by Carrie Elks
Cam swallowed hard. “Me either.”
“Can I call you later? When the boys are in bed?”
He traced the line of her jaw with his finger. “If you don’t, then I’ll be calling you.”
“You’d better be naked when I call, Doctor Love.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “I’m never going to shake off that name, am I?”
“Why would you want to? It’s an amazing name.”
He pressed his lips against her brow. “I’ll come up with one for you.”
“Other than MILF?”
He laughed. “You’re not a MILF. Your’re a MIF.”
“A MIF?”
“Mom I fu—”
She put her finger across his lips. “Now stop that.”
“You started it.”
Mia shook her head. “Yeah, I did. And now I’m finishing it. Go home and unpack and I’ll talk to you later.”
He slid his fingers into her hair, cupping her face with his other hand, and molded his lips against hers. “Okay, Mom. Whatever you say.”
“Mom, I can’t find my toothbrush,” Josh yelled out, while Mia was putting the first load of laundry into the washer. “Mike, did you steal it?”
“What would I want with your gunky toothbrush?” Michael called out. He was leaning over his homework at the kitchen table, muttering under his breath as he tried to finish his math assignment. “Look in the front zip of your backpack.”
“Found it!”
Michael shook his head at Mia. “Kids.”
“Have you nearly finished your homework?” she asked him. “It’s almost bed time.”
“Dad let us stay up until midnight,” Michael said, giving her a sly glance.
“That’s nice.” She knew exactly what he was trying to do, and it wouldn’t work. She was still too high from her weekend with Cam to let it get to her. “I’m glad you had a good time.”
“We did,” Michael said. His expression softened. “Did you have a nice weekend, too?”
Mia swallowed, and turned her face from his. “Yeah, it was fine.”
“Maybe Dad will take us away another time, give you a break.”
“Maybe.” She smiled at him. “But I don’t need a break from you guys. I like being around you.”
Josh ran into the kitchen, wearing only his pajama bottoms. “I’m ready for bed,” he announced.
“Where’s your top?” Mia asked him, looking at the pile of laundry. No sign of a plaid t-shirt in there.
“I don’t wear it anymore. Big guys just wear bottoms. Isn’t that right, Mikey?”
“Dad told him to take it off at the hotel. It was too hot in the bedrooms.” Michael shrugged.
“You don’t have to be topless to be a big guy,” Mia said, ruffling his hair. “It’s cold in this house.”
“I’m fine,” Josh said. “I don’t feel the cold.”
Michael shook his head and turned back to his math.
“Mom, do you think you’ll find a boyfriend? Like Dad has Gemma?” Josh’s question was innocent, but at that moment it had her heart racing.
Mia closed the washer lid, grateful that they couldn’t see her expression. “What makes you ask that?”
“Dad had a talk with us. Explained that he and Gemma would be getting married. I asked him what about you, and he said you’d probably get a boyfriend.”
She feigned nonchalance. “Maybe.”
Michael glanced over at his brother and rolled his eyes. “Mom won’t date. She doesn’t have time.”
Mia ignored the pang of guilt in her chest. “If you’ve both finished sorting out my love life, I’ll take Josh up to bed. You have twenty minutes,” she warned Michael. “And then you need to jump in the shower. I can still smell the chlorine on you.”
“Had to get that last swim in.” Michael winked at her. “You know what it’s like.”
Weirdly, she did. Not that she was planning to tell him about her trip to Hilton Head. Biting down a smile, Mia followed Josh up the stairs.
“If you do get a boyfriend, I hope he likes waterparks,” Josh said, making his way to his bedroom.
Mia laughed. “I’ll make sure that’s on the top of my requirements.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“You sent him flowers?” Joanna asked, her voice dipping as she gave a little laugh. “I love that. It’s so girl power. He does something nice, you send him a bouquet. Did he like them?”
“He loved them. He said nobody had ever sent him flowers before.”
