Morning sunlight slipped softly through the curtains and spread across the bedroom.
Emily stirred slowly in Callan’s arms.
For a mont, she stayed still with sleepy eyes, enjoying the warmth of his body wrapped around hers.
Then she felt it.
Her eyes blinked open slowly when she felt Callan’s erection pressed firmly against her thigh beneath the sheets.
Heat spread through her body instantly.
Emily bit lightly on her lower lip.
Still half asleep, Callan shifted slightly behind her and tightened his arm around her waist unconsciously.
A soft breath escaped him.
Emily’s heartbeat quickened.
She turned slowly in his arms until she was facing him properly.
Callan was still asleep.
His face looked relaxed and peaceful—nothing like the tense and emotionally exhausted man from yesterday.
Emily’s chest softened at the sight.
She loved him so much.
Her gaze dropped again. Then slowly, carefully, she touched him over his shorts.
Callan made a sleepy sound imdiately and his brows pulled together slightly.
Emily’s cheeks ward, but instead of stopping, she moved closer and kissed him softly.
Callan kissed her back lazily in his sleep. Still not fully awake.
Emily smiled faintly against his lips before her hand moved more deliberately this ti around his erection.
Callan’s breathing changed instantly.
A low sound escaped his throat and his hand tightened unconsciously against her waist.
Emily kissed him again, slowly and tenderly as she slid her hand beneath the waistband of his shorts.
Callan jerked slightly.
His eyes opened halfway imdiately before closing again. "Princess..." he murmured sleepily.
She kissed his jaw softly. "Morning."
Callan’s brain slowly started catching up to what was happening.
Then suddenly his eyes snapped fully open. He looked down. Then imdiately back at her face.
And froze.
Emily burst into soft laughter at his expression. "You’re awake now?"
"Jesus Christ, Emily!" Callan muttered hoarsely. "I thought I was dreaming."
Emily giggled softly. "You weren’t dreaming," she teased softly.
Callan looked genuinely horrified. "Unfortunately, not." He exhaled slowly before reaching down and gently stopping her hand.
"Why are you making things hard for this early in the morning?" He asked as he dragged a hand over his face roughly.
Emily laughed again and leaned forward to kiss him lightly. "Because I want you."
His eyes imdiately lifted back to hers.
The teasing softened slightly in her expression. "I know you want to wait," she admitted quietly. "But I can’t help that I want you."
Callan stared at her silently for a mont.
God.
She was going to kill him one day.
"Emily..." Callan looked at her carefully. "I desperately want you too," he admitted honestly. "But I ant what I said when I said I’m not touching you until I marry you."
Emily grinned playfully at him. "I’m the one touching you right now. You haven’t touched ."
"Em, I’m being serious," Callan said, and she frowned slightly as she watched him get off the bed.
"Fine. Let’s have a secret wedding then."
Callan stared at her like she had completely lost her mind.
"A what?"
"A secret wedding," Emily repeated seriously. "We can have the actual ceremony and party later when we return to Ludus. But at least we’d officially be married."
Callan continued staring at her. Then suddenly he laughed softly in disbelief.
"You’re not thinking clearly."
Emily frowned, then imdiately said, "I’m very serious."
"Your emotions are clouding your judgent, Em," he said gently.
She shot him a look that told him she felt insulted.
Callan sighed softly and joined her in bed again, but this ti he sat up properly against the headboard before reaching for her hands.
"Baby," he said quietly. "If yesterday taught anything, it’s that we’re not emotionally ready yet."
Emily looked at him quietly.
"I can’t risk it," he admitted honestly.
Her expression fell slightly. "So, what? You don’t want to marry anymore?"
Callan’s face softened instantly, and he cupped her face gently.
"Emily, I absolutely want to marry you. There’s no one else in this world or beyond who can take your place in my life."
Her eyes searched his quietly.
"But I want us to do it properly," he continued softly. "I’ve spent a long ti doing everything the wrong way."
His chest tightened slightly as he spoke.
"All I want now is for us to heal properly," he admitted. "I want us to be healthy before we build a marriage together."
When Emily stayed quiet, Callan rubbed softly against her cheek with his thumb.
"I don’t want sex getting in the way right now."
Emily frowned slightly. "You keep talking about what you want. What about what I want? Doesn’t that matter too?"
Callan smiled faintly.
"We want the sa thing, Em. I’m pretty sure what you want is a healthy, loving, peaceful relationship too."
She stayed quiet.
"And the only way we’ll get that," he continued gently, "is if we slow down and actually fix ourselves properly. Otherwise, we’ll keep hurting each other and misunderstanding each other."
Emily sighed softly. "That’s dramatic."
Callan raised a brow slightly. "Dramatic? In case you didn’t notice, we had four separate misunderstandings yesterday alone."
Emily frowned imdiately. "That’s not true."
Callan started counting calmly on his fingers.
"First was in the morning when I avoided Cindy’s call. Though it wasn’t serious, it could have been because you already assud I had plans to date another girl."
Emily looked away slightly. "I wouldn’t make that assumption if you were honest with ."
Callan continued as though she didn’t speak, "Second was when you saw talking to Dr. Loma and got suspicious."
Emily sighed. "You could have just told her you are in a relationship, and she should get lost. But you didn’t."
"Third was the argunt about Dan’s party."
She crossed her arms slightly. "Because your tone was wrong. You could have asked not to go in a better tone."
"And fourth," he finished more quietly, "was what I overheard you telling Mari."
Emily’s expression softened imdiately.
"Yeah. I was wrong there, and I’m sorry about that. But all four misunderstandings weren’t my fault," she muttered softly.
Callan nodded imdiately. "I know. And I’m not saying it was," he assured her gently. "That isn’t what this conversation is about. I’m saying WE need ti and help if we are going to work. I need this more than you do, Emily."
The honesty in his voice made sothing tighten painfully in her chest. Emily swallowed softly.
Callan looked down briefly before looking back at her again.
"I want to beco the right man for you," he admitted quietly. "And I’m not willing to settle for less than that anymore. So please..." he murmured. "Give ti to prove to both you and myself that I can actually be right for you."
Silence settled between them for a mont.
Then Emily exhaled deeply. "When you put it that way..." she muttered reluctantly, "I can’t really argue."
A small smile touched Callan’s lips. "Good."
Then imdiately he added, "And stop sleeping in my room."
Emily blinked at him. "Why?"
Callan looked at her like the answer should have been obvious. "Because it’s frustrating ."
Emily burst into laughter.
"I’m serious," he complained.
She laughed harder.
Callan narrowed his eyes slightly at her.
"We should sleep separately and bathe separately too," he continued firmly. "There’s no reason to tempt ourselves if we already agreed not to cross that line."
Emily groaned dramatically and fell back onto the bed. "This isn’t fair."
Callan laughed softly despite himself.
"We’ll have a lifeti to do all of that together," he reminded her gently. "Bear with now the sa way you bore with these past six years."
Emily looked at him quietly for a mont.
Then finally she sighed dramatically. "I’ll try."
Callan smiled softly and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Thank you."
Emily narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You sound too relieved."
"I am too relieved," he admitted honestly.
That made her laugh again as she got off the bed. "But you’ll help with my yoga poses..."
"Hell, no!"
Emily laughed harder. "I’ll go stretch and get ready for work in my room, since you don’t want here."
"Have fun," Callan said, and smiled when she blew him a kiss before walking away.
Though it was hard, he was going to do whatever it takes to make their relationship work.
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