This was so much more than casual. Casual was what had almost transpired before the accident. What was happening now was something even he couldn’t explain. Were these higher levels of emotion stemming from their living arrangements? Were they growing closer without even trying, simply because of the accident?
“Oh, I almost forgot. Max called and wanted to know about coming over tomorrow and grilling out. I told him I’d run it by you.”
Callie tilted her head. “You don’t have to run anything by me, Noah. This is your house.”
“I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
Nearly every conversation with this man left her heart melting more and more. The way he’d put every single one of her needs first made her wonder what it would be like if he cared for her beyond friendship, beyond the path that was leading them to intimacy.
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “It’ll be nice to have something to look forward to.”
“I’ll let him know.” He kissed her forehead. “Now I’m going to take that shower.”
After Noah walked away, she sank back into the chair and replayed his previous words. More than once he’d admitted that she affected him. More than once they’d shared heated stares and all-too-brief kisses. But what did all of that mean? Where did he want to go from here?
Callie didn’t know, but she did know that she needed to be on her guard where her heart was concerned. She couldn’t focus on healing if she was worried about what those kisses meant and what his true feelings were.
She wanted so badly for him to open up and let her in even though his past wasn’t her business. And he probably wasn’t opening up about this past because they both knew she wasn’t going to be part of his future.
* * *
Noah hung up the phone and slid his cell back into his pocket. This evening was going rather smoothly. He and Callie had shared a nice meal on the patio and they’d chatted about mundane things, and he was sure to steer the topic far away from anything sexual because it was all he could do to sit there and watch her as a doctor should watch a patient.
But that kiss in the kitchen earlier had been anything but professional. For the life of him, though, he hadn’t been able to stop and he didn’t care about the consequences. With her parading around in his oversize shirts… His gut clenched just thinking of it. Now when he went to wash them, they would have Callie’s scent all through them.
His emotions were a jumbled, chaotic mess. He’d told himself in the beginning to just be a friend or a doctor, to distance himself from her emotionally. But the more Callie was around him, the more he found he wanted to be around her. So, okay. Sexual chemistry was definitely one thing he could handle. But they hadn’t had sex.
Where the hell did that leave his emotional state? Because right now he truly had no clue how to feel or act with her.
He’d been taken so off guard when Callie had mentioned something hurting him, something that still had a hold on him. She’d been spot-on and that fact made him very uncomfortable. Was he that transparent? After a year of living without Malinda he’d thought he’d taken control of his emotions.
Yes, Callie had initially reminded him of Malinda, and even so, he’d believed they could have a short, no-strings affair. But he knew better now. He didn’t want his past and present to collide. He was doing all he could to keep from claiming Callie in his bed. Getting wrapped up in another vulnerable woman was not a good idea, especially when that woman could get under his skin as Callie seemed able to do, but his hormones weren’t getting that message. He could handle sex, if that was all there was to this relationship, but he had a feeling Callie was thinking of much more…especially now that they’d played house for a few days.
He rubbed the back of his neck and headed back inside. Callie had already gone in, but when his real-estate agent had called
, he’d stepped out onto the shaded patio. There was a buyer interested in looking at the house tomorrow afternoon and Noah had agreed to a time. Now he had to get Callie out of the house and maybe persuade her to have a picnic or something in the park. She wouldn’t be a fan of going out in public so soon, but there was no other choice.
Noah found her sitting in the living room fumbling left-handed with the remote.
“Let me get that,” he told her as he stepped down into the sunken living area. “What do you want to watch?”
She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I was looking for a good movie, but you have like two thousand channels and I wasn’t even sure where to look.”
Noah laughed and flopped down beside her. “Name a movie you’d like to see and I’ll put it on for you.”
She pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose as if in thought. “Hmm…how about Blackhawk Down?”
Surprised, Noah grinned. “Really? Why that one? I would’ve pegged you for a romantic-comedy type.”
She shook her head. “Growing up I was a daddy’s girl and whatever he watched, I watched. He was a war-movie or Western guy, so that’s my thing. Besides, after really researching films and sinking my teeth into the fact that’s what I wanted to do, I appreciate all the special effects more.”
He placed his hand on her leg. “I’m sorry, Callie.”
“It’s okay,” she told him, her eyes on his hand on her bare thigh. “We’re moving forward. Let’s just concentrate on right now. Okay?”
He squeezed her leg and went to search for the movie before his hand got a mind of its own and started wandering.
“Sure, come in and hit three buttons and make it look simple,” she joked once the movie appeared on the screen. “I was in here for fifteen minutes and got nowhere.”