She took a step toward him. “And?”
He narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Don’t push me.”
Audrey lifted her hand and touched the tension between his eyes. “You take yourself too seriously, Cameron.”
He grabbed her hand and held her to him, so she wouldn’t have a chance to get away. In the past, he’d been too easy on her, giving her ample opportunity to escape when all he wanted to do was finish what they’d started. Multiple times.
“I’m not letting you run away this time,” he warned.
Her gaze dropped to his mouth.
Without giving himself time to think, or giving Audrey time to hide, he yanked the towel from her and tossed it over his shoulder. He grinned as she gasped, then allowed his gaze to touch every naked inch of her.
Yeah, well worth the wait.
The woman was something of fantasies, like those Greek goddesses who lay around in togas and sip wine all day, then bathed naked in a stream. Her skin was pale and creamy, with full breasts, probably enough for a healthy handful, a pinched waist, and curvy hips. Her legs were long and her small feet were accented by glittery golden nail polish.
His gaze slowly traveled back up her body, lingering on the dark patch of curls at the juncture of her thighs, taking in her small navel, then her puckered nipples. Cameron’s mouth watered at the thought of taking a tight nub in his mouth. He was about to tell her that, to announce everything he intended to do to her, when the look in her eyes stopped him.
She was afraid. Afraid of putting herself out there. Afraid that he’d hurt her.
His gaze softened, and he cupped her face with his hand.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
She licked her lips, then gave him a small nod. Something inside softened as relief made his knees week.
Without giving her time to reconsider or call the whole thing off, he hooked his hands under the backs of her thighs and hoisted her up.
She yelped and grabbed on to his shoulders.
“This would work a whole lot better if you’d wrap your legs around me,” he told her as he backed out of the bathroom.
Her pupils filled her beautiful brown eyes, and she hooked her legs around his. Cameron didn’t bother biting back a groan as he finally had Audrey’s lush nude body pressed all over his.
“We’re finally finishing this,” he told her as he entered the dark bedroom and kicked the door closed behind him.
She clung to his neck as he set them both on the bed. “Seems to me we’re just starting.”
Much later, Audrey lay in the dark, willing herself to sleep, but her mind wouldn’t settle down long enough to give her peace.
The man next to her took up most of the twin-sized bed with his big body, which threw off heat like a Colorado summer. He hadn’t given her a moment’s rest for the better part of three hours, moving inside her body, pinning her to the mattress and staring down at her like he’d been seeing her for the first time. Even now, after her heart had slowed, she shivered, thinking how right it had felt to be beneath him. To feel his thighs forcing her legs apart and his hot breath on her neck as he came inside her.
It had been the most intense moment of her life. Intense, but just as precious. Just as sweet and tender and different. Because he was different. The way he looked at her, kissed her, touched her. Made love to her. It had been nothing like she’d ever experienced, and it frightened her. She was even more frightened than she already had been of possibly uprooting her entire life for a man who, until just a few months ago, was happily single. A man who, for all she knew, wanted her to move here because it’s what he knew. Maybe being left alone with Piper scared him. Okay, she got that. It was natural to feel some trepidation at the thought of being solely responsible for another human being. But did he want Audrey here because her presence brought him comfort? Comfort in all the uncertainty that came with raising a little girl? Or did he want her here because he wanted her here? Because he couldn’t live without her?
Because he loved her?
The situation was about as clear as a foggy San Francisco day. Audrey wasn’t sure if she could change her entire life for a man who didn’t even understand his own motives.
“I can’t,” she whispered into the dark. Cameron’s breathing had changed, so she knew he was awake.
He rolled over and looked at her.
Audrey kept her gaze on the ceiling because it was safer that way. If she looked into his blue eyes, she’d cave. She’d give in to her desires, and she needed to stay strong.
“I can’t move here to be with you, Cameron.” Just saying the words was like swallowing glass, but she had to get them out. “It’s better this way,” she said, finally looking at him.
His gaze was shadowed, but she felt his eyes cutting straight through her.
“Better for who?” he countered.
“I can’t give up my entire life for a man who doesn’t even know what he wants,” she said, ignoring his question.
He shifted under the covers, pushing up on an elbow. “What about what Piper’s given up?”
His words were soft, but they were like an ice pick to her heart. She tossed an angry look his way. “Don’t you dare.” She sat up, mirroring his pose. “I know damn well what she’s given up. I watched her mother waste away for months, then held her shaking body as she sobbed over Dianna.”
“And yet here she is,” Cameron said. “As resilient as ever.”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded as she scrambled off the bed, searching for something to cover herself up. “That I don’t have it in me?” After spotting a hooded
