I nod and pick at a little cake, not bothering to tell him that I’m just as nice as anybody else and not deserving of his brand of friendship.
Chapter Nine
Cam
By the time we can politely leave, I am so hard I’d had to remove my jacket and use it as a shield to hide the state of my arousal from the vultures that hadn’t stopped looking our way.
She’s gorgeous and exactly what I’d wanted in a woman, before I’d sworn off the creatures. She smells like wisteria and vanilla, and her cream is a shade just lighter than honey.
I’ve spent the last hour wondering if she’d taste as sweet and go down as smoothly as the golden syrup. And then I’d started thinking about what else I can lick from her and things had deteriorated from there.
She, of course, is blissfully ignorant of the state she’s reduced me to, and I find myself gritting my teeth and glaring at her the whole drive home while ignoring Mum’s narrowed eyes.
I want her. No, at this point, it is so far past want I have to be honest with myself and admit that I need her. So have her I will. Tonight.
“Cameron darling, did you see Kent? That lad has a real knack for causing a stir.” She chuckles with a tsk. “I hear wedding bells for dearest Molly in the foreseeable future, and I hope that mother of hers gets her comeuppance when dearest Millie steals her daughter and refuses to give her back.”
I grin at the thought of my Aunt Millie taking one look at Molly and going into raptures. The woman is a force of nature, and according to her, she can’t wait much longer for daughters and grandbabies.
Poor Molly will not only be overtaken by Kent and his dominant arse, but by her mother-in-law and a doting Uncle Arthur.
“True.”
“So how did you like Molly, Ducky dear?”
I see a dazzling smile curve her lips, and it startles me so much I have to clear my throat and shift to relieve the discomfort in my pants.
“She’s great and you know it. She’s got a running commentary about every plastic we met, and she’s so sweet. I really like her. We have plans to go shopping for her cousin, Belle’s baby shower.”
“Brilliant! I’ll come along, and we can get some more things for our little sprout.”
Mum grabs her phone and starts making one of her famous lists and misses the shadow that flits over her face. I don’t, and the thought of her not wanting to go shopping, especially for the baby makes my anger spark.
“You don’t want to buy things for the baby, but for yourself it’s fine?”
Curse my bloody tongue! Mum stops what she’s doing and gives me a chiding look.
“Shaw told me I’ve bought way too much already so I fully understand her reasoning since I’m already storing some of the items in the extra cupboard. I, however, don’t care if it’s too much, I want more. And as for the clothes I purchased for her, she only wears them out when I insist on her company because she doesn’t want to embarrass me. The rest of the time she wears her own things. You’d know this if you spent even a bloody moment looking at her instead of seeing the past,” she says with a snarl. “Now hush up unless you intend to apologize or say something nice.”
Ah, Aunt Millie, I think Mum’s going to outpace you in the daughter-in-law department, I muse, shaking my head silently.
Bloody females.
***
Shaw
It’s two in the morning, and I can’t sleep. Again. Because of that damned idiot and his apology. After Marge gave him the mother of all set downs, we’d spent the drive silently staring out of the window, a state I far prefer to defending myself or others defending me.
He’d cornered me in the library and shocked me speechless with an apology that seemed dragged out of him but sincere enough that I’d felt almost giddy with joy.
Why that would be is so not worth examining because I’m quite frankly too afraid of looking too deeply into feelings I refuse to acknowledge.
And now I’m standing in the freaking kitchen, as usual, trying to calm my nerves by turning to food. Again.
“The chocolate biscuits aren’t in the fridge.”
I whirl around and almost topple over onto my ass, only to be saved by a pair of large, strong arms that circle my waist and stay put as he steers me to the cupboard and leans in to get the cookies.
The action pushes his front flush with my back, and I shiver when he shifts his hips, pushing his crotch into my ass. Oh, well goodness! Is that a—?
“Er, I was avoiding going for…the fattening stuff,” I say with a gasp, searching for somewhere to go when his hand settles just under my breast and squeezes subtly.
“You don’t need to eat carrot sticks here. This isn’t the Larson house,” he growls, and I release a sigh when he steps back and steers me to the table. “You can’t sleep?”
I shake my head and accept the cookies and milk he’s poured, feeling out of my depth and vulnerable, as he eats quietly, his eyes never leaving me.
“What was it about him that caught your fancy?”
The question startles me, as it breaks through the silence, and I swallow an unchewed piece of cookie, glugging milk to wash it down and stop my coughing fit.
“Sorry?”
“What was it about Rob that you liked?” he asks again, waiting patiently for my answer.
Oh God, how to answer this without setting him off?
“Er, I don’t really—”
“Just tell me.”
I nod and crumble the cookies as I collect my thoughts.
“It’s not that I liked him or even really would have been interested in him on a normal day. I dunno. I’d just finished college early, and I had a foot in the door on this great internship. I’d spent four years just keeping my head down and working my butt off.”
God, Shaw, don’t give the guy your whole life story! Stick to the basics.
“Anyway, my roommate made me go clubbing with her and her friends, and I was…he came up to me and gave me a line. I was going to turn him down when Linda came over and made a smart-ass comment. He gave her the brush off and got me out of there and well…I’d never just done something for the sake of doing it before. And he could be kinda sweet.”
“So he seduced you? That first night?” he asks, and for some reason he seems angry, as if he’s casting his brother in the villain role before I’ve even finished my story.
“No. I told him I wasn’t into one-night stands, and he understood. He took me out and called me that whole next week, and by then, I’d decided that I could do a lot worse for a first time. We, uh, we were together once, and when I woke up the next morning, he was gone.”
He nods, and his shoulders droop, almost like a deflating balloon.
“Rob was—”
“Human.” I cut in, smiling slightly. “I was so angry at him for leaving like that. I mean, I didn’t think we were destined for love or marriage or anything, but he was a good friend, and it hurt to realize that he’d used me so callously.”
“You didn’t love him?” he asks, his face a blank mask that gives nothing away.
Gosh, if I say no will he get all angry and start insulting me? But what’s the alternative. I can’t lie, not even to make my life easier.