“Cami…” My voice cracked on her name.
She bent low, kissing me slowly and deeply, her body pressed close as she began to move. The pace was hers, gentle, rhythmic, unhurried. Every movement drew a breath from my lips.
She lifted her head, curls falling around her face, as I whispered, “I want you like this. I want to see you.”
Her gaze never left mine as she moved, every rise and fall threaded with trust, every gasp a confession. I reached up, cradling her face, my thumb brushing the corner of her mouth as she trembled above me. “You’re beautiful,” I whispered, voice breaking. “Every fucking part of you.”
Her release came first, shuddering through her, her cry caught in a kiss as I pulled her down against me. The feel of her unraveling pushed me over the edge, my own climax tearing free in a rough groan as I buried my face in her neck.
Afterward, she draped over me, cheek pressed to my chest, breath warm and steady. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, not wanting to let go.
“Still here,” she whispered, the words humming into my skin.
“Still here.” I echoed, my voice gravely.
I closed my eyes, letting her steady rhythm pull me back from the edge. My body, no longer tense from the nightmare. Her presence filled the cracks the memories had split open. And as sleep threatened again, I wasn’t afraid of closing myeyes.
???
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the quiet. It wasn’t the suffocating kind that usually pressed in after nightmares, but a softer, calmer kind since Cami lay next to me. Her legs wrapped around mine, as the sunlight spilt weakly through the curtains, catching in her curls where they spilled across me. Her hand was still resting against my chest, right over my heart, like she’d left it there on purpose.
For a second, I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Just watched her, trying to memorize the way she looked in sleep. Peaceful. Strong even here, wrapped around me as if she were the one protectingme.Then the shame crept back in.
I’d woken her by yelling. Scared her. Dragged her into the hell I tried so damn hard to keep buried. And still she’d stayed. Grounded me. Told me not to carry it alone. The part of me that had lived by discipline and silence wanted to recoil, to put the walls back up before I gave away too much. But another part, the part that had kissed her forehead and listened to her whisper, she wanted to stay, wanted to hold on.
You said too much. You showed her the cracks. The ugly parts. She’ll change her mind now.
But when she stirred and shifted closer, tucking herself tighter against me, the noise in my head went silent. Maybe she didn’t see me as broken. Maybe she just saw… me.
I brushed a curl from her face, careful not to wake her, and let out a long, shaky breath.
I didn’t know if I was good enough for her. For her kids.For this kind of life. But last night, with her whispering me back into calm, I’d felt something I hadn’t in years.
Like maybe I could be.
Chapter Forty Three
Camille
The ride back home was filled with less chatter than the drive out.
The radio hummed softly in the background, sunlight spilling through the windshield, catching on the edge of Hunter’s beard. He looked steady behind the wheel, one hand resting casually at the bottom, the other on the console. Every so often, his fingers brushed mine, a silent check-in.
I kept glancing at him, trying to read him. Trying to put words to everything that had changed between us in just one night.
Because somethinghadchanged.
Last night hadn’t just been about us crossing a line of intimacy. It was about the way he’d let me in, really in. I’d seen the nightmare claw him awake. I’d seen the shame in his eyes when he realized he’d scared me. I’d seen the vulnerability.
And he hadn’t pushed me away afterward.
But now, doubt whispered all over again.
How did I not recognize it? What if he closes up again? What if you’re not strong enough to handle the weight of his past on top of your own?
I traced circles on my jeans with my thumb, stealing a glance at him. He caught me looking and gave a crooked little smile, the kind that always felt like it cracked straight through my walls.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice low, steady.
