"Hey, Cameron. You old son-of-a-gun!" Lester Smith slapped him on the shoulder.
Cameron shook the hand thrust toward him. Lester had been his best buddy in high school. He'd moved to St. Louis after college. "How've you been?"
"Fine, just fine," Lester said, pumping his arm up and down like an old-fashioned water pump. His eyes widened. "And Jessie! Haven't seen you in ages."
"Hey, Lester," she said in greeting.
"Don't tell me you two are a couple?" Lester finally let go of Cameron's hand. "Seems like the last time I saw y'all was . . . at the prom . . . Hey, you're not married, are you?"
Cameron's hand dropped away from Jessie. "No, we're not married."
As she listened to Cameron talk to Lester, a heavy sensation settled in the pit of her stomach. At the mention of marriage, he'd let go of her hand like a hot potato. Cameron was going to leave and break her heart. Again. She would dry up into a little old widow-woman who raised cats for company.
She could barely smile when Lester said his goodbyes.
"He's the same as ever," Cameron said, shaking his head as Lester faded into the crowd.
"Cameron! Hey, Cameron!"
"Oh man, Patti? Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me," she said with a laugh. "Hey, Jessie. How are you doing?" Patti reached up and kissed Cameron's cheek. "How's life treating you in Houston?"
"Good, how about you?"
"Pretty good," she said. "The kids keep me busy."
"Mama! Mama! Come here!" called a high little voice near the fire.
Patti chuckled. "See what I mean? Good to see you, Cameron. You too, Jessie."
She walked over to a little boy and took hold of his small grubby hand. She smiled at Cameron over her shoulder one more time before her son dragged her away.
"I think she loved you." Jessie's voice was a whisper. It had been difficult to stand there and witness that particular reunion. Patti was the girlfriend Cameron had broken up with right before the prom. She'd been hurt when he'd left Salt Fork. Before he had left, though she hadn't let on.
"She didn't really love me," Cameron said. "She was better off with Bubba anyway."
Jessie didn't know what to say. Luckily, the mayor began introducing the candidates for homecoming queen and king. She took her pad and pen from around her neck and jotted down names for her article.
"Are you okay?" Cameron asked, looking down at Jessie's bent head. She seemed quiet and withdrawn tonight.
Not looking up from her notes, Jessie nodded.
When the mayor announced their names, the young couples moved forward to stand by him. Cameron remembered how he and Patti had been voted king and queen their senior year. It hadn't meant much to him. He'd already been itching to leave, to get on with his life, to study medicine.
The band started playing the alma mater and everyone joined in. Cameron watched the shadows of the flickering flames dance across Jessie's face. He wanted her again, to bring her to fulfillment, to share the pleasure with her. Last night . . . words couldn't describe last night. He was scared as hell about what he was feeling. If he were smart, he would go back to Houston and forget Jessie.
She turned and smiled uncertainly. Doubt and longing shone in her eyes.
Cameron clasped his fingers around the back of her neck again and squeezed reassuringly. "Are you ready?"
Jessie nodded, unable to speak. Ready to make love. Ready to follow you anywhere. But not ready for a broken heart.
"Let's go, then." He propelled her away from the crowd.
Cameron's touch burned through Jessie's sweater. Rivulets of sexual awareness tingled down her spine. She wanted him to make love to her again. She wanted to store away as many memories as possible to keep her warm during the long lonely nights ahead.
The house was invitingly cozy when they entered. Jessie had left the heaters going.
"Got anything to drink?" Cameron asked, shucking out of his jacket.
"There's some bourbon. Or I could make a pot of coffee."
"Coffee sounds good." He tossed the jacket over the back of a chair, before sitting at the table.
Thankful for something to do, Jessie filled the coffee maker and plugged it in. She felt awkward. They were going to end up in bed. She knew that, even welcomed it. But she hated being so unsophisticated.
The coffee maker sputtered with familiar gurgling noises. Jessie sat at the kitchen table next to Cameron and removed the journalist's pad from around her neck. She'd taken lots of notes. Her readers would not be disappointed.
