The following week, Cameron and I had only managed to meet for a run in the mornings and kept our days full of texts, but missed every opportunity to meet after due to my workload and his coaching schedule.
I was inching closer to finishing my job at Preston Corp, but last-minute meetings had made my days twice as long. Kat came back from Florida a little less on edge, or at least she’d appeared to be. We were getting along famously, but I was fraying on both ends.
I was desperate for a break and knew the schedule would only get more grueling if I was going to finish out my contract on time. The only consolation was that I had cleared my weekend in hopes to spend it with Cameron. I was at the coffee shop trying to finish up when I got his text.
King of Woo: Hey, beautiful. Where are you?
Me: At our place.
King of Woo: What’s your Monday looking like?
I sighed and closed my Mac, pushing it into my tote. Great. He’s tied up until Monday. The weekend wasn’t shaping up to be shit, either.
Me: The worst day of the week.
King of Woo: Not this time. Hurry up and get outside. I’m picking you up today.
Following orders, I dropped my cup off at the counter and slid on my coat as I pushed out of the door with my tote in hand.
Outside the café, Cameron waited in a navy suit, and looked gorgeous standing in front of a blacked-out Audi SUV, his hands in his pockets and two cups of coffee on the hood. He was dressed to impress and had a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“What’s this?”
“This is us coffee-ing the fuck out of town?” he said with a hopeful lift in his voice. “I would prefer you in a bikini in Mexico, but this is all I could swing last-minute with little imagination other than seeing you naked every possible minute. Get that beautiful ass over here.”
I pranced over to him, swinging my hips a little as he gave me that come-hither finger. In seconds, I was wrapped in his warmth while he took my mouth in a possessive kiss.
When we parted, I did my best to control myself and my thundering heart. “Cameron, I want nothing more than to disappear with you, but I have to work Monday.”
“Is your Mac in that bag?”
“Yes, but—”
“You can work remotely, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“Take it with you. We’ll have a little fiesta around it.”
Elated and opting to just go with it, I still had reservations but only named a few. “I have no clothes, no toothbrush, and where will we go?”
“Too many objections,” he said, grabbing my tote and packing it in the idling SUV.
Dear God, he was a temptation. Especially when he towered over me with his sparkling green eyes.
“Don’t say no.”
“Okay.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Well, I can’t say no.”
“I want you out of this city. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Minutes later, we were on our way to said fiesta, navigating easily through Saturday traffic. He’d refused to stop at my three-flat to let me grab anything, which I gave him hell for. I texted Kat to tell her I would be taking Monday off. She must have been on her phone because she texted back right away.
Kat: No problem. I owe you. ☺Have fun.
I hadn’t talked to Kat about “coffee shop guy” since she’d returned. She’d been a bit more distant and our workload had only increased. Though I wanted to share my new-found happiness with her, she was going through enough as it was with her marriage.
Cameron had a lead foot as he steered us toward freedom from it all. I put in one last call to Michael, who assured me he’d be checking in on his mother.
The Audi was cozy, and I glanced at the man next to me as I pulled my gloves from my hands and found his over the console. He swiftly pulled my offered skin to his mouth and kissed it with soft lips and a little tongue. That act alone had my stomach fluttering in anticipation.
“Take me away anywhere,” I said as I kicked off my Uggs and rested my feet on the dash. “Is this yours?”
“Yep,” he said with a breaking smile as he glanced at my posture. “Just got it. Do you drive?”
“Nope, I run,” I said with pride as I looked over at him. “I hit two miles without breaking this morning, but I missed my coach.”
He squeezed my fingers and brought them to his lips for another kiss. “Proud of you. I missed you too. Are you comfortable?”
“Yeah,” I said, feeling whatever weight I harbored lift from me easily as we exchanged smiles.
Cameron let go of my hand, and I felt his warm fingers on my back as he rode them up to my spine and had my bra unfastened in seconds.
“Holy shit,” I said, stunned as the girls lay free and heavy on my chest.
“That’s better,” he said in a sexy whisper.
“Seriously, that’s an awe-inspiring skill. And it’s kind of scary you’re so good at that.”
“Basketball camp. We used to wrap them around balls and practice. Yep, it’s a talent.”
I quirked a brow. “Any others I should know about?”
“All in due time,” he promised as he lifted the front of my sweater and brushed his fingers along my stomach. I mourned the loss of his hand when he pulled it away to grip the wheel.
Cameron tapped his fingers to Kings of Leon “The Face” as we slowed to a stop at a light.
“God, I love this song. I swear Caleb’s voice is sex.” I began to sing along as Cameron drove on. The L train rumbled overhead as I got swept up in the moment and began jamming in my seat. I turned the music up loud and nodded my head.
It was only when I heard Cameron’s rumbling laughter over the music that I turned to look his way.
I paused the workings of my hands, that I realized were playing air guitar, as he drove on, openly laughing at me.
“What?”
He made quick work of pulling over. Once we were stopped—in a grocery store parking lot—I looked out the window in confusion. I was about to ask what he was doing when I was swept from the passenger seat and onto his lap.