Joanna giggled. “And I can’t believe you’re calling him Doctor Love. That’s hilarious.”
“He doesn’t find it quite so funny.” Mia grinned as she remembered the message she wrote on the card.
To Doctor Love. Thank you for the rehab weekend. Especially Naked Saturday. Love Mia (Your MIF) xx
“Ah, the guy’s falling for you. I bet he finds everything you do funny.” Joanna sighed. “This is like one of those romance novels. I’m feeling faint just talking about it. And I can’t tell you how jealous I am that he whisked you away for the weekend.”
Mia leaned back on her office chair and gave a little sigh. “It was romantic,” she admitted. And hot as hell, too. Her skin tingled at the memory of how good Cam Hartson looked in the buff, his strong defined muscles covered by taut, smooth skin.
“How do you think the boys will take it when you tell them?” Joanna asked.
“I don’t know. Josh will be okay, I think. He likes Cam and he’s young enough to accept him. Michael… I’m not so sure.”
“He’ll get used to it. He went away with his dad and Gemma, after all.”
“Yeah, he did.” Maybe Joanna was right.
“And he knows Cam. He’s his coach. He must respect him. I know they got off to a bad start with the car.” Joanna gave a little laugh. “But that’s all ancient history.”
“Yeah, he hasn’t mentioned it for weeks.”
“There you go. It’ll be fine.” Jo’s voice softened. “I’m so happy for you. You deserve this after all you’ve been through. And maybe I can get some free tickets to a football game.”
Mia laughed. “Maybe.”
“Seriously, I want to meet him some time.”
“I’d like that.” Mia rolled her lip between her teeth. “He’s important to me.”
“I kind of got that impression,” Joanna teased. “I know this is all going to work out. It has to.”
“I hope so.” Mia smiled softly. Everything felt so different since they’d agreed to make things official between them. She felt like she was walking around in a haze. “I should go. I have a ton of work to do before I pick Josh up.”
“Okay, sweets. I’ll speak to you soon. Oh and Mia?”
“Yeah?”
“I watched one of his old games last night and he has so much BDE it made me hot.”
“BDE?” Mia said, her brow dipping in confusion.
“Big Dick Energy. Google it. He’s pretty much the poster boy.”
“Bye, Jo.” Mia pulled the phone from her cheek and pressed her finger to end the call, not waiting for her cousin to reply. No doubt she’d call later, or send a dozen inappropriate texts.
With a glance at her closed office door, she opened up Safari and quickly typed into the search bar.
Big Dick Energy.
Her eyes widened as she read the definition.
It’s confidence without cockiness. It is never misplaced and it cannot be simulated. It is the sexual equivalent of writing a check for $10k knowing you got it in the bank account.
She burst out laughing, because it was so on the mark, the ten thousand dollars included.
Cam Hartson definitely had Big Dick Energy. Though she’d never admit that to Joanna.
“You heading home?” Cam asked, as Michael walked out of practice, his sports bag slung over his shoulder.
Michael shrugged. “Yeah. Gonna catch a ride with one of the guys.”
“I could give you a ride. There’s something I wa
nt to talk to you about. Maybe we can head to my place and grab a drink or something?”
Michael frowned. “What kind of thing?” He pulled his duffle from his shoulder and let it fall to the ground with a thud. “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing at all. It’s nothing sinister. I just thought we should talk about the work you’re doing for me. Only if you have time.” Cam kept his voice even. No need to alarm Michael. It was pretty simple. Tell Michael he didn’t feel comfortable in letting him lie to his mom without getting him all riled up. Then after he came back from L.A., the boys would slowly get used to him. They didn’t need to rush anything, but he wanted this clean slate.
His relationship with Mia was too important to start it with a lie hanging over his head.
“Okay.” Michael shrugged, opening the door of Cam’s Audi and throwing his bag in the back. Then he turned to Leon and pointed at the car. “No need for a ride, I’m covered.”
Leon nodded. “Okay. See you tomorrow.”
