“That girl doesn’t get tired,” Marla said. “She’s the most wired little bundle of energy I’ve ever met. I don’t know how she sits behind a desk all day at work without losing her mind.”
“She takes it out on all of us on vacation,” Dane said wryly.
Cam could agree with that. Even seeing her working out at the gym made his mouth water in an entirely different way. He’d love to drive that little body to its physical limits. Okay, in more ways than one, but on a strictly professional level...yeah. He’d love to work with her. She always laughed him off when he suggested it, though. Maybe it insulted her or something, even though she was absolutely, stunningly perfect just as she was.
Dane clapped Cameron once on the back. “See if you can get anything out of her. Find out whose ass we need to kick.”
“Please,” Marla scoffed. “She’s an adult. I think she’s a little old for the protective big brother bit, don’t you guys?”
“No,” Dane said. “Never.”
That was reason number one why Cam would never lay a finger on her. Meredith was twenty-three years old, but it didn’t matter. Dane might rip his head off. Not because Cam couldn’t prevent him from doing it, but because he’d feel so shitty about it that he would let him.
“I’ll ask her. But don’t expect much.”
“Get a checklist of asses. We’ll go kick them.”
Obviously Dane wasn’t hearing him. And if he knew the thoughts Cam had entertained about Meredith, he might bump his lifelong best friend to the top of that checklist.
Chapter Four
The beach was good for the soul. From the moment Meredith had stepped out of the car after the hours-long drive to smell the salty air, hear the rushing waves, she’d felt refreshed. Renewed. Ready to go, ready to tackle anything. Ready, even, to face a few days in close proximity with Cam...no big deal, right? At least, she hadn’t thought so at the time.
Now, though, everything had changed.
After her shot of desperate courage this morning, when she’d almost listened to Alyssa, she’d deflated again. Dane had called to find out what she wanted to do today, and she’d chickened out. All she’d been able to think about was the fact that there was probably a girl still in Cameron’s bedroom, not twenty feet from where her brother stood talking to her on his phone.
So she’d slipped away from Alyssa, put on her bathing suit, and headed to the beach for some alone time. Standing with her toes buried in the sand, the sun hot on her mostly bare skin and the water cool around her ankles, she felt a little better. It was mid-June...hot but not intolerable, peak season but not overly crowded. Perfect. Yesterday she’d joined a group for a wild game of volleyball, but today she didn’t see any of that bunch. She probably would’ve avoided company right now, anyway.
“Hey.”
For a moment, she didn’t think that was addressed to her, but as someone walked up beside her, she turned with a start. When she saw who it was, her heart felt like a bullet ricocheting in her chest, and her own greeting tangled up in her throat.
Cam’s dark eyes looked down at her from beneath his white baseball cap. Her mouth went instantly dry; her bottom lip trembled. Terrifyingly, her first impulse was to pitch herself into his arms and cry.
But, thankfully, she didn’t do anything that uncool. She forced the corners of her mouth into some semblance of a smile and dislodged the lump from her throat . “Hey.”
And held his gaze for a moment too long.
That moment was everything. It was then that she realized how much she wanted this man; before, it seemed, she hadn’t had a clue. Not really. His body was nothing short of miraculous, and the miracle didn’t stop there. As intense and intimidating as those dark, dark brown eyes could be, they could also warm like melted chocolate and crinkle adorably with his smile. And he was generous with his smiles. And hugs, oh hell yes, he gave the best hugs. With arms like that, how could he not?
Most importantly, though, he was a genuinely good guy. If the years had shown her nothing else, they’d shown her that.
Something welled up in her, some unnamable emotion. He saw it; she knew he had to, because that something was too big just for her. It overflowed and passed through the air between them like lightning shooting through a black summer night. It was as thick as the humidity.
Against every rule her brain would try to throw at her, she stepped forward, stretched up on her toes, and kissed him. Not caring about anyone or anything else. Not what her brother might think, not about some floosy who might be hanging around somewhere waiting for him.
Just him. Just her Cameron, her friend.
She felt the shock go through him, the sudden stiffening of his body and the way his hands gripped her upper arms. For one terrible moment, she thought he would shove her away.
He didn’t. That something between them flared, too hot to be sweet, too powerful to resist. She wanted more, but he pulled away from her before she could take it, lingering as if he could reclaim her mouth at any time.
“Meredith...” So bittersweet, to hear her name in that deep, intimate tone he’d used on someone else last night. The shard of remembrance through her heart was almost too much. “What the hell are you doing?”
Right? What the hell was she doing?
A rush of water high on her thighs knocked her off balance. Meri’s senses were already tumbling from that briefest of kisses, and she nearly fell. Cam’s grip on her arms was the only thing that kept her on both legs, and then he was ushering her out of the water. Sand clung to her wet feet as she tromped dejectedly at his side.
Damn. Damn, damn, damn, what had she done?
He leaned over to snatch her flowery beach towel from her bag and flung it around her shoulders, avoiding her gaze. Her heart thudded dully.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked.
“Hell, yes, I’m mad. What were you doing? For all you knew, Dane could’ve seen that.”