I let out a squeak as he looked at me with a new smile. One I’d never seen.
“What in the world are you doing, Coach Bledsoe?”
“Me? What am I doing? Jesus, woman, you have got to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” With no more explanation than that, he took my mouth so possessively that I had to push at his chest to get some air.
“That was some kiss,” I said with a smile.
“That was some show. Tell me, witchy woman, do you always rock out that hard in the car?”
Embarrassed I must have really gotten into it, I looked at him through my lashes. “I went geek on you, didn’t I?”
“Little bit, and it was fucking awesome.” His voice was low as he pushed my sweater down over my shoulder and drew my nipple into his mouth. I tilted my head back on a moan.
“Cameron,” I breathed as he sucked my nipple until I was pulsing with need. “Hey, we’re kind of in a parking lot.” He ignored my protest and sucked harder. “Cameron, what if someone sees?”
“Hold on, baby.” He reached behind my seat and pulled out a sun reflector to shield us from prying eyes. “They would have to look really,” he said, pushing his hips up against my clit, “hard.”
The music, the man, the anticipation. It was all so fucking perfect.
Seconds later, I was staring at Cameron’s straining cock as he freed it. I could see his arousal dripping over the tip, his breath heavy as he fucked my mouth with his tongue. His kiss went deep as he gripped my neck with one hand and yanked my sweater tights down with the other.
Once free, I saw him react, his eyes turning into liquid pools at the silk panties that lay underneath. I could see their fate and beat him to it as I looked around and quickly slipped them down my legs.
His voice was sexy gravel. “God, I’d give anything to feast on you right now.”
I gripped him firm in my hand and hovered before I slowly sank down onto him. We both exploded in movement.
“Fuck yes, just like that,” he said as he bit his lip.
I was gone, driven by need, and dazed by his words as he gave me more—more of him, more of us, more of everything that mattered.
“You’re so fucking hot. Ride my cock, baby.”
“Yessss,” I hissed as he invaded me with his eyes and conquered me with his body.
His eyes lit fire as he palmed my breasts and watched me pump and flex on top of him. I was full and frenzied as I raced toward my climax. We were a tangled mess of searching mouths and limbs before he thrust up and gripped my face while I balanced myself with one hand on the door and the other on the console. I rolled my hips and watched his eyes darken further.
“Fuck, fuck, Abbie, you feel so fucking incredible.” He nipped at my skin, unable to control his hard grip. Needy for more, I rode him faster while he pistoned his hips, holding me so close, I had no choice but to take all of him.
Our fucking was carnal but remained intimate as he grunted and murmured words of praise and worship. I was muttering nonsense, his pace maddening but rhythmic. My center slid along the edge of his cock as he filled me and overfilled me, his words spurring me on.
“Don’t stop,” I begged as I tilted my head back and bounced along his thighs, grinding myself as hard as I could, choking on the fullness of him. I spread myself wider on his lap and we both inhaled sharply as we hit another crescendo.
“Give it to me,” he ordered as he looked down to where we connected. His eyes flared as he watched me fuck him. With one hard thrust up, I tipped over and washed away on his lap, riding it out as far as I could take it as he grunted and finished inside me.
“This is going to be a good weekend,” I said breathlessly against the hollow of his neck before I slid my tongue along his cologne-scented skin and curled in his lap like a cat.
“Yeah, if we make it out of Chicago,” he murmured with a kiss to my temple.
“We’ll get there. We’ve got a good pace.”
“Yeah, we do,” he whispered, caressing the small of my back with his fingers.
We stayed in our high for as long as we could before I moved back to my seat and took his offered Kleenex. I slid my leggings up and he tucked himself back into his pants. We were a hot mess, both winded with matching smiles. Mine faded when I saw concern start to darken his features.
“We haven’t used anything, Abbie. We haven’t even talked about it. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I’m covered in the multiplication department,” I assured. “And I got the all clear a year ago and haven’t slept with anyone since.”
“It’s been a really long time for me. A really long time,” he admitted while my jaw went slack.
“Really? For you?”
“Really,” he whispered, cupping my chin and bringing his lips to mine. “I feel possessed,” he said as he pulled on my lip. “And I’ve never had sex in a parking lot.” He shook his head and bit my lip before he sucked it into his mouth. “Damn, baby, you make me crazy.”
“Crazy enough to do it again?” I waggled my brows.
One side of his mouth lifted as his eyes told me he accepted my challenge. “I’ll do anything with you twice. So, I guess it’s going to be that kind of weekend?”
“You’re not the only one who’s starved. I think we can manage a postcard-perfect weekend, with a side of porn-worthy,” I assured as I rubbed my nose against his.
“You’ll hear no complaints from me,” he murmured into my hair as he wrapped me in his hold and took my lips in a seductive kiss. I clutched him tight as he slowly explored before pulling away.
“What are you doing to me?” he whispered. “Strike that, I know what’s happening here.”
