Everly

The next day, I apologised to Cam with a bunch of kale, and we established a new kind of normal. I still wanted to help him—but I no longer felt as if it was my responsibility. Instead, I focused on living in the moment—having fun spending time with a man I was rapidly falling for.

Watching his love grow for Piper was truly beautiful. I even encouraged him to spend more time with his father, and each time we visited Magenta, his shoulders seemed a little less tense, his grip a little looser on the steering wheel.

I wasn’t a fool. I didn’t do that. It was everything—Piper, the sea air, life—but it was amazing to be a part of it, and I felt honoured he let me in to witness it all.

But as well as doing all that, I let him help me.

The boxing started as a casual interest. Until I saw the bag, I hadn’t understood how much anger I had built up inside of me. Once my fist connected with the leather, I realised that I was furious. Angry with Bentley for what he did. Angry with the suicide bomber for his selfish beliefs. Angry with my mother.

So. Damn. Angry.

Sweating that anger out was cathartic. Nights quickly became my favourite part of the day.

“Let me just get the strapping,” Cam said one evening, stepping into the garage and leaving me in his living room.

“Sure.” I shoved my hands in the pockets of my shorts, waiting.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out.

Joanna: I really think you should call and talk to Mum. You don’t have to forgive her. Just say hi.

My shoulders tensed. Why was it so easy for her? Why could she just forgive her and then move on? Why did she keep feeling the need to pressure me into doing this?

“Everything okay?”

I glanced up. A shirtless Cameron stood in the doorway, a roll of material and something shiny in his hand, concern etched over his features. Like a caring Greek god.

He walked over to the doorway to the garage, placing the pair of scissors on the entertainment unit and keeping the material in his hands.

“Yes,” I said, placing my phone on the coffee table. “Everything’s fine.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t know if I believe that.”

I shrugged, stepping closer and extending my arms until my fists stopped just centimetres from his bare chest, those pecs that were so clearly defined in the bright light of the living room. It didn’t matter how many times I saw it—his body still took my breath away. “Strap me up.”

His eyes met mine. They darkened, and though I hadn’t meant anything by my words, a lick of passion ran through me. Strap me up. Lord, how I wanted that from him.

I didn’t back down, didn’t move away, and for a moment, it was like he could see all those naughty thoughts running through my mind. My hands tied to the head of his bed. His mouth roaming all over me, teasing me, taking me to the brink until I begged and begged for more.

“Right.” He shot me a quick and awkward smile, then focused his attention on my knuckles. “Of course.”

Slowly, he began to wrap the stretchy material we’d picked up from the sports store around my knuckles. I’d wanted to go all in, to buy gloves right there and then, but Cameron had insisted I wait until I’d decided if boxing really was for me.

Now, I was sure glad he had. Cam twisted the strapping over my palms and brought it out the other side. Every movement was slow, deliberate, and when he touched my skin, I felt it scorching a path through my body that ran straight between my legs.

“You … uh, you have soft hands,” he mumbled.

Let me touch you everywhere with them. “I do?”

He nodded once, a short, sharp jerk of his head. “Mm-hmm. Real soft.”

I looked up at him, focused on those long lashes, the chiselled jaw, the curve of his mouth. Kiss him. I wanted to kiss him so badly—

But I couldn’t.

He wasn’t ready.

Hell, maybe I wasn’t ready.

Not while I still had so much anger inside of me.

“How was Piper tonight?” I needing something—anything—to try quell my raging libido.

“Good. I tried her with this new soup recipe I found online—on your blog, actually.” He shot me a sheepish smile. “Is that weird?”

“You using a resource on the Internet?” I raised my eyebrows. “That’s not weird.”

“Cool.” He moved onto the other hand, still not meeting my gaze. “I just wasn’t sure if you’d feel strange about it. Like maybe I was using you for your parenting advice.”

I placed a hand over his. Zap. There was that thrill again, shooting straight to my core. “Cam, please. It’s not like it’s the only reason we’re friends.”

“It’s …” He looked down at our joined hands for a moment. His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“I know when we first met you were hoping for some parenting advice. And I’m always happy to help with Piper.”

As if on cue, a cry came from the room down the hall.

“Saved by the baby, huh?” He grinned that adorable grin again, and I laughed. He moved his hand from between mine. Taking scissors from the entertainment unit, he snipped the strapping free and tucked it into place. “I’ll just be a sec.”

I breathed the sigh of the unsatisfied as he walked down the hall.

On paper, Cameron Lewis was the perfect man.

Caring? His face when he’d walked into the room, asking if I was okay.

Check.

Sexy? His body, those muscles I could spend days ogling as we worked out in the garage. Pure perfection.

Check.

Fun? Throwing dirt at each other in my backyard. Singing to The Eagles on the way to Magenta at the top of our lungs to try relax Piper when the stereo broke. Laughing in the kitchen as we tried to make each other the healthiest and unhealthiest meals possible.

Check.

But that was just the problem. Cameron wasn’t simply on paper for me. He was working his way into my heart, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

Still, a niggle of guilt remained. You need to tell him you knew Bella.

“Hush little baby, don’t say a word …”

Wait—was that singing?

Softly, my feet padded over the carpet to the hall. Step by step, I moved down it, stopping just outside Piper’s room.

What I saw took my breath away. Hormones be damned.

Cameron cradled Piper in his arms, her tiny body snuggled up against his chest. His big strong arms protected her, pulled her tight to him, and he sang in a deep, rumbling voice that sent vibrations through my body in all the right places.

I leaned against the doorframe for support. Hot damn.

The moonlight cast a glow over the muscles of his arms, his shoulders, sending silver sparks along the stubble dusting his jaw.

As he smoothed a curl away from Piper’s face, I realised there was one thing I’d left off my list.

Loving.

This man had an ability to love like no other.

He’d been through so much, lost so much—and yet look at him here with this little girl. It melted me.

I want him.

I want him so much.

And as I backed down the hall before he could see me, before I could disturb Piper, that thought ran through my mind again.

I want him.

I wanted him so much, but I also knew I had to wait. He deserved to know about Bella. He deserved to know that I’d known who he was from the first moment we met.

He deserves to know the truth.

If only love was easy.