Camden’s hand stilled.
“Anyway,” Brennen continued. “On the way back to the city, I had to stop for gas, and there was a little antique shop next door. I went in and started chatting with the owner and asked about the daisy doorknobs Abby mentioned you’ve been trying to find.”
“Did they have any?” she asked, waiting for Camden to resume twisting her hair, but he didn’t move a muscle.
What had set him off? He’d been fine throughout the evening. Quiet, but the waves of anger and pain that had radiated off the man the first day she’d met him had disappeared…until now.
Brennen shook his head. “No, but I asked the shop owner about them, and he said his partner was hitting a bunch of flea markets around the state and thinks there’s a decent possibility he may come across some.”
“I’ll have to add going up there to my to-do list.”
Bodhi groaned. “Mommy has lots of lists. Teacher lists, house lists, camp lists, Bodhi chore lists.”
She nudged her son. “I just thought of another list: All the things we’ll need for the cardboard boat regatta.” She turned to Camden. “Did you guys decide on a design?”
He started twisting her hair again. “There’s still some discussion on the type of hull.”
“The hull’s the bottom, right? Isn’t it just flat?” Abby asked.
“Here we go,” Camden murmured, the smile back in his voice.
Jasper leaned forward and steepled his fingers. “There are several types of hulls—all of which should be considered when designing a boat. Then you need to factor in water displacement.”
Brennen shook his head. “That’s crazy! Bodhi’s not crossing the ocean on this thing, Jas! It’s a cardboard boat. He needs speed. The less time spent on the lake, the better.”
“And that’s why I suggested doing some stability calculations,” Jasper added as Elle shook her head.
Camden grinned. “As you can tell, we didn’t get very far settling on a final design. But we did decide one thing,” he added, giving another twist to the tail of her braid.
Bodhi perked up. “Yeah, I’m going to name the boat Daisy.”
“You are?” she said, sharing a look with Camden.
“Yeah, after you, Mommy, because it’s your favorite flower.”
She patted her son’s leg. “And I’ll be in the boat with you. Regatta rules. Kids under nine need an adult with them.”
Bodhi shoulders drooped. “But I want Camden to do the regatta with me.”
“Oh, well…” she stuttered.
Camden already agreed to do the Father’s Day bike parade with Bodhi. It was clear as day that her son adored the man. But he adored Jasper and Brennen, too. These people were their friends. Camden was their friend, too, right?
But there was one caveat: Jasper and Brennen weren’t scheduled to disappear back to Switzerland at the end of the summer. What would it do to Bodhi when he left? What would it do to her?
She swallowed past the lump in her throat.
“Will you do it, Camden? With you paddling, we’ll zoom across the lake,” Bodhi said, rocketing his fist into the air.
“I could paddle quickly, B,” she said.
Bodhi frowned. “Give me your hand, Mom.”
She held out her hand, and Bodhi took it.
“Give me your hand, Camden,” her son said next.
Camden complied, and Bodhi pressed their hands together. She inhaled sharply as the charge of his touch sent a shiver through her body.
“See! Look at how big Camden’s hands are. Just think what he could do with them! We’ll fly across Smith Lake.”
Oh, she knew quite a bit about Camden’s hands. They’d ravaged every inch of her body.
Bodhi released his grip on their hands, but Camden didn’t pull away. Like magnets, the attraction kept them together. He curled his hand around hers as his thumb brushed her index finger, sending another round of tingles through her body. She met his gaze, under his spell and unable to speak. Unable to do anything but sit there with his rough, large hand wrapped protectively around hers.
“Why shouldn’t he do it? You’ll still be here, right, Camden?” Elle chimed in, breaking their trance.
“I could do it,” Camden answered, tightening his hold on her hand.
“Okay.” She nodded.
Why did this feel like he was agreeing to more than simply riding in a cardboard boat with her son?
She couldn’t let her heart go there. She couldn’t let her heart have a say in anything that happened that summer.
“Thanks, Cam!” Bodhi said, wiggling with excitement.
The movement broke her connection with Camden, and she glanced at her friends—all watching them closely.
Even Jasper.
She had to shift gears.
She folded her hands in her lap. “I like your idea of naming the cardboard boat. We could turn that into a camp activity. The campers could brainstorm ideas this week, and we could list the names on a big sheet of paper then hang it next to the boathouse.”
Camden followed her lead, folding his hands in his lap like a schoolboy. “It would be a constant reminder about the regatta and keep the kids excited about it even though it’s weeks away.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. Good! He understood they needed to do something to take the focus off their little hand moment.
“Have you ever considered consulting, Cadence?” Jasper asked.
She cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“Our mother was a teacher, but she never taught in a classroom,” Jasper continued.
Brennen nodded. “She and my dad ran the Mountain Education Department of the company.”
“And Jasper couldn’t stop talking about all the improvements you’ve implemented with the Bergen Adventure Summer Camp,” Elle said, looking suspiciously between their folded hands.
“Those changes on a larger scale could improve our education programs significantly,” Jasper added.
Cadence leaned forward. “You’re interested in how I’d run mountain sports education?”