Cameron picked it up and flipped through the pages. "Get any juicy tidbits?"
Jessie laughed. "Not much happens in Salt Fork. You know that. We were probably the hottest topic of discussion. Or didn't you notice?"
"I noticed the old tabbies' eyes bulging with curiosity," he said. "Were their mouths hanging open because I was back, or the fact that we were together?"
Jessie went to the counter and poured the coffee. "Probably both. You've stayed away a long time. Coming back twice in two months is a miracle in itself." She handed him a steaming mug before sitting down again.
He took a sip and watched her. "And the fact that we were together?"
She nearly choked on the hot coffee. The sensual tone of his voice shot tiny jolts of desire straight down to her core. She realized she had never believed they would really get together. Jessie took another drink to clear her throat and thoughts. "That's another miracle, isn't it?"
"How so?"
Jessie fidgeted with the notepad, opening and closing it, trying to hide the trembling in her fingers. This was not the time to discuss their relationship. Because they had no relationship. "I usually go to these events by myself. The fact that you and I were together . . . Everyone will think--" She shrugged. She knew what everyone would think. Did Cameron care that his name would be coupled with hers? No, of course not.
"What would everyone think?" he said quietly. "That we're an item? Lester certainly thought so, didn't he?"
His eyes smoldered with an intensity that left Jessie shaking. She'd always known she was out of her league in her dealings with Cameron. She wasn't sure what he wanted from her now.
"Lester was always a fool," she said. Pushing away from the table, she stuffed the notepad in her purse, then went to the sink and poured the rest of her coffee down the drain. She gripped the edge of the counter for support and tried not to think how foolish she was acting. Wishing for the moon, wanting Cameron forever and ever. She dashed a hand across her eyes and desperately held back a sniff. She refused to let Cameron see just how unsophisticated she really was.
"Jess?" The voice was low, seductive. Cameron whispered it in her ear, bracing his arms on either side of her, imprisoning her between his warm body and the cold kitchen counter. His breath scorched her ear and she tilted her head back. Swallowing the lump of tears in her throat, Jessie made a decision. For this one night, she would forget he was going to leave. She would pretend they were forever and ever. And afterwards? She refused to think about that.
****
"Jess, wake up." Cameron kissed the silky hollow at the base of her throat. His hand kneaded one firm breast. "Wake up, sweetheart. It's late. I need to get back to the ranch." He pulled on his slacks, then groped in the dark for his socks.
Jessie rolled over and yawned. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand where the orange numerals glowed: two-thirty. She stretched, and then snuggled deeper under the covers. "Why don't you stay the night?"
She watched Cameron sit on the edge of the bed, his back to her. A very sexy back. He didn't say anything. The tendons in his shoulders tightened. He doesn't want to stay. He's leaving. She reached one hand from under the quilts and rubbed the corded muscles.
Cameron bowed his shoulders. The muscles flexed beneath her fingers. "That feels good," he said, his voice a low growl.
Jessie pushed the covers away and knelt behind him. She massaged the tendons until they relaxed. Goosebumps spread across his ski
n as her nails raked up and down his spine.
As swift as a panther, he turned and captured her hands, raised them above her head and pushed her down into the mattress. All it took was a touch or a look and the desire between them ignited. It had never been like this with TR. Jessie quickly blocked that thought from her mind.
"Again?" she asked, arching upward, inviting his caress, smiling at the man who had stolen her heart so long ago.
"Again," he said, grinding his mouth to hers.
The bed squeaked in time to the rhythm of their passion. After the fires were banked, they lay together in the darkness still joined.
"I really should go, Jess," he said in her ear.
"Don't you want to stay?"
"Damn it! Of course I want to stay. I just don't want my mother or anyone else talking about you after I'm gone."
A knot formed in the middle of Jessie's stomach. Cameron was leaving; he'd just said so. She tightened her hold around his shoulders, as if to prevent him from going. "It's a little late to protect my reputation, don't you think? Stay the night with me. Please?"
