by Sabrina York
Hmm. Maybe they should chat about it.
The idea had merit.
Chapter Six
Everyone converged on the great room for lunch. It was hard getting Kristi alone with so many people milling around, but when the others were bumping into each other in the kitchen, whipping up some tacos, he caught her in the pantry.
He didn’t bother with small talk. He just pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
“God, I missed you,” he whispered, when they were both breathless and trembling. “Where’d you go last night?”
“I had to get back before, well, before they woke up.”
All of a sudden, her obsession with keeping their relationship from the others stuck in his craw. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe because Holt had kissed her. Maybe because he knew Andrew liked her too. Maybe because he just wanted them all to know she was taken.
The certainty of that resolution curled in his gut.
“We should just tell them. Then you can stay as long as you want tonight. All night.” He dipped his head to kiss her again but he missed. She’d ducked away. Shock rippled through his system.
And then he got a glimpse of her face. His blood went cold at her expression.
“What? What is it?”
She stepped back and twined her fingers, not meeting his eyes.
He wasn’t gonna like this. Not in the least.
“I-I just think maybe we should…cool it?”
Something within him howled. His gut clenched into a tight ball and acid tickled at the back of his throat. Heat—maybe anger—prickled his nape. He thought about stepping closer, boxing her in, kissing her again, but instead he took a step back. “You, ah, didn’t enjoy it?” How he got those words out, he couldn’t fathom. His tongue was like a stone.
Her gaze snapped to him, wide and surprised. “Didn’t like it? Hell, Cam. I loved it.” Relief gushed. But then she frowned. “Did-didn’t you like it?”
“Best fucking night of my life. I’d like to top it tonight. Right now. Why don’t we, I dunno, go for a walk?” He didn’t fancy fucking in the woods, but hell, he needed her again. And the squirrels probably wouldn’t mind.
She shook her head. His mood would have plunged again, but she stepped closer and put her palm on his chest. Her scent curled around him. His pulse kicked up a notch. His body remembered how she’d felt coming to bliss around him. Mr. Happy awoke. With a vengeance. He shot up to full length in a heartbeat.
Softly, she said, “We can’t. We shouldn’t.”
“What?” Why the fuck not? “Kristi, you better tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s Bella.”
Bella? What the hell did her sister have to do with this? He shook his head, unable to form the question.
“Did you know she has a thing for you? I didn’t either. I was stunned. She knows what’s going on between the two of us and she’s really upset. I-I just couldn’t do that to her. Not after…” She sighed.
“After what?”
Kristi nibbled her lip. “There was this guy in high school she was dating. He dumped her. For me.”
“And you dated him?”
She shrugged. “I know it was wrong. But I was a stupid kid. I was flattered by the attention. He eventually dumped me for someone else, but by then it didn’t matter. The damage was done. I don’t ever think she forgave me. It was years before she would even talk to me again. Cam—I can’t do that to her. Not again. I can’t.”
“This is different.”
“Not really.”
“I’m not dating Bella. I’m not interested in dating Bella. Even if there was no you and me, I wouldn’t be dating Bella.” He did it then. Cornered her. Maybe Holt had it right. Maybe the way to manage a woman was to dominate her. So he backed her up against the shelves of canned goods and took her mouth in a punishing kiss.
She resisted, but not for long. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave as good as she got. Her response enflamed him. He reached down and lifted her leg, wrapping it around his waist, giving him access to her crotch. He rubbed her there, in that tender spot, through her jeans as he fucked her mouth. With his other hand, he held her chin still so he could take what he wanted.
A can of soup fell to the floor. And another. Cam ignored them. He fiddled with the buttons of her jeans.
She broke away, gasping. “Cam. Not here. They’ll hear.”
“Let them fucking hear.”
“Oh, they can hear.” A deep, amused voice floated into the room. Cam whipped around to see Holt leaning on the doorjamb. Smirking. “It sounds like you’re wrestling with a walrus in here.”
“God.” Kristi buried her face in his chest.
