That’s where I need to be.
Those were Avery’s words as she’d spoken to the other girl. Molly. I had struggled not be angry when I’d seen the red mark on her cheek. The only thing that helped was hearing those words.
Shortcake finally got it.
The healing she needed did rest in the truth, in speaking out to her parents and to talking to Molly, but she had begun to heal all the way back in February, then again in April. Going to Texas was something she felt she needed to do and she had done it.
So I brought her home and here we were, back in the somewhat cooler state of West Virginia, the night before Avery would start her summer classes and I’d start working with the kids during camp.
Shortcake sat on the kitchen floor across from me, bare legs tucked under her. She wore one of my shirts and that was all. I had a hard time thinking about anything other than that.
Between us, Michelangelo and Raphael were currently head-bobbing each other.
“It’s like a tortoise version of smack talk,” she said, brows pinched. “I’m not sure they like each other.”
I grinned as I leaned back against the fridge, running my hand over the bare skin of my abs. “They still need some time. And Mikey-Mike is territorial.”
“Oh, blame it on my tortoise.” She rolled her eyes. “Yours started the head-bobbing crap first.”
The timer dinged, and I climbed to my feet, heading over to the stove. “He was just showing yours who’s boss.”
“Michelangelo is boss.” Shortcake picked up her little guy, setting him back several feet.
Eyeing the chocolate cookies and finding them done, I quickly washed my hands, then retrieved an oven mitt I was sure Shortcake had never used. The tag was still on it. Grinning, I tore it off and then removed the tray from the oven. The cookies were super-sized, golden and oh-so gooey-looking.
“Are they ready?” She looked up, eyes gleaming.
“You’ll burn your tongue.” I tossed the mitt aside. “Again.”
She grinned. “But it is so worth it.”
“Uh-huh.” I sauntered up to her, enjoying the way her cheeks still flushed when her eyes dipped below my navel. Swooping down, I kissed her upturned lips. “Give them—”
My cell went off from the living room. “Be right back.”
She nodded as I carefully avoided stepping on a poor tortoise and traumatizing myself and Shortcake. I swiped my cell off the coffee table. A sigh of relief exited me as I saw that it was from my sister.
Out of surgery. Doing ok. Will call u later.
Closing my eyes, I said a little prayer. It hadn’t been a major surgery, but it was still a surgery and fucked-up things happened in hospitals. She was home. That was good, but . . .
“Was that Teresa?”
Putting my phone down, I turned. Avery stood in the door, holding two squirming tortoises. Combining that with the shirt that read I WANNA BE YOUR MANWICH, it was a pretty adorable sight.
“Yes.”
She walked the two tortoises over to their habitat and gently placed them inside. While she closed the lid, the two green guys immediately eyed each other from their respective corners. “Is she okay? How did the surgery go?”
“She says she’s fine. It was just a text.” I paused. “She said she’d call me later.”
Facing me, her brows were pinched in worry. If anyone knew what Teresa was facing right now, it would be Shortcake, with all her years of dancing. “She didn’t say anything about dancing?”
I shook my head as I pressed my lips together. Teresa had torn her ACL a week ago during a recital. For athletes and dancers, it could be an injury fatal to their careers. All my sister had ever wanted to do was become a professional dancer. Only time would tell if that would be possible at all.
But from what Mom had said, it wasn’t looking good.
Shortcake disappeared into the kitchen, washed her hands and returned. Coming up to me, she wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her cheek against my chest. Her skin was warm.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Why are you apologizing?” I folded my arms around her, holding her close.
“Because I know you’re worried,” she said, rubbing her cheek along my skin. “And I know this injury is serious. I just hope it’s not as serious as it can be.”
I dropped a kiss to the top of her head as I slid my hand up her spine, cradling the back of her neck. “Me too.”
She was quiet for a few moments. “Thank you.”
Laughing softly, I leaned back so I could see her face. “Now what are you thanking me for, sweetheart?”
“Thank you for going to Texas with me.”
I cupped her cheek with one hand. “You’ve already thanked me for that.”
“And you told me that I didn’t need to thank you.” She placed her hand over mine. “But I need to thank you again, because I wouldn’t have done it without you.”
“Yes, you would’ve.”
She shook her head. “Maybe I would’ve, but I don’t really know. I needed you there and you were there, no questions asked. I can’t thank you enough for that—for everything.”
“Oh, Shortcake, you still don’t have to thank me.”
“But I . . .” She stopped, frowning. “Shortcake?”