Climbing into the passenger seat, Michael fastened his seatbelt and turned to Cam. “That was a good practice today.”
Cam turned on the engine and backed the car out. “You guys are really coming together as a team. You gotta work on a few plays, but I think you have a chance of winning this week.”
“Not if Ben keeps fumbling the damn ball.” Michael sighed. “The guy dropped more than he caught today.”
“We all have off days.” Cam glanced at Michael from the corner of his eye. He really wanted the kid to like him. Yeah, part of that was because it would make things with Mia so much easier, but it was more than wanting to be with Michael’s mom. He genuinely liked him. He might be a bit pissy occasionally, and cocky when he didn’t need to be, but what teenage football player wasn’t? Cam cringed when he thought about the young thug he had been when he’d captained the team. He thought he was the king of Hartson’s Creek.
Michael would grow into his skills. And maybe he’d even get a sports scholarship. That was something else Cam could help him with – he had connections and knew what the scouts were looking for.
Pulling up outside his house, Cam climbed out of the car and pointed at Michael’s bag. “You can leave that here. I’ll give you a ride home when we’re done.”
“I live five minutes away. I can walk.” Michael gave him a confused look.
Yeah, but if he timed it right, giving Michael a ride home meant Cam might get a glimpse of Mia. And he was all about that. He’d been thinking about her and their weekend together all day. The memory of her naked body curled into his had been seared into his mind.
And then she’d sent him flowers in a complete twist of normal conventions. He’d laughed like crazy when he read her message.
He wanted to be with her again. And soon.
“How was your trip to the waterpark?” Cam asked Michael as he opened his front door.
“You know about that?” His voice rose up.
Cam blinked. “Yeah. I heard Josh telling your mom about it.”
Michael glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “It was good. Thanks.”
Damn. He needed to be more careful. At least for the next couple of weeks. His face felt hot – he needed to splash some water on it. “You go on into the kitchen. Grab yourself a soda or something. I just need to do something really quick.”
Michael shrugged. “Okay.” He sloped off down the hallway to the kitchen. He’d been here enough times to know where everything was. Taking one last glance at his back, Cam turned and headed upstairs, wanting to put some space between them.
In the bathroom, he filled his cupped hands with cold water and splashed it onto his cheeks. Looking up at his reflection in the mirror, he took a long, slow inhale.
There was no way he could mess this up. He didn’t want to make things between him and Michael difficult.
“Just go talk to him, asshole,” he muttered. “Get this over with.”
Why was he so on edge? If he was going to be spending more time with these kids, he needed to learn how to deal with them. Maybe he needed to talk to his brothers for advice.
Nah, Mia was the one who could help. He’d talk to her when he was back from L.A. Tell her about this stupid arrangement with Michael and throw himself at her mercy.
Grabbing a fresh towel from the rack on the wall, he dried his face and blew out another mouthful of air. Time to tell Michael their little agreement was over.
Cam strode to the kitchen, determined to do this quickly. Michael had his back to him, leaning over the breakfast bar, a little white card in his hands. Cam swallowed hard, looking at the floral arrangement that was still in the cardboard delivery vase, right in front of where the kid was standing.
“Michael?”
Slowly, Michael turned his head, the card still clutched between his fingers. He glanced down at it again, his lips moving as though he was re-reading the words.
To Doctor Love. Thank you for the rehab weekend. Especially Naked Saturday. Love Mia (your MIF) xx
Glancing up from the card, Michael’s gaze met Cam’s. He blinked, his jaw popping as though he was gritting his teeth. “What the hell is this?” he asked, his voice tight.
Cam walked forward to grab the card, but Michael wouldn’t release it. “It’s not what you think,” he said, his heart pounding against his ribcage. “Let me explain.”
“Are these from my mom?”
Cam blew out a mouthful of air. “Michael, you need to give me that card.”
Michael shook his head, as though he was trying to understand. “No. You need to tell me if this is from my mom.” His eyes met Cam’s again, the air between them filled with heavy silence. “What does MIF mean?” Michael asked.