“I am.”
“I could write something up for you,” she replied.
“Just add it to your list, Mommy,” Bodhi said and yawned.
The adults chuckled, and she stroked her son’s golden hair. “We should get you to bed, little one.”
“Where’s Mr. Cuddles?” Bodhi asked, his sleepy words trailing together.
Camden leaned over and retrieved the bear from the ground. “Here he is,” he answered, tucking Mr. Cuddles under Bodhi’s arm.
Bodhi shifted and crawled onto Camden’s lap. “Thank you, Cam.”
Cam.
She’d caught herself calling him that today, too. The ease of being with this man had worked its way into her speech—and Bodhi’s.
Brennen took Abby’s hand and came to his feet. “I think it’s time we called it a night.”
“I agree!” Elle replied, grabbing a handful of chips. “It’s a miracle if I make it to nine o’clock. These babies are killing my late-night writing sessions, but luckily, not my Oreos and tortilla chip cravings,” she added, exchanging a look with Jasper and popping a chip into her mouth.
“I can put Bodhi to bed,” Camden said, cradling her son on his lap.
She patted his little back, rising and falling with his rhythmic breaths. “Are you sure? I can take him.”
Bodhi looked so peaceful in Camden’s strong embrace with his muscled arms wrapped tightly around him.
“I’m good,” he said, rising to his feet when the smack of something hitting the ground caught her attention.
“It looks like you dropped an envelope and is that a pair of…” Abby trailed off.
Oh crap!
Her panties.
Camden stood stock still.
“Laundry!” she blurted out.
“Laundry?” he parroted back.
“Laundry?” Elle, Abby, Jasper, and Brennen repeated.
&nbs
p; “Laundry,” Bodhi yawned then nuzzled his head into the crook of Camden’s neck.
“Yes,” she said, snagging her G-string off the ground. “This happens all the time with Bodhi and me. Our washer and dryer are ancient, and every once in a while, I’ll get one of his socks tucked inside my jeans.” She turned to Camden. “You did some laundry last night at my place because there’s not a washer and dryer in yours, remember?”
Please, please, Camden! Just nod! If she ever needed the brooding Bergen bobblehead, it was right freaking now.
“Yes?” he answered.
“Yes!” she replied, praying her resolute yes would cancel out his perplexed one.
“Yeah, we did all the laundry last night,” he continued, totally in contention to win the award for the worst liar on earth.
“Loads and loads,” she added, now the one nodding like a bobblehead.
“It’s a good thing we’re leaving. I’m sure you two have lots more laundry to do,” Elle added, eyeing them closely.
Cadence waved her panties in the air. “There is always laundry to do with a little boy in the house. So many messes!”
Double crap!
She stuffed the panties in her pocket. “How about I show you all to the door?”
Abby picked up the envelope from the ground and handed it to Camden. “We’re good. We know the way.”
Cadence plastered on a smile. Of course, they did. Why was she going all Downton Abbey, let me show you out, on her friends?
“Don’t forget to email me your modifications and proposed changes to the summer camp curriculum,” Jasper added.
“I’ll be sure to put it on the list,” she answered a little too emphatically.
“And I’ll make sure she gets to it right after the laundry,” Camden added, shrugging his shoulders.
She tried not to cringe and waved as her friends left through the gate. She glanced up at Camden and silently held his gaze until the sound of two car engines cut through the quiet.
“I think we may be the two biggest idiots on the planet,” she said, dropping her chin to her chest.
Camden shifted Bodhi’s weight to one arm and lifted her chin. “I think we covered pretty well.”
“My panties fell out of your pocket, Cam.”
Cam.
She was doing it again, but it just felt so right.
“They’re pretty panties,” he said as the glow of the candlelight caught his hooded gaze.
“I don’t think anyone else was thinking that.”
He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I was.”
“You were?”
“But I was mostly thinking about how you weren’t wearing them.”
“Holy pickles and relish!” she whispered.
Bodhi sighed in his sleep, and Camden glanced down at him. “We should get him to bed.”
She stared up at him. “We should. It’s late.”
How had it only been a couple of days since they’d met? And how had she settled into a rhythm so comfortably with this hulk of a man?
She blew out the candles, listening to the creak of the back door. Cam held it for her, and she followed him inside.
She pulled the hairband from her braid and let her hair hang loose around her shoulders. “The funny thing is, is that I really do have laundry to do.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep, little boys do make lots of messes.”
“I can put him down if you want to get started on that. Maybe I could throw a thing or two in with yours.”
“Sure,” she replied then chuckled.
“What is it?”
“Maybe we aren’t the world’s worst liars.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, then turned to take Bodhi to his room.
“Hold on.” She pressed a kiss to her son’s cheek. “Sweetest dreams, little one.”
“Where’s the laundry room?” he asked.
She pointed to a door off the kitchen. “Right there. It’s more of a glorified closet.”
“Will the sound of the washing machine wake Bodhi?”
She patted her son’s back. “No, it’s loud, but it’s white noise. He may even sleep better with it going.”