I let myself ask the question. I had to know. “Do you want it to happen?”
“More than anything. I hope you believe me.”
“I’ll believe you if that’s what you want.”
“Good. Because I want you.”
“You have me.”
“Then I’m falling in the right direction,” he said, running his fingers through my hair. In the crowded parking lot, I felt like we were in our own world as he rubbed some of my locks through his fingertips. “Someone told me once to picture something I can’t live without and then decide what trumps that, so I know the truth of what matters to me the most.”
“What trumps me?” I asked as his crystal green eyes pierced me. He tilted his head back in thought as I puffed out an indignant chest. “You better not say a Bears game.”
He twisted his rearview so I could see our reflection. We both looked winded and a little disheveled and . . . happy.
“The only thing that could trump you today, Abbie, is you tomorrow. And I don’t want to be without you tomorrow.”
Our fiesta ended up taking place in a private cabin in Rockford, about ninety minutes outside of the city. The problem was, we couldn’t find it. And as the night started to creep in, we were worse for wear when the cell phone service went spotty in the middle of a blizzard.
“So, you haven’t been here?” I asked as I looked out the windshield of the SUV. We were getting close to zero visibility, and the only thing keeping me calm was that Cameron was calm.
“No, but the GPS said we weren’t far. Well,” he said with a laugh, “when it was working.”
“Shit,” I said, twisting in my seat, trying to get some signal.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find it,” Cameron assured as he gripped my thigh and squeezed.
“It’s getting scary, you know?”
“Is this where your serial killer paranoia comes in?”
“Yes,” I said pointedly.
“Hang in there.”
“I can’t believe you decided to take me to the woods.”
“Surprise?” he said with a laugh.
It was the first time I wanted to grab his junk as a disciplinary action.
Cameron slowed down when he spotted a driveway. “This is probably it.”
“Thank God. I need a hot shower.”
“Does that come with an invitation?” he asked, glancing at me as we followed the small driveway through the trees and hit a dead end with no cabin in sight.
“What in the hell?” He got out of the car while the windshield wipers roared. The snow was blinding at that point and I could barely make out his frame when I began to get twitchy. I was about to blow the horn when he opened the door and jumped in while I jumped out of my skin.
He gauged my reaction and shook his head.
“Okay, so this isn’t it. In fact, it’s nothing. A driveway. Nothing else.”
“Let’s go, Cameron,” I said as calmly as possible.
“I’m getting you out of here, baby.”
I melted at his term of endearment as he put the car in reverse, gassed it . . . and we didn’t move.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath as I told myself not to panic.
He slowly eased on the gas again and the SUV jolted as if it were free and then, spun tires.
“You don’t have snow tires?!” I asked in calm observation.
“Abbie, baby, don’t yell. It’s okay.”
“I’m not yelling!” I yelled.
“You’re panicking.”
“I’m not panicking!” I panicked.
“We’re okay, Abbie.”
“I’m fine!”
I was close to hyperventilating. I had to trust Cameron. He was a manly man. He could definitely give the woods a run for its money.
“Why did you bring me here?”
Cameron sighed as he hit the gas again and lodged us where we sat. He slammed his palms against the steering wheel. “FUCK!”
“We’re stuck?” I asked as he hung his head and slowly nodded.
“I’ve got some stuff in the back,” he said, glancing over at me. “I’ll get us out.”
“Okay, can I help?”
I was already shaking as he leaned over.
“Abbie, don’t freak out, okay? It’s a test, and we’re going to pass it. Matter of fact, I’ll wager with you right here and now that within an hour, I’m going to cook you the best steak of your life and we’re going to laugh about this in that hot shower you want so badly. We’ll wear matching flannel pajamas—you top me bottom—while we watch movies and then wear no pajamas while I watch you come. That’s how tonight is going to go, okay?”
I nodded.
“Trust me?”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh. “Just hurry up and get me out of here.”
“How do you like your steak?”
Before I could answer, he was out of the SUV and lifting the lid of the trunk. All I could hear was the howl of the storm and the metal clacking behind me.
I pitched my voice back at him in warning. “If you’re thinking about making any jokes right now at my expense, like merely fucking around that you may be hurt or in trouble in any way, I’m warning you, I will make you cry and you will lose a testicle.”
“That’s my witchy woman.” He chuckled as I heard the clatter of iron and a few grunts.
Manly grunts.
Because Cameron was all man. But it did little to ease my nerves as he circled the SUV.
A few minutes later, confidence high, Cameron got back into the SUV and put the truck into gear. I clasped my hands together in silent prayer as he hit the gas.
“Man, it’s really coming down,” Cameron said as I glared at the side of his head. We’d been in the truck for hours and the snow wasn’t stopping. He’d avoided my eyes for the last hour as we sat in the pitch dark, stuck in the dead-end driveway in the middle of a snowstorm, in the woods.
My back plastered to my seat, I continually looked out the windows, checking and double checking the locks to make sure no one could open the door. I should’ve felt safe with Cameron, but even if he’d multiplied by ten and surrounded the vehicle with heavy artillery, I would have been on edge.
