Close to You

by Kristen Proby

Leave it to Kat to just lay it all out there.

  Leah’s eyes widen in shock. “What? No!” She glances over at us, then back to Kat. “I would never do that.”

  “Cami, can you please tell Leah what you found?” Kat asks, her eyes pinned to the girl’s. Leah’s reaction seems sincere.

  “The tills have been short after you’ve been on shift,” I say, and show her the reports from each day, how much there should be, and how short it is. “Do you know where the money could have gone?”

  She shrugs, looking thoroughly perplexed.

  “Could you be giving back too much change?” I ask, grasping at straws.

  “No, the register tells me how much to give, and I always count it out.” She bites her lip and looks at Kat imploringly. “Honestly, I’m not taking money that doesn’t belong to me. At the end of my shift, I take my cash tips, and I add up the credit-card tips and take those too.”

  “Wait.” I hold my hand up, stopping her. “You take your credit-card tips at the end of the shift?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s it,” Kat says, her whole body sagging in relief. “I must not have told you, Leah, but the credit-card tips are added up during the pay period and added to your paychecks.”

  “Oh!” Leah clasps her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know.”

  “It’s okay,” Addie says with a nod. “Now you do. Crisis averted.”

  THE NEXT MORNING, Landon and I are having coffee and getting ready for our day ahead when his phone rings. I make myself busy feeding Scoot, trying not to eavesdrop.

  Who am I kidding? I’m totally eavesdropping.

  “Are you kidding me?” he asks, a frown on his handsome face. “They couldn’t have caught this before I left Italy?” He sits back in his chair and scowls at his coffee. “So I have to take a day off of work and drive two hundred miles out of my way because someone else fucked up.”

  Uh-oh.

  He’s quiet for a moment, and then says, “I’ll be there this afternoon.”

  He hangs up and sighs. “What do you have going on today?”

  “Just the usual, why? What’s wrong?”

  “I have to go up to the Naval base north of Seattle to sign some paperwork that the morons in Italy forgot.”

  “You have to go all the way to the base? They can’t fax it to you?”

  “No, I have to sign it in person.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Come with me.”

  “Sure, I’ll just blow off work and go up to Seattle with you.”

  “Great.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “Absolutely,” he replies, and smiles. “Let’s make a night of it.”

  He wants me to spend the night in Seattle with him. In the middle of the week. I bite my lip while I think about work. I don’t have anything that won’t keep a couple of days.

  “What do you say?” he asks.

  “Let’s do it. I’ll make some calls.”

  “Great.” He tugs me into his lap and kisses me firmly. “I get you all to myself for a while.”

  “I’ll be a captive audience in the car,” I reply with a laugh.

  “Good.”

  In less than an hour, I’ve called Addie and Kat to fill them in, and Kat agreed to stop by to feed Scoot tonight. I packed an overnight bag and we are on our way north. Thankfully, there is no winter weather to speak of, so it should be a smooth ride.

  Landon lets me choose the music, and we sit in silence for about an hour, listening to music, holding hands, just being with each other. Sometimes, these are my favorite moments with him. When we just are.

  He squeezes my hand and I look up to find him smiling at me. “Doing okay?” he asks.

  “I’m great.” I lean in and kiss his shoulder. “You?”

  “I’m great too. A bit irritated that we have to take a trip up for this.”

  “So, this is paperwork that they should have had you sign before you came home?”

  “Yes. Pain in the ass.” He shakes his head and then offers me a smile. “You’re welcome to sleep if you want.”

  “I know, but I’m fine.” I shrug and look out the window, watching western Washington pass us by. “It’s been a mild winter.”

  “I prefer it that way,” he replies. “Makes it easier to work.”

  “How much longer until the restaurant is done?”

  “Just a couple of weeks. The floors are going in today. It’ll be mostly finishing work for a bit, and rehabbing Mia’s kitchen. Odds and ends.”

  “I’m so excited,” I reply. “You guys have done great. What’s next?”

