I shrugged, reaching for another steaming-hot glass, wiping off the condensation.
“I’m a clusterfuck, love. I failed my first year at Oxford. Miserably. And not for lack of trying.”
I arched an eyebrow, giving him a really? smile. I needed more to work with.
Callum blew out air, shaking his arms like he was getting ready for a marathon.
“All right, let’s see. I have a birthmark the size of my fist on my arse. I still eat Lucky Charms for breakfast. Every. Single. Day. My personal trainer says I have the arms of Rhys Ifans, also known as Hugh Grant’s roommate in Notting Hill. I…I…I can’t swim!” He threw his arms up in the air, triumphed, as everyone around us lifted their heads from their drinks and smiled.
I chuckled, shaking my head. Maybe he was imperfect, but he was far from the kind of mess I was usually attracted to. Debbie, AKA Mom, had always complained that I only went for the last of the litter. The broken, misunderstood, messed-up ones who couldn’t offer me more than a heartache and STDs.
It wasn’t untrue. I didn’t look at men very much, but when I did, they always came with more issues than Vogue.
Callum had leaned forward then, his entire torso plastered on the counter, and framed his mouth with his hands, pretending to whisper in my ear.
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“I’ve a feeling you will, anyway.”
“I think you were put on this earth to destroy me.”
I laughed, taking a step back. The conversation with Mal from all those years ago floated to the front of my mind, reminding me I’d heard those words before. Things Mal and I said to each other always lurked in the recesses of my thoughts.
Mal had told me I could kill him.
He didn’t know that in a way, he’d killed me, too.
Every day I lived without him slugged by like a snail, leaving a trail of slimy goo in its wake.
“Okay, fella. Time I call you a cab.” I tapped the back of Callum’s hand.
That was before I knew he owned the penthouse upstairs.
“I’m serious,” he pouted again.
He knew he was attractive. Knew his angles, the charm in his accent, how to work a girl into giving him her number. Unfortunately, I was immune.
Putting another clean glass aside, I threw the cloth over my shoulder.
“Can I tell you another secret?” He dragged his thumb across his lips.
That’s when I noticed his lips were ridiculously kissable, even without the pout.
“Do you always ask for permission before you say things?” I cocked my head.
He laughed. “Usually, believe it or not, I’m the one people ask permission from. Anyway, I’m not even drunk. This beer? It’s the only pint you’ve served me tonight, and it’s full. I don’t come here to get pissed, Aurora. I come here because of you.”
I paused, my eyes glued to his pint. He was telling the truth. I knew because I served him every night. It occurred to me that he was the exact opposite of Mal—the fancy clothes, the properness, the sobriety. Maybe he was what I needed to rid my mind of lingering thoughts of the Irish poet.
Which meant Callum was also the exact opposite of my father.
Which meant that for the sake of my sanity, I should at least give him a chance.
He was my redo. My second chance. My redemption.
“So? Would you give me one date?” he begged. “I promise to prove to be wonderfully unstable, with a dash of incompetence, and provide you with plenty of unpredictability.”
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes with a giddy smile.
“Ha!” He slapped the bar in triumph. “It was the unstable bit that did it, wasn’t it?” He settled himself back down, pushing his beer away like he finally could, like it revolted him. “Always gets the ladies,” he said.
I take a deep breath, meeting Callum’s eyes in the ballroom. “I’m sure you’re about to tell me all about the whores and the dicks,” I say, his erection throbbing between my legs through his cigar pants and my dress.
For the record: Callum lied that night at the bar. Not one bone in his entire body is messy, risky, or uncalculated. As for the birthmark? His skin is as unmarred as a blank new sheet of paper.
Callum Brooks is attractive in a Nantucket-summer-house, two-point-five-children, Polo-shirts-and-golf-tournaments kind of way, with his pulled-up white socks, sandy blond hair, impressive height, and runner’s body. Summer, my best friend, likes to joke that he looks like David Duke’s dream candidate.
He looks into my eyes. “I’m a serial monogamist, thirty-two, and have been dating you for almost a year. Commitment doesn’t scare me, Rory. If I have it my way, you’ll move in with me tomorrow morning.”
I unbutton his blazer and loosen his tie, just to do something with my hands. I like Callum, too, but a year is still early in our relationship.