“Abbie—”
“Don’t you even say it. Don’t you even think about leaving me here. It’s not happening.”
“Abbie, listen—”
“If we die, we die together.”
Cameron chuckled. “I know you have to use the bathroom. I’ve gone twice.”
“I’m fine.”
“Abbie.”
I turned to him with what I was sure were laser beams coming out of my retinas.
“Why? Why did you bring me to the woods?”
“I don’t feel safe enough at the moment to answer that question.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess because I thought somehow I could get you to like it if we—”
“If we what?”
“If we made good memories here.” He shrugged.
I bit my lips in an attempt to keep the smart mouthed reply idle on my tongue.
“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.
“It was a nice gesture,” I ground out. “Misplaced, but nice.”
“Are you mad?”
I turned to look at him and saw the disappointment in his features. I climbed onto his lap for the second time that day. He smiled as he palmed my ass.
“No. I mean, yes, it’s my worst nightmare come to life. But, hey, fears are meant to be conquered, right? Please, do tell me what your worst fear is so I can return the favor and make it just as romantic for you someday.” I bat my eyelashes and his body shook with his laugh.
“Point taken.”
“I do have to pee.”
“I know.”
“Once we do this,” I warned, “there’s no going back. All the sweet etiquette of our new union will be erased. You will have seen me squat.”
“I’ll turn my back. But I can live with it.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Come on.” He moved to open the door.
“WAIT!” I shrieked.
“Okay,” he said, taking his hand off the handle.
“Just give me a mental moment. Tell me something. Anything.”
“The Bears won.”
“Something else.”
“We’re still sitting on three-quarters of a tank of gas.”
“Wonderful.”
“We won’t freeze to death.”
“That’s reassuring in a terrifying way,” I said, swallowing.
“It’s a real possibility if we don’t get the hell out of here.”
“Cameron, please don’t try to leave me here alone.”
He nodded. “We can’t be far from the cabin. Check your phone for a signal.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw I still had zero bars.
“Nothing. Yours?”
He pulled his phone out and shook his head.
“How in the hell was I supposed to work out here?”
“I was told there was WIFI. Abbie, if I can make it to the main road—”
“You aren’t going out in a blizzard with zero visibility. It’s not happening. I’m not that bossy of a girlfriend, I promise, but I’m not swaying on this shit.”
“Okay,” he said with a chuckle.
“Okay.”
He pressed his full lips together, trying to stifle a laugh. “How mad are you?”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“Yes.”
I looked out the window and shook my head. “I’m really not. I just want us to get through this and have our weekend. I could use a steak.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No more apologizing. If I must be stuck here, I’d rather it be with you. You know that.”
“I do now.”
“Cameron,” I said with a sigh.
“Yeah?”
“This was really sweet. Even if you are going to indirectly kill me in the woods.”
He reached out a hand and brushed some hair away from my face. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I swear it.”
“I believe you believe that.”
“You don’t think it’s true?”
“I think you’d do everything you can to make it true. But you can’t promise me anything bad won’t happen. It’s not in your power.”
“You’re right.”
“I don’t want to be,” I said in a whisper, “but I know better.”
“Well, I can promise you this,” he whispered back. “I can promise you I will never bring you to the woods again as a surprise and end up stuck in a fucking creepy dead-end driveway in a snowstorm.”
I laughed and pulled him to me. “Good enough.”
“God, you smell so fucking good. What is that?”
“My shampoo, I think. I don’t know. I have an entire bathroom counter of girly crap on.”
“It’s fucking tasty.”
“Tasty?”
“Yes, you smell good enough to eat.”
My stomach rumbled.
“And you’re hungry,” he said, gripping the wheel and rocking back and forth in aggravation, jostling me in his lap.
“Look at you,” I said with a laugh. “Getting all moody. I bet you’re sexy pissed off.”
“I just feel like I could be doing more. What in the hell was I thinking? I live in Chicago and forgot to get snow tires! In my defense, I bought this out of state.”
I laughed as he looked at me, exasperated.
“I’m telling you, Coach, people have no business outside of civilization. Nothing good ever happens in the woods. This is where the crazies come to congregate, multiply, and plot.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Cameron asked. “You think that concrete jungle we call home is safer?”
“I think that if we were in Chicago right now we wouldn’t be sitting targets in the middle of the woods.”
“Even so, Chicago is the most dangerous city in the US. Talk about safety in numbers being an illusion.”
I shrugged. “I have mace.”
“Well, that changes everything.” He rolled his eyes.
“You aren’t safe anywhere, with anyone,” I said with a bite. “The BTK killer was married. Like happily married and no one knew what a psycho he was for over a decade. Bind, Torture, Kill, and go home and eat meatloaf before you read the kids a bedtime story. Doesn’t that baffle you? Like, how do you ever really know someone?”
“You have to trust them.”
“Trusting doesn’t mean knowing, two distinct definitions,” I said with a little more bite.
