Camden's Redemption (Gloves Off #4)(41)

“What are you thinking about?”

Smiling, I grabbed two coffee cups and set them on the counter. “You,” I replied.

Camden put his arms around my waist and kissed the side of my neck. “What about? How ruggedly sexy I am?”

I tilted my head to the side, giving him permission to kiss more. “Not just that,” I laughed. “I was wondering how many girls have been lucky enough to see this side of you.”

“None. I never gave a shit about anyone enough to care what they thought about me.”

“What about Gabriella? I heard you on the phone with her last night. You were open with her. Have you two ever . . .”

“No,” he cut in quickly. “Gabby and I have always been just friends. She’s closer to my brother than me. After what I did to Ashleigh, we grew apart until that whole fiasco with Paxton. She’s basically all I have now.”

“Hey,” I squealed, elbowing him in the gut.

He chuckled. “That was before. Now I have you. Is that better?”

“Much.” I poured us both a cup of coffee and he kept me company while I fixed some eggs and bacon for breakfast. After we ate, I saved a plate for Mason and we both retreated back to my room. I slipped into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face while Camden relaxed on my bed, flipping through channels. It was hard to believe just a few months ago I couldn’t stand the guy, and now I couldn’t get enough of him.

“Do you want to take a hike in the woods? It’s not that hot out right now. We can burn off the calories we ate for breakfast.” I splashed some water on my face and dried off before joining him.

He tilted his head to look at me and winked. “Why don’t we burn them off another way?” he suggested slyly.

Rolling my eyes, I threw my towel at him and laughed. “Not with Mason here, you horndog. Come on, it’ll be fun. Maybe when we get back he’ll be up and can tell us everything that happened last night after we left.”

He turned the TV off and threw on a T-shirt from his bag. He’d been living with me all week and I wanted to tell him he could put his things away in the dresser, but I didn’t want to jinx the time we had. The second I allowed him to make himself at home, would be the time he’d need to leave. Before heading outside, I wrote Mason a note and slid it under his door, telling him we were going for a walk in the woods and we’d be back soon.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for him to wake up?”

I shook my head and pushed him toward the door. “Hell no. Once he wakes up, it’ll be all business. I want to enjoy a nice morning without having to worry about who wants to kill you.” I was fooling myself; I worried about that no matter what. The fear of knowing Camden could be attacked at any moment scared the shit out of me. It was worse now that I actually cared about him. After strapping on my gun, we were ready to go.

Camden followed me out the door and took my hand as we walked toward the woods. “It kills me to have to run away from this,” he confessed. “I’m not a coward.”

“Then why did you?” I asked. There had to be a reason. “When I was put on your case I was shocked when you didn’t stay in California and wait it out.”

“I didn’t want to put my niece and nephew’s lives in danger. Scar would have no problems using them to get to me. Not to mention, Mason threatened to take away my chances of getting back into the UFC.”

“So you want back in? That means you’ll have to fight your brother, won’t it?”

With a sad smile, he nodded. “It does. But that’s wishful thinking. I stopped training, and I don’t even have a coach anymore. I would be starting back at the bottom.”

I squeezed his hand and leaned into him. “But at least you’d be happy doing what you love. Fighting is in your blood. I’m sure you can find another coach.”

“And would you come to my fights?” he questioned.

“I’m sure I would come to some. It would all depend on my job and where Mason needs me. If I’m still guarding you, I guess I’d have no choice.” I nudged him in the side and laughed, thinking he’d find the humor in it. Unfortunately, he didn’t. “What’s wrong?”

“I guess I never thought about your job and what it would mean for us. We seriously need to talk about what we’re going to do when I go back home. That is, if you want to continue seeing me.” He stopped in place and turned me to face him, waiting on a response. I knew what was in my heart, but I didn’t know if he was ready to hear it.

“Camden, I . . .” Something triggered my sixth sense. It was eerily quiet and the feeling in my gut screamed nothing but warnings. Even the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. We weren’t alone.

“We need to get out of here, now.” Thankfully, he didn’t ask questions; he listened and grabbed my hand. We both took off through the woods and all I could hear was the pounding of my heart. Please God, don’t let anything happen to him. I chanted my prayer over and over as tree limb after tree limb scraped across my skin. I should’ve known he wouldn’t be safe at my house, or anywhere for that matter. Whoever was after him had a lot of balls to trespass on my land.

Camden quickly glanced back at me. “Do you have your gun?”

“Yes, but just keep running. I have no idea where they are and we’re almost home.”