“I don’t give a shit what my brother sees.”
“Well, I do. Especially when it comes to you.”
She glanced around. Indeed, there was no sign of Dane or Marla. “If they’re not here, what are you doing here?”
He slung her beach bag over one shoulder and shrugged the other, gazing toward the condominium unit. Had he even looked at her once? She followed his gaze, taking in the rows of balconies, all eight stories of them. She picked out the one that was hers and Alyssa’s. She didn’t really know which one was Cam’s. But it was definitely within hearing distance, wasn’t it?
“He wanted me to check on you. He said you sounded off this morning.”
He had no idea how “off” she was. That was just great, though. Even over the phone, she couldn’t mask her emotions.
“And then you go and pull that,” he went on. “What’s going on with you?”
“Did you have fun last night?” she blurted. “You didn’t come to dinner.”
He started walking toward the building—running away from the question?—and she followed, keeping up as best she could with his long strides through the sugar-white sand. “I guess,” he said nonchalantly.
It sounded like you did. Oooh, she wanted to say it. She wanted to say it so bad.
At the same time, she wanted to forget the night’s events had ever happened. Not possible. Even more importantly, though, she didn’t want him to know what she’d done. What would he think of her if he knew she’d listened to the entire thing? If he knew how hot it had gotten her? Her face flamed at the very thought, along with a few other parts of her.
God, his lips had been delectable for the few seconds she’d felt them. Warm and firm. She could only imagine what that mouth could do if he let go.
Meri’s knees weakened and she staggered to a halt. Cam turned to look back at her. “Are you okay?”
“Why are we going inside?”
“Before you do something else batshit crazy, like kiss me in full view of everyone.”
She glared at him, and he dam
n sure didn’t shy away from it that time. Beneath the bill of his cap, those dark eyes were as turbulent and intense as she’d ever seen them.
Did they reflect the moonlight? Did the woman from last night enjoy looking into them as she came?
Shit, shit, shit!
Meri shoved past him and mounted the wooden steps up to the boardwalk.
“Hey!”
The planks were hot under her bare feet. They burned. She didn’t bother getting her flip-flops; she only walked faster.
“Meredith.”
Everything within her told her not to be this way with him. It wasn’t his fault; he didn’t know. The fact was she couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t be near him. Couldn’t look at him anymore if she couldn’t have him. It hurt too much.
Muttering a curse, she stalled as the sun-heated walkway beneath her feet became too much for her tender soles. Dropping onto a bench, making sure to keep her towel between it and her bikini-clad ass, she looked up at him. “Can you get my shoes out of my bag, please?”
Mouth set in a grim line, he did as she asked. He even slid them on her feet for her. She had to bite her lip at the sight of those sinewy, veined forearms, those big hands, so near her skin. As soon as the last one was in place, she shot up.
“Will you go out with me tonight?”
He froze, looking down on her. God. He had a good six or seven inches on her five-six. And she’d rendered him speechless. Cornered.
“Goddamn, girl,” he practically growled, lifting the hair on her nape. He rubbed his eyes with the thumb and middle finger of his right hand. “Go out with you? Like...”
“A date. Go out with me. Dinner. Or...I don’t know. Something. Just...” Meredith ran out of breath watching for his reaction.
“We are here,” he began as if explaining to an uncomprehending toddler, “with your brother and his shark of a girlfriend. If he thinks for a second—”
“If Dane thinks for a second that I’m out with you, he won’t have a care in the world. Neither will Marla.”
“What in the hell has brought all of this on? Yesterday you were...fucking normal. Today you’re like some kind of crazy woman, kissing me, asking me out... What’s gotten into your head?”
You, dammit! YOU. You and your fucking sex-saturated midnight voice I’d never heard before.
If she didn’t stop, he was going to figure it out.
She swallowed past the dryness in her throat. “There isn’t someone else, is there?”
“No,” he said promptly. No hesitation whatsoever. Something inside of her came back to joyous life. He gauged the relief that was obviously written across her face and frowned. “What made you think there was?”
“I don’t know. A feeling.”
If Cameron caught the lie, he gave no indication. One corner of his mouth kicked up and he tapped the top of her head a couple of times. “I think the sun has gone to your head, kid.”
“Don’t do that,” she said quietly. “I’m not a kid.”
All humor left him. “I know that, Meredith.”
“Just making sure.”
“Listen, if things were different...”
She shook her head. “Don’t patronize me, either. Be straight with me. You’ve known me since I was eight, surely you can give me that much respect.”
“If we do this,” he said, “we do it as friends. Because you do have my respect, you know.”
And you can’t fuck someone you respect?
She wanted to argue, but she was flying blind right now, listening to her heart and not her mind. And she’d bought some time to think of everything she needed to say—whatever the hell that was. It was enough. For now. “Okay,” she said.
“I’ll come by and get you at seven.” He grinned at her. “Think you can stay out of trouble until then?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, turning to head to the elevator. “But I’ll try.”
