Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(52)

That she often did the same thing didn’t matter.

He was hurting, and she was someone who at her core wanted, needed, to heal people. She was still on his lap. His arms were loosely around her, her head on his shoulder, his jaw pressed against her hair. She drew a deep breath. “Growing up, there were so many times I wanted to strangle Gavin and/or Winnie. But the truth is, if something had actually happened to one of them . . .” She broke off when her voice cracked and had to clear her throat. “In hindsight, I think those were the moments where love showed the most, because they were the only people who could get beneath my skin and into my heart.”

Cam slid a big, warm hand up her back and into her hair, wrapping it around his fist to tug lightly so he could see her face. “Has anyone else ever gotten beneath your skin?”

Their gazes were locked. No place to hide. “Not since my parents died.”

He nodded, as if she’d simply verified what he’d already suspected, that she’d turned off her heart from further hurt, and she’d been very successful at it.

“It’s a shame,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because I see how fiercely you love.” When she tried to pull free, he tugged a little bit harder, holding her to him. “You’ve got so much love to give, Piper. It’s hard to see you closed off.”

They stared at each other, during which she felt a shift, a cataclysmic one, at least for her. She’d thought of him as the fun-time guy. After all, he was going to leave soon, and hell, for that matter, so was she. They’d probably rarely, if ever, see each other again. Which was why he’d seemed like the perfect distraction.

But in that moment, she felt the lock on her heart loosen, even open, which meant this wasn’t anywhere near as casual as she’d planned.

Cam whispered her name softly, with a longing that stirred her own to an almost unbearable level inside her. And then—she wasn’t sure who moved first—they were kissing, long, lingering kisses with lots of heat and tongue. Her hands tightened on his biceps, then ran up to cup his face before going south and landing on his bare chest.

He froze, then pulled free.

“Oh, crap, sorry.” Mortified by his response to her touch, she tried to scoot away, but his hands were immediately back on her, his voice sounding strained as he held her to him.

“Piper—”

“No.” She covered her face. “Forget it, okay? It’s been a while, and I’m really bad at this part, at reading what a guy’s thinking, and—”

He pulled her hands from her face, so she played a three-year-old and closed her eyes.

“Look at me,” he said, in a voice she imagined he used on his men, because she obediently opened her eyes.

“Are you listening?” he asked very intensely.

Listening. Dying . . . “Yes.”

“Good. I want you, Piper.” He waited for her to realize she was literally up against the proof of that wanting. “Badly. But . . .”

“I’m not a big fan of buts,” she whispered.

He smiled. “Piper, we’re outside.”

“And?”

“And by the time I get you inside, I suspect you’ll have changed your mind.”

“Try me.” She had no idea where those two words came from. No, scratch that. She knew exactly. And she meant them too.

He looked at her, and she did her best to seem like something he couldn’t go without right this very second.

He took a deep breath and started to speak, but with the feel of him so hard against her, she was done with the speaking portion of this event. Especially because he looked so turned on and stern at the same time. So she leaned in and kissed him again, very seriously.

With a rough groan that spoke to all her good parts, he wrapped her up tight and kissed her back. At some point, he rose to his feet with her still in his arms. His big hands went to her ass to hold her against him as he walked, and she gave an involuntary squeak of terror as she remembered they were on the docks, surrounded by water.

“Close your eyes,” he said.

“You just told me to open them.”

“And now I’m telling you to close them again.”

He walked only a few yards, it seemed, before taking a big step onto something. Something that rocked.

A boat.

Oh good God. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest, and not with lust this time. “Cam—”

“Keep ’em closed, Piper.”

She heard a door open and then shut, and what she thought might be the click of a lock before she was finally settled on something soft. Before she could decide what, Cam’s big, warm body came down over her. Entangling his fingers with hers, he slowly drew her hands up to either side of her head.

“Okay,” he said.

Her eyes flew open to find his dark and heated on hers. “We’re on a boat,” she whispered.

“Yes. Away from anyone’s view. Unless you’re changing your mind.”

Not in this lifetime. “No.”

He nodded, but still looked so . . . solemn. “I don’t have a condom.”

She couldn’t remember ever feeling so disappointed about anything ever. “Why?”

He almost smiled at that, she could tell. “Because I’m a very stupid, stupid man.”