“Abbie?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“But you did, so tell me.”
“No,” I said, feigning a smile.
“That smile was fake. This is on your mind. Talk to me about it.”
“That’s not part of our deal,” I said, moving to my seat before I began nervously messing with the vents.
“How long are we going to do this?” he asked, turning in his seat to face me. “Why can’t I know?”
“We agreed.”
“That was then,” he pressed. “This isn’t a game.”
“It’s never been a game to me,” I defended. “And I told you that.”
“Fine, an experiment,” he relented. “I won’t fight with you. It’s the last thing I want.”
“Then let’s table this. Okay?” I’d been creeped out enough for one day. The last thing I wanted to talk about was Luke.
“Okay.”
The air had changed between us, regardless of our truce. I hated it. Loathed it. It was always when things got heavy that everything changed. That’s why I would fight as long as I could to keep the old hurts and resentment away. It had no place between us.
“Want to play a game?” I asked as he rubbed a knuckle along the steering wheel. He looked over at me and read my expression. I was pleading with him to help me fix the strangling air between us.
“I brought some booze. Want me to get it?” he offered.
“Why in the hell didn’t you say anything before now?!”
He grinned as he jumped out of the vehicle and opened the trunk. Seconds later, he was back in the driver’s seat with my choice of Tito’s vodka or Maker’s Mark.
“Perfect!” I said, grabbing the vodka. “Let’s do this.”
“That. Is. Insane,” Cameron roared hysterically. “I can’t believe we’ve been drinking coffee all this time when all I had to do was give you vodka!”
I grinned over at him and rolled my eyes. “You act like I never told you this.”
“Seeing is believing, baby,” he said as he tilted the bottle of vodka and took a healthy sip. We’d drank a good bit of it and were both feeling the effects.
“Wow, wow,” he said as he watched me unfasten his tie and free my hands.
Minutes before, I’d stripped him of his maroon tie and told him to fasten my hands behind my back. Apparently, for Cameron, the fact that I was double jointed was the most fascinating thing he’d ever seen.
I had the ability to roll my bound hands over my head, but I’d decided to make it more interesting by having him use his tie on me. Basically, if I wanted to take my act on the road, I could be the Houdini of handcuffs.
“That’s fucking wild,” he said as he shook his head.
“Yeah, my mom screamed the first time I did it in front of her.”
“What else can you do?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I said, waggling my brows.
“I’m so fucking turned on.”
I shook my head. “Of course you are.”
“Hey, don’t take that tone with me. You are the one putting ideas in my head.”
“You pig.”
“Oink,” he said, pulling me into his lap. “You little weirdo.”
“Hey, I don’t see you performing any party tricks,” I defended as he brushed his nose against mine.
“True, I’m lacking talent in that department. Why don’t you let me make up for it with enthusiasm?” He pushed his hips up, and I bounced on his thighs.
“Hmmm, you’ve got a little making up to do before you get all of this.” I motioned to myself. “And I can’t believe you watched me pee in the snow. Reason one million why I hate the woods.”
“I didn’t watch. You screamed, and I had no choice but to look,” he said, bordering on a slur.
“Well, I felt something.”
“Sure you did,” he said, amused.
I traced his jaw with my finger. “I bet you were popular in high school. Did you play football?”
“Yes, Ms. Random. And soccer too, but when I was younger.”
“Date a cheerleader?”
“Yep.”
“Prom king?”
He bit his lip.
“Really? Prom king too?”
A sharp nod.
“Wow.”
“What?”
“I never even danced at my prom. My date was a dick. He only wanted to go to the after parties and get my dress off.”
“Did he succeed?”
“Noooo. He was a dick. I’m no killjoy. But I was around when the fake yawn, arm stretch around the shoulder move still existed, and now it’s not even a thing anymore. And I never got a second look from the king.”
“I would have looked at you, Abbie.”
“You’re just saying that because you’ve seen my party tricks. Trust me, back then I wasn’t your type, and you probably weren’t mine.”
“Oh, really?” he said with a smirk. Clutching his fists at his chest, he opened his mouth wide before stretching his arms out beside him and curling them around me.
He executed it perfectly, and I leaned in and kissed him.
“Dance with me,” he asked softly. “Now, here in the real world where none of that shit ever mattered. Where all that really matters is what you think of me now.”
“Let’s address that when we aren’t stranded in the woods,” I said, feathering my fingers through the soft hair at the back of his neck.
“Fine, dance with me.”
“You want me to dance with you? In the woods?”
“Yeah,” he prompted, pressing his fingers into my hips.
“Uhhh, no.”
“Come on, you’re the one who said romance is dead. I’m willing to try to prove that theory wrong.” With no effort, he deposited me back in my seat and picked up his phone.
“Cameron, I’m not dancing with you in the woods.”
“Are you really afraid?” he asked with a hint of a smile as he flipped through his music. I looked around us and thanked the vodka for the brass balls I’d grown in the last few hours.
“No, thanks to Tito, and his vodka, I’m feeling pretty relaxed.”