Chapter Five
When Meredith answered his knock at her condo door at six fifty-five, Cam almost told her to go back in her bedroom and change. For one thing, her brother would shoot him for even thinking of looking at her in that skimpy dress, and for another, he might shoot any other guy who dared look at her, too.
A muted burgundy, the dress was flowy but showy, the thin fabric molding to her natural curves and showing more than a little sun-kissed leg. Gold sandals encased her dainty feet, and her long brown hair lay over her breasts in big, voluminous curls.
But when she smiled at him, he lost all train of thought. His throat tightened up, along with other parts of his anatomy. If this was how she wanted him to see her all night, who the fuck was he to argue?
He wanted to tell her she looked beautiful. He wanted to treat this like an actual date. As she greeted him sweetly and slid her fingers between his own, he realized she still had every intention of treating it as such.
Shit. This was so not good. If he had a damn brain in his head, he would call the whole thing off. March her back into her condo and leave here there, go back to his own and pretend this entire day had never happened.
Her scent enveloped him. Something tropical and mysterious. Her warm, slender fingers laced with his felt alarmingly right.
“Have you thought about where you want to go?” he asked.
“I saw a little oyster bar yesterday while Alyssa and I were out shopping. I wanted to try it out.”
Oysters. Oy. “Whatever you want.”
She gave him a wink. “I like hearing that.”
God, this girl could have him eating out of her hand if he weren’t careful. He’d always happily taken on a protective role with her, but what about when she needed protecting from him? He didn’t know if he was strong enough to control himself when it came to her. She’d never forced his hand like this before, which had allowed him to maintain that safe distance. Now, she was crossing it, closing it, and holy shit, but if he caught one more whiff of that perfume, remembered one more time what her warm, salty lips had tasted like on his own...
He’d brought his truck along on the trip, and for that he was thankful. Opening the passenger door for her without comment, he resolved to not stare at her ass as she climbed inside.
Which was an abso-fucking-lutely impossible feat for a red-blooded male to accomplish. Her dress tightened briefly across her hips and he caught the faintest indication of a panty line, not to mention an ample amount of leg.
That skin. Not a blemish. No doubt as soft and smooth as it looked. Sweet Jesus, he was doomed. But he went around and got in his truck and carried on with this charade like a sucker.
As they drove, she chatted about how beautiful the sunset was and how great the weather had been. Mundane shit they might have talked about in the normal world. He managed to comply with her need for small talk, even pulling some half-brained comments out of his ass as required to keep up his end and not be a total asshole.
“Did you tell Dane we were going out?” she asked at last, adding, “Oh, there’s the spot.”
He flipped his blinker in the direction she’d indicated, turning into the parking lot of a lively looking little beachside restaurant. “Yeah.”
She chuckled. “As friends?”
“Actually, I didn’t say either way. I just said we were hanging out. He didn’t comment and I didn’t offer any further explanation.”
“What if he had asked?” she pushed.
“I might’ve just told him the truth, that I don’t know what the hell is going on with you.” A thought occurred to him, an ugly thought, and he didn’t want to let it take root. “This isn’t about him, is it? You aren’t, like, pissed at him and trying to run some kind of game, are you?”
Meri scoffed. “Please, Cameron. You act like you don’t know me, but you do. I would never do anything like that. No, this has nothing to do with Dane. I was only curious, is all.”
He found a park. She didn’t wait for him to open her door before bailing out, and he wondered if he’d insulted her. But damn. If
she didn’t want him confused as all hell, then she should stop confusing the hell out of him. Seemed logical, right?
The sunset painted the world golden-orange, casting reddish highlights in Meredith’s hair and enchanting him further. He allowed himself the barest of touches as they entered the restaurant, resting his hand against the small of her back for a moment as he escorted her inside. Even in that brief time, he catalogued the warmth of her skin through her dress. The silk of her hair against his arm. The way her muscles tensed, the way her breath hitched.
Again, he wished this were real. His arm would go so naturally around her slim shoulders. She would fit to his side so perfectly. The temptation to test out that theory was almost too much for him to resist. But then a waitress came by to lead them to a table, and Meri moved to follow her. The moment passed.
She requested a spot out on the patio, and sighed happily as she took her seat across the table from him. Out on the beach, couples strolled in the deepening twilight, the sunset streaking the sky with deepest orange along with pinks and purples. The wind played gently with her hair as she stared out at the scene.
He could look at her all night. But as soon as her gaze came back and alighted on his, he traded places with her, watching the waves and the frolicking seagulls while he felt the weight of her blue eyes on him.
“This is gorgeous,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world but right here.”
She wasn’t looking out there; she was looking at him. And he agreed with her; no-fuckin’-where else could be better than this. It was a thought that nearly crushed the soul from him. Dane, he thought desperately, I’m sorry, buddy. I think it’s been inevitable all along that we end up here.
Meri ordered chilled white wine, and he wondered if that wouldn’t be the final nail in his coffin. He decided to play it safe: water only.
“No drink?” she asked, looking a little pouty.
I’m on to you, pretty girl.
“I got my fill last night.”
Her face underwent an odd transformation, but he couldn’t interpret it. “So...you did go out by yourself last night.”