

He was right.

He wasn’t him, and my past wasn’t my future.

Callan Bronson was safe, caring, and treated me like both the strongest and most delicate flower on the planet. 

My head needed to comprehend that not every relationship would end up that way.

It meant more to me than I could ever express that Callan was understanding about my past. Even he didn’t let it define me, so I shouldn’t either. 

“Can I let you know after all of this chaos is over?” I asked. 

He nodded. “Of course. I didn’t mean to spring it on you right now. It’s just been on my mind, but I should have waited.”

I shook my head, threading my fingers deeper into his hair to pull his face closer to mine. “It’s not that. I just want to talk to Avery about it first, and having that conversation while she’s hyped up on sugar probably wouldn’t be the best. She’d pack her things tonight if I gave her the option.”

The corner of his mouth ticked up. “I guess you’re right.” He pressed a kiss to my lips, then said, “Ready to go tackle this party?”

“Ready as ever.” I got off of him, standing so I could straighten my yellow dress, then looked in the mirror to fix my hair. 

“Thanks to me,” he sarcastically remarked.

I shot him a joking glare in the mirror. “I would’ve been fine without it.”

In the reflection of the mirror, he cocked a brow in challenge. “Don’t make me do it again.”

I grabbed for the door handle right as he darted for me. Doing quick work of unlocking the knob, I swung it open right as he got his arms around me.

“Too bad,” I said with mock deflation.

“I’ll make you pay for that later,” he promised.

I silently wished that he would.

“One question before we go back out there.”

I turned in his arms as he loosened his hold. “What’s that?”

“Avery’s gift. I got her a stuffed horse,” he started, watching me closely.

“I’m sure she’ll love it,” I replied, but it sounded more like a question.

“It’s not just a stuffed horse, though.”

My brows drew together in confusion. “Okay…”

“It’s a real horse.”

My eyes widened. “It’s outside?”

He shook his head, his fingers gripping the fabric of my dress. “No, no. I need to go pick it up, but I’ll be bringing him to the ranch. I got her a stuffed one that looks just like it, but I wanted to make sure this was okay with you before I gave it to her.”

He bought Avery a horse.

This man who had shown up in my life not so long ago bought my daughter an entire horse—her dream that she’d been begging me to get for her for ages.

“Uh, I— Yes?”