by Mia Faye
It had been a while. My inbox was teeming with unread messages, all of them apparently urgent, most of them from work. And one from Cam that I pretended not to see.
At the top was the manuscript from Cavill. I clicked on the document and leaned back, already skeptical. I had never been one for fantastical fiction, and this looked every bit like the next Lord of the Rings.
And then something curious happened. Just as Cavill had said, I found myself smiling at the writer’s choices in her writing, nodding appreciatively at the way she expressed herself. Without even realizing it, I flipped a page, and in the back of my head, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to put it down. It happened with the best books. It was rare, but when it did, it was beautiful.
I got so lost in the story I didn’t even notice I had already started editing it. The glasses of lemonade piled up around me… people walked past me, the music around me swelled and then changed and then died down altogether, and still, I didn’t look up from the book. Whoever she was, this writer was incredible.
Maybe Tyler was right. Maybe I had always known I couldn’t turn down Cavill. Was I ever really going to say no to him? Even if I was, would it be based on professional considerations, or would it have been entirely about Cam?
Ah, Cam. I must have thought about it so hard that I was hearing his voice in my head. Strange. It sounded so lifelike, so… close?
My eyes flashed up, my fingers froze above the keyboard, my other senses slowly coming into focus. I had to blink to confirm what I was seeing, and when the man in front of me didn’t disappear as I expected him too, I gave a little gasp of horror.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Cam said, smiling that irritating smile of his, and it made my heartache and swell and flutter like I hadn’t known it could.
He was here. Impossibly, he was here, in the coffee shop, looming above me as he always did. Had he followed me here? No, that couldn’t be possible. I had left the restaurant for almost two hours after his appearance. This was…
“This is absolutely remarkable!” Cam exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. “I’ve looked for you all day, and here I was, about to give up, and the first café I walk into, there you are.”
It took a minute, but I finally found my voice again. “Did you follow me?” I knew he hadn’t, but it was the only thought of playing in my head. Over and over.
“Follow you?” Cam asked. And then realization dawned on his face. “Ah, so you were with young Tyler at the restaurant. I thought I detected a whiff of your perfume. And heard your phone vibrate.”
“What… what are you doing here?”
Cam looked around like I had just asked him what year it was. “Uh, getting coffee.”
“Here? Now?”
“Yeah. I saw it from the other side of the street. Nifty little design, don’t you think? Understated, yet it somehow pulls you in. Subtle.”
“What are you doing here, Cam?” I asked again, a touch more forcefully.
Cam’s face fell. It was heartbreaking to see.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You don’t want to see me. I get it. I just wanted to talk to you. Explain what happened. If you’ll let me. Because the thing you walked in on, with Vicki and me … nothing was going on. I know people always say this, but it wasn’t what it looked like…”
“Cameron. Please. I don’t want to do this with you right now.”
There it was again, that momentary flash of hurt across his face, almost enough to snap my resolve. Eventually, his shoulders slumped, and I realized with a sinking feeling that he had really given up this time.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m sorry, Yvette. I really am.”
I felt the pool of tears gather behind my eyelids, so fast I barely had time to react. I made a desperate swipe at my cheeks, hoping to catch the errant drop before it tumbled down my cheek. Damn those hormones. Damn me for being weak and emotional and a total mess.
When the tears didn’t stop threatening to fall, I let my head drop. I felt rather than saw motion in front of me, and I half-hoped that Cam had left because I couldn’t bear the thought of breaking down in front of a man for the second day in a row.
But he wasn’t gone.
I felt his hand touch my chin, impossibly gentle. His fingers brushed the skin of my cheeks, slow and soft and tender, and he tipped my head up to look at him.
My vision was blurry from the film of unrelenting tears. I only saw his vague outline, only felt his proximity from the heat pouring off him. But I smelled him alright. Male, and him, and the closest thing to home I knew.
I blinked, letting the tears drop. I never got to open my eyes, though. Cam’s lips descended on mine, catching me by surprise and prompting a stunned “Oh!” from me.
The shock of it rendered me immobile for some time. Enough time for him to pull in closer and increase the pressure with his lips. Before I knew it, my own lips were parting to let him in, and the soft gasps from me were suddenly moans as my body lit up.
God, how I had missed this.
Everything about him turned me on. His scent, the feel of his hands on me, the taste of him. I had never been able to lie about that, not to myself, and certainly not to him. It was why I had fought so hard to get away from him. Even subconsciously, my body knew it could never say no to him. Not when he could turn me into mush with just the brush of his lips.
He kissed me softly, yet with passion and intent. He was letting me know how he felt about me, asking with his lips, demanding that I acknowledge it. His hand roamed my face, tangled in my hair, grabbed the back of my neck, and pulled me in firmly but never forcefully. My own hands remained planted firmly on the desk, unable to move, incapable of moving, terrified of moving lest I reach for his clothes.
It was heaven and hell. I wanted this; I needed this. I had denied myself this for so long. Why?
