Page 54 of Hiding Hollywood

He had to get his mind back into the friend-zone. “I already finished the pot of coffee from this morning, but I’d be happy to put some more on for you.”

“Not after my run, but I’ll take a glass of water.” She sat on the edge of the sofa. She clasped her hands together, and her left leg bounced. If that kiss had affected her as much as it did him, he didn’t blame the excess energy. Just kissing her left his blood humming.

Distance. They needed some distance to remember the situation. When he returned with the bottle of water, Addie shifted on the sofa, acting as though she expected him to sit near her instead of the other end.

The distance he needed was more like a few feet, not sitting beside her, his hip pressing against hers. She hadn’t used her typical perfume. Or worn makeup. Her delicate throat moved as she took a long drink. The thought of someone harming her came flooding back. Would she consider changing jobs to something safer if he explained how dangerous it could get?

She set the water down on the table, turning to face him as she caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Tell me about Jennifer.”

“Did you come here to ask me that?”

She tucked her chin and cut her eyes up at him. “Partly. I also wanted to stress the importance of you keeping my job a secret.”

He crossed his arms. “About your job—”

“No.” She poked her finger at his bicep. “You don’t get to change the subject. You can put on your badge and argue your merits of what’s illegal and legal another time. You avoided me last night, but I won’t let you put me off today. If we’re”—she motioned back and forth—“doing this, whatever this is, I want to know who Jennifer is.”

He mimicked her movement. “This shouldn’t even be happening.”

“Well, it is. Get used to it.”

“It did happen. Past tense. I will make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Damn, he sounded more confident than he felt. The thought of never touching or holding her again, kissing her sweet lips, brought a sour taste to his mouth.

An eerie smile spread across her lips.

Shit.

“Addie? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She lifted one shoulder. “Since I’ve never been one to play by the rules…” In one graceful motion, she straddled him.

Double shit.

“I’ll make sure we kiss so many times in public, your mama will start picking out wedding china.”

He swallowed, afraid to call her bluff. Afraid she wasn’t bluffing. He ran his hands along the outside of her toned thighs. He’d never survive.

“I like you, Cameron. I understand you have some hang-ups about my job, but,” she said, her eyes trailing down his chest and back up, “I have barely a week left. I plan on touching you an awful lot before I leave. But the playing field isn’t even. You know all about my job and Brian, and I know nothing about Jennifer. It’s like I’m naked and you still have your clothes on.”

He scrubbed his hands over his head hard enough to try and gain some sense. “No. It’s nothing like that.” She very much still had on her clothes.

She tugged the bottom of his shirt free, inching her fingers underneath the edge and along the smooth skin of his stomach until she revealed the bottom of his tattoo. Her nails scrapped along his ribcage, over the tribal design. “I’ve wanted to touch this for years.” Her chest rose with a deep breath. “I’ve wanted you for years.”

Her lips slanted over his, drawing out each deep kiss and tugging him closer to the edge as she moved her body against his.

Everything inside him fired to life. He jerked his head away. “You play dirty.”

“I can play dirtier to get my way.” Her breathless voice almost had him daring her to show him.

He stood up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, forcing him to cup her bottom. “You win.”

“I’d like to think we’d both win.”

He patted her butt. “I can’t talk about Jennifer with you wrapped around me.”

She set her feet on the ground. He couldn’t sit there and talk about Jennifer with Addie putting images in his mind of her crawling all over him naked. Naked Addie deserved 100% of his attention, imaginary or not.

He didn’t have any romantic feelings for Jennifer anymore, but his desire for Addie cooled off as he contemplated where to begin.

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