5. Callum

"Cal."

I ripped my focus off Zack's retreating back, ready to face possible wrath for having caused Landon even more pain.

His soft smile eased the tension riding my shoulders, allowing me to draw an unhindered breath. "You're too good to me," he murmured.

Shaking my head, I turned toward where Zack stalked, but he'd disappeared. I swallowed my disappointment. "I'm sorry he didn't stay to hear you out."

"I'm not surprised, considering his actions whenever I texted him over the years, but you can't force a man to offer forgiveness no matter how much you want it. I'll find a way to wear him down since he's stuck on an island and can't escape me this time."

"I'll talk to him," I declared, once more shifting to face the man I loved.

He studied my face with his beautiful brown eyes framed by long lashes a shade darker than his hair. "Why, Cal? Haven't you already done enough for me?"

"Never enough, and because this part of your life should be settled once and for all. You need to be able to move on. I want—" I snapped my jaw shut to silence my runaway tongue.

Landon continued his steady perusal of my face that heated beneath his stare. "What?" he pushed.

I released a slow, steady exhale, only able to admit to a partial truth. "For you to be free of him."

"You know I wish for the opposite."

My heart stumbled inside my chest even though I was well aware of Landon's deepest desire when it came to Zackary Briggs. "Then it's my hope that he'll eventually listen," I forced myself to say. "That you find peace between you and what you've always longed for."

Even if that meant I would have to live with unrequited love until I breathed my last.

"You hired him." Landon didn't voice a question, but I nodded anyway. He snickered. "Sly dog." He laughed with more lightness than I'd ever heard grace his voice. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

All the time, just not in the way I wished for.

"He's under contract and not going anywhere tonight," Landon continued before I could utter a word.

My boss slash best friend slash roommate hadn't hidden any part of his past from me, so I knew what he'd done when they had been kids. How he'd stalked Zack over the years afterward. He'd even shown me Zack's profile on EEMM, which had led to my crazy plan to force them to face each other—and hopefully bring them together, making Landon's dreams come true.

Or, I would be left picking up the pieces of Landon's heart. But that's not what I truly wished for. I wanted his happiness more than anything, and that meant having the man he'd been in love with since middle school.

"I say we let him sleep his pissiness off, and I'll try again tomorrow," Landon stated, his mind clearly made up and focused on getting what he'd wanted for the past fifteen years.

Landon's buoyed spirits proved potent enough that I dragged myself from wallowing self-pity enough to see to his needs as I always did. "Are you hungry? I can order you a late dinner."

"No—I'm fine. Let's just go to our suite. I saw a basket of snacks and drinks. They'll be good enough for tonight."

"I'll speak to Zack," I promised as we meandered side by side back to the hotel, our shoulders brushing lightly. "Perhaps he'll meet you for breakfast, and the rest of our vacation won't be a waste of money."

We stopped by the elevator, and I caught Landon nibbling on his lower lip, a promise of his anxiety, an action that made me wish to ease his mind by tasting his mouth. I shoved the desire deep inside where the thoughts wouldn't cause heartache.

"Do you trust me?" I murmured, hands in my pockets so I wouldn't reach for him.

Landon's gaze jerked toward me. "Of course I do! You've never let me down."

He spoke the truth. "So trust me with this, okay?"

"You're too good to me," he stated again.

"I would do anything for you." I'd never meant the words more, even if helping him find the fulfillment of his heart's desire shattered mine in the process. The idea alone of that outcome made me want to curl up and cry.

I put on a brave face, acting confident while we readied for bed, all the while my spirit sagged beneath the weight of selflessness. Had I made the right choice or only set Landon up for even deeper emotional pain?

I'd fucked up with my brother and feared doing the same with Landon.

Surely, if Zack knew the reasoning behind Landon's behavior that night when they'd been innocent kids, he would offer forgiveness. Perhaps that would be enough for Landon to find peace and actually be ready to move on like I hoped for.