“Okay then,” he said as he chose a song and set his phone on the console. The heavy bass and whining guitar of “Witchy Woman” by the Eagles started to play.
“Funny,” I said as his dimples shone through the dim light of the cabin. The interior light lit up the rest of his shit-eating grin as he opened his door and walked past the headlights to get to mine.
“I’m not even close to finished wooing you,” he whispered as he led me to stand in front of the high beams.
My hands in his, he kissed each of my wrists before he pulled them around his neck and began to move with me plastered to his body. I followed his lead with ease while he swayed his hips. With no space between us and far too many clothes, I burrowed into his warmth.
Spotlighted by his high beams in the middle of nowhere, he slid his hands up and down the inside of my jacket, caressing me and lighting me up with need. Languid, we floated on a subzero cloud, fully immersed in the other. We were a little drunk, but more consumed by our connection.
Cameron began a slow grind as we drunk-danced in the snow. Twisting my hips, I put on a little show as he watched my movements, and his grin let me know he liked what he was seeing.
One thing I knew without him saying was that Cameron loved to dance. I loved that about him. I loved that he was so confident and had a way of making me feel comfortable when I was out of my element.
We laughed as we stumbled a little in our footing, our bodies bouncing in rhythm. I pushed out my lips as I shimmied up to him, and he turned me around so my back was to his chest.
Party of two, we were getting down in the woods, dancing and giddy. I felt free, I felt important, and I felt loved.
That moment was one of the happiest of my life.
When the song ended, I moved to head toward the SUV, but he pulled me back to him.
“One more dance,” he said as “Hand Me Down” by Matchbox Twenty filtered through the speakers. Cameron began to sing to me, his vodka-laced breath covering my neck, the words of the song touching me deeply.
I followed his lead while he subtly moved, more intent on singing than dancing. Every second of that dance cemented itself in my heart.
If there was ever a definition of woo, it was the fine-ass man singing to me about what I deserved.
I had to fight back tears when his lips took my trembling mouth. I hoped he thought it was from the cold, but the truth was, I was raw. I wanted what we had to be it. I wanted him to be the last man I kissed, the last man I gave my heart and body to. And I didn’t want my heart to be a liar. And only he had to power to make it true.
He said we didn’t deal in absolutes, but my heart was starting to disagree as it beat for him. Cameron was making me a believer.
I was falling.
And falling hard.
I didn’t need anything more from him than what he was giving. But what he was giving was so much more than I’d expected. I pressed into him, doing everything I could to show him how much he moved me.
Because Cameron moved me.
Don’t let me be wrong. Please, God, don’t let me be wrong again.
I looked up into jade eyes and took a mental picture at the expression on his face.
“Don’t make me a fool,” I whispered to him in a plea.
He paused his steps and looked down at me with a mix of emotion.
I shook my head with a smile. “But you can’t promise you won’t.”
He tightened his hold on me. “It’s really not so hard to believe in me, is it? I mean, you are dancing in the woods.”
I smiled. “I am, aren’t I?”
“You are,” he said as the wind picked up and we kissed words away.
Only words made liars out of people.
Cameron said kisses were unspoken promises, and so he kissed me until I understood his.
Our mouths became urgent, and I used his kiss as assurance. Now that I had him, I was too afraid of the other shoe dropping. If I wasn’t careful, I would ruin the here and now with the threat of the unknown.
I had to let go.
I had to let life happen.
And so, for myself, and for Cameron, I let go.
And he was still there, kissing me, touching me, being mine.
If karma and fate truly existed, I would make the exception and believe in them for the sake of us.
“I want you,” I whispered as I clutched him tighter to me. Desperation laced my voice as I pressed my body to his. “Fuck me, prom king.”
His answering groan rumbled through his chest as his hands gripped my ass.
The sound of crunching snow and moving headlights had us jumping apart like a bunch of guilty teenagers. I shrieked as a large truck approached, and Cameron made quick work of depositing me in the Audi.
I yelled for him to get in too as he closed the door. I was being irrational, and I knew it, but I couldn’t help the full-fledged panic that raced through me as Cameron ducked to converse with the driver.
Instead of the relief I should have felt, I had more concern for him and our bubble that had been popped by the intruder. When Cameron pulled back from the truck, he smiled in my direction and jogged toward me.
“We’re rescued. This guy is with the management company who rents the cabin. When we didn’t check in, they came looking for us. He said it happens all the time. Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”
“I . . . I . . .”
You’re irrational, you’re crazy, and you’re in love with him. Crazy in love with him.
“Hey,” he said, leaning over. “I’m okay. We’re okay.”
I nodded, my mind fuzzy from the booze, my heart pounding with residual worry. Relief finally made its presence known as I realized we wouldn’t be making any headlines.
It was a good thing too. I would’ve been one pissed off woman at the pearly gates. Things were just getting good.
“Sorry, I guess I’m still a little on edge,” I whispered sheepishly.
“Come on,” he said, motioning with his chin toward the truck. “They’re going to send a tow when the storm breaks. Let’s go get you that steak.”
