those who did love them were actually giving the Callahan brothers a chance.”
“What chance?” Cami asked as the elevator door slid to a stop. “The last I heard they were reviled before and after they married their wives.”
Crowe shook his head as Rafe stopped at the passenger side of the truck and she stared up at him in confusion.
“You don’t know?” he asked as he stared down at her.
“Know what?”
“Because of Kim Corbin, Ann Ramsey, and Mina Rafferty they were beginning a future, Cami. In those few short years, the Callahans were doing something no one else had accomplished. They had actually found an investor for a resort in Corbin County that had all the earmarks of success. They were doing something the Raffertys and Corbins had nearly bankrupted themselves attempting to accomplish more than once. When they died, everyone in this county who was counting on that resort lost that dream. And they had only one way to punish the men who failed them.”
“Through their children.”
He inclined his head slowly, resigned. “Their children.”
CHAPTER 17
“It isn’t necessary that you stay here,” Cami informed Rafe as he moved from the bathroom into the bedroom, his damp hair tasseled around his face, his bare chest and shoulders looking a mile wide as he strode across the shadowed room toward the bed. Cotton pants hung low on his hips, emphasizing the lean, muscled hips, the tight, hard, rippled abs.
She could feel her stomach tightening, her thighs softening, tensing, her heart rate increasing.
“I know it’s not necessary,” he assured her as he padded barefoot to the bed and pulled the blanket and sheet back before sliding into her bed as though he was supposed to be there.
Cami turned her gaze to the ceiling, swallowing tightly as she fought the edge of panic that seemed to be building inside her. How was she supposed to handle this? He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to be in her house and in her bed as though he were suddenly some fantasy come true.
This wasn’t how it worked.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. Not yet. Not until she had found a way to handle it. Right?
Her head jerked in his direction just in time to see him standing and pushing the pants from the tight, well- rounded, muscled contours of his ass.
Naked. He was naked.
Sliding into her bed.
As though he hadn’t been there before, a part of her scoffed. But still, it was different. There was something about this that had her entire system going crazy with the implications of it.
She had never shared her space with a man, and only in her fantasies had she shared it with Rafe
“Okay?” he asked as he lay back and pulled the sheet just over his hips.
Just barely over the hard, engorged flesh of his cock.
He was aroused and so clearly very interested in assuaging the need she could feel beginning to burn inside her despite the bruises on her body.
“Fine.” Clearing her throat, she fought to keep from sounding as though she had just swallowed a golf ball. Even if that was what it felt like was lodged in her throat.
He turned to her, his expression dark and brooding.
“Are you having a problem with it, Cami?” he asked silkily.
“A problem with what?”
“With me being in your bed with you,” he explained.
“Well, it’s not as though it’s the first time we’ve shared a bed, right?” She could see his expression, and there was something there, something in his gaze, that warned her he wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared to be.
“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “Though I have to admit, it did feel rather strange walking in the front door. Do you think anyone saw us?”
What the hell was he getting at?
She watched him carefully. “I’m certain they did,” she said. “I believe half the neighbors came out to view the event.”
And it wasn’t a joke, despite the mockery in her tone. There had been plenty of interest in their arrival. As the vehicles had pulled into her drive and Rafe had carried her into the house, several of her neighbors had stepped outside to view the event.
She could just imagine how hot the telephone lines were this evening. Gossip was probably raging like a fire burning out of control. Which was only slightly cooler than the hunger burning through her body.
The need was like a craving that couldn’t be assuaged.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the phone calls, Cami?”
She stilled. The breath seemed to stop in her chest.
Her tongue swiped over her lips in what she knew was a terrible mistake. It was a sign of nervousness, and they both knew it.
His gaze tracked it, his eyes narrowing on the movement before returning to hers.
“What phone calls?” She fought to come up with an explanation, a glib response, or some way to throw him off.
It was obvious he had to have talked to Jack. Only Jack and his wife knew about the phone calls.
Rafe’s brow arched, slowly, with mocking emphasis, as his expression tightened with brooding irritation.
“Don’t play games with me, Cami,” he warned her, his voice dangerously soft. “And don’t lie to me, kitten. I would be very, very displeased if I caught you lying to me.”
“And that displeasure should affect me?” She only barely managed to keep her voice from squeaking.
She might not be frightened of him, but she had a very healthy respect for the fact that there definitely were ways he could make her regret anything she did to piss him off and still maintain the emotional abyss she was slipping into.
His arm lifted from where it had lain along his side as he stared at her, his head propped on his hand, his long, lean body spooned against her side.
His fingertips stroked down her bare arms, raising goose bumps and reminding her, forcibly, that he thought perhaps she should be concerned with his displeasure.
The pleasure was impossibly erotic. A touch that simple yet combined with the look in those sapphire eyes sent her senses reeling.
Against her hip, the heavy proof of his erection was cushioned between their flesh only by the thin silk of her short gown. Heated and heavy, the feel of it sent the blood thundering through her veins as she drew in a hard, deep breath.
“I want to know about those phone calls,” he warned her. “And now is a very good time to tell me, Cami. Before I become frustrated with your attempts to distract me. And that frustration could lead to all kinds of punishments.”
And did he truly believe such an erotic dare would go unanswered?
Oh, she knew she would have to tell him about the phone calls. He was already aware of them, likely already knew the full story; he only wanted her to tell him. He wanted to know why she hadn’t told him. He wanted to delve into all the reasons why, on a totally deeper level, she hadn’t come to him.
And ultimately, he wanted to ensure he had created a tie between them that she couldn’t break.
The fact that she hadn’t told him about those calls assured him that the tie he wanted in place wasn’t as