“Don’t worry, Kris,” Holt chirped. “They don’t know what you two are up to. They sent me to find out what the ruckus was.” He glanced at Cam. “But really? In the pantry?”
“It was private.”
“Apparently not private enough. Come along you two. Let’s join the others. And do try to behave.” He leaned closer and hissed, “Try not to fuck on the table while we’re eating.”
Kristi smacked his shoulder as she passed, quickly ducking from the room, her cheeks ablaze.
And thank God. Because if she hadn’t hit Holt, Cam was going to for sure.
It bugged him that Kristi deliberately took the seat across and down the table from him at lunch. He’d had it in mind to toy with her the way he had the night before. Hell, she wouldn’t even meet his eye. So he focused on Bella instead.
He’d never had the sense that Bella had a thing for him. In all the years he’d known her, she’d never flirted with him. And she didn’t clam up around him, the way some women did when they had a crush. If there was anyone around the table Bella wasn’t paying any attention to—like at all—it was Holt. She didn’t so much as crack a smile at his jokes.
The whole thing baffled him, but he was determined to figure it out. He couldn’t let this thing with Kristi just…end. Not before it even really started. The very thought gave him cold chills. He’d wanted her, dreamed about her, fantasized about her for so long, but that had been nothing compared to the reality. And now, now that he’d had her, he wasn’t letting her go. He couldn’t.
Drew reached across in front of him grabbing another taco from the platter, interrupting his gloomy reverie. “So Kristi,” he said, shoveling some chips into his mouth, “how’s everything in the shop?”
Kristi glanced up. Her gaze, on its way to Andrew, clashed with Cam’s. He took the opportunity to send her a speaking look. It said: I want you. She got the message. A blush crept up her cheeks. “It’s, um, fine.”
“And Lucy? How’s she doing? I hardly ever see the two of you anymore.”
Holt grinned. “Why isn’t she here this weekend too?” Holt was an evil bastard. He knew damned well why. This was Lane’s weekend. After that last blow up, he and Lucy had agreed to share the house the way other couples shared their kids. One weekend at a time. Always separate. It was better for everyone.
Kristi took a sip of her water. “One of us has to stay at the store. Besides, she has a date tonight.”
It was comical the way Lane’s head snapped up at that. The clack of his teeth was audible. He swore beneath his breath. A muscle in his cheek bunched. “A date? What kind of date?”
“Oh, you know.” Kristi shrugged. “The kind of date where a nice, successful guy with an awesome job picks you up at seven and takes you out for a romantic dinner. Maybe a little dancing. A walk on the beach. And then afterwards…” She fluttered her lashes. “Well, you know what happens afterwards.”
Yeah, Kristi could be a little evil too.
Lane hopped up, stormed to the fridge and pulled out a beer. He popped it open, took a long draw and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “So who is this nice successful guy with an awesome job?” Holy shit. Was that really a snarl? From laidback, easygoing Lane?
“A customer. Pretty cute too.”
“Cute?” Cassie leaned fo
rward. “Do tell.”
“You know. Tall. Dark. Supremely good-looking.” Kristi sighed hugely, focusing all her attention on Lane.
Cam bit back his snicker. Definitely evil.
Lane grimaced. “Is it serious?”
Kristi sighed. “Lane. It’s a date. It’s dinner. I didn’t mean to infer anything more was—”
“Maybe I should stop by. Check this dude out. Who knows what his real motives are.”
“Dating a scorching hot chick with bags of cash?” This from Drew. His smirk wilted in the face of Lane’s fierce glower.
“Are you saying my ex is a hot chick?” A growl.
“She is beautiful.” Cassie said in a soothing voice. She set her hand on Lane’s arm. “Calm down. You and Lucy are divorced. It’s been over a year. It’s only natural for the two of you to start dating again.”
Holt grinned. “And aren’t you seeing that… What’s her name?” He snapped his fingers several times. “Chesty McChesterson?”
“Delilah.” Lane crossed his arms over his chest.
