Alex opened his eyes to find Cam staring at him.

He blinked, clearing the cloudiness from his vision. Cam’s hand was on his hair, so soft he almost didn’t feel it. He smiled sleepily as he remembered how her hands had gripped his short dark hair just hours earlier.

She pulled her hand away, almost as if she could see what he was thinking.

He reached out a hand, covering hers with his own. “Don’t stop,” he whispered. “I like it when you touch me.”

She hesitated, then slipped her hand out from under his. Throwing the sheet aside, she swung her legs out and stood up. His eyes traveled the length of her backside, drinking in the perfection of her body.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Getting dressed.”

He propped himself up on his elbow. His ribs barely protested as the muscles stretched. It felt like good progress. “Are you going somewhere?”

She pulled her shirt over her head. “I’m going to go check on Grandma.”

“What time is it?”

“Almost eight.”

“Isn’t that a little early to pay her a visit?”

Cam pushed one leg into her jeans, then the other. He watched as she tugged them up and over her curves, curves his hands had explored thoroughly just a few hours earlier. His pulse quickened at the memory.

“She gets up early,” she told him.

He studied her as she combed her fingers through her long dark hair. It was a tangled, beautiful mess.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

She nodded, but she wouldn’t look at him.

Which told him she was lying. “About last night—” he began.

This time, her eyes did meet his. “Last night was fine,” she said, her voice firm.

He cocked his head. “Just fine?”

Color tinted her cheeks. “It was more than fine.”

“So that isn’t why you’re leaving?”

“I’m just going to check on Grandma. See how her night was.”

“And then what?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean what happens when you get back?” He shifted into a sitting position. “When you get back from seeing your grandma?”

He knew where her mind had gone yesterday. She was still looking for solutions, still searching for ways to get information.

There just weren’t any.

“I…I don’t know.”

It wasn’t the answer Alex was expecting. In the short time he’d spent with Cam, she’d always seemed to have a clear idea of how she wanted to move forward. She’d floated several suggestions for ways to deal with what had gone down in Bentley—all of which he’d shot down—so seeing her admit that she didn’t have a plan caught him a little off guard.

“You don’t know?”

She just shrugged. “You don’t want me to talk to Necco. Talking to members of La Gente is pretty much out of the question. You aren’t comfortable approaching any of the officers in your unit. You’re not willing to bring in BCA or the feds.”

“Because all of those options end badly,” he pointed out.

“Sure,” she said. She shoved her hands in her jeans pockets. “But so does doing nothing.”

“That’s not true.”

“No?” She arched an eyebrow. “If Jess hadn’t shown up yesterday, just what do you think would have happened?”

He didn’t have a good answer for her.

Because there wasn’t one.

“I’m not doing nothing.”

“That’s a double negative,” she said.

“Yes, it is,” he agreed. “And a quadruple negative right now would be doing anything with the four options you suggested.”

“So what? You just plan to sit in this apartment and hide forever?”

Irritation surged through him.

No, dammit, that wasn’t his plan. This was temporary. He’d made a poor choice in going to Aspen Falls and involving Cam. It had gone from bad to worse, especially now that members of Groupo 55 had found him. His options were more limited now than before.

He just needed time to regroup. To think things through. To see if there was something he’d missed.

But his top priority now was to keep Cam safe.

And he felt like he’d already failed miserably at that.

“I’m going to grab coffee while I’m down there,” Cam said. She slid her feet into her shoes. “After I see Grandma. You want some?”

He didn’t like the idea of her waiting on him. She’d already done more than enough in the caretaking department, thanks to all of his injuries.

“Why don’t I come with you?” He shifted the sheet off him.

Her gaze immediately flew to his exposed body. She looked away. “That’s not necessary,” she said quickly, her eyes cast downward. “I don’t know how long I’ll be with Grandma.”

“I don’t mind.”

“No.” Her tone was forceful. She swallowed a couple of times. “Look, I just need some time alone for a few minutes. To…to process.”

“To process what?” he asked. But he had a feeling he knew. To process what had happened between them.

He hadn’t been able to get a read on her this morning. He’d woken to her hand on his hair, but she’d quickly shifted gears. Was she in self-preservation mode? Maybe he’d misinterpreted her touch. Maybe it hadn’t been tender at all.

“Just…everything.”

She was being evasive and they both knew it.

He wanted to press her, to see if he could glean how she was feeling after the night they’d spent together. Had it affected her the same way it had him?

Alex hadn’t intended to sleep with her. Despite his attraction to her and the desire building inside of him, he wasn’t going to step over the line he’d established.

Cam was the one who’d made the first move. And he’d asked her, repeatedly, if that was what she wanted. She’d answered.

And the ensuing hours had blown his mind.

Because everything he’d felt for her all those years ago had come rushing back at him tenfold.

It was a complication he hadn’t expected. It was one he didn’t need.

But it was definitely one he found himself wanting.

She grabbed her purse and turned to go.

“Are you going somewhere else?” he asked, nodding at the bag she’d just slung over her shoulder.

She busied herself with her purse, digging through it as if she was searching for something.

“Just need to make sure Grandma doesn’t have any bills that need to be paid. I help with her financial stuff and…and I forgot to ask her about it last night.”

He noted the air of nervousness around her.

Something wasn’t right.

He sat up straighter. “Cam, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” This time, she looked him squarely in the eye. “Like I said, I just need a little time to think. And I need to go see Grandma. And I definitely need coffee.”

He stared at her, still unconvinced.

“That’s all,” she said. “I swear. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“We’ll talk then?” he asked.

“About what?”

“About this.” He motioned to the bed he was in. “About us.”

She swallowed. “Fine. We’ll talk about us.”

She turned and left, and Alex fell back against the pillows.

Us.

It was a foreign word to him.

One he wasn’t sure he wanted—or deserved.

Because despite his feelings for Cam, he kept coming back to the one thing central to his current situation.

There couldn’t be an ‘us.’

There could only be him.