The minute Landon finished in the bathroom, he poked his head through my bedroom's doorway I'd left open in invitation—same as I always did at home for whenever he needed me.

I pulled back the blankets, and he scooted forward, tossing himself onto the mattress. Pink flushed his cheeks, making him even more beautiful as he snuggled in, the sheet tucked beneath his chin where he lay on his side facing me.

We didn't touch, nor had we ever crossed the platonic line between us. He'd made his stance against relationships outside his dream man clear at my first hint of flirting when we'd met. I'd kept my body in check along with any discussion beyond platonic love.

The unreturned feelings sucked, even more so when Landon put himself in my bed. But telling him the truth of how much I loved him would only tear us apart.

We also didn't talk about the fact he slept with me more nights than not. And the mornings we woke wrapped up in each other, I reasoned his unconscious action away as seeking out comfort in his sleep.

Landon never argued, simply agreed and slipped from my bed, attempting to hide his morning wood, same as I did.

Fuck.

I rubbed a weary hand over my face, too aware of the warm body stretched out inches from my own. My instinct to nurture Landon proved a formidable foe along with my desire to touch him with sexual intent. I doubted myself, every decision I made acting as his GPS through life since we'd met. The man was codependent on me, and I was selfish and so far gone on him enough not to care the two of us together might be seen as unsafe from the outside.

I wanted Landon, but I longed for his happiness more than anything, which made me reason away my choices in how I looked out for him.

Martyr syndrome, perhaps, but if Landon got his happily ever after, then I had to believe I would be satisfied no matter how torn I would feel over losing him.

Landon slept long before I did, proving yet again how he trusted me for the days ahead.

But I had no such reassurance, and my mind refused to rest.

I replayed my night with Zack from the initial magnetic draw and lust to the disappointment in watching him walk away, and not just from Landon but from me as well.

While I'd gotten two suites in the event this very thing ended up happening, forced proximity between the three of us in a shared space would have allowed Landon to have his say. He couldn't move on, and neither would I until this shit was taken care of once and for all.

One way or the other, this situation between them needed to be put to rest, and waiting to see what transpired on its own had yet to show fruit. I had to be proactive when it came to dealing with Landon, since he usually wouldn't budge without a cattle prod.

Perhaps Zack was the same.

I snuck from the bed, quietly pulled on my shorts and shirt from earlier, and gently shut our suite door shut behind me. Silence reigned in the hotel's hallway, my slow shuffling feet as loud as the pulse rushing in my ears.

Zack's room was a short walk around the corner from us. Close enough for easy access in the event things had gone well between the two men. I'd even been prepared to switch lodging with Zack if he and Landon wanted to be together.

Blowing out a slow exhale in attempts to slow my thumping heart, I knocked on Zack's door. I stared at the peephole, expecting he wouldn't just pull it open without checking first.

I didn't hear any movement beyond, but the door swung inward a few inches before I had to knock a second time.

Zack stood in low-slung cotton shorts and nothing else, I quickly noted while glancing down over his hairless chest and the obvious outline of his gorgeous dick.

Fuck.

I swallowed hard and jerked my focus upward.

One brow raised, he waited, fingers still clasping the door handle as though unsure if he should open it the rest way or slam it in my face for the uncomfortable position I'd put him in. I deserved to be ignored, the contract broken for what I'd done—but I hoped with all my heart he would hear me out.

"Can I come in?" I asked, my voice raspy from sleepiness and raging lust.

"As long as you're alone."

"It's just me," I assured him.

He stepped back without a word and gestured me forward.

My lungs sucked in the scent of bergamot and lime as I moved past him. Temptation emerged to brush against his skin I imagined was warm from having crawled from bed, but I held steady in keeping space between us.

The door snicked shut.

Turning, I opened my mouth, ready to plead Landon's case, but the heat in his hazel eyes, the sight of tattooed skin covering his god-like body showcased on EEMM's website proved too much of a distraction.

I'm in trouble.