“Right. Delilah. No man tapping that well has a right to complain he’s thirsty.”
A laugh bubbled in Cam’s throat. “Tapping that well?”
Holt shrugged. “What can I say? When I think of Delilah’s boobs, I just wax poetic-like.”
Drew’s gray eyes took on a mischievous light. “She is blessed.”
“Oh, right,” Bella wrinkled her nose. “As if those were a gift from God.”
“I know!” Cassie dropped her voice to a whisper, the way women did when they were about to dish the dirt. “Did you see the way they poked up in her bikini? All that weight and they just hovered there like she had some kind of anti-gravity device in her bra?”
Kristi shook her head. “Totally not natural.”
“Totally,” Bella grunted.
Lane frowned at them and upended his beer. “Well, I don’t care if they’re natural or not. I like them. I like her. She’s fun to be around and she doesn’t nag me and she doesn’t go all prickly when I talk to another woman.”
“Really, Lane?” Bella quirked a brow. “Using that word to describe Lucy? Because when I hear prickly in the context of you and other women, Lucy’s not the one who comes to mind.”
“Whoa! Score.” Drew stood to high-five Bella as hoots and hollers rounded the table. The reason their favorite couple had split was hardly a secret. Everyone knew.
Lane sat back, chastened. He scrubbed his brow with his palm. “I probably should stop by and see how she’s doing.”
“She’s fine, Lane,” Kristi said. “She’s just moving on, that’s all.”
A stricken look crossed his face. “Moving on?”
“It has to happen.”
“I know. But it’s weird. We’ve been together since…forever. It’s just…weird.”
“Well, come by the shop next week. Say hi. I know things got kind of choppy during the divorce, what with the lawyers and all—”
“What did she tell you?”
Kristi threw up her hands. “We’re housemates, Lane. We own a shop together. She told me everything.”
“Everything?”
Kristi pinned him with a sharp gaze and mouthed the word, “Everything.”
“Shit.”
“My point is, there’s no reason you two can’t still be cordial. None of us want to have to choose between you. So you should at least man up and try to get along. You know, for the sake of us kids.”
He scowled. “Did you tell her that?”
“She doesn’t have anything against you. You’re the one who’s bitter about it.”
Lane shot to his feet. “She divorced me.”
Kristi mimicked his action, facing him, taking him on, toe to toe. “You fucked her cousin!”
Silence crackled through the room, turning on spits of tension.
“See, I’ve been wondering about that.” Drew, as usual, forged into the cavernous breach with an attempt at humor. “Was it the crazy cousin, or the one with the lisp? What?” He glanced around the table as everyone tossed balled up napkins at him. “I was just wondering. Because nobody ever said.”
“Aw, fuck off,” Lane muttered, though the words held no heat. He stormed down the hall to his room and closed the door. But he closed it very, very gently.
“Well,” Cam said. “That was interesting.” He could tell the encounter had upset Kristi. He longed to pull her into his arms and hold her. He loved that she was courageous enough to stand up to Lane, but it had taken every ounce of self-control not to leap to her defense.
“Do you think he still has feelings for her?” Cassie asked.
Bella nodded. “He must. That wasn’t your typical gay divorcee reaction.”
“He’s gay?” Yup. Drew again. Everyone was out of napkins, so they threw empty pop cans. As one, they all rose and left the table. “Hey! Where are you going?” Drew called as they tromped out onto the deck. “I’m not going to clean this up!”
But he was. He knew he was.
Last one to leave the table cleaned up the mess.
That was the rule.
Especially when he was the one who got “showered.”
That was why Cam made it a point to never be the last to leave the table.
He shot Drew an evil grin as he made his escape.
Chapter Seven
After lunch they went down to the beach and the girls hunted for driftwood while Holt and Cam pulled the kayaks out of the boathouse. It was a beautiful spring day, but still far too cold to go swimming. Drew joined them, grumbling about being left with the mess.
