“And now it smells like you.”

Fuck, I wanted to call to him, run after him. I didn’t know what this was between us, and I’d hoped with him getting back on his own two feet, everything would get back to normal. Instead I felt so unbalanced this week that even this news about Ginger had thrown me for a loop.

As Kam suggested, I talked to Brin at work about what to do with Ginger over the holiday. Both he and Tristan encouraged me to provide Ginger a home with me; Brin especially, more than likely because adopting Tally last year had been so rewarding. So we worked out an arrangement that included Kam over the next several days so that Ginger could be with me permanently. And though the thought freaked me a bit, it also felt really great to know I would be the one to care for her. Silvia sounded relieved as well and thanked me profusely.

My flight was in several hours, but I knew sleep wouldn’t come easily.

Suitcase packed, I lifted my cell to text Kam.

Hey, you. Leaving in the morning.

How are you feeling about it?

You know how it is. Sort of on edge.

Yeah, always been that way for you. It’ll be okay, you’ll see.

Thanks. Ginger is with Brin until they leave for their trip in two days.

It was Brin’s suggestion that they travel to the West Coast since the holidays were always tough on Nick. He thought getting away would offer him a change of scenery.

You still sure you’re up for it? I could always try to arrange something with Tristan.

Stop worrying. It’ll be great. Olivia will love her. Mae too.

Warmth flooded my stomach. I wished I could be here for Christmas instead of in Georgia. I shook that thought from my head. Kam and I weren’t together. But more and more I realized that I wanted us to be. No way did I want to bring anything up before my flight in case he had different ideas of what that meant—it was a stressful enough trip as it was.

Okay, cool. Thanks again. I waited as he typed his reply. Weeks of working with one hand made him faster. He’d feel strange no doubt next week when the splint came off. But physical therapy would certainly help.

I’ll be here if you need me.

After flipping uselessly through channels and then pacing back and forth in my apartment for the better part of an hour, I grabbed my keys and drove over to Kam’s. I told myself it was because I needed to check on him one last time—out of habit.

I quietly turned the key in the lock and tiptoed inside the darkened apartment, using the hallway light as a guide, even though I knew the floor plan well by now. Just as I suspected, he was already asleep; it was late, and his new schedule exhausted him. And truthfully, I just wanted to be near him.

Hesitantly, I sank down on the edge of the bed and immediately felt soothed by his even breaths. We had spent days on end together, and this whole week I felt out of sorts, so being here just like this felt right. As if I could lock away the rest of the world and all its problems when I stepped inside this bubble we created, this sanctuary.

I heard him stir, and as he blinked open his eyes, he didn’t seem at all surprised to see me. A small smile stretched his lips, and it made my heart clang hard against my rib cage.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” I wiped my clammy hands on my jeans. I was acting strange, I knew it, and so did he. But the way his eyes softened right then was unsettling. “I’ve been thinking…and uh, I guess watching you sleep like some creeper.”

Definitely creeper territory. I felt my cheeks deepen with a wash of color.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked in a hesitant voice, and I wondered if he’d also been holding back these past few days as much as I was. But right now I was tired. Bone tired. And I had the urge to let it all out, to surrender to whatever I’d been feeling, and if I was dead wrong, then I’d have the week at my mom’s to lick my wounds.

“I…I dunno,” I replied, and suddenly I was blinking back tears. What the actual fuck?

He lifted his fingers as if to reach out to me before grasping for the covers instead and holding them open. “Tell me what’s going on, Eli. Please.”

“It’s not any big thing.” Except it was huge, I acknowledged to myself as I slid in beside him and lay on my side, looking up at him, my knee touching his thigh. And there it was—his warm skin, his heartbeat next to mine. “I was thinking about the past few weeks. All the nights we spent together and all the stuff that happened between us, and…I don’t know, I never expected it, I guess.”

“Me neither,” he said as he shifted to get as close as he could without overextending his bandaged arm. When our hands grazed, he shivered. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot too.”

“I’ve never…experienced this kind of thing before,” I admitted as my heart thrashed. It was simultaneously harder and easier to confess these things to a friend.

“What do you mean?” he asked as his good arm slid behind my neck. Now we were resting forehead to forehead, and I was thankful for the darkened room to help mask some of my emotions.

“This endless need…to hang out with you…just like this,” I confessed, and I heard his breath catch. If I was wrong about all this, maybe we could still meet somewhere in the center, where our strong friendship had built a bridge. “I mean, I’ve seen you every single day for the past few weeks, and I’m not even that sick of you.”

A laugh jumped out of his mouth, and I loved hearing it. “Gee, thanks.”

“I’ve missed it this week…being here, with you,” I continued, figuring at this point I had nothing to lose. “Even if we’re doing a whole bunch of nothing.”

His fingers brushed my shoulder. “Eli—”

“I know what you’re going to say,” I blurted out, terrified of being let down. Of being wrong. “You think I’m on the rebound or just missing Stewart, but this—you and me—doesn’t have anything to do with him. In fact, he’s been the furthest thing from my mind, and I just—”

“Stop talking.” Kam shifted so suddenly that he took me by surprise, and before I knew what was happening, he had rolled on top of me, his knees straddling my hips. He stared down at me for a long moment, a gentleness in his gaze that almost felt physical and completely unnerving at the same time. His fingers grazed my cheek, my eyebrow, my forehead as I held my breath and my pulse pounded in my ears.

“Eli, can I… I want to…kiss you,” he whispered as his thumb pressed over my lips.

“Please,” I replied in a breathless pant, practically squirming beneath him.

The buildup to this moment was so overwhelming, I figured Kam would crush our mouths together. Instead, he painstakingly bent his head, gaze searing into mine, his breath hot and shallow against my lips.

His fingers latched on to my neck, and when our mouths finally met, it was with an agonizing gentleness that made my pulse jump in my throat. His lips tender yet sure and so damn sexy. The stitch in my chest grew achy and tight as I held my breath at the intensity of the moment.

The kiss felt so sensual, so perfect, that I moaned against his mouth, and his fingers tightened their hold on my nape, sealing our connection. Our lips were fused together, his tongue stole inside my mouth, and fuck, feeling the velvety flicks against my own sent a shockwave through me. I’m kissing Kam.

The tip of his tongue traced my lips, sneaking in and out of my mouth, before he pushed farther inside, drawing me into a deep and slow kiss as he pinned me to the mattress with strong thighs.

My fingers clawed at his waist, drawing him nearer…nearer still…until there was scarcely any space between us.

We were joined perpetually it seemed—and yet no time at all—his face in my hands as our tongues battled for dominance, me nipping and licking into his mouth, over teeth and gums, dragging guttural noises from his throat.

Eventually we shifted sideways, and he tugged me on top of him, more than likely to rest his arm as he struggled into position and then gasped against my mouth.

Talking seemed pointless as my tongue lapped softly at his lips, and then we were consuming each other’s mouths again. Scorching hot, tender and sensual, and everything in between.

Our lips rarely broke contact even as we slowed way down and eventually shut our eyes, our arms and foreheads connected, and he began drifting off to sleep. I sank down on top of him, my nose at his neck, and I inhaled his scent deeply, trying to memorize it.

I woke up a couple of hours later, my hands wound around his back, his upper torso like a furnace. It felt so warm that I considered shutting my eyes again, but I was afraid I’d miss my flight.

A soft kiss to his temple, I quietly rolled off the bed, stared down at his gorgeous face once more as it relaxed into sleep, and stumbled out the door.