Camden nodded then disappeared down the hall with Bodhi’s legs dangling side to side.
She smiled as a sliver of blue light escaped from the boy’s room. Camden remembered to turn on the nightlight. She sighed and opened the door to the tiny torture room otherwise known as the laundry room and pulled the string to turn on the dangling light bulb. Loading the machine with Bodhi’s T-shirts, she hummed to herself and reached for the detergent when two strong hands gripped her hips from behind.
“He’s all tucked in, and the house is locked up,” Camden whispered in her ear.
She leaned into him. “Did you grab what you needed to throw into the wash?”
He pulled the G-string from her pocket and dangled the panties in front of her. “These came from a very dirty girl.”
Her nipples tightened into hard peaks at the low rumble of his voice.
“Then I suggest the heavy-duty cycle,” she replied.
“Is it the longest cycle?”
“Yep, and it has an extra rinse.”
He dropped her G-string into the washer, lowered the lid, then closed the door to the tight space.
“There’s no daisy doorknob on this door,” he murmured against her neck, pressing his hard body against hers.
She gasped and gripped the sides of the washing machine as the motor clicked on and the washer began to fill with water. The sensation of his cock pressed against her ass and the vibrations of the machine sent a delicious rush of heat between her thighs.
“Nope, I still need to replace it,” she managed.
“Is it on the list?” he asked with a sexy, teasing bend to the words.
“Oh, yes,” she breathed.
“I have an item to add to your list.”
“What’s that?”
He slid his hand inside her shirt and massaged her breasts. “Mind-blowing orgasms in the laundry room.”
“You don’t have anything else to go in with this load?” she asked.
What the hell was wrong with her? The answer to I’m going to screw your brains out in the laundry room is not inquiring about what’s left in the laundry basket.
“There are a few more things that could go in. Raise your arms.”
She did as he asked, and he peeled off her shirt, unclasped her bra, then went to work removing her sports skirt.
Camden pressed a kiss to the back of her neck then palmed her ass. “You’re more perfect than I could have ever imagined.”
She turned to face him. He’d done it again—made another strange comment as if they’d known each other before Saturday. But her train of thought evaporated when he reached for the collar of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head, exposing a wall of hard muscle.
She slid her hands down his chest, feeling the chiseled plain of his abdomen. “I don’t think I mind doing laundry anymore.”
He hummed a little laugh as she unbuttoned his cargo shorts then stilled when she felt the envelope in his pocket.
She pulled it out. “Is this important?”
He shook his head. “No,” he answered and set the envelope on the shelf next to the detergent, his expression growing heated.
In the space of a breath, he gripped her hips, lifted her up, and rested her ass on the edge of the washing machine. The rhythmic purr of the appliance vibrated beneath her as Camden slid his hand into her hair, tilting her head up to meet his lips in a fevered kiss.
“I wanted to do this all day,” he growled.
“Laundry?” she asked, smiling against his lips.
“No, you,” he answered, pulling her body flush with his. “Ever since I got to taste you this morning, all I could think about was thrusting my cock inside you and making you come so hard you forget everything on those to-do lists.”
For starting out as a barely verbal br
ooding bobblehead, her Bergen brother had quite the dirty talk game.
He stilled with his cock poised at her entrance. “Do we need protection? I can run back to my room and get a condom.”
She rolled her hips, rubbing against his hard length. “I’m on the pill and as long as you’re…”
“I am. I got tested right after we…” he supplied, then shook his head. “I’m clean.”
“Okay, I trust you,” she whispered, wanting desperately to know what was going on in this man’s mind.
He tightened his grip on her body as pain and lust and longing flashed wild and heated in his eyes. “You do?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You hardly know me.”
She smiled up at him. “I’ve always been able to tell if a person has a good heart. You do, Cam. You’re decent and kind, and I’m grateful you’re here.”
The machine clicked and switched to the wash cycle, ratcheting up its vibration. She arched into him, and he captured her mouth, kissing her deeply as he thrust his cock inside her wet heat.
She braced herself, one hand gripping the edge of the appliance while the other held tight to his forearm. But he had her solidly in his embrace. Their bodies met, moving together, his hard length filling her, his pelvis stroking her sweet bundle of nerves with each roll of their hips.
He twisted his fingers in her hair, and the titillating throb of their naked bodies coming together fused with the buzz and vibrations from the washing machine had her moaning with desire.
He buried his head in the crook of her neck and kissed the delicate skin below her earlobe. “I love fucking you bare. I love how wet you are. I want you greedy. I want you begging for me to make you come.”
As the machine dialed up its pace, so did they. The sensations coursed through her like a runaway freight train, barreling down the track and headed for one hell of a crash.
“Camden,” she gasped and wrapped her arms around him.
Then everything collapsed into this man, this moment, their bodies.
She surrendered to the pump and grind of their connection. To his heated breaths. To his primal growls as he wound her tighter and tighter until she stood on the edge of desire and plummeted off the cliff. She collided with her release, her body writhing with his. Skin meeting skin and breath meeting breath.
Man Find (Bergen Brothers Book 3) Page 16