Later that night, Cameron was digging around in the fridge while simultaneously nursing a serious case of blue balls. He thought about jumping in the shower and giving himself some relief, but the thought didn’t hold much appeal. Then, as he’d been sniffing his way through leftovers, his phone dinged with another text from Tessa. The woman had been trying to get in touch with him for weeks. Normally, Cameron would have told her to come on over. But now…now Tessa didn’t interest him.
What he and Tessa had was casual anyway, and both agreed to stick with it as long as it was working. Well, now it was no longer working for Cameron.
That’s because she doesn’t have blond hair and make you hard as a rock.
Yeah, there was that.
Tessa had to know things would end between them sooner or later. In fact, Cameron was surprised she’d stuck around this long.
Cameron finally found something to zap in the microwave as his phone pinged again. With a sigh, he picked the device up and thumbed the message.
Busy tonight? I can be there in ten.
The one before that said something about missing him and how some guy she’d met while visiting her sister hadn’t come close to satisfying her the way Cameron could. The thought that she’d been with some other guy, and was now trying to get a booty call out of him, should have caused at least some jealousy. But nothing.
The microwave dinged as he typed his reply.
Tired tonight. Getting ready for bed.
He wondered for a minute if she’d see that as an invitation. But Tessa knew better than to show up unannounced.
You didn’t exactly put up a fight the last time she showed up unannounced.
But that was before Audrey.
He’d never talked about his father to anyone. Not even his mother. Not Blake and not Brandon either. But tonight, he had found himself spilling his guts to her, and all Audrey had to do was bat those long lashes at him, and he felt as though he could tell her anything, that she wouldn’t judge or make him feel like an insensitive prick for ignoring his sister all those years. She’d simply listened and comforted him.
Cameron blew out a breath as he gathered his leftovers from the microwave. After a second thought, he set them back down and picked up his phone again. He needed to send a clearer message to Tessa so she understood.
I think our arrangement has run its course, Tessa. We should probably go our separate ways.
Was that clear enough? Too abrupt? Shit, he didn’t want to come off as an insensitive ass. Normally he ended relationships in person, but what he and Tessa had wasn’t really a relationship, so…
Yeah, he supposed it would have to do.
Having Audrey here, and Piper too, had made him take stock of his life. It had made him wonder if he’d been truly happy before the two of them had come along.
A knock sounded at his door just as Cameron cut into his leftover grilled chicken. With a resigned sigh, he placed his dish on the kitchen counter and went to the door.
When he opened it, Tessa breezed past him in a cloud of perfume and determination that had once turned him on. Now he just wanted to scratch his head and ask himself what he ever saw in her.
“When you said you were going to bed, I figured I’d join you,” she told him as she kicked off her shoes and dropped her purse.
See? Invitation.
He should have listened to his own warnings.
“Tessa,” he said on a tired breath. “I really am going to bed.”
She smiled at him. “I know. And I’ll join you.”
“I don’t think you understand.” He gripped her shoulders. “I’m going to bed alone. And did you not get my second text? This needs to end.”
She blew out a breath and took a step back. “I met someone,” she said.
Cameron waited to feel something. A flicker of jealousy, betrayal, anything. But nothing.
“That’s great,” he told her.
She blinked at him. “You don’t care.”
He shrugged. “I’m happy for you.” When she didn’t respond, Cameron ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Tessa, you’re the one who wanted this casual. No questions, no commitments. Remember?”
“Yeah, I just…” She broke off and looked around. “I thought maybe you’d feel something.”
“Tessa, what’re you doing here if you’ve got a guy waiting for you?”
“We haven’t made anything exclusive yet,” she answered with a shrug.
“So you thought you’d stop by for one last booty call?”
Tessa made an impatient noise. “You never seemed to mind before.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, I mind now. You need to go.”
She laughed. “Why, you have a woman stashed in the back?”
Audrey’s face immediately flashed across Cameron’s mind, but he shoved it away.
