When he broke away, he rested his forehead against mine, and my throat wouldn’t work when I tried to swallow. “It might be late tonight before I’m able to come back here. Do you mind? Can I?” Shyness had me unable to look him in the eye.
Cam brushed a finger over my bottom lip. “I’d be upset if you didn’t.”
Sighing, I kissed him again, even though I didn’t have time for this at all. One more minute, more or less, wouldn’t ruin the problem-solving session I was about to leave Cam’s home to participate in, and it might just save my sanity. As scary as the game Cam played could be, right now it was starting to look much better than sprinting off to Vane’s side during every disaster. I shivered as I pulled away and stared up at him.
That was probably bad, really bad, but I’d be damned if I wanted it to stop.
11
Camden
I hated seeing Mark go,but I knew nothing stood in the way of work. I’d offered to drive him to his car, but he’d insisted on taking an Uber instead. He was bullheaded, and I loved that.
He also had an important job, and while I wanted to keep him with me all day, he had a life outside of our game, and I did, too. I had daughters, who I’d almost forgotten about in my rapture with Mark. I’d promised Addy and Ellie I would take them to the arcade, although Addy didn’t deserve it. Not after punching the kid at camp.
I texted Liv.
Am I still taking the girls to the arcade?
I got to making myself some lunch. It took her forever to answer messages, and I’d only just finished making myself a sandwich by the time she responded.
Yes. They’re at your mother’s. Date.
I rolled my eyes, snorted, and sent her a thumbs-up. After I ate my lunch, I grabbed my keys, locked up the house, and got into the truck, heading out of the garage and toward Mom’s house a few suburbs over. Her area was even fancier than ours, but Dad was a lawyer before he retired, and Mom was CEO of a company that sold sex toys. They had large quantities of money, and they’d hidden a pile of it away for Addy and Ellie for college. My mom loved my kids more than life.
Mom’s less than conventional job was how she’d met Madam Winters. Other than they both enjoyed rummy, Mom’s company supplied the madam with sex toys. As far as Mom was concerned, sex work was part of the American dream. It was no worse than having a desk job; although, I didn’t want her to tell my girls that. I’d rather them not sleep with random men for money. Being a doctor sounded a lot more enticing.
By the time I arrived it was closing in on two in the afternoon. Her large, contemporary bungalow was on the corner block of two streets, and from the front I could hear laughter coming from the pool at the back. The house was wide and sparsely decorated, relying mostly on the bones of the construction to make the case for its worth as a home, with gray bricks and large, rectangular windows that spread out across the walls. The garden leading up to the front door was full of roses of different colors, but they were mostly yellow ones because they were Mom’s favorite.
I stepped around the side of the house and unlatched the wooden gate before taking the path that led to the back. More laughter reached my ears, and it was hard not to smile at the childish nature of it. The girls loved my mom, and they’d been the perfect distraction for Mom after Dad passed away.
Addy and Ellie were both bouncing in the shallow end of the pool, Ellie with a small pink dolphin inflatable, which she held onto tightly. Mom and Madam Winters sat at the table near the edge of the pool, under the shade of a large white umbrella. I didn’t know how I’d missed the madam’s car, but she was the first to notice me and fluttered her fingers in a wave. She wore a red bikini, and even though she had to be around Mom’s age, even older maybe, she had a tight body she had no reason to be ashamed of, with wide hips and an hourglass figure.
Mom was more conservative in what she’d chosen to wear and had a powder-blue sarong wrapped around her waist with a thin beach shirt over the top to match. She turned to look at me when Madam Winters waved, and she smiled brightly, eyes lighting up. Her dark brown hair was cut shorter than when I’d last seen her, and it was more of a bob styled around her ears, rather than reaching her shoulders.
“Darling.” She rose in a swift movement, abandoning her game to breeze over and grab my face, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “How have you been?”
I smiled and brought her into a hug. “I’m fine. I see Liv dropped the kids off to you for a date. She didn’t tell me they needed someone to watch them.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically as she took a step back and placed her hands on her hips, reminding me a heck of a lot of Addy. “I’m their grandmother, I can spend time with them simply because I want them around. Liv said you had a new man in your life. Is that true?”
I peeked at Madam Winters over Mom’s shoulder, and she gave me a knowing smile. “Kind of. It’s very new.”
“Of course. So Liv didn’t want to interrupt your day with him. You’re allowed to date, too.”
I laughed. “He was called to work anyway. It’s the type of thing where he can’t say no.”
She frowned and nodded, grabbing me by the elbow and pulling me to the table. She shoved me into the third seat, and I went without a fight. Whatever Mom wanted, she got.
Madam Winters eyed me carefully, tapping her chin with a pointy red fingernail. Her blonde hair glinted in the sunshine. “Howwasyour week, sugar?”
I snorted and glanced at Mom, but her knowing smile told me that Madam Winters had shared at least a few details with her. “Fine. Perfect, actually. He’s a wild thing.”
She laughed, the lines around her eyes deepening, and I took a moment to analyze her. There was an air of anxiety about her I’d never seen before, her blonde hair grayer at the roots, now that I was looking, and her face tighter than usual. I was almost tempted to ask her if there was a problem, but that was none of my business.
“How was Darcy’s night?”
She jumped slightly and smiled. “Simply delightful.”
