by Tonya Clark
I hold her as she comes down from her release. Our bodies both moist, her head is laying on my shoulder.
“I like it so much more being exhausted like this, than not sleeping because we are fighting,” I hear her whisper into my ear.
I laugh. “I agree. You ready for a morning nap?”
I feel her head nod against my shoulder. I gently slide from her, then stand up. “Which way?”
“Down the hall, the door at the end,” she answers so low I almost don’t hear her.
By the time I lay her down, she is asleep. When I lay down next to her, she turns herself over and lays her head on my chest, her leg over mine. It feels natural, like we have slept like this every night. I have a feeling my bed is going to feel empty from now on.
Chapter 20
Jayden
I have no idea what time it is, and I don’t care. If I could stay all day in this bed with Cameron wrapped around me or maybe in me, I would. I smile to myself.
“I’m hungry,” his deep voice vibrates in his chest against my cheek.
“I’m still sleeping.”
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to wake up. You snore!”
I slap his chest, rolling off of him. “I don’t snore.”
Grabbing me around my waist, he pulls me back, my back now against his chest, his hardness pressing against my backside. “I hate to tell you, but yes you do,” he whispers in my ear.
His hips move against mine. “Are you hungry or not?” I ask, smiling to myself. Yes, definitely could stay here all day with this man inside of me.
The pulse in my center starts to wake up. My nipples harden, and my core heats up instantly.
“Food was sounding good earlier, but right now I have a hunger for you,” he whispers in my ear. The soft touch of his breath in my ear sends tingles throughout my body.
I turn myself around so that I am facing him, taking his hardness into my hand. I stroke down then up the entire length slowly, running my finger over his tip, spreading the beaded moisture around. I barely touch him, and I hear his moan, his hips thrusting up begging for my touch.
“Do I snore?” I tease him with circling my finger around his tip. I hear his sharp intake of breath and smile to myself.
Before I can react, I am flipped over onto my back, Cameron’s body covering mine, his hardness pressing into my center. He kisses me deeply, my hips thrusting up trying to get him inside of me.
“You snore, and it’s not a cute snore,” he says, smiling, and then enters me in one deep thrust. My back arches up off bed, taking him as deep as I can.
“No more sleepovers then. I wouldn’t want to keep you awake all night with my snoring.”
He pulls out and then thrusts deep back in again, my eyes never leaving his.
“Jay, as long as you wake up like this, I’ll manage through the snoring.”
I slap him against the chest and he laughs at me, which vibrates through my whole body, doing amazing things to my core. I hear myself moan. Cameron’s lips claim mine and together we find our release.
“It’s almost three in the afternoon. I need food, Jayden.”
I must have fallen back to sleep again, Cameron’s request for food wakes me up. “Three in the afternoon, really?”
“Yes, and as much as I would like to lay here and repeat activities from earlier, I need food. We skipped last night and the food I brought this morning is still sitting in the living room and not sounding as good as it did earlier today.”
“What would you like to eat?” Problem is I haven’t been shopping and I have no idea what I can make. I wasn’t expecting company.
“Why don’t we grab a quick shower and I’ll take you out to an early dinner. Jacob texted me earlier and told me he is staying at Tyler’s house tonight. So, we can come back here afterwards and use the spa you told me you have.”
“You mentioning the spa is giving me ideas that do not include getting up right now and taking a shower and going anywhere.”
Cameron smacks me on the backside and jumps out of bed. “Get up, woman, I need food, you need food, then we will come back and start up on whatever lit up your eyes talking about the spa.”
I watch as he walks into the bathroom as though he has been in there many times before. I hear the water go on. Quickly I get up and follow him, joining him in the shower.
“What are you doing?” he asks as he runs my shampoo through his hair.
“Taking a shower.” I rub my body up against his.
“We need food. I need food. You doing this isn’t helping with getting us out of here and to a food establishment.”
I pout up at him. “Are you telling me no?”
He finishes rinsing off. I watch as his muscles flex with each of his movements. How can I need him again? I run my hands down his chest. Before I know what’s happened, my arms are pinned above my head and my back is against the wall, Cameron’s body pressed hard against mine. He takes my lips in a kiss of pure hunger, and not for food.
His lips move along my jawline up to my ear. “As much as I would love to take you right here up against the wall with the water cascading over your very tempting body, I’ll have to restrain myself and settle for food.”
Before I can respond, he shoves away from me, leaving me alone in the shower, using my towel to wrap around his waist.
“Hey, that’s my towel.”
Before leaving the bathroom, he looks back at me. “You didn’t grab me one. This one was free.” He gives me that cocky smile he gave me the first day we met in the principal’s office, the one that almost knocked me onto my butt. “Now hurry up or I’ll go without you.” Turning, he leaves the bathroom.
We pick a small little diner we all like to eat at that has the best chili fries. Travis’s sister had brought Charliee here a while back and she got me hooked. I don’t realize how hungry I am until my chili fries are placed in front of me. It’s usually enough for two, but I am handling them pretty good on my own.