“Ah, shit,” Tessa muttered, obviously taking his silence the wrong way. Or maybe she took it exactly as he’d wanted her to. Either way, he didn’t care. He just needed her gone.
Cameron shook his head. “There’s no one here,” he told her, not really sure why he felt the need to correct her assumption.
Her eyes dropped closed for a second. “Can you just be straight with me for a minute? What’s going on? You’ve never shoved me out the door like this before.”
He blew out another tired breath and wrestled with whether or not to be straight with her. Despite how pushy she could be, Tessa was a good woman. She was nice and fun to be around and could offer some other guy a lot. Just not him.
“We’ve run our course, Tessa,” he told her.
“Really?” she asked, as though she didn’t believe him.
“Yeah,” he confirmed.
She came closer, and Cameron automatically recognized the look in her eye. It was the one she’d shown him when they’d first met and all he’d been able to focus on was her long legs and come-hither smile. And damn if his body didn’t react. He was still a man, after all, even if his thoughts were on Audrey and finishing that kiss.
Cameron lifted his hands to hold her away, but somehow he found himself gripping her shoulders. Tessa must have taken the gesture as an invitation because her smile grew.
“I don’t think so,” she muttered.
“Tessa,” he warned.
She either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore the edge in his voice. Her hands crept up and slid over his chest. His body reacted further, and Tessa’s grin widened when she felt the evidence pressing against her thigh.
Her gaze dropped to his erection. “You’re still going to ask me to leave? Come on, Cameron.”
His back teeth gritted together in agony as she pressed a soft kiss to his neck.
Push her away. Put her in her place. You’re trying to be a better man for Audrey.
His hands tightened around her shoulders, but his movements were halted when he felt her tongue.
She’s doing that thing you like, his evil side whispered.
What would Audrey have to say about this? his more sensible side countered.
Ultimately, Cameron found the strength to shove Tessa back. He was just about to tell her enough already, when a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.
Cameron held his breath, because he knew what he’d find before he even turned his head.
Audrey’s expression was full of disappointment and hurt, and a thousand other things he couldn’t name.
He opened his mouth to explain, anything to chase away the disgust darkening her whiskey eyes. But nothing came out, because deep down he knew he’d lost her. He’d lost whatever trust he’d managed to gain in the past few days. Then she was gone, pivoting on her heel and disappearing into the moonless night.
Tessa made a noise behind him. Cameron really didn’t care, because his heart was currently plummeting to the bottom of his stomach.
When he turned, she was slipping her shoes on. She offered him a sad smile. “We’re not all that different,” she told him. Then she scooped her purse off the floor and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ll see myself out.”
He watched her walk out, his gaze dropping to the perfectly round ass that had attracted him in the first place. Yeah, Tessa was beautiful. She was ambitious and aggressive and outspoken and good in bed. But she wasn’t the one who squeezed his heart whenever he looked at her. The honor belonged to a blond, pushy, gorgeous woman that he’d let slip from his grasp.
Audrey’s hand trembled as she splashed a healthy amount of red wine into a glass. She still shook as she raised the glass to her lips, and the sweet liquid rolled over her tongue and burned all the way to her stomach. She immediately pulled another sip, before the first one was able to fully settle in the pit of her stomach. After the first glass she poured another, thinking the alcohol would have steadied her hand by now. But the damn thing still shook like a leaf in a storm. Like…
Like someone jealous.
The word burned across her mind, furthering her anger and disrupting the peace she’d finally settled into.
For the first time in a long time, she’d felt a sense of peace with her life. That things were finally clicking into place. That maybe…
Maybe she’d finally settled where she was supposed to be.
Then reality had come smacking down and reminded her that no.
There would be no peace for her. No comfort. No settling down.
And, really, it was her own fault. As much as she’d like to blame Cameron, Audrey knew she shouldered some of the responsibility. The man was who he was, and she couldn’t change him. No amount of wishing and daydreaming could mold him into the man she wanted him to be.