A little after midnight, we finally made it to the cabin and it was nothing short of postcard-perfect. The roof and porch were covered with a blanket of fresh snow, the surrounding grounds immaculate and dusted with winter.
We collectively thanked the driver as we climbed out of the truck and made our way down the short walk that led to the porch.
“It’s beautiful,” I said in appreciation as he took my hand and led me up the steps. “How did you set this up?”
“A buddy of mine owns it. But it’s normally rented this time of year. We got lucky.”
“I wish you would have given me more notice or let me pack a bag. I don’t even have a toothbrush.”
“I packed an extra for you.”
“I’m not playing Scrabble naked,” I scorned as he opened the door.
“It’s slob weekend,” he declared. “I’m going to make sure of it,” he said as he ushered me through the door.
The cabin had an open floor plan, and at the heart of it was a stone fireplace. The furniture looked new but homey.
The walls were free of expected taxidermy, and the place had the hint of a woman’s touch. Comfortable, soft blankets and multi-colored pillows were scattered throughout.
Cameron unloaded his bags on the kitchen counter next to a cozy dining nook and opened the fridge, pulling out a beer.
“What’s your flavor?” he asked as I spotted a washer dryer combo in the pantry of the kitchen, relieved at the very least I could wash what I had on.
It was obvious Cameron wasn’t well versed in what a woman considered necessary for survival.
“A shower.”
He quirked a brow. “Want some company?”
“No,” I said, dousing his hopes. I had some intimate cleaning to do, and regardless of how sexy he thought it would be, I knew differently. Shower sex wasn’t my favorite. Someone always ended up freezing their ass off.
“I had a shower sex incident,” I explained. “It started with soap and quickly escalated to burning in places I don’t ever want to burn. It’s not in the cards,” I said as his lips twitched. “Besides, I’m just not that into you yet to risk it.”
“You’ll pay for that,” he said without taking an ounce of offense before pulling on his beer.
“As long as it’s not in the shower.”
He shrugged his coat off with a smirk. “Sure, it won’t happen in the shower.”
“Cameronnn,” I whimpered, my eyes rolling back as his chest flexed and he thrust back in, hitting me so deeply my whole body quaked. “I’m coming,” I rasped out as he closed his mouth around my nipple while the water cascaded down his back.
“Abbie, I can’t get enough,” he grunted out as he held me in place in the stall before he drove his point home. He pressed his forehead against mine, lips parted before he jerked inside of me with a growl.
Shower sex is the shit!
Spent, I stood lax against the wall as Cameron turned off the water, before toweling off my body and then his. I watched his muscles flex as he rubbed the droplets away from his ripped stomach and had to physically stop myself from taking a bite of his bubble ass.
If there was an award for asses, Cameron would rightfully claim it.
His knowing smirk at my inability to keep from having shower sex showed on his face as he glanced at me. I gladly gave him the win as my imagination went wild with the possibilities for the rest of the weekend.
“For the record,” I said with a voice full of lust, “I don’t have table sex, couch sex, patio sex, hot tub sex, or counter sex, either.”
“Noted,” he said as his dimples appeared.
Later that morning, and without shame, I watched Cameron sleep. A lock of his dark hair lay in a slight wave across his forehead and his full lips taunted me. The fact that he looked so perfect without effort, well . . . it pissed me off. Tousled hair, flawless skin, he looked freshly fucked, but in a way that made him movie scene worthy, and I just looked . . . fucked. It was totally unfair.
I’d never been the girl to apply makeup in the morning to deceive some poor unsuspecting guy with a false future reality. But when I woke, I made damned sure to sneak in a run with the toothbrush and rinse with some Listerine I found in his leather travel bag.
After I dampened my three-million-watt hair to tame it, I used a squirt of his manly gel and ran my fingers through.
My lips were chapped from the cold and bruised from his kiss, so I put on some designer Chapstick that may have looked a little like tinted lip gloss.
In an attempt to keep things clean, I may have rolled on some of the deodorant I kept in my tote.
There was a chance I went through his suitcase and found a fresh button-down flannel shirt and slid it on. On a technicality, he did say he brought one for me. Cuffing the sleeves, I glanced back to him as he slept.
The man was a demigod, cut, etched, and completely at ease as he dreamed godlike dreams. He’d told me he’d lived a charmed life, and I believed it. As wrong as the thought was, I was sure his looks gave him a sort of advantage in his years.
And from what I’d gathered, he’d used that advantage, especially with women. But there was a difference between a man who was good looking and arrogant to a man who was good looking and had substance, and that difference was Cameron.
I loved that he didn’t ramble on about his hey-days, though I was sure he was a bit of a bad ass. It was smirk implied.
Those ramblings would only have turned me off, stories of a cocky and insecure man, but Cameron had shed those years and grown into a gentle giant. His beauty went further than skin deep and behind it, he was all heart.
Enamored, I stood staring for a stalker minute while his body rose and fell, taking and expelling even breaths. Even in his sleep, he was too much to take in.
