“Right, so I think I’d like to move into the pool house, but only as long as you let me pay rent.”
“Sure, yes, of course.” It felt like I’d just pitched a no-hitter in game seven of the World Series. “Cool. Did you like the bread pudding?”
“It’s really… bready.”
Yep, this man was meant to be in my life. I meant my pool house. Pool. House.
Shit. I was insomuch trouble.
ELEVEN
Jari
I woketo the dull grey of early morning pressing against the window of my permanent hotel space, the low, familiar hum of the air system threading through the room. For a second, I didn’t know where I was, then last night snapped into place, and I smiled. I can’t remember the last time I met a new day with a smile.
I lay there for a moment longer, staring at the ceiling, letting the feeling sit instead of pushing it away. I’d begged him to suck me, but it hadn’t been about sex. It had been about overload—about my head being too full, my body too tight, everything stacked too close together. I’d needed something immediate. Physical. Something that didn’t require me to explain myself.
What I hadn’t expected was the pause. Cam had stopped, waited, and given me space to decide what happened next. The hesitation was everything, and it left me off-balance. I was so damn happy, yes—but also unsettled in a way I couldn’t quite name. I was used to controlling it by speed or distance, by getting in and getting out before things got heavy.
I’d needed what happened last night. I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. What I couldn’t figure out was why the partthat stayed with me wasn’t the release, but the moment he’d stopped and waited for my answer.
That was usually the part where my instincts kicked in and shut everything down.
This time, they hadn’t. So, what was different? I groaned and hid my face in the pillow—why couldn’t I just accept it was fucking hot and that I’d wanted it?
Why did I have to overanalyze everything?
“Idiot!”
My phone buzzed on the bedside table, the sound cutting through the quiet. I reached for it before my brain fully caught up, thumb already moving, habit and hope tangled together.
Cam: Morning, beautiful
I smiled into the pillow, the reaction automatic, unguarded. He called me beautiful. Fuck. I felt beautiful last night. But now what should I say? That I thought he was handsome? Sexy? Smart and so freaking capable? I loved what we did, and should I mention that I'd miss seeing his face for the next five days of road trips? Hell, I'd managed a month when he was in Greece, I could do five days. Right? I typed and backspaced, then typed some more, backspaced again, and finally pressed send on the lamest message ever.
Jari: Morning
I cringed. I may not have a college education, but I knew way more words than morning, for fuck’s sake.
Cam: Sorry if I woke you. I couldn't wait to text you.
That did something stupid to my chest, a warmth that had no business being there this early in the day.
Jari: I need to head out in an hour, so I’m awake—Raleigh, then on to Florida.
Cam: I know.
Jari: How?
Cam: I added the team calendar to my phone. I know everything now.
Of course, he had. That made me smile so damn hard.
Jari: Stalker.
Cam: Professional sporting curiosity.
I rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling, the smile still there even as I tried to rein it in. This was nothing. Just an easy conversation. Just a check-in. Good morning. It would only be five days, and when he'd waved me off in the cab last night after a final kiss, even one night seemed too long without seeing him. I needed a friend, but it turned out I needed kisses and blowjobs too.