  We spend the next hour talking about work, until he pulls up to the gate of the Naval base. “You don’t have to bring me with you. You can drop me off at the hotel.”

  “No need, this will only take a minute,” he replies, and asks for my driver’s license to show the armed guard at the gate. We’re cleared through and he drives to a simple building and parks. “Come on.”

  Once we’re inside, he’s recognized by several guys, and Landon waves or says hello as he leads me to an office where a man in uniform is sitting at his desk. He waves us in.

  “It’s good to see you, Palazzo.”

  “Sir,” Landon replies, his Navy voice sounding very hot. “Do you have the paperwork?”

  “I do,” the man replies, and opens a file, then sets one paper before Landon. “I’m sorry you had to come all this way.”

  “It should have been handled,” Landon says, sounding not pleased at all. “Are you sure this is the last of it?”

  “It is.” Landon signs and passes the paper back. “Thanks for coming in.”

  “You’re welcome, sir.”

  And with that, we turn right around and leave. We’re back in the car less than ten minutes after we parked it.

  “We seriously came all the way up here so you could sign one piece of paper?” I ask.

  “Gotta love the Navy,” Landon replies grimly. “Shall we go find lunch?”

  “Maybe we can check into the hotel early?” I suggest, my wheels turning. “The men in that office recognized you.”

  “I was stationed up here for a couple of years,” he replies. “Some of them worked here then.”

  “Do you miss it?” I ask, turning in my seat so I can see him.

  “Living up here? No. The weather is worse than in Portland.”

  “That’s not what I mean. Do you miss the Navy?”

  Landon sighs and rubs his fingers over his lips. “There are days that I miss it a lot,” he replies honestly. “I miss some of the guys. There are things about Italy that I loved. And it’s only been a couple of months, so I guess it’s safe to say that I’m still adjusting.”

  He pulls into the hotel parking lot before I can ask any more questions. We check in and find our room, which is nicer than any room I’ve stayed in before.

  “You booked us a suite,” I say in surprise.

  “Might as well make it worth the drive,” he replies with a wink, then pulls me to him and hugs me close. “Okay, spill it. What’s going on in that gorgeous brain of yours?”

  “What if I’m just a stand-in for the Navy? I don’t want to be a replacement to keep you busy because you’re sad about what you lost.” I can’t believe the words came out of my mouth. I look up to find Landon frowning thoughtfully, watching me closely. “I’m not saying that that’s how you’re making me feel. You’ve been so great. But the thought is there. I just don’t want you to wake up one morning and realize that this thing between you and me has been fun, but it’s served its purpose.”

  “Come here.” He takes my hand and leads me to the sofa on the far side of the room, and doesn’t just sit next to me, he tugs me into his lap and wraps his arms around me tightly. “Cami, it’s recently occurred to me that joining the Navy and moving away was a replacement for you.” My gaze whips up to his in surprise. “You were too young for me, and going into the Navy was the right thing to do, but you were what I wanted. I
had such a crush on you.”

  “No way.”

  He raises a brow. “I’m not lying to you. I won’t lie to you. You didn’t know because it was easy to keep my feelings to myself from thousands of miles away.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything, sweetheart. I’m simply trying to reassure you that you are not a replacement for the Navy, or for flying. Do I miss it? Sometimes, yes. But I have you. I have my family, and a job that I surprisingly enjoy for now. I’m not discontent, and I don’t want you to think that I am, even for a minute. You are way more than a diversion, Camille.”

  I grin. “I hate that name.”

  “I don’t.”

  I drag my fingertips down his face, feeling as if the world has been lifted off of my shoulders. “I’ve always envied the way you take risks.”

  “I probably take too many risks,” he murmurs. “And you rarely take them at all.”

  “That seems to be changing lately,” I reply, and grin as a genius idea occurs to me. I kiss his cheek, then his neck. “Maybe you’re a bad influence on me.”

  “Oh, I can pretty much guarantee that’s true,” he replies, then sighs when I nibble on his collarbone. I slip off his lap and onto my knees, between his legs, and lift his shirt up, exposing his stellar abs.