The memory came back, the image flashing across my retinas so hard I blinked, and my eyes flew open. I lifted my right arm and hit out, catching him across the face, striking him soundly across his cheek and drawing a pleasant smacking sound that echoed around the room.
If there was anyone who wasn’t looking at us, they were now.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching up and trying to rub Cam’s face. “I’m so sorry; that was involuntary.”
“It’s okay. I deserved it. And I missed you too.”His eyes were alive with passion and lust and affection as he looked at me. I tried to remember what I had been mad about just then, but all I could think about was that kiss and how damp my panties felt.
“Now, please, Yvette. I know you’re mad at me. But for the love of God, would you please give me a second to speak to you.”
“Oh!” I gasped, another, different memory occurring to me.
“What?” Cam said, clearly confused.
“This is it!” I said, looking around us to indicate the coffee shop. “The story of how we met.”
It took him a second. It was beautiful to watch the comprehension sneak into his features and transform his face.“Oh yeah! The story we told to Gloria and Wyatt. Holy shit, this is exactly it!”
“Totally. Now you’re supposed to sit down and wait for me to finish working.”
“True. But I have a better idea. Will you come with me?”
I could still feel the eyes of the patrons in the coffee shop on us. They kept slipping in and out of my line of vision whenever I focused on Cam. Or I kept forgetting that it wasn’t just the two of us.
Stop stalling, Yvette.
I nodded, well aware of what I was really agreeing to and not caring. But for the first time in days, I was sure of something: I was done running.
Chapter 32
Cameron
I had been to many beautiful places, but the most beautiful by far was the Annie Memorial Gardens in Rockford. This trip had provided a wealth of surprises. But the gardens were my favorite so far. They were lush. Green everywhere you looked, serene and stunning, it gave new meaning to the expression ‘the great
outdoors.’
It was Yvette’s idea. She didn’t want to wander aimlessly around town as I did. She wanted to show me ‘her favorite place in the whole world,’ and once we walked in, it immediately became my favorite place in the whole world too.
She wanted to check out the pool first, so I nodded meekly and followed in her wake. This was it, I thought, the moment I would look back on for all my life and remember as the happiest, the most profound.
I grabbed Yvette’s hand and stopped her.
“Listen, I need to get this out because I’m afraid it will ruin this beautiful moment, and I can’t have that.”
Yvette swallowed hard but didn’t say a word.
“What you saw back at Wyatt’s house, that wasn’t what it looked like. Vicki was upset about her relationship with Mike, and she was drunk. She stumbled, I caught her. That was it. Nothing happened. I swear.”
To my surprise, Yvette nodded.“I know,” she said. “She had a few things to say to me too.”
“Ah. What did she say?” I asked, my teeth gritted.
“She said that you were using me all along like you used her and others before. She said that the two of you only connected because you’re the same horrible person in two separate bodies. She said something about you helping her steal clients from Penguin. She said a lot of things…”
I shook my head.“My attraction to Vicki was almost entirely sexual, to be perfectly honest. I was young and hungry in the industry, and I was attracted to that ruthless quality she possessed, believing it was what I needed to make it in the industry. It’s something I felt I had as well, or needed to, which was why we got along so well. But our relationship was never going to work. We were just not right for each other. I’ve spent a long time being angry at her for that, and I realized she has, too. But it was just that simple. We weren’t a good match. I just wish I had realized it before I got her pregnant.”
Yvette shuddered visibly.
“I didn’t help her steal clients. She stole my client portfolios and used my intel to target the ones she thought were weakest. She was the one who used me.
“As to using you, I’m sorry, Yvette. The thought of her taking Emma away scared me so much. I hate that Vicki and I let our conflicted feelings for each other affect our relationship with our daughter, that we were using her to get back at each other. I shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess, and I’m sorry for that. I know we haven’t had the most straightforward journey. But I thought you knew how I felt about you all along. My feelings for you were real. Are real.”
Yvette shrugged.
“I should have told you this weeks ago when I first felt it. But I was scared. It’s a bad habit, genetic, in fact. But I’m not scared anymore. Not of this. Yvette Matthews, you floored me the moment I set eyes on you, and I have been completely in your thrall ever since. I love you, with every fiber of my being, with every thought and every emotion in my body, and with the fiercest conviction. I have loved you since you snuck into my house and charmed your way into my heart. Ours was a fake marriage but only in name. I love you.”
Yvette buried her head in her hands, and then she stepped forward and dropped her head onto my chest. I held her, grateful that she wasn’t looking directly into my eyes because I wasn’t so sure I would have held my resolve.
I had expected to feel nervous, embarrassed, even. But I only felt relief. It was so good to finally get that out there. Admitting it to myself had been the hard part; this was easy.
When Yvette looked back up, her eyes were moist again.“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice slightly shaky. “I’ve been an emotional wreck these past weeks. Don’t mind me.”