Holt turned to Cam as he handed out the life vests. “You coming?”
Cam’s gaze swung to the dock where Bella sat, soaking in the rare shafts of sun, reading a book. “Nah. I think I’ll just hang out.” Kristi shot him a frown and he quirked a brow in response. She looked adorable with the orange vest nudging her chin, but he was bound and determined to talk to her sister, no matter how nervous she was about it. “You all have fun. I think the whales are out.”
Cassie nodded, “We saw one this morning. I wish I brought my camera.”
They all piled in the kayaks—Holt and Kristi in one and Cassie and Drew in the other—and even though Holt and Kristi were in the same boat, Cam didn’t care. He had business to take care of and this would probably be his only opportunity to get Bella alone. He watched as they paddled past the gentle surf into the open water. Drawing in a deep breath, he turned and headed for the dock.
It was a floater, anchored to the shore by pylons sunk into the sand. It swayed a little as he walked to where Bella sat at the end. She glanced up as he took the lounge chair next to her. But he didn’t lounge. He perched on the side, and studied her until her face puckered up.
“What?”
“Can we talk?”
She dropped her book onto her chest. “Sure.”
Crap. He should have planned this better. He didn’t know what to say. He decided to just dive in. “I was just wondering how long?”
She shook her head. “How long? How long what?”
“How long have you had a thing for me?”
Her mouth fell open. She gaped at him. “Wh-what?”
“You know. How long have you had this crush on me?”
She sat up then, facing him, knee to knee. “What makes you think I have a crush on you?”
“You don’t?”
Her snort was a dead giveaway. That and her laugh.
Really? Was the prospect so hilarious?
“Cam Jackson, you are so full of yourself.”
He put out a lip. “I am not. It’s just, Kristi said—”
“Kristi said what? What? What did Kristi say?”
“You know.” He raked his fingers through his hair all the way to his nape.
“Uh, no. I don’t know.”
“She said we couldn’t…”
“Couldn’t what?”
“Continue.” There. Surely that was clear eno
ugh.
“Continue?” Hell. Apparently not. “Continue what?”
“Our…” He made a motion that should have been more than illustrative. She blinked. Like an owl. “You know. Our thing. Because you had these feelings and she didn’t want to hurt you.”
Why this annoyed Bella, Cam had no clue. “Are you serious?” She leaped to her feet and stormed to the edge of the dock and stared out at the kayaks in the distance. “She told you?” And then she spun around. “Wait. She said she couldn’t continue her thing with you…or her thing with Holt?”
Now he bounced up. “She doesn’t have a thing with Holt.” At least she’d better not. “Did she say she had a thing with Holt?” Unease trickled through him. Kristi told him there was nothing. She’d convinced him there was nothing. Had she been telling the truth, or just playing him? No. He couldn’t bear that thought—
“I saw them kissing last night.”
Oh. That. His tension released.
“I saw them, Cam.” Bitterness bubbled in her voice. “Why does it always work out like that? Why do they always fall for her? Am I not pretty?”
Aw, shit. Tears. He hated tears.
“You’re very pretty. Really Bella, any guy would be lucky to have you.” Based on her expression, she wasn’t buying it. He decided to get to the point. “What you saw last night? It’s not what you think it was.”
“My sister? In a passionate embrace with the man I—with a man?” She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him. “What else could it be?” Bella froze. “Wait… You said she didn’t want to continue this affair with you because I had a thing for you? Is she fucking you both?” she asked gloomily.
“No.” In fact, hell to the no. “It’s Kristi and me. Not Holt. At all. Like even a little bit. Not ever. Never.” He emphasized this point with a slash of his hand and then added a couple more “evers” just for good measure.
“She’s having an affair with you?” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you—are you sure?”
“Yup. Pretty sure.” Pretty damn fucking sure.
“So you’re the one she was with all last night?”
“All night long.” Holt probably spent the night in his room nursing a bruised jaw. “He did kiss her, but only to test the waters. She told him to get lost.” Or at least, something like that.
