Her outrage softened into a warm glow that spread through her body. Then a horrible thought struck. “You’re not asking me out on a date, are you? Because—”
“No! No, no. Aw, shit.” He gave up on the cereal and set it aside. “I swear I didn’t mean it to sound like that. You’ve drawn the line pretty damn clear between us, and I’m trying not to cross over it. But—” He stopped and rubbed his jaw, obviously at a loss for words. “Listen, I don’t know how to talk to you now. Before, I’d just call you up and say, ‘Hey, Thor 2’s playing. Let’s go get our geek on.’ But now, feels like everything I say has a double meaning. An offer to see a movie, or grab a bite to eat, or go to Maguire’s for a beer, sounds like I’m after a date.”
Eva laughed and dropped back to her seat. “I know. I guess we have to come up with some rules for this friends with benefits thing.”
He nodded and leaned toward her, flattening his palms on the counter. “Rule one: If I suggest we go to the movies, I’m not asking you on a date. Even if we end up in bed afterward, it’s still not a date.”
“Rule two,” she said. “This isn’t a permanent deal. If you find someone you’d like to pursue romantically, we’re done. We go back to plain old friendship. We’re not cheating on anyone with each other.”
“Ah, good one.” His dimple appeared again with his smile. “Should we be writing these down?”
“Smart ass.” She gave him a playful shove, then stood. “I’m gonna shower.”
“Wait, I have another rule,” he called after her. “Three: Showers are always better together.”
“Nice try, Wilde.” Walking backwards to see his reaction, she added, “And, yes, I want to get my geek on Friday if it involves Chris Hemsworth. He’s numero uno on my freebie list.”
Cam’s eyes narrowed. “Your freebie list?”
“Yeah. If he walked through the door right now and wanted to jump in the shower with me, it’s a freebie. Not considered cheating.” She looked at the front door expectantly and waited several seconds before snapping her fingers. “Damn. Guess it’s not happening today. A girl can dream.”
Cam pushed away from the counter and, scowling, prowled toward her. “Lemme get this straight. You’d shower with Thor—”
“In a heartbeat.”
“—but I’m not allowed.”
“I had no idea you were into tall, blond, and built Aussies, too.” Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, she spun away and continued to the bathroom. “That could be kinda hot, but I think your shower is too small for the three of us.”
She made it to the bathroom before he trapped her against the door with his heavy weight. A thrill zinged straight to her libido as his teeth caught the sensitive spot at the nape of her neck and pulled with a little, punishing tug. Goose bumps raced along her skin and her nipples pebbled, aching for the heat of his mouth. Against her back, his cock hardened and lengthened, and she went damp with anticipation.
She chuckled. “Are you jealous of my freebie list? That breaks one of the rules of friends with benefits. No jealousy.”
“Nah.” His hot breath whispered over her ear. “I just wanted an excuse to get you naked in the shower again.”
“But that’s the best thing about friends with benefits.” She turned in the circle of his arms and wound hers around his neck. “You never need an excuse.”
Chapter Sixteen
Could the week go any fucking slower?
As the city dug out from under nearly three feet of snow, Cam held down the Wilde Security office. Vaughn was out chasing leads for his missing person case, Reece had traveled up to Philly to install a home security system as soon as the roads cleared, and Jude was still on his honeymoon. And Greer—well, who the fuck knew where he was? The way he’d been ghosting around lately, he could be on Mars for all Cam knew.
On Tuesday morning, Cam tracked down Arnold Mabry and found out from the man’s parole officer that he lived in a group home for parolees and worked as an overnight stocker at the local Wal-Mart. That night, Cam went grocery shopping. He spent some time watching Mabry work and even approached him with a question about a product that was missing from the shelves. Guy was relaxed and friendly enough in that customer-is-always-right way. No nervousness and not even a flicker of recognition.
Whoever hired Soup to kill Cam, it wasn’t Mabry.
Strike one.