“No,” she finally admitted.
He caught her chin and made her look at him.“I don’t either.The next time you get upset, you don’t tuck it away inside.You come find me.”
She appeared pained with embarrassment.“I don’t usually do that… I mean, I’m not that aggressive.I’ve never… Oh God…”
He cut her off with a kiss—a solid, slow kiss that heated the longer she let it go on.Cam’s heart started pounding against his rib cage.This was the Lexie he knew.This was the woman he’d lusted over for three months.
But she was embarrassed by what they’d done.
He rubbed his tongue against hers before pulling back.“I’m the one who needs to apologize.I’m sorry I pushed you so hard.Maybe I went too far.”
“I understand why you did it.At least now I do.”
“I hated hurting you.You have to know that.”
“I think it worked.”She licked her lips, and he hardened at the thought of her tasting him.“I feel better.Still screwed up, but better.”She clenched her hands together in her lap.“You’re probably wondering how you got messed up in this.Your family couldn’t possibly be as dysfunctional as mine.”
Resting his arm atop the back of the couch, Cam toyed idly with her hair.“I don’t have much of a family.Not anymore.It was just my mom and me, but she died almost three years ago.”
“You don’t have anyone else?”
He shrugged.“There are some aunts and uncles out there.Maybe a cousin or two, but nobody I’m close to.”
She was quiet for a long while.“What was she like?Your mom?”
He stilled.“She was great.”He cleared his throat.He hadn’t talked to anyone about his mother since she’d died.Come to think of it, nobody had bothered to ask.“She always put me first.We didn’t have much money.I know it was tough on her raising a kid by herself.She held down two jobs to do it, but we were always a team.”
“So she worked all the time too?”
Cam took a minute.He’d never thought about that.“She was a waitress during the day and she cleaned offices at night, but she always made time for me.I was on my own a lot, but I pitched in with odd jobs to help out.”
“I bet she was proud of you.”
His throat tightened dangerously.“I bought her a house when I was twenty-six on the condition that she retire.”
Lexie tugged at the hem of his shirt around her legs.“Did you ever try to find your dad?”she whispered.
“I don’t want to.”He gentled his hand in her hair.“But I can understand how you must feel.”
“I just have so many questions.”
“Do you remember your parents at all?”
She shook her head.“From what Julian said, I must have been a daddy’s girl.”
She looked around the office, eyes blinking, and Cam felt a bit uneasy.Confidential information was strewn across the room.She didn’t need to see what he was doing for Underhill, not right now anyway.
“Is this how you live?”she asked.“Moving around from place to place?”
She wasn’t looking at the work.She was curious about him.Something warm unfurled inside his chest.He hadn’t allowed many people to get close to him as he’d scraped and clawed his way up in the world.It was a habit that had become ingrained.
But for her, he’d try to open up.
“Mostly,” he admitted.“I spend most of my time working on-site with clients.”
“Living in other people’s penthouses?”
“In whatever situation works best.”