“Nothing. It means nothing.”
“It’s like MILF, right? Mom I’d like to fuck.” Michael spat the last word out. “Are you fucking my mom?”
Cam frowned. “Michael…”
“Are you?” Michael leaned forward until his face was only inches from Cam’s. He could see the anger flashing in the boy’s eyes. “Are you having sex with my mom, Doctor Love?”
When the hell did Michael grow to be so big? He was only a few inches shorter than Cam, and all the drills and gym work they’d been doing with the team made him look broader and stronger than Cam had remembered.
He was a man. One with a boy’s anger. Cam swallowed hard.
“You need to talk to your mom,” Cam said quietly. “I can’t talk to you about this without her here.”
A low growing sound escaped from Michael’s lips. Then his hands were on Cam’s chest, barreling him over until he landed on the kitchen tiles. Michael straddled his body, pushing and pummelling him.
“You asshole. You said you were my friend. You pretended to like me to get to my mom.” His eyes were welling up, and Cam tried to reach out for him to stop the rage, but Michael batted his hands away. “You’re having sex with my mom, you bastard.” He hit him again. The blows landed heavily, but Cam didn’t move to stop him again. He had no idea what to say to the boy.
“I hate you. I goddamned hate you.” The tears were flowing down his cheeks now. “Everybody’s going to find out. The whole team. They’re going to laugh at me.”
Cam finally captured Michael’s wrists between his strong palms. The boy didn’t put up much resistance. His tears were too strong, the shaking of his chest too steady. He’d done this. He’d made an almost-grown boy cry, because he was too damn stupid to hide those flowers away.
“Nobody’s going to laugh at you,” Cam said, keeping his voice soft. “We’ll make it right.”
“We? You and me? Go fuck yourself.” Michael screwed his face up. “And stop seeing my mom. You’re disgusting. I could get you fired.”
Damn that kid was apoplectic. “Michael…”
“Don’t talk to me,” Michael warned. “Don’t say anything.” He yanked his hands from Cam’s, leaning back on his haunches. “Just leave us alone. We don’t want you.”
&nb
sp; Jumping to his feet, Michael backed up, his lips pressed tightly together.
“We need to talk about this.” Cam pushed himself up, dusting off his jeans as he looked at the boy.
“We don’t need to do anything. Just stay away from my mom or you’ll regret it.”
“I can’t,” Cam told him.
Michael glared at him. “Why not?”
Cam inhaled raggedly. “Because I’m in love with her.”
“The hell you are. Don’t go near her. Or me. Or Josh.” He pushed Cam again, as though to emphasize the point. Cam took it without responding. Michael was a boy. An angry, strong boy, but a child still the same. “And don’t talk to me again. I hate the sight of you.” He walked toward the kitchen door, his shoulders slumped.
“Michael…”
He didn’t answer, just stomped down the hallway and yanked open the front door. Cam stared at the card laying crumpled on the floor. He needed to call Mia.
But then he remembered Michael’s bag, still in his car. He’d drive it around to her place. Try to reason with the kid. Work out how to make it all okay.
Because he couldn’t lose her. Not because of a stupid bunch of flowers. They’d come too far for that.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mia slung her purse over her shoulder and slid her key into the front door, smiling as Josh continued to unleash a constant stream of chatter about his day.
“And then Noah laughed so hard he started to choke. The teacher was so scared she sent him to the nurse. So he got out of getting in trouble.”
“That’s good.” Mia smiled down at him, her brain full of thoughts. She needed to put dinner on, get Josh to do his homework, do some work of her own. Maybe if she was really lucky, she’d get to speak to Cam tonight.
“Yeah. I’m gonna try that next time. It was so cool. He went as red as a strawberry.”
The sound of feet pounding against the pavement made her look over Josh’s head. She frowned when she saw Michael running down the road, his own face red, his chest heaving.