  “These are delicious.” I lick him, from sternum to navel, and smile when he groans. My fingers slip inside the waist of his jeans, then unfasten them and spread them open. He’s already hard. “No underwear?”

  “You’ve been a bad influence on me too,” he replies, his blue eyes hot with lust. He licks his lips as I drag my lips from his scrotum, up the thick vein in his cock to the head, and then I lick him lightly. “Holy shit.”

  “I have oral skills I haven’t showed you yet,” I inform him as he shimmies his jeans down his hips and I take him in my hand firmly. “Don’t make me stop.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m not going to make you stop.”

  “I mean, when you’re close, don’t make me stop. I want to taste you.”

  “Fuck me,” he groans as I sink down on him, just taking the head in my mouth and running my tongue over the tip, then around the rim. I watch him bite his lip and throw his head back as I sink farther and swallow around him, massaging him with my mouth.

  Oral sex is empowering. I love watching his face as awe, surprise, and pure unadulterated lust wash through him. His hips begin to move, slow at first, then picking up their rhythm as he fucks my mouth. I slip one hand under his balls, massaging gently, and rubbing my finger over the sensitive skin beneath, while my other hand continues to jack him and I suck him.

  His hands dive into my hair, but he doesn’t force me down, he simply holds on, as if he doesn’t know what else to do with his hands. He’s completely lost to me, and it’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever done in my life.

  “I want to fuck you now, Cami,” he says, but I don’t stop. I keep sucking and licking, hard and then soft, driving him mad. I can taste the little drops of dew that escape, and I know that he’s close.

  “I know you don’t want to stop, but damn it, Cami, I want to come inside you, not in your mouth.” He gasps when I drag my teeth up his shaft. “Please.”

  I pull back and grin, release him, and free myself from my jeans, then climb on top of him and lower myself onto him.

  “God, you’re so wet.”

  “Going down on you is sexy,” I reply, and wrap my arms around his neck. “You taste amazing.”

  “Jesus, Cam,” he groans. He plants his hands on my hips and guides me up and down, his eyes pinned to mine. When I circle my hips, he grins and glides his hands to the globes of my ass.

  “You like my ass,” I say as I lean in and kiss his lips.

  “I like all of you,” he replies. “Every glorious fucking inch.”

  I push down and clench hard, rocking back and forth, and his eyes close. He pushes up hard, and I slip one hand down so I can play with my clit, and that’s it. We’re a mess of sweaty limbs as we both come, crying out, watching each other.

  When we’re both spent, but still breathing hard, he stands, still inside me, and wraps my legs around his waist.

  “Where are we going?” I ask with a laugh.

  “Shower,” he replies. “Let’s clean up.”

  “And then get dirty again?”

  “Have I mentioned how fond of you I am?” he asks with a laugh, and moans when I laugh with him, squeezing his still-semihard dick.

  “Once or twice,” I reply. “But you’re welcome to keep reminding me.”

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  Chapter 10

  ~Landon~

  “Have you been eating enough?” my mother asks two weeks later as she comes out back, where Dad and I are measuring a two-by-four to cut for the covered patio we’re adding to their backyard. Or, I should say, extending the patio. Mama decided that the existing one was too small, and it needed to be enlarged now, not this spring.

  I’m just thankful that we’ve had a bout of warm weather this week, so we’re not building this thing in a blizzard.

  “I eat plenty,” I reply with a smile. She’s a very typical Italian woman, always trying to feed everyone. The board falls on my thumb, and I pull it against my chest, sucking in a breath. “Motherf—”

  “If you finish that sentence, I’ll twist your ear right off your head,” Mama threatens, wagging her finger at me, then smiles. “Here, let me see.”

  “I’m fine,” I reply, my throbbing thumb anything but fine, but I’ve had worse. “Hazard of the job.”

  “Put ice on it,” she says, and pats my shoulder. “It’ll help the throb.”

  “It’s not throbbing,” I lie with a mutter, and kiss her forehead before she turns around and heads back for the door.

