Duke turned and gaped at his brother.
“Yeah, I know. I asked, and Nelson said the kid’s full name is Edward Thomas Harold…”
“Andrew Noel,” Duke finished automatically.
“Yeah, it’s quite a mouthful and his last name is Anderson. Look, Duke, I don’t know what is going on, because nobody tells me anything. I do know that I don’t care. I have loved that girl for as long as I can remember. When she left, she broke something in me that had never healed. Now that she is back, Duke, I don’t think I will ever be able to let her go. So, I don’t care who fathered her kid. I don’t want to know, and I’m not going to ask,” Jake solemnly but firmly said. Duke knew Jake meant every word he said, and he agreed with those exact sentiments, which was the one of the things Duke liked about Jake. His brother said what he was feeling and what was on his mind. There was no sugarcoating anything with Jake.
The returning silence was welcomed as Duke thought about what his brother Jake had said. He knew what he was talking about when Jake said Cami accidently broke something in him when she left. He also agreed that there was no way he was letting her go again. As for the kid, Duke didn’t mind. Yet something was nagging him about the kid’s name. It was then he remembered.
The sun was sweltering over the bayou as he and Cami lay on the blanket under the Weeping Willow tree. They were well into their summer vacation, and tomorrow, he and his family were heading off for a road trip to Yellowstone National Park. It was the Masterson yearly summer vacation, which generally meant five long, hot, and sweaty days riding across the United States, listening to his mom and dad sing as they tortured him.
He was not looking forward to the trip.
“So when do you leave?” Her sweet voice permeated the sounds of the bayou. He smiled instantly.
“Tomorrow,” he replied. “I would rather stay here with you.”
“But you’ll only be gone for a week, Duke. I am sure you will have a good time. And think of all the stories you can tell me when you come home.”
“Yeah, but you won’t be there,” he sighed.
She turned to him and smiled. “I’ll be there in spirit.”
“You know what I wish, Cami? I wish you could go with me,” he said sincerely.
“My parents would never allow it,” she replied.
“They couldn’t stop you if you married me,” he whispered, watching and waiting for her response. When she grinned at him, he let out a huff of breath.
“Then we could go everywhere together!” she exclaimed in delight, then giggled.
“And no one could stop us!” he shouted, laughing with her.
Gasping for air, she added, “Oh, Duke. That would be wonderful. We could get a big house and live near Momma and Daddy. Your brothers could stay with us, and I could take care of them and you. We would be so happy. I promise I’d do all the cooking and cleaning, but you are gonna have to take out the trash. Daddy says that’s the man’s job. And I’ll take care of the baby, while you work hard on your paper route.”
“You better have a son. My brothers and I only like one girl.”
“Okay, and I’ll name him Edward Thomas Harold Andrew Noel Masterson.”
“Wow, Cami, that’s a really long name.”
“I know, but between you and your brothers, I could never choose. So I figured if I combine all y’all’s middle names, we can call him Ethan.”
“I like that…Ethan Masterson.” He softly said the name, tasting it on his lips. The name made his heart do funny flip-flops in his chest. Yep, being married to Cami was going to be just great.
“Hey, you two!” his brother Richard yelled from across the bayou. “The moms are hoppin’ mad. They said you if two don’t get home quick, they are gonna take a switch to your behinds!”
Grumbling, Duke rose from the blanket and helped Cami up. She looked so pretty today in her braided hair and summer dress. He couldn’t wait to tell his mom that he was gonna marry Cami. Maybe then, she would talk to her momma and Cami could go with them.
Running hand in hand back to their house, Duke needed to find his mom. He quickly dropped Cami off at her house, then ran across the street, entered his house, and shouted, “Mom, where are you?”
“In the kitchen, darling,” he heard her reply.
Dropping the blanket, he marched into the busy kitchen, a man on a mission. Everyone was gathered around the table. His brothers were already digging into their food, and his father looked up and scowled. Not wanting to wait a second longer, Duke just blurted everything out. “Mom, Dad…I asked Cami to marry me and she said okay. Since she’s gonna be my wife, I want her to go on the trip tomorrow with us.”
