“Matthew, please.” I groaned. “You promised me not to ever talk about that again.”
“All right,” my best friend said. “I really need to go, now.” His tone turned somber. “Addy?” he said, and I realized I wasn’t bothered by that anymore. “There’s something you need to see. That was why I was calling you. It’s in your email.” He looked over at the man beside me again. “Take care of her, will you? I… She’ll push through anything but sometimes it’s good not to do it alone.”
Something sounded in the background, behind Matthew’s chair, but before I could discern any of it, or even process the meaning of what he’d just said, the call was over.
Cameron took the mug from my hand.
“Hey, I’m not done with—” I started.
But Cameron’s mouth was on mine, his hands on my waist, and my back was hitting the bed. He came over me, and an immediate sense of rightness, of safety and excitement and warmth, fell over me, enveloping me and making my mind stop.
Willow mewed somewhere far away, as if she’d run from the room, and Cameron bit my lip again, demanding all my attention back.
“You beautiful, fierce girl,” he said against my lips. His hips settling between mine. “Protecting me like that.” That mouth trailed down my neck. “It’s gotten me rock-hard.”
My hands moved to his head, my fingers slipping into his hair, hardly resisting the feel of his mouth as it continued down. “I thought you—” Cameron nipped at my nipple and I arched my back. “I think…” His tongue trailed down to my belly. “I think—” He placed a hard kiss on my hip. “I think we—”
His head lifted, his gaze meeting mine. “What do you think we should do, love?”
My chest heaved up and down, need surging through me and making it difficult to think. “Talk. I think we should talk.”
I waited for his reaction, almost afraid of him possibly brushing it off or walking away.
But Cameron’s lips twitched, bending upward and giving shape to that blinding smile. “We’ll talk, then.” He placed one more kiss on my belly, then climbed up and pushed his lips to my jaw. My eyelids fluttered closed and when they reopened, he was standing at the side of the bed, looking down at me as I laid sprawled in the comforter. Still. “We have a few hours until the game. I left breakfast in the kitchen for you. Fresh coffee, too. I’ll jump in the shower to take care of this.” He gripped himself through his sleeping pants. I swallowed. “It’s an open invitation for you to join. Either way, we’ll talk before leaving the house.”
In awe, I watched him pull something out of the pocket of his sweatpants. Then he leaned forward and slipped it over my head. I looked down, finding his signet ring hanging on a chain.
“For good luck,” he said. “So you don’t forget just how superstitious I am.” And with that, he turned around and left me right where I was.
Jesus. Was this my life now? Being invited by beautiful gruff men to have shower sex and wearing their family heirlooms around my neck?
It’s an open invitation for you to join.
I sprung up. The heels of my feet hit the floor so hard, I probably left a mark. We were going to talk either way. He’d said so himself. So we could have a few orgasms first, couldn’t we? Cameron was giving me the choice. Just like he always did. He’d known there was something on my mind and offered me an in and an out. He’d made sure either way, I knew he’d be there.
Stroking himself.
I started for the bathroom, but then, my phone pinged again.
Almost instinctively, I had a glimpse at the notification. It was Matthew’s email.
There had been something about him, something about what he’d said that had left me unsettled. There was something up with Matthew and the answer might be in that email.
I picked up the phone. Unlocked it. Opened my inbox and tapped on the mail.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Adalyn
It was Cameron’s voice that returned me back to earth.
“Adalyn?”
I blinked, the screen of my phone now black.
How long had I been staring into blank space?
Everything was a blur. I didn’t even remember putting on one of Cameron’s shirts or coming to the kitchen. I just remembered opening Matthew’s email and needing to move. Feeling cold. Needing a glass of water. Needing to breathe.
“Adalyn?” Cameron’s voice came again, a panicked edge in it this time. I heard his steps, then his hands were around my face. “You need to breathe, love.”
Was I not breathing?
Air got stuck in my throat, making me gasp and giving me an answer.
Cameron’s eyebrows knotted, concern twisting his expression. He was right. Cameron had been right all this time. This had to be a panic attack. And it was something I shouldn’t brush off. I should see someone about it. I probably had triggers I should know about. I—
“I need to leave,” I croaked. “It’s my father. Matthew’s email. I need to catch a flight back to Miami.”
His hands fell around my face. He tilted my face back. Met my gaze. “Breathe.”
He was right, I needed to do that.
“That’s it,” he said, as I limited myself to inhaling and exhaling big pulls of air. “Good job, darling.”
The noise in my head started to quiet down. The thumping in my chest gradually came down. But then, new emotions seeped in. Guilt. Sorrow. Shock. Cameron must have been so scared when found me like this. So concerned, so blindsided by… me. I shook my head.
“My father is selling the club.” The words left me in a gurgle. The pressure in my chest rose. I focused on Cameron’s face. On letting the green of his eyes ground me. “To David, according to what Matthew has been told by one of the journalists in his network. And it has to be because of me. It has to be because Dad has no other choice after I messed everything up. David’s probably blackmailing him in some way, using me as collateral again. He must be exploiting the situation I put the Flames in with the video. Otherwise, Dad would never do that. He…” Something crossed Cameron’s expression. “My father would never sell.”
“None of this is your fault,” he said with confidence. Determination. That urge to make it better, to take the concern away from me. “You hear me? Nothing. You’re not responsible.”
Those words brought relief, but he… Why wasn’t he more shocked? What had that emotion flashing through his face been?
“Adalyn,” he said. Slowly, carefully. “Yesterday—”
It hit me then. “You knew.”
There was silence. A silence I didn’t want to understand.
I leaned back. I looked at his face. At that handsome face I loved so much. Yes, I did love many things about Cameron. But I—I made myself speak through the thick lump lodged in my throat. Even if it was just to repeat the same two words. “You knew.”
Cameron’s expression wavered but I knew he wasn’t going to deny it. He wasn’t going to try and play it down, either. Cameron wasn’t that kind of man. “I didn’t know for sure.”
I felt like my legs might double under my weight.
My mouth opened and closed wordlessly, until I managed to summon my voice. “How long have you known?”
“A day,” he said. “But I didn’t really know. Not for sure.” He retrieved his hands, reluctantly, as if he knew I needed the space but was unsure about letting go. “Liam, my former agent. He’s the one who heard the rumors. He only mentioned it because the Flames asked about me.”