  “I’ll make sandwiches,” she says. “You’re thin.”

  “I’m not thin,” I say to Dad when she’s out of earshot.

  “It makes her happy to feed you,” he says, and motions for me to lift the other end of the board. “I’ve discovered that whatever makes her happy is what we do. That simple.”

  “Happy wife, happy life?” I ask with a wink, and Dad nods. For a man nearing sixty, he’s in excellent shape himself, thanks to many years in the construction business.

  “Nothing more true,” he says and nods. “Speaking of women, how are things with you and that pretty Cami?”

  I look up, surprised, but Dad rolls his eyes. “I have eyes in my head, don’t I? And my memory is a good one. If I remember correctly, I warned you to keep your hands to yourself when she was just sixteen and you were an adult.”

  “And I did what you said,” I reply. “I went off to college, and then the Navy, and I left her be to grow up.”

  “Because you’re smart as well as handsome. You get the brains from your mother.” He laughs and lifts the nail gun. “How long are you home for?”

  I frown and shake my head. “What do you mean? I live here.”

  “For now.” He doesn’t look me in the eye as he places a board and nails it. “But I know my son. You don’t stay anywhere long. I figure it won’t be long before your wanderlust kicks in and you decide it’s time to move on.”

  “I’m not leaving, Dad. The Navy moved me around—”

  “Are you going to tell me that you didn’t enjoy it?” he asks.

  “No. I did. But I’m not in the Navy anymore. I’m home, and I love it here. I have Cami and you guys, and I love being back in Portland.”

  I stop and sigh. “I admit, it hasn’t been an easy adjustment. I loved flying, Dad.”

  “I know you did.”

  “I was good at it. And I felt like I was doing something good.”

  “You were,” he says proudly. “But this is good too. Makes your mother happy.”

  I nod. “I like it too.”

  “For now.”

  I shrug. “Maybe for good.”

  “It’s not a bad idea to keep your op
tions open,” Dad replies simply. “Nothing wrong with that at all. Does Cami know you’re keeping your options open?”

  “I’m not keeping them open where it comes to her,” I say quickly, my voice hard. No damn way. Now that I have her, I’m not letting her go, just to watch some other asshole move in and claim her. She’s mine. “Work and women aren’t the same thing.”

  “No, but women are a lot of work,” he says. “The ones worth keeping are, anyway.”

  “She’s worth keeping.”

  “I’ve always liked that girl. All of Mia’s friends are good girls.”

  “They are.” I glance over as Mom comes outside with a plate of sandwiches. “Thanks, Mama.”

  “You’re welcome,” she says, and smiles over her shoulder. I’m surprised to see Cami walk out behind her.

  “Speak of the devil,” Dad says with a smile as he walks over to kiss Cami’s cheek. “We were just talking about you.”

  “All good things, I hope,” she says, her gaze finding mine.

  “Always good things,” Dad says. “I think I’ll wash my hands and eat my lunch inside with my beautiful bride.”

  And with that, he leads Mom inside and I’m left outside with Cami.

  “I’m sorry to just drop by.”

  “You’re welcome to just drop by anywhere, anytime,” I reply, and pull her in for a long hug, swaying back and forth. “I’m not going to apologize for the way I smell.”

  “You don’t smell bad,” she says, and buries her nose in my chest. “And you’re warm.”

  “You should have worn a warmer coat.”

  She shrugs. “It looked toasty out here with the sunshine.”

  “It’s deceptive,” I murmur, and kiss her head. “Did you need anything in particular, or did you just want to see my manliness as I build a patio?”

  She smirks and pulls back. “Your manliness is a perk.”

  “Why do you sound sarcastic? Are you saying I’m not manly?” I lift an arm and flex my bicep. “Feel that.”

  “You’re such a man,” she says, and feels my arm. “Very impressive.”

  “Damn right.”

  “I came by on my way home to see if you want to go to the movies tonight with me and Riley?”

  “We can’t,” I reply, and smile when she scowls.