Page 54 of Coincidentally Kismet

Thank God the footbath has a timer on it and shuts off after ten minutes. Not only are my hands tired, but I need to put a little distance between my cock and Cam or I’m going to embarrass myself. As if on cue, her stomach rumbles so loudly we both are stunned to silence before doubling over in laughter.

“Hungry?” I ask.

“I’m sorry, oh my gosh, how embarrassing. I didn’t get to eat lunch or dinner since I was finishing my last trial today.” Her cheeks blush, hinting her embarrassment, but she still smiles sheepishly.

“Hey, it’s okay. I will feed you, but you need to make sure you’re eating. I have popcorn, but I could also order pizza?” I say, wondering if she needs something more substantial.

“Pizza sounds great. I can pay, I made tips today.” The words tumble out of her mouth, yet there’s an edge to them, like she really can’t afford to pay.

“Wright, when you’re with me, you don’t pay. I got you, promise.”

I tip her chin up and press a gentle kiss to her lips before making my way over to the kitchen to grab my phone, ordering a pizza plus mini cinnamon-sugar donuts, because I can.

While we wait for the food, we decide to snuggle up in our makeshift movie theater bed. Twinkle lights dance overhead as the tent walls and blankets make a sort of cocoon around us. Cam mentions she would rather talk than watch a movie, so I set the TV to play some soft, soothing jazz tunes. A glittering, bright giggle rolls out of her. “Did you steal this playlist from Dalton?”

“Oh my gosh! Do you remember how awkward that double date was? Dude seriously thought he was getting lucky, serenading her with love songs.” We both laugh until we have tears rolling down our faces. Senior year, one of our mutual friends, Dalton, took us on a double date for his first time out with this girl. He played love songs the whole way to the restaurant. I’m talking about Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”–style of music. It was so awkward that his date ended up leaving before the appetizers came, and we had to spend the rest of the night cheering him up.

After our laughter has settled, I brush the remaining happy tears from her face with a swipe of my thumbs and ask, “So...did you pass your trials?”

“Yes, I did. Ugh, it’s such a relief, except now I have to actually build my clientele and money is even less guaranteed since I won’t get an assistant’s salary.” She throws her head back and rubs a hand roughly down her face.

“You’re amazing, everyone you meet adores you. I’m sure it won’t take long, and if you ever need help, you know you can ask.”

She presses her soft lips to mine, just once. “While that’s incredibly sweet and generous, this is something I have to do on my own. Prove to myself I can, you know?” I’m proud of her. I wouldn’t mind helping her out if she needed it, but the fact that she wants to be self-sufficient is really hot. If this works out between us, it will be because she wants it to, not because she needs me.

“Tell me something, Rambo...What do you do at work?” She snuggles in a little closer, using my arm as a pillow.

“Well, there isn’t much to say. We do communications, but you know that already. Most of it we can’t talk about since it’s classified. Is there something specific you want to know?”

“Umm, I guess...do you like it? Is it dangerous? Do you have to move around a lot?” The fear in her eyes is crippling. I should’ve seen these questions coming. Cam has always been an overthinker, and we haven’t discussed my job much at all. She knows about Thatch, but only the basics.

I puff out a breath of air and run my hands through my hair. “I love it, it gave me a sense of purpose when I really didn’t have one—no offense.” I eye her suspiciously for any hint of anger over our past bubbling up. When I don’t find it, I continue, “Danger is relative. My job’s not always safe, but bad things happen to people walking down the street. I may have to move at some point, but not anytime soon. My team is here and we relocate as a unit, so it’s unlikely that they will want to send us and all of our belongings to live somewhere new.” Moving and deploying are two different things, I keep the possibility of the latter to myself, for now.

I’m downplaying the risk, obviously, but there isn’t a point in scaring her. It’s not a lie to say that danger lurks no matter where you are in life. Bad shit happens to good people all the time. Do I run toward it more often than others? Yeah, I do. I will explain more to her at some point if things progress, but right now, I’m trying to make sure things actually do progress. I also don’t want to give her any excuse to run.

Knock, knock!

I head to the door to grab the food, then make my way back into the tent with the pizza box, the bag of donuts, and some napkins.

“Dinner is served, milady.” I hand Cam a slice of pizza and bow my head.

“Do not quit your day job, Rambo. That wasn’t very good acting.” She eats her pizza tentatively, taking small bites.

“Do you like it?” It feels like she doesn’t want to eat it, but I don’t really know why.

“It’s so good, thank you. I’m just not super hungry.” She fiddles with one of the blankets, looking down at her half-eaten slice.

I take the slice from the napkin on her lap and plop it back in the box, moving it to the opening of the tent. “Wright, look at me. What’s up?”

“What do you mean? Nothing.” She dismisses me, moving to grab the pizza and pull it back toward us.

“Nope.” I grab her hands, turning her to face me. “You are hungry, I know you are because your stomach told me. Why are you picking at the pizza? I can get you something else.”

“Stop, Will. It’s just...well, you know I’ve gained weight since you last saw me, and I’ve been trying really hard to lose it, but I don’t know. I guess I just thought that after the phone call, maybe something was going to happen tonight and you...well, you know.”

“I what? I wouldn’t think you’re attractive if you eat?” I’d had a hunch that she struggled with her body image, but honestly, she’s never been more beautiful in my eyes. Her curves could kill a man.

“Well, I mean, yeah. Realistically, if I was thinner back then, you probably wouldn’t have left. I have these stupid athletic knees and wide hips. I just...I don’t know.”

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