Camden

When I awoke the next morning, I was greeted by the most beautiful green eyes in the world. Kate was watching me intently as she lay in bed next to me. It was the first time we had woken up together, and I was struck by how right it felt to have her be the last thing I saw at night and the very first thing I saw in the morning. I smiled, feeling a bit self-conscious in her steady gaze.

“Well, this is a nice way to wake up,” I said with a smile as I snaked an arm around her to tug her closer to me.

“Well, we could have woken up like this yesterday—but we didn’t.”

I released a labored exhale. “Is there any chance we can just forget about yesterday?” I asked.

“No, not really,” she said humorlessly. “While I’ll admit I deserved some of it, I know I didn’t deserve all of that. Where was all of that coming from, Cam?”

Rolling over onto my back, I sighed and began worrying a stray thread on the comforter. “Ethan came by the hotel yesterday morning.”

Kate’s brow furrowed. “Your brother?”

I nodded. “He wanted to get together for coffee and talk before I left London.”

“And you agreed to it?”

“Yeah, mostly because he practically dared me to do it, but a little part of me hoped that perhaps we could reconcile our differences, so that we could perhaps somehow repair the rift in our family. I have to admit that I hadn’t even realized how much I had missed my family and friends in London until you sort of forced me to face everything there.”

“Yeah, I really shouldn’t have done that,” she sighed.

“Maybe not in theory, but I’m glad you did. It made me realize that I don’t want to shut off that part of my life anymore.”

Kate smiled as she moved in a bit closer to me to stroke my cheek. “That’s great, love, but it still doesn’t really explain the meltdown.”

I drew in a deep breath. “Kate, he’s my brother. He knows every one of my insecurities and how to make me completely doubt myself and everyone around me.”

“He made you doubt us?”

I nodded my head somberly. “He’s a constant reminder of Jules walking away from me, and I honestly don’t know if I’d survive it if you did the same. Yesterday, I wanted a guarantee that you wouldn’t, and I pushed too hard.”

“Cam, we’re going to get there. I just needed a little time to work things out on my end.”

“I know, and I went all fucking Veruca Salt on you, demanding it now, and I screwed everything up. It was wrong, and I know I had no right to do that.”

Kate chuckled. “Veruca Salt?”

“From Willy Wonka? It’s my favorite,” I said matter-of-factly.

“I know who she is,” she laughed as she moved towards me and reclaimed her spot in my nook, immediately calming me as I dropped my hand to her back and became mesmerized by the now-familiar softness of her skin under my fingertips as I stroked her.

“You are such a piece of work, Atwood. And not to mention a freaking hot mess when you’re drunk.”

“Ugh! There are so many things about yesterday I wish I could take back,” I said, covering my face with my hand in embarrassment. “I was so ridiculously drunk last night.” I ran a hand through my hair. “The minute I got to that stupid yacht party last night, all I wanted to do was come back here and be with you.” Kate snuggled in closer to me now. “Everything just feels empty now when you’re not with me. You can’t really blame me for wanting to lock this down, can you? What we have is just so fucking good!”

Kate laughed. “I know, love,” she said as she climbed up my torso to drop a long, slow kiss on me that seemed to finally relax all of my muscles and wash away all of the tension of the last twenty-four hours.

I rolled Kate onto her back, taking over the kiss, wanting to savor her lips and the softness of her skin on mine. I dropped a trail of kisses down her neck the way I now knew that she loved and was heartened by the warm, blissful smile that crept across her beautiful face.

“Will you let me have a do-over this morning?” I asked as I busied myself with unbuttoning the top buttons of her night shirt.

She wrinkled her cute little nose at me. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to do all of the things that I should have done yesterday,” I said trailing kisses down her sternum.

“Mmm, what does that entail exactly?”

“I thought it might be fun to get you all wet and sudsy in the shower then maybe have a little breakfast in bed and then maybe a cuddle on the patio before we head into the office today.”

“That does sound nice, but what about a hot bath, breakfast on the terrace to watch the sun finish rising, and then a cuddle.”

I smiled, not really caring what we did. As long as it was Kate and me, I was completely happy.

“Whatever the lady wants,” I said, letting myself get lost in yet another fully immersive kiss and a beautiful Venetian morning.