“Are you still coming down to Texas with me this weekend?” Cameron asks in between bites of his cheeseburger.
“As long as you still want me to go.”
“I bought the tickets already so yes, I still want you to go. I just didn’t know since everything last night.”
“Cameron, I think we both just need to talk more. That will keep last night from happening again.”
“I’m not the best at all of that, especially at first. I told you I need to sort things out in my own head first.”
Nodding, I know this all now. That’s what I meant when I said we needed to talk. Maybe I should say we need get to know each other more. “I know, and I understand, but that’s what I meant. We need to just learn a little more about each other. I’m sure last night won’t be our last argument, but hopefully there will be less of them.”
“We will be meeting up with Steve and his wife Saturday night for dinner.”
I know Steve is the guy who works with Cameron down in Texas, but that is really all I know. “That’s fine, I’d like to meet him. I know you have a lot going on this weekend, I’m going along to help with whatever I can.”
The waitress stops by and sets our check down. “Thank you for coming in. Have a good evening. You can pay up front on your way out.”
“If you are ready to go, we can go back to your place and try out that spa.”
“After what you did to me in the shower, I think you should go home and sleep alone.”
Cameron reaches across and grabs my hand, running his fingers over the inside of my palm. Damn him. “Do you really want me to go home alone?”
I feel the tingle from my palm straight to my core. My body temperature rises quickly, and from the look in his eyes he knows what an effect he is having on me. No one is going home alone tonight!
****
We land in Texas around two in the afternoon. We grab a cab and go straight to Cameron’s house.
“It will probably be a little stuffy, sorry,” Cameron explains, as he unlocks his front door.
He is cute being all worried what I am going to think of his home. “Cameron, stop worrying how the house may look.”
He opens the door and stands aside so that I can enter first. Just what I thought, a clean freak. It isn’t fancy, but it is a guy’s place, I wasn’t expecting fancy décor. Nice furniture, some pictures on the wall, the simple stuff. It screams Cameron, though. I am impressed.
“You should really dust more often.” I turn and smile up at him, teasing him.
Rolling his eyes, he walks past me with my bag. “Get out of my way, or you can carry your own bag.”
Laughing, I move to the side and then follow him into his room. This room, just like the rest of the house, is clean, the bed made.
“What are you going to do with all of your furniture since your parents’ house is already furnished?”
He looks around then shrugs his shoulders. “Honestly, I have no idea. I’m not sure if I even want to stay in my parents’ house, but until Jacob graduates I’m thinking to just get a storage unit for all of it.”
“Why not just keep your parents’ house?”
“I’m not sure what to do with it, to be honest. I don’t think I can change their bedroom, Jacob will be going to college, why do I need something that big? I thought about selling it and getting something else since Jacob will be going off to college.”
“What if Jacob decides to go to a local college?”
Again, Cameron shrugs. “I haven’t thought much past getting all of my stuff moved back to Washington, and this place up for sale. Jacob will always have a place with me if he wants it. If we sell the house, he might want a small place of his own. We’ll figure all of that out.”
The smile is gone. He is pulling back again. He usually does when conversations have anything to do with his parents. It is fine, I’m not going to push anything this weekend. He has a lot to do and worry about in the very short time we are here. We are leaving early Tuesday morning to start heading back to Washington. The drive will take us the rest of the week to get home. We will have plenty of time on that trip to talk.
“What time did you say we were going to dinner tonight?”
“We are meeting them at six.” Cameron looks relieved the conversation has changed.
I kick off my shoes and close the space in between us and unbutton the fly of his jeans. “I think I have a pretty good idea of how to spend our time until then if you would like to hear it.”
“I believe I like the way your mind is working, Ms. Edwards.”
Chapter 21
Cameron
“So, Steve, there’s no way to repay you for everything you have done with finishing everything since I have been in Washington.” I look across the table to the man who is tough as nails and would swear he blushed a little. His wife, Carol, just sits there beaming at him. You can see her pride through her eyes.
“Cameron, I wish there was more I could have done to take some of the load off your shoulders. I only met your mom a couple of times, but she was a very nice woman. Your dad was a great guy. I’m sorry for you boys’ loss.” Steve looks a little choked up as he speaks.
My chest tightens for a moment, but I almost lose it completely when Steve looks straight at me and adds, “Your parents would be proud of how well you have done through all of this. I know I’m proud of you.”
It feels like a punch to my chest; my breath catches in my throat. Jayden’s hand is resting on my thigh and she squeezes it. I grab her hand under the table and squeeze. It helps.
“Thank you, Steve, that means a lot.”
It is quiet around the table for a moment. Then Steve clears his throat. “I hope I’m not pushing you, so please don’t take this that way, but are you coming back down or what’s happening with this side of the company?”
I see a little fear in his face. Steve is worried that I’m not coming back and am going to close this side of things. Now I feel bad that I waited until now to talk to him. He has probably been worrying about this for a while.