I shook my head. “You’re allowed to feel, Yvette.”
“You’re right. And what I feel, what I have always felt, is raw, and inexplicable, and terrifying. Because it makes no sense to feel that way about someone you just met. But I did. And I do. And I can’t run from it anymore; I don’t want to. I love you, Cameron Palmer.”
I grabbed her once more and crushed my lips onto hers. The momentum swung her backward, and when it swung back the other way, I lifted her and twirled her around while kissing her. She squealed happily, and it was perfect.
“Wait, wait,” she said, tapping me on the arm so that I could put her back down. I did, frowning slightly.
“There’s something I need to tell you. Oh. Two things, actually. First, I got a job offer from one of our writers, and I’m actually really excited about where that takes me. I realize what this means for Penguin, and Meredith’s wishes that I take over Editorial, but I think we could benefit from working apart, don’t you think?”
“What was the other thing?” I asked nervously.
Yvette stared at me, her expression suddenly vulnerable, as if she was trying to see from my face how I would take whatever it was she was going to say.“I’m pregnant,” she finally said, her voice barely a whisper.
It was like a ton of bricks had just been dropped on my head.
“What?”
But she remained silent, letting the weight of her words slowly sink in, watching me with cautious, tentative eyes.
I reached down and grabbed her again, this time around the neck and just behind the knees. I scooped her up like a child and squeezed her tight as she laughed. When I put her down, she lashed out and punched me on the arm, but her face was radiant, and I realized how wrong I had been earlier. The gardens were beautiful. Serene. One of a kind. But they had nothing on Yvette. She was the most beautiful creature in the entire universe, and I was lucky to even be in her presence.
On a whim, I dropped to my knees and grabbed her hand.“Yvette Matthews,” I said. “I don’t have a ring, but I promise to get you the largest one I can find. I have no speech, but I’ll write to you about the grandest one. All I know is that at this moment, you’ve made me the happiest man in the world, and I would be honored if you let me try to do the same for you. Will you marry me? For real this time?”
I couldn’t hear her response. She was weeping again, openly, and her words were incoherent even before they were snatched away by the wind. But she nodded, and when I stood up, she threw her hands around me, and it hit me that I was indeed going to have a family. It was the happiest moment of my life, bar none.
Epilogue
“Are you ready?”
Cam poked his head in the bedroom and caught me staring at the baby cot.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready,” I said. “Look at that face; just look at it!”
Cam walked into the room and slid his hands around my waist from behind. We swayed in silence as we both watched James sleep. He looked so peaceful, so beautiful and precious.
“You’re going to be late,” Cam whispered.
“You’re going to make me late if you don’t put that thing away,” I joked, pushing my ass back into his swelling groin.
Cam flipped me around and caught me with his mouth. His tongue parted my lips and found mine ready. It was a heavy, dirty kiss, and it immediately filled me with lust. Two years and the man could still turn me on with a single look or a wayward touch.
“Ew!” The voice came from the door.
Cam and I broke apart, and he had a similarly sheepish expression to mine.
Emma was standing in the doorway with her hand perched dramatically on her hip.
“You two need to get a room,” she announced, rolling her eyes for good measure.
“We do have a room,” I said. “We have all the rooms in this house.”
“Well, we need to get going, Mom. Or we’ll both be late. I’ll be waiting in the car.”
She twirled gracefully and floated out of the room.
“She really should be a ballerina, that one,” Cam commented, reaching once more for my waist before I slapped his hand away. “She’s too graceful for a football player.”
“Did you hear? She called me ‘Mom.’”
“She’s been calling you Mom for days now.”
“Tr
ue. And it kills me every single time.”
Cam grabbed my face and brought it right up to his.“Yvette Matthews Palmer. You’re stalling. I must insist that you leave before I run out of self-restraint.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind that at all,” I trilled, reaching down and giving his bulge a good squeeze.
“Tell Cavill hi for me, yeah? And tell him to be nice to you. It’s only your first day back.”
“Oh, I’ll be fine. It’s you I’m worried about. Are you sure you can handle the demands of being a working, stay-at-home dad?”
“I think we’ll manage just fine. Now go. There’s an angsty prepubescent girl hooting rather aggressively in my driveway.”
I leaned up and pecked Cam lightly on the lips.“I love you,” I whispered. “You have one job—keep our son alive.”
He patted me playfully on the butt. “I’m sure we can figure out how to make another one.”
I waved at him as I walked out. I knew he had been joking, but the idea had started to hold more and more appeal to me. Why not have another baby?
“You two did it, didn’t you?” Emma asked me when I got into the car.
“How could…? It’s only been two minutes!”
“Rabbits do it in seconds,” Emma countered.
I reached over and gave her hair a ruffle, which ignited instant protests. “Mom!” she yelled, combing it through with her fingers.
It made me smile, the warmth suffusing every part of me until I felt like I was going to burst. This was it, I thought. This was what it meant to be happy.
THE END
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