Cameron kissed her forehead, then her lips. She felt good in his arms. No woman had ever fit him so perfectly. There was something definitely special about Jessie. But that thought was dangerous. Long-term relationships and marriage weren't in his plans yet. Marriage, whoa! Where had that come from?
The look in Jessie's eyes melted something in him. Hell, it was only one night. He started to move inside her again. "I'll stay, Jess. I'll stay."
****
It was close to noon when Jessie woke up. Brilliant sunlight streamed through the windows, causing her to blink back the sleep from her eyes. A sense of well-being permeated her soul. Her body was replete, but her stomach rumbled with hunger. It had been a long night. A glorious, wonderful, long night. She smiled and turned over to reach for Cameron.
He was gone.
The excruciating wrench in her gut almost made her sick. A tight fist clutched at her heart. She willed herself to calm down. Cameron had left without saying goodbye. Again. Jessie's contentment vanished, replaced with a feeling of abandonment and heartache. She took a deep breath, then another . . . and then sniffed the air.
Was that coffee she smelled?
Throwing back the covers, she jumped out of bed and dashed to the kitchen, only to stop short in the middle of the hallway when she realized she was naked. Good lord, she never slept naked. She'd never been able to sleep without clothes. Until last night. But then, there hadn't been much sleep going on last night. Jessie walked back to her room, slipped on a robe and tightened the belt on the way to the kitchen.
At the door, she peeked in and saw Cameron sitting at the table with Katnip on his lap. The old tomcat purred as the strong hands rubbed and petted him. Magic hands, Jessie thought. They made her want to purr, too.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." Cameron flashed a grin that curled her toes. At the same time, she felt vulnerable, naked under the robe. She adjusted the belt more securely.
"A little late for modesty, don't you think?" Cameron asked with a wink.
"Force of habit," Jessie said. Blushing, she hurried to the counter and poured a cup of coffee. Cameron hadn't left. In fact, he looked right at home, sitting at her kitchen table with Katnip on his lap. Did he look that way when he was standing at an operating table? Probably more so. He had rejected rural living and turned his back on the ranch and Salt Fork.
"Why so quiet, Jess?"
She sat across from him at the table. "Tired, I guess."
"A good kind of tired, I hope." Again, that killer smile.
"Yes, a good kind of tired." She sipped her coffee and lost herself in the sensual warmth of Cameron's gaze. His eyes were deadlier than his smile.
Suddenly, her stomach growled.
"Hungry?" he asked.
She nodded. "What do you want for breakfast?"
"You. I can't seem to get enough of you."
Her lungs collapsed, refusing to function normally. The low intimacy of his voice, the intensity of his stare, shattered her nerve endings. Her stomach rumbled again.
Cameron laughed. "I think we better get something to eat. We used a lot of calories last night and you don't have many reserves."
Jessie jumped up, opened the refrigerator and rummaged around, trying to ignore the quiver in her stomach that had nothing to do with lack of food. "You think I'm too skinny? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" She stared at the meager contents on the glass shelves. She needed to go grocery shopping. She needed . . . oh my.
Cameron pulled her away from the fridge and into his arms, kicking the refrigerator door closed. "I don't think you're too skinny. I think you're perfect. Beautiful. Sexy."
"You think I'm sexy?" Jessie leaned her head on his shoulder, breathing in his clean masculine scent and feeling his steady heartbeat against her ear.
"Oh, yeah, sweetheart. I think you're damned sexy." He bent down and kissed her.
When his stomach growled, Jessie pulled away and smiled, poking a finger against the massive chest. "You're hungry too, buster. Don't deny it. Can't live on love alone, you know."
Cameron picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. "We can try, can't we?"
"Put me down," she protested, laughing as she flung her arms around his neck. "We need food. I'm starving."
He let her slide to the floor. Her body rubbed slowly against his. The erotic friction caused her robe to come undone.
"Let's go to the cafe for breakfast, brunch or whatever." Cameron slipped the robe from her shoulders and kissed her, caressing her breasts with gentle fingers. "But first, let's take a shower and get dressed."
