I sighed. “Cameron, this is my best friend, Matthew Flanagan. And, Matty, this is—”
“Cameron Caldani,” he finished for me, eyes growing three sizes. But at least he wasn’t gasping. “Big fan, Mr. Caldani. I’ve followed your career for years. I—” He stopped himself. “Hold on, before I go on, I feel like, as Adalyn’s best friend, I should extend a warning.”
“Matthew, no,” I whispered loudly. “And stop calling him by his full name, please. You’re making this very weird.”
Cameron pulled me closer with the arm that was snaked around my shoulders, and only when I was tucked against his side did he sneak his hand below the comforter and place it on my naked thigh. “Let the man talk.” He squeezed my leg, and my blood rushed to that exact point. “I don’t scare easily.”
My best friend looked so starstruck I doubted he’d be able to scare a fly right now, but he cleared his throat. “Adalyn’s last boyfriend was a complete tool.”
“I already like where this is heading,” Cameron muttered, and his hand moved to my belly, pushing me closer still.
Matthew continued, “I knew the moment I met him that I’d eventually want to break his face.” I tensed. Matthew didn’t know what Cameron did. “I waited for him to give me a reason, a good solid one I could use in case I needed to defend myself in court, but he never did.” A moment of silence followed that. “I don’t really know you, Cameron. But I like you. A lot. If you knew how much you’d probably be weirded out but—”
“Jesus, Matthew,” I hissed. “Get to the threatening because we have a game to attend.”
Matthew rolled his eyes before his expression turned stern. “But as much as I love the man on the field, I will break your face if you hurt her.” I sighed, not because I doubted him but the opposite. And I feared this would actually scare Cameron away. “I’d love nothing more than for you to be with her, give her a family of cute cats, babies, or whatever makes us best friends for life, but don’t break her heart. Because if you do, I swear I will—”
“I won’t,” Cameron stated. Firmly. No hesitation. “And she’s the one with the power and choice to do all those things. Not me. I’m just waiting for her to let me.”
My heart tripped. My soul might have left my body for all I knew.
I was going to faint. Or throw up. I really was.
What in the world was going on? Why were they talking about families of cats and babies and why was Cameron talking like… Like I just needed to sign on the dotted line to get it? I—we hadn’t even talked about what this meant. The future. I was leaving Green Oak. Soon after this game, if I had to guess. And he… He’d just bought this lodge.
I’m just waiting for her to let me.
Now my heart doing pirouettes. We needed to talk. Not about cats or babies, because that was ridiculous, but about whatever came after this. After now.
“All right,” Matthew said, clapping his hands and bringing me back. “Now that that’s out of the way. Can I ask you a few questions, Mr. Caldani?”
The man beside me flinched. And yet, he said, “Sure.”
“No,” I interjected with a firm tone, finally returning to myself. “No questions. No journalist shenanigans. Turn it off.”
My best friend’s mouth hung open for a moment, his brows in a frown. “But—”
“I said no,” I repeated, hearing one too many emotions in my voice. “Cameron only said yes because you’re my friend. But the truth is that his personal life is none of your or anybody’s business. He’ll talk when he decides to talk, and if that never happens, then that’s okay.”
Matthew recovered quickly, just like he always did. God, I felt like a jerk, but I’d already hurt Cameron by threatening to expose him. And even if that felt like an eternity ago, I shook with guilt even thinking of putting him in that situation again.
“I’m sorry,” Matthew said, and I knew he meant it. His eyes turned in Cameron’s direction. “I think she might keep you, man. Adalyn never goes all Rottweiler on me. Except for that time I dragged her to Saint Patrick’s—”
“Matthew, please.” I groaned. “You promised me not to ever talk about that again.”
“All right,” my best friend said. “I really need to go, now.” His tone turned somber. “Addy?” he said, and I realized I wasn’t bothered by that anymore. “There’s something you need to see. That was why I was calling you. It’s in your email.” He looked over at the man beside me again. “Take care of her, will you? I… She’ll push through anything but sometimes it’s good not to do it alone.”
Something sounded in the background, behind Matthew’s chair, but before I could discern any of it, or even process the meaning of what he’d just said, the call was over.
Cameron took the mug from my hand.
“Hey, I’m not done with—” I started.
But Cameron’s mouth was on mine, his hands on my waist, and my back was hitting the bed. He came over me, and an immediate sense of rightness, of safety and excitement and warmth, fell over me, enveloping me and making my mind stop.
Willow mewed somewhere far away, as if she’d run from the room, and Cameron bit my lip again, demanding all my attention back.
“You beautiful, fierce girl,” he said against my lips. His hips settling between mine. “Protecting me like that.” That mouth trailed down my neck. “It’s gotten me rock-hard.”
My hands moved to his head, my fingers slipping into his hair, hardly resisting the feel of his mouth as it continued down. “I thought you—” Cameron nipped at my nipple and I arched my back. “I think…” His tongue trailed down to my belly. “I think—” He placed a hard kiss on my hip. “I think we—”
His head lifted, his gaze meeting mine. “What do you think we should do, love?”
My chest heaved up and down, need surging through me and making it difficult to think. “Talk. I think we should talk.”
I waited for his reaction, almost afraid of him possibly brushing it off or walking away.
But Cameron’s lips twitched, bending upward and giving shape to that blinding smile. “We’ll talk, then.” He placed one more kiss on my belly, then climbed up and pushed his lips to my jaw. My eyelids fluttered closed and when they reopened, he was standing at the side of the bed, looking down at me as I laid sprawled in the comforter. Still. “We have a few hours until the game. I left breakfast in the kitchen for you. Fresh coffee, too. I’ll jump in the shower to take care of this.” He gripped himself through his sleeping pants. I swallowed. “It’s an open invitation for you to join. Either way, we’ll talk before leaving the house.”
In awe, I watched him pull something out of the pocket of his sweatpants. Then he leaned forward and slipped it over my head. I looked down, finding his signet ring hanging on a chain.
“For good luck,” he said. “So you don’t forget just how superstitious I am.” And with that, he turned around and left me right where I was.
Jesus. Was this my life now? Being invited by beautiful gruff men to have shower sex and wearing their family heirlooms around my neck?
It’s an open invitation for you to join.
I sprung up. The heels of my feet hit the floor so hard, I probably left a mark. We were going to talk either way. He’d said so himself. So we could have a few orgasms first, couldn’t we? Cameron was giving me the choice. Just like he always did. He’d known there was something on my mind and offered me an in and an out. He’d made sure either way, I knew he’d be there.