His brothers stopped eating and stared at him as if he had grown a second head. His father grinned, then coughed. “Sit down, son. Your dinner is getting cold.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m gonna marry Cami. Can she please go with us, Mom? I’ll help take care of her. She won’t be a problem, I promise,” he pleaded, looking at his mother, who smiled at him.
“Duke, you are going to make some young lady a wonderful husband, and if that lucky lady happens to be Cami Anderson, then, sweetheart, you are the lucky one. However, don’t you think you ought to wait until you’re at least a little older? From the way I understand it, you have to be at least thirteen to marry in this parish. Since you’re only eleven, I think you should wait.”
“But I’ll be twelve next month. Richard is gonna be thirteen soon. He can marry her, and then she can go with us,”
“I don’t want to get married. Besides Cami is one of us. Who would want to marry her?” Richard chimed in. Duke turned to his brother and growled. Before his mother could catch him, he launched himself at Richard and started hitting him. The table was in ruins, dinner was all over the floor, and he was being ripped off his brother before he knew what he had done. Looking up at his father, he cringed when he saw the anger in his eyes. His mother looked sadly at him, and his brothers all shook their heads.
He had done it again. He had lost his temper, and this time, Cami wasn’t around to save him.
* * * *
She was warm and comfortable. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep on the cold, hard ground, her body wracked with shivers. How could she be warm? Had she frozen to death and was now basking the heavenly warmth of the Lord Almighty? Oh God, she couldn’t be dead, could she? That would just be the icing on the cake. Stranded in the middle of nowhere, her son without his mother, while a two-timing ass-hat looked for him. Yep, being dead was not an option.
She refused to be dead.
She didn’t have time for dead.
She needed to open her eyes and keep moving. The consequences of failing now were unthinkable, and she refused to let that lowlife, cheating-bastard get his hands on her son. Nope, death was nothing compared to the alternative.
Mustering all the energy she could, she tried to open her eyes. Her eyelids were heavy, but when they twitched and opened, she sighed in relief.
She wasn’t dead.
Oh, thank God!
The room bathed in a soft glow from the small fire, flickering in the fireplace. She turned her head and watched as the fire crackled and sparked. It had been years, since she seen a fire burn. She loved fireplaces. She had one in her home when she was a small girl, and every Christmas, her mom would light the fire, turn out all the lights, and together they would sit there and stare at the fire as it burned.
Cami missed her mom. She would know what to do. She always knew. Every time Cami had a problem, she would talk to her, and together, they would find a solution. Only she wasn’t alive. This time, she had to figure out the solution by herself. Only, it wasn’t just her anymore. She had Ethan. He needed her. He needed her to get them out of this mess. The alternative wasn’t plausible. She didn’t have the luxury of talking it out with her mother. She got them into this mess, and she needed to figure out how to get them out of it.
First, she needed to get out of bed
.
Her body ached. She didn’t realize how tired she had become. She was thankful for the warm bed, but now that she was aware she was no longer in the barn, freezing, she knew she had a new set of problems. Someone found her, and she prayed she could get out before he or she knew she was gone, right after she found her son.
Flipping back the covers, she sighed when she saw that she was still fully clothed. Moving slowly, she swung her feet over the side of the bed. Her shoes, where were her shoes? Scanning the room, she found them lying next to a dresser, neatly placed next to a pair of large work boots.
Crap! A man found her. She didn’t need the hassle of explaining her situation to another man. Women were more understanding. Men tended to take control and insist. She didn’t know if she had the strength to tell another man that she was capable of handling her problems on her own. Of course, she knew it would sound and look better if she wasn’t hungry and scared.
Put a wilting female within a fifty-mile radius of any male, and that male felt obligated to step in and take over. Her son was that way. Though she thought it was endearing on him, it was annoying as hell on all the others. Regardless, she needed to find her son and get the hell out of here before the male owner knew she was awake.
