I’ve witnessed it.
I know his heart.
I know that, deep down, he is a man who wants a family. He wants his sister to be safe and happy, and he’s trying so hard to show the world that nothing he’s been through has broken him, I’m afraid he will crack.
If he’ll allow me, I’d like to be his soft place to land. I’d like to be the person who holds him together when he needs it. Show him he can break and still be loved.
He lifts his gaze as if he knows I’m staring at him. There is a softness to his dark eyes, a vulnerability he doesn’t let anyone else but me see. The raw and unguarded part of him.
For a moment, the room falls away. Everything goes silent, and it’s only the two of us. Acknowledging the shift that has taken place. It might as well be the tectonic plates moving for how my heart leaps out of my chest.
His lips curve into a small, private smile, and I feel my neck and cheeks heat, a whole silent conversation floating between us.
That I’m ready.
And he’s all in.
At his single dip of his chin, I know we’ll be leaving soon.
With Erik and Molly hosting everyone, and most of my family and Molly’s staying over, I will be sleeping at Camden’s tonight so they have an extra bedroom to use for whoever needs it. And it could not have worked out better, according to the way Camden carefully sets Kai on his play mat and makes his way to me, his tongue sweeping over his bottom lip before his top teeth drag along it.
With a scruffy jaw and thick cream sweater pushed up to his elbows, he’s killing me. Death by lust suffocation. I barely manage an inhale when he asks, “You almost ready to go?” When I nod, his answering grin is feral. “Me too.”
Though it takes another hour to get through all of the goodbyes as if we won’t see each other tomorrow, and by the time I’m finally seated in the front seat of Camden’s car, I’m buzzing with nervous energy. Paisley passes out almost immediately in the back seat, her cell phone held loosely in her hand, head tipped backward, mouth open. I swear the girl could fall asleep anywhere, at any time.
But up front, I’m wide awake. My skin electric when Camden moves his hand from the gear shift to my thigh, squeezing with a rumbled, “I love this.”
He tugs at my plaid wool skirt that comes to my knees but is hitched up because of his efforts, rubbing his palm up and down my leg, from mid-thigh to my knee, where the top of my boots hit. “Like a naughty schoolgirl.”
I adjust my position, spreading my legs a bit wider, and even though he keeps his attention on the road, his fingers inch up higher, closer to the sensitive place between them. I keep my voice as steady as possible when I tell him, “You have a teacher look about you today. Just add in your glasses.”
With his perfectly tailored brown pants and cable-knit sweater, he could pass for old money or an academic. I don’t mind either one, but he clearly has a preference.
“You role-play?” he asks, and my pulse accelerates. “I can keep you after class for detention and teach you some things.”
I swallow thickly. “Not particularly interested in that fantasy.”
“No?” His fingers tighten to a bruising grip. “What are your fantasies?”
I check over my shoulder to make sure Paisley is still asleep before answering. “I’m not sure it’s all that exciting.”
“Tell me.”
I tug at the collar of my shirt, suddenly shy.
“What?” He squeezes my leg even harder.
“I’m asleep, and you…” I clear my throat as he shifts, and I understand his need to move. I feel it too. The need to crawl out of my skin. Only to make a home under his.
“Tell me, honey.” Desperation drips from the endearment. Like his life depends on it.
“Lately, I’ve been fantasizing that you come home and find me asleep. You wake me up by sliding inside me, and by the time I open my eyes, you’re already almost there.”
“Fuck me.” He groans and removes his hand from my leg to readjust himself. “You know how many times I’ve wanted to go into your room? How many times I’ve thought about sneaking under your covers? And you’ve been fantasizing aboutthatthe whole time?” He grunts. “I’m dying here.”
I might laugh if I weren’t close to expiring myself.
Merely admitting that has turned my nipples to hard points, and I can feel my heartbeat pulsing between my legs.
