Page 47 of Unstoppable Love

His tongue darted out, licked his lips to wet them, and so help me God, a tiny pulse of interest beat in my lower stomach. Stupid hormones. They’d only ever gone wild for Cameron like they’d been pre-wired for him.

Lydia’s idea came to mind. Her stupid, idiotic idea I didn’t believe last night for a second.

“You wanted me to admit it, didn’t you? That’s why you tried to make me mad. You wanted me to scream the truth to you, tell you what we did so you wouldn’t have to admit you knew.”

Had I not been propped up by the tree, I would have stumbled back, probably right into the water, for the look he gave me.

A wince and a jerk of his head. “And because I figured, if I couldn’t have you, if I couldn’t love you, I’d take your anger any day over your silence.”

The absolute nerve of this idiot. “I don’t know what to say to that.”

He stepped toward me. Too close. So close I could see the gold flecks in the center of his blue eyes, a deep wrinkle that snaked across his forehead as he frowned at me. “Did Jimmy hurt you that night?”

“It doesn’t?—”

“Did he hurt you?” Another step closer.

I had to get out of there. If he came any closer, he’d be close enough to reach for, close enough to inhale the mint and spice of his cologne. Close enough to…

I scrambled. God. He muddled my senses when he was that close.

He reached out, and his warm, firm grip was wrapped around my wrists. My arms erupted in goose bumps from the contact, and an electrical pulse shot straight to my core.

I jerked my arm, but he held firm. “Let me go.”

“I can’t,” he said, and he sounded tortured. “I can’t let you run from me or walk away from me again.”

“It hasn’t been me doing the running.”

“I know, but I swear to you right now, Ava. I swear to you, if you give me a chance, I’ll earn back your trust and I’ll make it so you’re never hurt by me again.”

“I can’t.” I tugged on my arm, and he loosened his hold, but he didn’t let go. Instead, he ran his hand up my arm to my elbow, back down to the palm of his hand, and brushed the back of my fingers with his.

“Look at you,” he murmured, and he was watching his own movements. “The way your body responds to me, even now.”

I yanked my arm back and brushed my other hand over it to eliminate all the goose bumps and raised hairs. “It’s a reaction, nothing more.”

“It’s chemistry,” Cameron said. “And we have it in a way I’ve never felt before, never since you.”

My throat went dry, and swallowing was a chore. “Stop this,” I rasped, and since he’d grabbed me before I could dart around the tree, I was up against it, bark scraping through my shirt. “Please, Cameron, stop this.”

“I’ll do anything you want. Anything but leave you.” His hand settled on the tree, and he leaned in. He blocked my view of the water, the sky, the sun. But it didn’t matter. When Cameron was close to me, he was my sun. The thing I orbited around, the thing everything came back to. “I’m sorry, Ava. I’m so sorry for hurting you. For lying to you and for not being the guy you needed to be when we were younger.”

Honesty speared me with an intensity that stole my breath. I could get lost in those eyes, the sincerity in his tone, and still, I shook my head.

This wasn’t smart. None of it was. Even if I could forgive him…

“I live here now,” I told him.

“And I’ll be here as much as possible during the season. Every off day I have, I’m here. You can spend time with me in the city. We can make this work, Ava.”

“I don’t know how to forgive you for what you’ve done.”

“You do it by taking a step, just one small step, to let me start proving it’ll never happen again.”

His other hand settled on my hip. I jumped from his touch and hated the way my hips rolled toward him.

This was stupid. So stupid. Yesterday he tore out my heart, and today my body didn’t give a single shit.

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