Dare Me

“You’re kidding me, right?” I finally asked, making her jump. She spun around and looked all over before finding me at the top of the steps. Her morning hair was so fucking sexy it was annoying.

“What?”

I got down there and started the espresso machine. “Take what you want. Since when were you apologetic about that?”

Falling quiet, she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t live here, Callum. This isn’t my home. My grandma and your mother raised me so I do know what manners are and I’m pretty sure you don’t just go taking things that aren’t yours.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

Her shoulders slumped. I expected her to retort with something smart but she said nothing. I was almost disappointed.

“Lake. I’m giving you permission to eat whatever you want in my kitchen.”

“Thank you.”

The quiet relief with which she spun around and opened my fridge actually depressed me. Drinking my coffee, I watched, predicting she’d go straight for the Fage. She did. Peeled it and gave one clean lick of the yogurt stuck to the top before tossing the wrapper in the trash. Some things never change.

“What?” She frowned when I smirked.

I ignored her question. I grabbed my coffee then slid a spoon across the table. “To counter what you said before, you do live here.”

“Right. But it’s not my home.”

“And why do you say that.”

She paused, looking at me with true confusion. “I… don’t pay rent here?”

“Neither do I. I own.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s great, Callum, and not my point. I mean I live here in the same way I’d live in a hotel on vacation. I would be staying there, it would be my home base for that time, but it wouldn’t be my home. The same way this is not my home.”

I laughed without smiling. “So you have intentions of leaving.” I took a drink. “Again.”

She was instantly defensive. “No, I – ”

“If you’re not going anywhere else, you’re not living with anyone else. I’m the closest person to you in this city and this is as permanent of a situation as you’re going to have. You’re moving in and you’ll be living with me. Unless you have other preferences, that’s what I’ve decided.” My morning had been sleepless but not unproductive. I leaned against the counter and studied the way she slowly wet her lips. “Would you like to consider this your home?”

She didn’t answer right away, playing with the neck of her T-shirt. Rather, my T-shirt. My favorite one that she was actively stretching the collar of but I let her do it. “Yes,” she finally muttered. “More than anything.”

“Then it’s settled,” I said. She nodded but sucked in her bottom lip, which meant she was being quiet about something. I rolled my eyes. “Lake, whatever you’re thinking, just say it, for Christ’s sake.”

She exhaled hard and put her food down. “Fine. What is this?”

“Yogurt.”

“Not that, Callum.” I laughed inwardly, taking too much pleasure in the way her voice sounded between her gritted teeth. “This. Me living here. This being my home. We have a history I can’t exactly put into words but I would go as far as to say that we were romantic so, what, are we together right now? Am I going to be sleeping in that room and listening to you bring other girls home and fuck them down the hall from me or are we trying to do something here? The two of us?”

I took a moment, soaking in the sudden heat that flushed her gorgeous face. I hadn’t expected for her to snap back as quickly and truthfully as she did but I liked it. It was the Lake I knew and it made me want to grab her and suck her bottom lip into my mouth. It also made me wish I had some sort of clean-cut answer for her. But there was none. “I hadn’t put much planning into that aspect.”

She shot daggers. “Christ, Callum, talk to me like I’m a person, not a business pitch. I know you grew up and got all fancy while I was gone but I’m still me. I do recall proving that to you yesterday.”

I glared but otherwise didn’t show my irritation at her accusing tone. “I answered you as truthfully as I could, Lake,” I replied. “Plain and simple, I didn’t think about it. What I thought about was making sure you had a good, comfortable place to stay. I thought about what a piece of shit I felt like for making you cry. I thought about how fucking beautiful you were and how much I missed every inch of you. That it was probably pointless for me to try and ignore you or resist you.” I took a sick satisfaction in how instantly quiet she went, how she shrunk back when I stepped forward. I spoke slowly, evenly, watching my every word sink into her skin. “Trust me. I’m still pissed at you. I still hate with all my heart that you’re keeping these secrets about why you left and where you went. But it’s physically impossible for me not to care about you when I know you’re back and close enough to me that I can touch you if I want, so this is where we’re at, Lake. You’re living here, I know you’re safe, I know you’re provided for and I’m ‘actively trying’ like you asked me to. I’m trying to get us back to us but I don’t know exactly how that works and unless I’m mistaken, neither do you, so I’d venture a guess and say that this is called taking it a day at a time.”

Lake’s mouth snapped shut halfway through my answer and pursed tight. Now it curled just the slightest at me. She swallowed what looked like a bit of pride. It got me strangely hard. “Fine.”

I crinkled my brow. “Is it fine?”

“Yes, Callum, it’s fine,” Lake enunciated. She finally took her spoon and started at her breakfast. It was silent for a good minute as she avoided my stare. “Stop looking at me,” she finally said.