On the other hand, the scene she’d walked into…that woman’s lips on Cameron’s neck. His hands gripping her shoulders. Audrey had been hit with a blinding white numbness she’d never felt. She’d been unable to do anything other than stand there and watch, because she’d been unable to identify the foreign feeling coursing through her system. Then she’d stubbed her toe on the edge of the door as she’d been trying to back out, and the gig had been up.
Cameron had been able to see every emotion swirling through her eyes. She’d wanted to smack herself for being so predictable, for thinking that slinking over there at eleven o’clock at night had been a good idea. For thinking that he’d welcome her with another one of his soul-searing kisses and drag her to bed. And it figures that the one time she’d conjured some boldness with a man, it would come back to bite her in the ass.
And why would he want her anyway? The woman who’d been draped all over him and sucking on his neck was the opposite of Audrey. Tall, elegant. Gorgeous. Polished. Not that Audrey was a slouch. She knew she was attractive and maybe even beautiful if she made enough effort. But that woman…with her size C’s and slim legs. She was the type of woman Cameron belonged with.
Audrey poured herself another hefty glass and smiled to herself when the tremble had lessened.
Behind her, the door to the guesthouse opened, letting in the cool midnight air. The moon was absent tonight, leaving the backyard an inky mass so Audrey hadn’t seen him come. But she’d known he’d eventually show up.
Audrey lifted the wineglass to her lips. “Go away, Cameron.” She downed another healthy sip, just so she’d have something to occupy herself.
He approached, but didn’t say anything. Audrey didn’t turn around, couldn’t face him and show just how much he’d hurt her.
“Audrey,” he said in a low voice.
She ignored him and continued to sip her wine.
“That wasn’t what it looked like,” he told her.
It’s not me, it’s you. Your check is in the mail. Yeah, she’d heard them all.
“I was trying to get her to leave,” he went on.
A laugh popped out of her. “Yeah. Looked like it.”
He sighed and reached around her to pluck the wineglass from her hands. She almost turned to demand to know what the hell he thought he was doing, but found she didn’t have the strength. She was tired, defeated, and confused.
Audrey bit her lip as Cameron set the glass down, then wrapped both hands around her shoulders and turned her to face him. But the second she clapped eyes with his, she remembered how he’d held that other woman the same way, and she shrugged out of his hold. He immediately dropped his arms and held his hands up in defeat.
“Okay,” he said. “I get it.”
“I don’t think you do,” she whispered.
“So why don’t you tell me?” he suggested.
She laughed, even though it was far from funny. “You want me to explain to you why I’m upset over what I just walked in on?”
Cameron nodded. “Okay, dumb question.” He gazed at her for a moment. Then he tilted his head as though a thought had just occurred to him. “On second thought, explain.”
Audrey resisted the urge to smash the bottle of wine over his head. “You want me to explain?”
“Yeah,” he said without hesitation.
She jabbed a finger at herself. “I’m supposed to explain when you’re the one who—”
“I’m the one who what?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why were you sneaking into my house at eleven o’clock at night?”
She opened her mouth to answer, then shut it. They both knew why, and they both knew she had no defense. But how had he managed to turn the discussion around on her?
“What if I told you that was exactly what it looked like?” Cameron countered.
“You just told me it wasn’t,” she argued.
He stepped closer. “But what if it was?”
She shook her head and laughed at herself for what an idiot she was. She snagged the wineglass off the counter and tossed back another sip.
“It doesn’t matter,” she told him.
He came up behind her so she could feel the heat of his chest against her back. “I think it matters to you.”
Her eyes dropped closed, and instantly her mind replayed the scene again. Audrey sliding the glass door open, stepping foot inside Cameron’s dark house. Feeling the nerves skitter through her system at the thought of what she was about to do. Then the blood in her veins turning to ice when she caught sight of Cameron and the woman. The dinner churning in Audrey’s stomach at the intimate scene before her, and wondering how she could have been so horribly wrong.
