Trust in Me

“Depends.”


I led her head down so that our lips almost touched. “I think we need to talk.”

“We do,” she whispered.

But the longer she sat in my lap, the less likely we were to talk. I gripped her hips and lifted her up, dropping her on the cushion beside me.

“I thought we needed to talk,” she asked as I stood.

“We do. I’ll be right back.”

Confusion poured into her expression.

“Just stay there, okay?” I started for the door. “Don’t move from that spot. Don’t think about anything. Just sit there and I’ll be right back.”

She rested her chin on the back of the couch. “Okay.”

“I mean it, don’t think about anything.” I opened the door. “Not the last couple of minutes or last night. Not the last month. Or what’s coming next. Just sit there.”

“All right,” she whispered. “I promise.”

I held her gaze for a moment and once I was sure she wasn’t going to lock herself in her bedroom, I hurried to my apartment. It was quiet inside, but there was a pair of heels next to the couch. Smiling, I quickly brushed my teeth and then grabbed the required items from the kitchen. Took me all of five minutes and when I returned to her apartment, she was where I left her.

Her gaze dropped to what I held in my hands and she smiled. “Eggs—you brought eggs.”

“And my skillet.” Using my hip, I nudged the door closed. “And I brushed my teeth.”

“You didn’t put a shirt on.”

I cast her a long look. “I know it would break your heart not to be able to see me shirtless.”

As I put the eggs on the counter, I heard a muffled squeak and turned toward the door. “Avery, what in the hell are you doing?”

“Nothing,” was the response.

I smiled to myself as I turned back to the counter. “Then get your ass in here.” When I heard her feet hit the floor, I frowned. “And don’t you dare change.” I paused. “Because I really like seeing you in my clothes.”

“Well, when you put it like that . . .” She appeared in the doorway.

“What?” I looked over my shoulder at her. “You missed my eggs that badly?”

She blinked slowly. “I didn’t think I’d have you in my kitchen making eggs again.”

Those words affected me more than she knew. I adjusted the controls on the stove. “You missed me that much?”

“Yes.”

I turned to her, running a hand through my hair. “I’ve missed you.”

Shortcake inhaled deeply. “I want to say I’m sorry for how I acted when you . . . well, when you saw my scar. I’ve never let anyone see it.” She inched forward, worrying her lower lip. “I know that’s not an excuse, because I was a terrible bitch, but . . .”

“I’ll accept your apology on one condition.” I folded my arms.

“Anything,” she said passionately.

“You trust me.”

“I trust you, Cam.”

“No, you don’t.” I walked to the table and slid out a chair. “Have a seat.”

Once she sat and adjusted the borrowed shirt, I went back to the stove and cracked an egg. “If you trusted me, you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did. And that’s not me judging you or any of that kind of shit. You got to trust me that I’m not going to be an ass or freak out over that kind of stuff. You have to trust that I care enough about you.”

At the sound of her soft inhale, I turned to her. “There’s a lot I don’t know about you and I hope we fix that. I’m not going to push you, but you can’t shut me out. Okay. You have to trust me.”

Her gaze met mine. “I trust you. I will trust you.”

“I accept your apology.”

I finished up the eggs and returned to the table with OJ before I broached the issue at hand. “So where do we go from here? Tell me what you want.”

She stopped with a fork full of fluffy eggs. “What I want?”

“From me.” I popped a whole egg in my mouth. “What do you want from me?”

Shortcake sat back, placing her fork down on the plate. She opened her mouth and then squared up her shoulders. “You.”

My chest spasmed and for a moment I couldn’t speak. “Me?”

“I want you,” she said, flushing. “Obviously, I’ve never been in a relationship and I don’t even know if that’s what you want. Maybe it’s not—”

“It is.”

“It is?” she asked.

I chuckled, feeling lighter than I had in weeks as I picked up another egg. “You sound so surprised, like you can’t believe it. It’s really kind of adorable. Please continue.”

“Please continue . . . ?” She shook her head. “I want to be with you.”

I chewed the egg slowly. “That’s the second thing we’re in agreement on this morning.”

“You want to be with me?”

My lips curved up. “I’ve wanted to be with you since the first time you turned me down. I’ve just been waiting for you to come around. So, if we’re going to do this, there are some ground rules.”