Savor You (Fusion #5)(53)

He smiles down at me and keeps going through the photos.

“This was during filming,” he continues, and shows me a photo with my back to him, and my hip is cocked to the side. “Did you know that you dance while you cook?”

“Yeah, I catch myself doing that a lot. I try not to do it in front of the others at work.”

“I fucking love it when you do that,” he says with a smile. “It’s like you have your two favorite things at the same time: food and dancing.”

“Cooking makes me happy, so I dance.”

“It’s sexy as all get-out, so don’t stop doing it on my behalf,” he says. He shows me a few more, and then flips to a photo that makes me stop cold.

“Camden.”

“This was the day before you left me.” His voice is quieter now. “We’d been married for about two days, and you had made us dinner. You said—”

“I wanted to cook something delicious for my husband,” I whisper and clench my eyes closed. I’m so young in that picture. “I’m a horrible person.”

“You, you aren’t. Keep looking. Here’s one from the day you told me you thought you were pregnant.”

“I look terrified.”

He nods. “I haven’t looked at this photo in a long time. You’re right, you do look terrified.”

We’re quiet for a moment, and then he flips to more of me laughing, sticking my tongue out at him, while dressed in my school uniform and holding a measuring cup full of milk.

“I was so young,” I murmur. “And thinner.”

“We were all thinner then,” he says with a smile.

“Oh please. If you’ve gained a pound at all it’s just because you’re even more muscly than before.” I squeeze his bicep and he obliges me with a flex, making me grin. “I really do appreciate your arms.”

“Good to know,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows. “This is the last photo.”

It’s just me. Sitting at my desk in school, smiling shyly at him.

“This was before we moved in together.”

He nods and sets his phone aside. “I’ve loved you for a very long time, Mia.”

I swallow hard, honestly surprised. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

He sighs. “I wanted to. I’m just not good at saying the words. I think that if I show you—by doing nice things for you, holding you, being affectionate—that I don’t need to say the words.”

“Why is it hard for you to say it? Did you have a crappy childhood or something?”

He shakes his head. “Not at all. I had a great childhood. I’m no shrink, but it’s probably because of the way my parents died when I was a teenager.”

“You never speak of them.”

“I know, and that’s not right because they were awesome parents, Mia. Steph is four years older than me. I was sixteen, and she was away at college when it happened.”

I want to ask him a million questions, but I sit and wait patiently as he gathers his thoughts.

“They had gone to New York on a business trip for Dad, and they were in the car on the way to the airport. They’d called me to make sure that I had cleaned the house. Mom hated coming home to a dirty house. Steph was in college, but she went close to home, so she’d been staying there with me while they were gone.

“She spoke to them and then handed the phone to me. My mom sounded happy, and she was ready to go home. They’d only been gone for about a week. We were joking about something, and she said, ‘I love you, kiddo.’ I said, ‘I love you too.’ And as soon as I said that, I heard an enormous crash. They’d been hit by a semi on the freeway. He wasn’t looking and he hit them head-on.”

“Oh, Camden.” I kiss his hand gently. “You were on the phone with them when it happened?”

“Yeah. And it was the last thing I said to her.”

“That’s a gift,” I reply. “So many people wish they’d been able to tell their loved ones that they loved them before they passed.”

“I know. I don’t have that regret.” He smiles sadly. “But it was probably the worst moment in my life, only above the day I came home to find you gone. I don’t say that to make you feel guilty all over again, Mia.

“I was a typical kid. Saying I love you wasn’t really in my vocabulary much anyway, and then they passed away. Steph was my guardian, and probably the most patient person on the world, after that. I had a rough year. I was angry.”

“Of course you were.”

“But I just don’t want any more time to slip by without telling you how I feel. I’ve wanted to say it for weeks now, and it’s stupid that I was waiting until the right moment. I should just tell you.”

“Thank you.”

Oh good Lord, girl, he says he loves you and you say thank you?

“Are you cold?” he asks.

“Yeah, we should probably get out of these wet clothes.”

“Did we ruin your couch?”

“I doubt it.” I stand and help him to his feet this time. “Let’s have a shower.”

We shed out of our clothes, and I start the water in the shower. I expect him to attack me, to boost me up against the wall and fuck me brainless, but he doesn’t.