The attraction I felt for him only grew stronger when I thought of how his full lips felt on mine, and how his eyes shone when he looked at me. I couldn’t get over it, no matter how hard I tried to play it cool. Everything about him appealed to me—his size, his strength, his beauty, him.
While I waited for Cameron to wake up, I decided to clean out my bag, and it was then that I brushed on a little blush along my cheekbones to make sure I still liked the shade.
Because I was in my tote, I grabbed my lotion bar to scent my wrists, what could it hurt to make a little bit of effort?
And then I got to digging in that bag and found some old diamond stud earrings that I loved in a hidden pocket. They were nothing special.
I may have played around with my phone, twisting my head at odd angles to make sure he didn’t wake up seeing my unpredictable and opportunistic double chin. In my defense, that secondary chin tended to flare out like a lizard’s neck without warning. I didn’t want to scare the poor man.
When I’d finished polishing my nails and toes with a shade I’d bought months ago and forgotten about, I decided that Cameron was going to sleep forever, so I may have borrowed his razor and shaved my legs a little.
By the time I was finished not getting ready for Cameron to open his eyes, I was exhausted and even more disturbed by the slow smile that covered his face when I made myself comfortable back in bed.
“You are not human,” I whispered, praying when he woke I’d see a hint of spinach in his teeth from last night’s feast. He cooked a mean steak and spinach salad.
Come on, give me one flaw!
“Are you all dressed up for me?” he asked, his sexy voice filled with sleep.
I snorted. Snorted and ruined every chance I had of looking like a sexy sophisticate.
“No, this is how I always look in the morning.” That was my story and I was sticking to it.
“Sooooo, you didn’t brush your teeth, fix your hair, put some shit on your face, use my razor to shave your legs, and pose for twenty pictures you didn’t take?”
I touched my forehead to his, my eyes wide and searching.
“What are you doing?” He chuckled as I climbed on top of him and peered at him closely.
I was sure I looked like a cartoon character as I pressed in. “I’m looking for your third eyelid, you lizard!”
He laughed and with the swipe of his arm, pinned me beneath him. It was then that I noticed his only flaw was a faint bruise on his chin.
“What happened?” I asked as I lifted to press my lips against it.
“Max caught me with an elbow on the court,” he said pulling away from my lips, “and don’t change the subject.”
“Fine. I can’t get away with shit when you’re around,” I grumbled while my cheeks flamed.
“I was forced to watch you for too long before I got to touch you. I’ve gotten good at it. And don’t get too comfortable with your I don’ts, either. I do seem to recall shower sex being a definite no.”
“Dick persuasion will not work on me, sir. That was a fluke.”
His beautiful lips twitched. “A . . . fluke.”
“Your job is to woo, not sway opinions,” I reminded.
“Well, after all the effort you just put in to dress up for me, I will woo, madam.”
Still slightly embarrassed, I shook my head and stared at the ceiling.
He trailed his lips from my neck to my ear. “I love that you did all of this for me. I loved watching you doll yourself up for my benefit. I got hard when you blew on your nails. Abbie, you are beautiful without all that effort, but it makes me feel so good that you do it for me.”
Pulling me to sit, he plucked one of the freshly cut roses from the small glass vase beside the bed and handed it to me. I knew the arrangements of pale pink stems placed strategically throughout the cabin weren’t a coincidence. Cameron had sent a few dozen roses in the same shade to my house in the last few weeks. I constantly filled my nose with their sweet scent.
“Thank you,” I said before I pressed the flower to my nose and inhaled. “I meant to ask you, of all the flowers you left at my table, why did you decide to send roses?”
He rubbed one of the delicate petals between his fingers. “It was the only flower you picked up first, instead of an afterthought, before you left the coffee shop. I knew then they were your favorite.”
“I didn’t even know they were my favorite.” I sighed as he traced my neck with his lips. “You really are the king of woo.”
“King of woo?” he repeated in question, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Yeah,” I said softly, “you earned it. So, what’s on the docket today?”
“Well, first I’m going to ruin all your hard work,” he said, reaching for the buttons on my shirt and freeing them before he slowly pushed the fabric away so it slid off of my shoulders. Eyes intent on mine, my nipple peaked under the careful trace of his finger.
“King of woo,” he said softly, his tickled grin showcasing the divots at the corners of his mouth. “I like it.”
I said his name on a prayer when he took the stiff peak in his mouth.
Wordless, he gently pushed me beneath him and sank between my thighs. I locked my legs around him while he lined himself up at my entrance and held his weight above me. His sculpted chest on display, my greedy fingers explored.
Pushing in slightly, he watched my reaction to him as the buzz between us increased.
“Damn,” he grunted as I tightened around him. His lips parted as he thrust in further.
“I knew it.”
“Knew what?” I rasped out as he pressed me into the mattress, making sure I felt every inch of him.
“Maybe I didn’t know, but I had a feeling,” he whispered before his mouth took mine and he buried himself. No further explanation needed.