Page 91 of Already At Risk
I grimaced at the hesitation in her voice.
“I told Noah you would be in town, and he would love if you came,” I ventured. “To the party.”
“Oh, no,” Ellie immediately huffed, and there was a nervous stumbling to her words. “I wouldn’t, you know, want to…impose.”
“Impose? Ellie, you’re practically a part of our family,” I said reasonably. Because it was true; she lived down the street from us growing up, and she was always showing up unannounced on our doorstep, infiltrating our family gatherings. And it was never weird, not…before. “Besides, alotof people are going to be there. Friends from college. Some people from Gemma’s rink where she works. Some of Noah’steammates,” I emphasized, and Ellie laughed, already knowing where I was going with that. “You could find yourself a hot football player…and totally avoid Sully if you wanted to.”
Her laughter died instantly.
“Who says I care about Sullivan?” she scoffed, and I rolled my eyes.
Despite what either of them said, Ellie and Sully cared an incredible amount about each other. But for some odd reason, they both continued to deny it and live their lives apart.
“We’ll figure something out,” I promised. “Do you want to stay with me and Chloe?”
“Work booked me in a hotel, otherwise I’d definitely take you up on that so I could spend time with my favorite nine-year-old.”
“Mo-om!” Chloe called, and my hackles rose, even though she said it with more of a whiny irritation than alarm. She’d disappeared past the corner I was just turning, and I raced around the bend to find her with her wheel stuck in the slats of a storm drain.
“Speaking of, your favorite nine-year-old has gotten her bike into a little predicament here,” I said to Ellie. “Gotta go. Talk more soon?”
“Talk soon,” she agreed before hanging up.
Pocketing my phone, I jogged toward Chloe, but before I could reach her, someone else appeared around the opposite corner andran right up to her side. Someone shirtless, with sweat dripping down their front over rippling muscles.Abs.
Jesus Christ, I’d know those abs anywhere. I’d been thinking about thema lot.
Gulping, I observed as Cameron popped his earphones out and greeted Chloe with a grin. Then he gripped her handlebars with one large hand and yanked her bike out of the drain, wheel unstuck. The muscles in his arm twisted, and my mouth ran dry.
It wasn’t until I heard Chloe’s small voice thanking him that I realized I’d stopped dead in my tracks, entranced by the scene in front of me. By Cameron wearing short shorts with a T-shirt hanging from his waistband. By the indents on his hips and his toned thighs. By the way his easy smile shone down on my daughter as he urged her back onto the safety of the sidewalk and then turned around, searching the vicinity.
For me. He was looking for me.
It only took Cameron a few seconds to find me, and then his gaze flared when it met mine. My body responded, heat unraveling in my gut as my brain flashed back to the last time I saw him, when he’d given me a breathless kiss against the door of his apartment, smiling against my lips before we reluctantly walked out the door to his car, but not before a little smack on my ass that I’d been thinking about for a long,longtime.
Once again, I wondered why he hadn’t called me.
He’d enjoyed himself, right?
“It’s my favorite mother-daughter duo,” Cameron said as I unstuck my feet and walked over to them, repressing the shiver that his smooth voice gave me. He tugged his shirt out of the waistband of his shorts and used it to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and I tried not to stare. But it was challenging, considering the raggedness of his breaths that I wouldn’t mind feeling against my skin again, preferably as he fu?—
“Hi, Natalie,” Cameron said when I still hadn’t responded, a little smirk on his face like he knew exactly what I was thinking about.
Goddamn, was I really that easy to read?
“Hi,” I answered breathlessly. “I—you—” I flailed my arms in the direction of the park, trying hopelessly to find words and make conversation. “We’re going to the playground.”
“Ah,” Cameron said, and his lips stretched wider. “Over there on Camden?”
“Yup,” Chloe interjected.
Now that she had her bike free, she seemed eager to get going on it.
I was also a little eager, both to end this somewhat awkward conversation and to let it drag on forever.
I flicked my gaze over Cameron again. Shameless, I know. But I’d never really seen himnotwear a suit, and while he knew how to wear the hell out of slacks and a dress shirt, this was an undeniably excellent look for him, too.
“Thanks for helping Chloe with her bike,” I said, wishing it didn’t sound like I was so…distracted.