She whirled on him. “Okay, you know what? Yeah, it matters,” she spat out. “It matters when you’re about to be the only person in Piper’s life and your house is a revolving door of women. It matters when you kiss me like you did tonight, then three hours later you’ve got some other chick climbing all over you.” She jabbed him in the chest. “It matters when that’s the worst way possible for me to find out how wrong I was about you.”
Audrey hadn’t realized how hard her heart was pounding or how close to tears she was when Cameron wrapped his hand around her finger and drew it away from his chest.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered.
She blinked, because it was the last thing she expected him to say. She’d grown so used to his taunts and firing questions at her just to throw her off.
“Tessa is a woman I used to be involved with,” he admitted.
Even though Audrey had figured as much, hearing the words from his mouth still created a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
“She just showed up tonight, and I was trying to explain to her that she can’t do that,” he went on.
Audrey ordered her breathing to slow down so she could hear him out.
“I ended things with her, Audrey.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me you had a girlfriend?” And what were you doing kissing me?
One of his brows arched. “She wasn’t really my girlfriend.”
Oh.
“I just explained to her that we needed to go our separate ways,” he explained. “She didn’t want to take no for an answer. That’s when you walked in.”
“So then why didn’t you tell me that you have other women you’re involved with?” she pushed. “Why make me feel like I was it for you?”
He gripped her shoulders again, and this time she let him. Maybe it was the tightness of his fingers around her arm, but she felt like he needed her to listen. “Because I haven’t been involved with anyone else since you moved in here. The thing with Tessa was just casual and not even exclusive.” His hold on her tightened. “And you are it for me, Audrey.”
She blinked and tried to process his words, but they were foreign to her. She’d never been it for anyone before. “What d’you mean?”
“I mean…” He shook his head and cursed. “I mean I don’t want there to be anyone else. Casual or otherwise.”
Was she supposed to take that to mean that he wanted…something with her? But what? A fling until she went home? Was he going to ask her to stay in Blanco Valley so they could have something more permanent? Part of Audrey shivered at the thought that a man could want her that much. That Cameron could want her that much. The other part…was terrified that she wouldn’t know how to answer him, that she’d allow her fear to cloud her opportunity to be happy.
“What are you saying, Cameron?”
“I’m saying…” He scrubbed a hand over his head. “I don’t know what the hell I’m saying. Just that maybe…” He cleared his throat. “Maybe you don’t have to rush home after the football season is over.”
“I’ve already stayed too long,” she pointed out.
“I’m sure you have,” he agreed.
“And I need to get back to my business.”
“Also agreed,” he said with a nod.
Audrey chewed her lower lip. “And you don’t really need me anymore. Piper’s settled in here, and you’ve picked up the hang of things. It makes sense for me to go back.”
“Right. Except it doesn’t make sense.”
Audrey shook her head. “I’m going to need you to be a little clearer, Cameron.”
“How can it make sense for you to leave, when your being here makes more sense?”
It was so close to what she wanted, and needed, to hear from him, yet Audrey couldn’t help the frisson of unease that snaked through her system.
“Because of Piper?” she pressed.
He cleared his throat again, which she’d learned was a nervous habit. “Yeah, and—”
“Audrey?”
The little voice coming from the darkness behind her put a stop to whatever Cameron was about to say. For the first time, Audrey wished she didn’t have a six-year-old depending on her. As selfish as that sounded, she needed another minute to sort out whatever this was with Cameron, because as soon as Cameron locked gazes with Piper, she knew the moment was over. Who knew if she’d get it back?
What had he been about to say?
She turned and pasted a smile on her face for Dianna’s daughter. “Yeah, sweetie?”
“I had a bad dream.” Piper clung to the doorframe of her room, her curls a wild mess around her face. “And I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Okay.” She turned back, but Cameron was gone. He’d slipped out as silently as he’d slipped in, leaving her to wonder if the door had been shut completely.