Page 83 of My Mistake To Make

‘Baby, I can’t look at you any other way.’ He smirks, and I can’t hide my reaction to him. My lips part, and I feel the flush of heat that blooms across my skin. ‘You’re naked.’

‘I’m wearing a robe.’

He reaches out and pulls the tie so that the robe falls open, exposing me to him.

‘You are naked, Cara.’ He practically growls as he steps forward, and my breath catches in my throat.

‘I was about to have a bath.’ My words are hardly more than breath at this point.

‘Room for a little one?’ Goosebumps pepper my skin as his large hands roam under the robe and grip my bare hips.

‘You are not little, Douglas Campbell.’ I push him away and head for the stairs, ‘Not in any sense.’

I giggle and shriek as he scoops me up and practically runs up the stairs.

‘Are you doing okay? That was a lot tonight.’

After making it to the bathroom, I managed to convince him to behave and get in with me. Now I’m leaning back against his lovely chest with his fingers entwined with mine against my stomach.

‘Yeah, it was,’ I take a breath, ‘unexpected.’ He stays quiet and waits for me to find the words I’m looking for. ‘I didn’t know Mum had kept in contact with anyone here. I had no idea. Knowing that someone here knew all about me, what I looked like even. I don’t know—it’s a strange feeling.’

‘I should have asked her to stop,’ he says before kissing the top of my head, and my eyes drift closed.

‘No. It really was lovely. When I say strange, I don’t mean it in a bad way. It’s like I do have a place here, after all.’

‘You have a place here, Cara. You’re one of us.’

I chuckle. ‘You didn’t think that at first.’

He groans and wraps his arms around my waist tighter. ‘I’m sorry I was a dick.’

‘I forgive you.’ I smile and lean my head back, and he lifts our joined hands from the water.

‘Come on. We’re getting all wrinkled.’ I smile and lean forward.

Doug climbs out behind me, wrapping a towel around his waist and drying himself off with another before holding out a towel for me and wrapping me up as I step out. He presses a brief kiss to my lips, then pushes me toward the door and follows me into the bedroom.

‘You didn’t tell me what you meant downstairs about your mum.’

He groans. ‘I was worried when you left. I didn’t want you to be upset and alone up here. She knew something was off, and I decided I had to tell her.’ I widen my eyes, and he steps closer. ‘I told her I needed to come up here and check on you, and I asked her if she would mind listening out for Bo because I might not be home before morning.’ My lips part slightly, and he smiles, pulling my towel-clad body against his. ‘It was pretty difficult not to tell her after that.’

I want to know more, want to know exactly what he told her and what that means, but as his lips part mine and my tongue searches for his, I forget all about the questions in my mind and lose myself to my desire for this man.

‘Do you want me to leave?’ he asks, and I shake my head, no. ‘Do you just want to go to sleep?’

‘No.’

He kisses me again, then steps back, putting distance between us. I can’t ignore the way he looks, tanned and tattooed skin, a thin veil of dark hair across his chest and down his stomach that looks like it was hand laid by angels, it’s so perfect. My eyes drift lower to where his erection is trying its best to tent the towel wrapped around him, and I once again feel my nerves and my desire go to war with each other.

‘What are you thinking?’ His voice has dropped. That delicious low gravelly tone he gets during these moments seems to tickle my skin as my goosebumps stand to his attention. ‘Cara.’

The demanding way he says my name has me snapping my gaze up to meet his.

‘You make me nervous,’ I admit, and he narrows his gaze, demanding more without using a single word. ‘You read my body like it’s your favorite book. You know what I need before I do. I feel like there’s a shelf life for us because I’ll never be able to read you that way. I can’t even read me that way.’

He takes a step toward me, his hungry stare fixed on my eyes, which I’m sure are bigger than my brand-new dinner plates.

‘Cara, take off the towel.’

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