After putting on her shoes, Cami walked down the long hallway and into the living room and found four men sat quietly watching television.
She was screwed. Sighing softly, she tried not to alert them, but when she went to take a step back, she bumped into the wall and they all turned. The moment their eyes met, her whole world sped back to a time she had long forgotten about.
There were five of them. They were all good-looking, muscular, tall as trees, and her very best friends. There wasn’t a single childhood memory without them in it. Up until two months before her eighteenth birthday, her whole world revolved around them, and then one day, it all ended. One day, she was blissfully happy and the next, her parents whisked her away in the middle of the night and her life was forever changed.
It was during that dark time in her life that she chose to forget and live in a fantasy world, well, until Ethan was born. Then her reality began. The instant her father placed him in her arms, everything became clear, so crystal clear. In that moment, she embarked on the biggest journey of her life. Then, her father introduced her to Jacques Boudreaux, and everything she planned and wanted to do flew out the window.
For the last seven years, she lived a shadow life. Hidden behind the man who she thought was her husband. The man was nothing, just a living, breathing corpse. The only good that came of her time with him was that he left her alone, leaving her to raise her son as she saw fit. That was until two months ago, when she saw him for what he really was.
Blinking quickly, she remembered what brought her to this place in time, and before she could stop herself, she began to panic. Her breathing increased rapidly, sweat beaded on her forehead, and her legs felt like cement. Gasping for air, she felt as if someone had wrapped their hands around her throat and was cutting off all the air in her body. Spots began forming in front of her face. She couldn’t do this to them. They had their own lives. They didn’t need her problems. She had made a mistake. She needed to get Ethan and leave.
“Breathe, Cami.” Levi’s soothing voice penetrated the chaos in her mind.
“Take a deep breath, dollface,” Jake whispered, rubbing her back.
“It’s all right sweetheart, you’re safe,” Duke added as his warm hands gently circled her back.
“Come on, let’s go sit down, and Levi will get you a glass of water,” Nelson added, taking her hand, ushering her toward the couches.
“Why can’t you go get it?” Levi argued.
“Because you’re the youngest,” Nelson replied.
“Well, I got to her first,” Levi countered.
“Both of you knock it off,” Jake sighed.
“He started it by ordering me around like I was his lackey,” Levi complained.
She craned her neck to look at them, and before she could utter a word, she laughed. Oh, she hadn’t laughed in so long, it felt wonderful. Releasing all of the tension she had just felt seconds ago, she didn’t care that they thought she was crazy. For the first time in months, she felt as if time rewound itself and she was once again in a safe place. “I’m sorry.” She hiccupped, trying to control her emotions. “But I really needed that. You guys haven’t changed one bit, have you?”
“Well, I don’t know about them, but I did get handsomer.” Jake grinned.
“You got uglier and you know it. If anyone got better-looking, it was me,” Nelson countered.
“You look the same as you did twelve years ago, asshole,” Jake replied.
“Call me asshole one more time…”
“Cami,” Duke muttered, and she turned to look up at him. Caring, gentle gray eyes pleaded with her to listen to them. Her knees began knocking, her heart skipped a beat, and when he smiled at her, her face heated. God, would she ever get over their magnetic pull? From the moment her mother set up the first playdate, she was a goner. Apparently, nothing had changed after all these years.
Duke bent his arm and held it out to her, as if he wanted the pleasure of escorting her into the grand ball. Manners, it was nice to see men with manners and not trying to put a bullet in her head. “Let me help you, love.”
Smiling she put her hand in the crook of his arm.
He placed his other hand over hers. His hand covered hers completely. Warm and soft, his hand wasn’t that of a rancher, yet he dressed in a red plaid shirt with dark Wranglers and wore boots. His dirty-brown hair curled at his collar. Eyes the color of slate looked kindly at her, yet there was a longing, a sadness somewhere hidden in their depths. When he smiled, she saw a lone dimple and her heart melted, and just like all the other times before, her body came alive.
