Page 75 of Be Mine Forever

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jo used her key to open the cottage door, balancing her purse, her iPad, and the bag of Indian takeout she had picked up after work. Even after the door swung open, she lingered on the porch for a few moments, enjoying the October evening. It wasn’t late enough in the season for dark to shoo off daylight too early, but the nights were so much cooler. Maybe she and Cam could eat out on the patio tonight, wrapped in sweaters and each other. Or by the river. Jo had been in the office since seven o’clock this morning, literally cloistered in that building for almost twelve hours. Tomorrow promised to be more of the same. She needed all the outdoors she could get.

She dumped everything on the kitchen island, grabbed a container of momos, the dumplings she and Cam loved, and kicked off her shoes, padding back to the studio where Cam was sure to be painting. Over the last few weeks, she’d been amazed at how incredibly focused he’d been, painting long after she’d turned in to sleep. She woke up one morning to find an entire wall of his bedroom painted with an almost exact replica of the big oak tree from her backyard. Rope tree swing and all. Only difference, he’d added a carved heart to his tree with their names. She came home from work one day to find a riverbank painted on the opposite wall, two jars of fireflies resting in the grass.

This was the bad boy Walsh warned her about? This sweet, creative, gifted thoughtful man who usually had a bath run for her when she walked through the door?

“I’ll take the bad boy any day, then,” she told the empty room, feeling the goofy grin on her face only Cam could put there.

She’d grinned and laughed and sighed more in the two months they’d been together than maybe in her whole life. She’d always had a good life, but to put it simply, Cam made it better, and she was pretty sure she did the same for him. Even when things were as hectic as they had been for them both. Between him preparing for his first exhibit and creating protocols for that romantic comedy, and her finalizing things for the Haitian adoptions, they only saw each other a few hours a day.

But boy did they make the most of the time they had.

Not just the sex, though Jo hadn’t even known sex like this existed, with so many layers of tenderness and heat and trust rolled into an intimacy that cocooned her every night…and morning…and the occasional afternoon. It was every minute they spent together. They’d always gotten along; always enjoyed one another’s company. Even when Cam was married to Kerris, Jo would come over to play cards or enjoy a meal with them. It never seemed strange that Kerris often drifted off, leaving Jo and Cam alone.

Jo had always felt there was a part of Cam that belonged solely to her, corners of his heart that no one, not even his wife, could possess. Guess that was only fair considering the connection Kerris had with Walsh even while married to Cam. They were one twisted quadrilateral, but somehow it was working. Walsh had apologized after the showdown in the kitchen and told her he supported her decision, but that he’d kill Cam if he hurt her.

Of course he would.

Kerris, on the other hand, had texted and called and emailed, using all the technology at her disposal to find out exactly what was finally happening between Jo and Cam. Jo’s heart dipped a little when she thought of her last Skype call with her cousin-in-law. Kerris had asked about Cam’s nightmares.

Was Jo fooling herself that Cam was getting better? He still had nightmares, but they seemed fewer and farther between. He’d reach for her, trembling, sweating, sometimes moaning. She’d dust kisses across his face, his shoulders, stroke his hair until he relaxed. Until he slept. She hadn’t pressed him again about getting help, hadn’t wanted to disrupt this Utopia with that argument, but she would have to circle back around to it eventually. She dreaded it, but she knew it.

For now, she’d focus on tonight. Maybe if Cam felt good about what he’d gotten done today, they could eat good Indian food and she could whip his butt in a game of chess.

“Babe, I got takeout.” Jo walked into the studio with one of the momos halfway in her mouth.

She stopped in her barefoot tracks when she realized Cam wasn’t alone.

“Hi, Bash.” Jo set the small carton of appetizers on the worktable. “Sorry. I didn’t realize Cam had company.”

“Hey, baby.” Cam grinned at her over one bare shoulder. He was hanging a large square of sheet metal on the wall, spreading his arms and shoulders into a wide, muscled horizon.

He eyed the panel of metal, making sure it was level, before walking over to grab Jo by the waist, pulling her into him and kissing across her cheeks before licking the seam of her lips. She opened for him, losing herself in the vertigo their mouths made together. A world-tipping, belly-flipping swirl of a kiss that made her forget Bash altogether until Cam addressed him.

“You still here, Bash?” Cam opened one eye to look at his agent. “You don’t take hints very well, do you?”

Jo laughed against Cam’s lips, pulling back to offer Sebastian a smile in lieu of an apology.

Sebastian grabbed the sports jacket hanging on a nearby chair.

“Maybe you should do less hinting and more painting.”

Jo turned in Cam’s arms, pressing her back to his bare chest, folding her hand across the forearm wrapped around her waist.

“What do you meanmorepainting?” Jo asked. “He’s already painting morning, noon, and night.”

Sebastian cast a significant glance between the two of them standing, twisted around each other.

“Somehow I don’t believe Cam’s nights are filled with painting lately.” He gathered his laptop case, headed for the door, and tossed the parting words over his shoulder. “Remember what I said. The director wants to see that protocol.”

Jo twisted a look up at Cam, countering his grin with a frown.

“Am I distracting you? Are you behind?”

“Ignore him.” Cam turned her into him, sliding his palms down her waist and over her hips. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you, too.” Jo reached up to kiss him quickly, pulling back when he tried to go deeper. “Don’t redirect me. Are you behind?”

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