"A shower? As in, together?" Jessie floated on a sea of sensation as his hands worked their magic over her body. Anticipation ignited a fire in her veins.
"Definitely together," Cameron said, as he steered her toward the bathroom door.
Chapter Nine
"I can't eat another bite." Jessie pushed her plate away and wiped her mouth. She watched Cameron sop a fluffy biscuit in Sarah Sue's famous cream gravy. He glanced at her and winked. Jessie's heart flip-flopped. The love she felt for him burst the seams of her heart. Their time together was precious. Would Cameron miss her after he left?
Sarah Sue walked up and refilled their coffee cups. "Y'all want any dessert?"
"None for me, thanks," Jessie said.
The waitress put her hand on her hip and frowned.
"Something wrong?" Cameron asked, throwing down his napkin and glancing at Jessie.
"Well now, I was just wondering why Jessie is here instead of over at the football field."
"Oh my gosh!" Jessie said. "I completely forgot."
Cameron looked from her to Sarah Sue. "Forgot what?"
"Why darlin', you have been away too long." She shook her finger in his face. "It's homecoming. You know? The Big Game. This afternoon. Three o'clock?"
Jessie shoved away from the table. "What time is it?" she asked Cameron.
"Almost two. Why?"
"I'll tell you why," the waitress said. "Jessie is one of Salt Fork's best feature writers. She interviews the coaches and players and writes a real nice column about the game. I always look forward to reading it." She set the coffee pot down and totaled up the bill. "It's surprising Jessie forgot. Never has before. Maybe she had other things on her mind." She handed the bill to Cameron. "Not that I don't think it's great you two are spending time together--"
"Sarah Sue, thanks for reminding me." Jessie felt a blush stain her cheeks. Her friend was notorious for minding other people's business. She turned to Cameron. "I really need to get over to the stadium. How could you forget? You came back for homecoming, didn't you?"
Sarah Sue snorted. "Of course, he didn't come back for homecoming, darlin'. Never bothered coming before. Any blind fool knows why he's here."
Jessie's cheeks grew redder. She turned and walked quickly out the door.
Cameron took care of the bill. He tuc
ked an extra twenty in Sarah Sue's pocket and kissed her cheek. "Thanks. I think."
"Always like to help people dear to me. And Jessie's very dear. You two make a mighty fine couple. Don't go breaking her heart again, you hear?"
"Again?"
Sarah Sue grabbed the coffee pot. "Never mind, darlin'. Go on now, Jessie's waiting."
Cameron turned to leave.
"You're a fool if you let her get away, Cameron McCade," she called when he reached the door.
"I know it," he said over his shoulder.
"Know what?" Jessie stood just outside the entrance.
He took her elbow and led her to the car. "That I'm a fool." He placed a finger on her mouth. "Don't ask. Let's get to the stadium."
The bleachers were almost packed when they pulled into the parking lot. Jessie tied her notepad around her neck. "You get the seats while I do the interviews. I like to sit up high. Fifty-yard line."
Cameron smiled. "So you can see the whole field?"
"Exactly. You wouldn't be making fun of me again, would you?" she asked. "I know this isn't as exciting as a professional game, but it's important to people around here. It used to be important to you, too."
She opened the door and climbed out. Cameron leaned over the console and stared up at her. "Hey, Jess?"
Turning back, she bent to look at him, a question in her eyes.
"I love it when you throw my past in my face. Don't ever change." He brushed a finger against the soft skin of her cheek.
"You said that to me once before," she said.
"Did I? When?"
She straightened and dug a pen from the bottom of her purse. "You figure it out, Cameron." Jessie closed the door and disappeared through the gates leading to the football field.
Cameron engaged the alarm system on his car. The Jag looked out of place in the middle of all the pickups and farm vehicles. Just as he felt out of place, had always felt out of place. Except for this visit. This visit was different somehow what with seeing Jess and making love to her. What the hell was he going to do about her?
At the ticket booth, he slapped some bills down, his mind on Jessie. "Two, please."
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