Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(64)

It didn’t take him long to shove her over the edge again, but this time she took him along with her. As she closed her eyes and let herself float away, she smiled, because it seemed she’d found the one thing to make Cam Hayes lose his famed control.

Her.

A fact that was both thrilling and utterly terrifying.

CAM WOKE UP to a low but fervently uttered “Shit!” and opened his eyes. His arms were empty of one warm, soft, sated woman. And yeah, he didn’t have any doubts on the sated thing, because he’d heard every single sexy sound she’d made when he’d been deep inside her.

They hadn’t slept much. It’d been midnight when he’d taken them back to the marina, gliding into a slip without the motor so as not to wake anyone at either house. Docked, they’d started to dress, then gotten distracted by naked bodies under moonlight, and afterward had fallen asleep again.

Now, given the light slanting through the window—or the lack of light slanting through the window—it wasn’t even dawn. When another low feminine oath sounded, he rose from the bed, grabbing his jeans as he did. Pulling them on, he found the source of the cursing.

Piper, trying to get off the boat.

She’d apparently been going for stealth, which, considering she’d gotten out of bed without waking him, was impressive. The fact that she’d put on the life jacket to go from boat to dock made him smile.

It’d snagged on a hook, leaving her trapped and fighting to free herself. Damn. He was going to fall for this woman hard if he let himself. Trying not to laugh, he came up behind her. “Sneaking out without a good-bye?”

“Hey, I said good-bye.” She was tugging on the vest for all she was worth. “You just didn’t hear me.”

Taking mercy, he untangled her and turned her to face him, holding on to the straps of the life vest. “Nice touch.”

“Yeah, well, I figured it’d be just my luck to fall in and get eaten by a lake monster,” she muttered into his chest. “That adventure is most definitely not in my journal. Which, by the way, is in my pocket. There are whole days I fantasize about tossing it into the lake, but it’s going to be on my terms, and not because I was stupid and fell in.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Tell me why you’re sneaking off.” He bent his knees a little so he could see her face better. “Let me guess. Things got so good you got scared. Am I hot or cold?”

Her pretty eyes narrowed.

Yeah, he was hot.

She lifted her chin. “Maybe it was so bad that I couldn’t do it again, you ever think of that?”

“I’ve got ten fingernail indentations in my ass that say otherwise.”

She blushed. Cute. “Okay, fine, whatever.” She tossed up her hands. “It wasn’t . . . bad.”

He laughed, and she huffed out a sigh and a reluctant smile. “You’re an ass.”

“Noted,” he said. “Now tell me why you’re running away.”

She turned her head and eyed the lake, gorgeous and smooth as glass at this time of morning. “I like you,” she said to the water, quietly, as if admitting a state secret.

“Piper.” He waited until she looked at him. “I like you back.”

She bit her lower lip, and he tilted his head. “Help me out here. I’m not sure I get the problem.”

“I said stuff.”

“You mean like ‘oh yeah, Cam, just like that’ and ‘harder, please, harder’ . . . ?”

She pointed at him, her cheeks blazing. “You know what I mean.”

“Actually, I don’t.” His smile faded because suddenly she seemed way too close to tears. “What’s wrong? If you tell me, maybe I can fix it.”

She closed her eyes. “I said that I need you.”

“Yeah? And what’s wrong with that? I’m right there with you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You do realize I was sneaking out so I didn’t have to have this conversation, right?”

“Humor me,” he said. “What’s wrong with needing someone once in a while?”

“I’ve never said it to anyone before,” she admitted. “In fact, I do everything I can to never need or depend on anyone. So if I say it, it means . . . things.”

“Like the fact that you trust me?”

She nodded miserably.

“I trust you too, Piper. Or you wouldn’t be in my bed.”

She sighed, a sound that managed to hold all the memories from their time in his bed, as well as exasperation, probably at the both of them. “I can’t do this now,” she said. “I’m too hungry. I need pancakes and I’ve got a batter mix at home. They’re not going to be homemade, but if you—”

“Yes,” he said. Then he leaned in and put his mouth to her ear. “I need pancakes too.”

With a laugh, she shoved him away.

Grinning, he followed her up the hill. He thought about pointing out that she was still wearing the life vest, but decided it was best not to.

He followed her into her kitchen, having no doubt that she expected her siblings to still be sleeping. So the surprise couldn’t have been a good one when she realized everyone was there. Gavin was at the stove making pancakes—not from a mix—and laughing with CJ. Winnie was there too, with . . . his dad? The two of them were at the table, heads together watching a YouTube video on how to fix a leaky pipe. They were both dirty, suggesting they’d actually been working.