This was not good. She needed to get ahold of her emotions. Her hormones were running amok. She wasn’t a naïve little girl anymore. She was a mother with a twelve-year-old boy who lay sleeping not five feet from her. She needed to get control of herself and get out of this place before she went and started spilling her guts.
“Thank you,” she whispered, blushing, as his finger gently skimmed along the underside of her wrist, sending shockwaves straight to her pussy. She tried to remove her hand, but his fingers tightened. He wasn’t hurting her, but for some nefarious reason, she felt he wasn’t quite ready to let her go. He stared at her, quietly watching. He stepped closer, and she tilted her head back to look up at him. She only came to his chest, and what a chest it was. He was broader and more muscular than she remembered. His scent enveloped her. He smelled wild and untamed, like a raging thunderstorm.
He whispered huskily, his voice lowering an octave, “I missed you, so much.”
Her knees trembled.
Frozen before him, she couldn’t move. Staring into his eyes, she felt herself falling into an abyss. The room faded, and it was just the two of them.
His hand released hers and moved up her arms. Goose bumps tingled all over her body.
He never looked away. She felt entranced, blanketed within his gaze. She was safe. His fingers lightly touched her neck until they gently cupped her face. With exquisite gentleness, he lowered his face to hers. She had never felt such reverence, such intimacy before. There was familiarity, a closeness she never had with anyone. Gazing into his eyes, she saw understanding and love.
He lowered his lips to hers. They lightly touched in a soft, intimate kiss. She pulled away and once again stared him in the eye. He lowered his lips to hers again, but this time, the soft, tender kiss gave way to one more powerful, one more urgent and intense. Her lips parted, and she felt his tongue dance across her lips like a soft waltz.
Their tongues tangoed with each other as his lips meshed against hers in one soft, warm, wet living thing. She felt so alive at that moment, as wonderfully fulfilled as a woman could, for the first time in her life.
Her hands roved over his
body. She stroked and squeezed his chest and arm muscles, eventually wrapping around his neck. She gasped when he lifted her off her feet, his arms holding her tightly around the waist, and he deepened the kiss.
Oh boy!
* * * *
Levi grumbled as he returned, with a glass of water and some sandwiches that he hurriedly threw together thinking she might be hungry, to find his brother with his hand in the cookie jar. When he cleared his throat, Duke and Cami jumped apart. Duke looked like he won the prize, while Cami’s face turned crimson.
“I’m so sorry. Oh god, I shouldn’t have done that,” she muttered.
“No need to apologize, love. Levi never could be patient enough to wait his turn.” Duke grinned as Levi placed the water and small plate on the coffee table.
“I made you a sandwich. I thought you might be hungry,” he said.
“Thank you, Levi,” she said, rising on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek. “That was sweet of you.”
“Well, if she’s giving out kisses, move over, asshole. I’m older. That means me first,” Jake chirped eagerly.
“That’s right, age before beauty,” Nelson said snidely.
Her face still flushed from his brother’s kiss, her lips still moist and full, Levi couldn’t stop himself even if he wanted to. He had loved this woman from the moment he was thirteen and realized she knew more about science fiction than he did. There was just something significantly alluring about the woman, who knew the difference between the Borg and a Wookie.
He was never good with all the hearts and flowers crap. He knew that. Circuit boards and computers were what he knew. However, for some reason, standing there with her before him, he just knew the right words for the first time in his life. Oh, he wasn’t a virgin, not by a long shot, but Cami was different. Every time he tried to be romantic, he always seemed to fumble and drop the ball, making a complete ass out of himself. He was used to looking goofy and boyish, but she never saw him that way. Cami was different. He could be himself, and she accepted that, she always had, and right now, he wanted to be more. He wanted to be the man she needed, not for him, but for her. For once in his life, he just wanted to be more. “I want to kiss you so bad my heart aches.”
The Chains That Bind [The Men of Treasure Cove 10] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Page 5
