Page 30 of Be Mine Forever

“It’s been a long day, and Q is out of town at a funeral.”

The quiet pressed against Jo’s ears until she thought her head would burst. She and Cam had literally talked until the sun came up more than once. And now…all they had was this weirdness. Even though only a few feet separated them, it may as well have been a continent. Jo squeezed her fist around the stiffening bread crust, desperate to hold on to anything when everything else seemed to be slipping away.

“It’s kind of silly for you to eat that pathetic sandwich when I have fresh steaks from the butcher.”

“I don’t really feel like grilling. I’m exhausted.”

“Well, I had planned to do the grilling for me and Unc.” Cam focused on some point over her shoulder. “I could grill the steaks and you could rest.”

“You’d do that for me?”

Cam shifted his eyes from over her shoulder to stare at her for a few silent seconds. He looked down at the terra-cotta tile beneath his feet.

“You used to know I’d do anything for you, Jo.”

Jo wanted to leap across the space separating them and claw Cam’s eyes out. To knee him in the groin like he’d taught her to do. She refused to decode his mixed messages and read tea leaves in every conversation. She would take him at face value. Anything else would just make things more complicated and leave her confused and paralyzed.

“Steak would be great. I’m going to my room to lie down for a few minutes.”

She didn’t even acknowledge his last statement. Just stood up and headed toward the back stairs that led to the next level. His indrawn breath drew her curiosity. His wide eyes were pinned to her bottom.

Oh, crap! She’d forgotten about the scandalous shorts Meredith had given her for Christmas.BACK DOOR ACTIONstretched across her rear end. Jo swung around to face him, cupping her butt, one cheek in each hand, mouth falling open.

“Um…I can explain.”

“No need.” Cam’s voice, rough as a Brillo pad, scratched at the air around Jo. “But maybe you could change for dinner?”

The muscle in Cam’s jaw flexed and contracted each time he grit his teeth. He ran one hand over his face and around the back of his neck. He dug around in his pockets. All signs that her attire might be disturbing him.

Well, let him be rattled.

Jo, calm as a breeze, turned around and added some sway to her walk. Let him stew. He’d been mangling her emotions all these years. If arousing him with a pair of illegal-in-some-states shorts was her only revenge, so be it. She took each step slowly, feeling his eyes on her all the way.

“Change?” Jo wondered aloud for his benefit. “But this is so comfortable. I’ll think about it.”

Chapter Ten

Cam placed the steaks on plates, accessorizing the perfectly grilled meat with a rainbow of grilled vegetables. Unc had taught him well. If painting didn’t work out, there was a future for him in grilling. Hopefully, Jo would agree.

He’d called her a few minutes ago on the intercom and gotten no answer. As much as he dreaded it, he would have to go to her room and wake her up. He still needed a cold shower after seeing those stripper shorts she’d worn earlier. He pleaded with the patron saint of erections that she had changed clothes. He wasn’t sure how much more he could “down boy” his cock before things got embarrassing.

How many times had he entered her bedroom without a thought? Now he’d rather perform a root canalon himselfthan open this door. He knocked¸ leaving his hand on the doorknob while he waited.

No answer.

Well, damn.

Cam opened the door a centimeter at a time and padded across the huge area rug. Jo’s suite included an elegant sitting room, decorated in clean, modern lines with the cool colors she favored. Pictures of him and her family topped the surfaces and graced the walls. He paused in front of the fireplace where a photo of Jo and Ms. Kris hung. The two faces, so much alike, outshone the sun setting into the river behind them. If there was a God, and sometimes Cam believed there had to be, He had loaned these two angels to the earth.

To him.

He’d already lost one, and Jo’s light in his life dimmed more every time he shoved her away.

He could see into her bedroom through the open door. She lay curled into a scantily clad knot on the huge bed. Her hair rioted around her, like hot chocolate spilled against the cool green of the divan. He glanced around at the personal minutia of her space. The dress she’d apparently worn to work today lay on the gray-green leather love seat, and a pair of strappy heels stood at attention on the floor.

He made his way into her room and just watched her for a few moments. She must be exhausted to sleep through the intercom, his knock on the door, and him walking around. She worked too hard. He suspected everyone had shoved her feet into Ms. Kris’s impossibly large designer shoes, expecting her to take up where her aunt had left off. With more competence and grace than even she had probably known she possessed, Jo had stepped into those shoes and impressed everyone. Expanding programs Ms. Kris had started. Venturing into vistas the board hadn’t even considered. Jo handled things. She took care of people. And for the first time, Cam admitted to himself how muchhewanted to take care ofher. To be a person, a place where she could relax and refuel and receive the unconditional acceptance she had always extended to him.

Cam shut his eyes, castigating himself for even the thought. He kept leaving that gate open. The gate locking away his emotions, his thoughts…his dreams about Jo. He’d known since he’d first met her at camp all those years ago that someone like Jo needed a guy he could never be. And he’d been stuffing these damned urges away ever since. He’d dated other girls, fucked other girls. Hell, even married one. But this had never really gone away, as much as he’d hidden it from everyone.

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