I opened my mouth and then realized my slip. Dropping my hands, I stepped back and laughed. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Yeah. You kind of did.” She tugged on the hem of the borrowed shirt. Curiosity filled her face. “What’s up with that?”
Fuck me, but I felt my cheeks start to burn.
Her eyes widened as she smiled. “You’re blushing! Oh my God, you’re actually blushing!” She pinched my cheek. “I need to know now why you’re so flushed.”
“What do I get if I tell you?”
She pinned me with an arched look that said what I wouldn’t get if I didn’t tell her. That pissy look turned me on. Then again, when she breathed, it made me hot.
“It’s really kind of stupid.” Catching her hand, I pulled her back to me. Once she was close enough, I dipped low and slid an arm under her legs.
“Hey!” She smacked my back. “Stop trying to distract—” She squealed as her feet went off the floor. “Cam!”
Picking her up, I held her close to my chest as I turned toward the hallway. “I’m not distracting you. I’m helping you back to the bedroom.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Besides the fact that I don’t need help going back to the bedroom, why are you carrying me back to the bedroom?”
“You don’t walk fast enough,” I told her as I carried her to her bed. “Hey.”
Her look grew exasperated. “What?”
I winked a second before I dropped her over the middle of the bed. Her squeal ended in a grunt as she bounced. Her mouth opened, and I knew she was about to cuss me every way but straight. I was on her before she could start what she was about to say, sliding my hands up under the hem of the shirt. In a second I had it off her and she was beautifully, magnificently bare. I shucked off my pants.
Her breath leaked out of her as I climbed onto the bed, admiring my handiwork. “So,” she said, her voice soft. “What about this Shortcake business?”
“Well, it’s a nickname.” I kissed the space between her breasts. “For you.”
“That much I figured.”
I placed another kiss along the underside of one breast and then below her rib cage. “I came out with it the first time I met you.”
“The first—oh!” She jerked as I tongued her navel, clenching the covers on her bed. When she spoke again, her voice was husky as I moved down. “The first time we met?”
“Yep.” I kissed the inside of her left thigh and then the right. “It was the day you ran into me outside of astronomy class—a class you need to retake.”
Shortcake groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
I didn’t know if she was talking about the class or the running into me part. “When I first saw you and your hair . . .” I paused, kissing her between her legs. Her soft gasp brought a smile to my face. “All I could think was that Strawberry Shortcake . . .” I paused once more, running my tongue the length of her. “That Strawberry Shortcake had run me off.”
She laughed as I lifted my head, prowling back up so that we were eye level. “Wow. I don’t understand how your brain works.”
“You love it.”
“I do.” She slid her foot along my calf. “So you’ve been calling me Shortcake in your head all this time?”
I nodded as I settled between her legs. “I might have . . . a few times.”
“And you never slipped until now. Wow. That’s kind of amazing.” Her eyes danced with humor. “And it’s kind of cute.”
“It’s definitely cute. It’s—” I groaned as she rolled her hips up, joining us together. “Well then . . .”
She giggled and then neither of us were laughing or talking. I let out a ragged moan at the tight fit. I lost sense of everything except her body and I wanted to be deeper, closer. We moved together, our bodies flushed and straining. It was crazy, but I couldn’t get enough of her. It appeared the same for her. My mouth closed around her breast as I thrust into her. She matched me move for move until she arched her back, crying out.
Her release slammed into me. Gathering her close, I sat up, keeping her in my lap. The new position had lust zinging through me. I couldn’t last. Not when her little teeth scraped over my neck.
Minutes went by where all that could be heard was the sound of our ragged breathing. I was still inside her. There was a peace in this completion. And I held everything in my arms.
Later, much later, we sat on the bed with the plate of chocolate cookies between us. A tiny smudge of chocolate ended up on her lips and I leaned over the plate, kissing it away.
And well, I kissed her for real.
I kissed her, and it was like kissing her for the very first time. The initial zap, the shock of our lips together hadn’t faded. Dumbly I realized that love made it that way, making sure that a simple kiss never dulled, never lost its luster.
My chest swelled as I pulled back and stared into her warm eyes and my heart did that crazy, stupid jumping thing. Something I also knew would never truly go away.
Shortcake placed her small hand on my cheek. “What?”
At first I didn’t know what to say. I . . . I had waited for Avery—I had waited for her for months. Hell, I would’ve waited for her for years, but she . . .
Turning my cheek, I pressed a kiss to the inside of her palm. “Thank you for trusting in me.”