“Steve, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about actually. I’m sure you know my brother has one more year of high school. I couldn’t pull him away his senior year, so I have decided to move back to Washington.”
I see Carol’s shoulders slump a little and her eyes well up with tears. Steve just nods. “Cameron, I figured that you would. It’s what needs to be done. I understand.”
“Actually, I don’t think you do. I have, or should I say we have worked so hard to build this side of the business down here. We have projects lined up. I actually wanted to offer you a partnership with me. You run Texas and I run Washington. We continue to build Tovaren Construction in both states.”
Carol’s smile can’t get any bigger and the sad tears from earlier now spring from her eyes, but they are no longer sad tears, they are happy tears. Steve keeps looking around, like he is expecting someone to say “Gotcha” or something.
“Cameron, as much as I appreciate the offer, there is no way I could buy into half of this company. I don’t have that kind of money.”
“Steve, you aren’t needing to buy anything. I’m asking that you take my spot down here. We can talk all the shop talk later, I just need to know if you are interested. I don’t want to lose this side of things; you and I have worked hard, and I don’t want to see that all go to waste. I know you can handle all of this, we can even look into hiring someone if you think you need the help.”
“Hell yeah, I’m interested,” he yells a little louder than is needed inside a restaurant. The tables around us all look, giving us curious glances.
Again, it’s the good ol’ cowboy, and I wouldn’t change a thing about him. “That’s the answer I was hoping you would give me. Monday before the inspection, we will meet and talk everything over. For now, let’s enjoy the rest of this dinner and our ladies.”
The rest of the evening goes great. We spend the entire evening with Steve telling Jayden stories about me. It is almost like a father meeting the son’s girlfriend for the first time. It is a great night and for the first time in a while, I feel completely relaxed. Things feel like they are finally getting back to as normal as it is going to get, I think. Since the news of my parents, tonight is the first time I am ready to start looking forward again.
I look over to the passenger seat, Jayden is asleep. Asleep, her feisty side looks innocent, I think to myself. I know all of this hasn’t been easy on her. Not only did she almost lose her best friend, but then she met me. I push a piece of hair off her face. Things with me haven’t been easy, I know. Why she has stayed around is beyond me. In each of our arguments, I did see challenge in her eyes, that was one thing that drew me to her. She gave me that look in the principal’s office that first day we met, I think she hooked me from that moment.
After tonight and talking with Steve, knowing he is all on board with my plans of him taking over down here in Texas, I realize it is time to move on with our lives, Jacob’s and mine. Our parents would want us to. I know this is going to be easier said than done but it is time. I am ready to work harder on this thing between Jayden and me. My parents would have loved her. My mom always said it was going to take a feisty woman who would challenge me and not take my crap to tie me down. Maybe not in those exact words, but it meant all the same. Jayden definitely did all of that. There is a very insecure side to her, however.
“Hey, are we back at your place?”
I didn’t realize she had woken up. “Yeah, we are.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“It’s no big deal, just means you’re comfortable. I’m good with that.” I smile at her.
Jayden smiles back, she looks like she could easily fall back to sleep. It has been a long day.
“Let’s go inside and get you in bed.”
I think she tries to give me her sexy
smile, but she isn’t pulling it off with those sleepy eyes.
“Come on, beautiful, let’s go in and get some sleep.” Laughing, I get out and round the truck to her side. She hasn’t even moved to take off her seatbelt I notice when I open her door.
I reach across and unbuckle her and pick her up out of the truck.
“I can walk.”
“You can, but you hadn’t even taken your seat belt off yet, you’re tired. If I wait for you, we will be out here all night. I don’t know about you, but I would rather sleep in the bed tonight, and I’m not talking about the truck bed.
“Ha ha.” She doesn’t fight me, though. Instead, she lays her head down against my shoulder.
Walking straight back to my room, I lay her down on my bed. “Do you want me to change you, too?” I start to pull her boots off.
Sitting up, her second boot falls to the floor. “As much as I’d love to allow you to finish this job, I think tonight I’m going to have to pass.”
Laughing at her pouty face, I grab her hands and pull her up onto her feet. “Get changed and we’ll go to bed.” I watch as she grabs some of her stuff and disappears into my bathroom.
The constant ringing of my doorbell wakes me up. Picking up my phone off the nightstand, it is about nine-thirty in the morning. I am surprised I slept in this long. Six-thirty, maybe seven is the usual for me. Looking over at Jayden, I realize how relaxed I feel. That is until the doorbell starts ringing again. I quickly get out of bed, pulling on my jeans as I walk down the hall.
Who the heck even knows I am home? Opening the door, I hear myself groan. “Candice.”
“It’s about time you answered the door. What took so long?”
What had I seen in this woman? She looks up at me like she is waiting for me to move, but I keep my stance, my arms stretched out across the doorway casually.
“I was asleep, what can I do for you?”
“Why aren’t you letting me in? Aren’t you happy to see me?” She places her hand on my bare stomach, but I step away from her touch.
