Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes #3)(63)

Cam didn’t say anything for so long that she didn’t know if he was going to answer. Her heart was breaking all over again as she remembered that painful time. She was so confused, so frightened, and she was all alone.

“I was saying good-bye to you in one way and thinking that I was getting what was owed to me in another. I was young, Grace. I was an idiot. I shouldn’t have done that,” he finally said.

“I guess we were both pretty foolish, weren’t we?” she said, unable to keep the tears from her voice this time.

“I’m so sorry for hurting you.”

They weren’t looking at each other, and Grace was trying desperately not to fall apart, but when his hand reached across the space between them and grasped hers, she wasn’t able to hold back the tears anymore.

They pulled up to Cam’s house without saying another word. The driver opened the door and he helped her out. Her feet felt leaden as she walked up his steps and inside his house.

This night was ending so much less brilliantly than she’d planned. They’d started with smiles and were ending with tears. Why did life have to be so difficult? Why did there always have to be these roadblocks?

“I am sorry, Grace. I was hurting,” Cam said, taking her hand again before she climbed up the stairs.

“Me, too, Cam. I guess we both made assumptions that we can’t take back,” she said, unable to make eye contact with him.

“Let’s not leave it like this tonight. Let me take you to bed,” he said, tugging on her hand, trying to pull her into his arms.

“I can’t, Cam. Not tonight,” she replied, not pulling back, knowing it would do her no good.

“Gracie, I care about you. We’re good together.”

“Please, Cam. I can’t take any more tonight. Please just let me go.”

“Do you mean forever, Grace?” he asked, his hand tightening on hers. “Or do you mean just for tonight?”

She said nothing for several heartbeats. Could she let this man go? Or was he once again wedged so deeply within her soul that losing him would destroy her? She really didn’t know.

“I don’t know, Cam—I just don’t know,” she whispered.

“Okay. For tonight I’ll give you space,” he told her, and then released her fingers.

Grace climbed slowly up the stairs, knowing she couldn’t turn around for fear that she’d go running back to him. But she desperately wanted him to run to her, to tell her he’d been a fool and that he would never hurt her again.

But even if he did that, she wouldn’t believe him—not tonight, at least.

“I’m here when you’re ready, Grace.”

His words stopped her on the landing at the top of the stairs. She blinked and nearly turned back to him, but then she walked away, to the guest room. It was time to leave his house.





The world was lucky he was sitting behind his desk. Cam had been growling at anyone who got within three feet of him ever since Grace had moved out of his place and started refusing to take any of his calls.

Sure, she was staying with Spence and Sage, and he got nightly reports to the effect that she was safe and sound, but that didn’t help his mood any—it didn’t help his mood at all. Because what Cam wanted was Grace back in his home and back in his bed.

So they’d gotten into a fight. It wasn’t something they couldn’t fix—their wounds would heal—but the next day, when he’d woken up after only a couple of hours’ sleep, she’d already left.

At first Cam had panicked, thinking that someone had managed to break into his house and stolen her away. But then he found the note, saying she was going to Sage’s.

He called Spence, of course, to make sure that she was, in fact, there. Knowing she was safe had helped, and that day he’d even been angry enough with her to think he was glad to be rid of her.

But then the week had dragged on and the more he missed her, the angrier he became with the rest of the world. When he wasn’t thinking obsessively about her, he was thinking obsessively about her case. He needed to know how to help her and, more importantly, how to help them.

“Can I get you anything else before I go, Cam?”

“No. I’m fine.” It was a wonder his legal assistant didn’t march right out of his law offices after telling him where he could shove his bad mood.

But instead of yelling at him as he deserved, as he almost wanted, she just left him alone, like everyone else was doing.

And why? Because his thoughts were pinpointed on one woman—one dark-haired, exotic-eyed, beautiful, frustrating woman. Grace. It was always Grace, always had been Grace. She was his first love, and he had no doubt she would be his last.

But would she allow him to stay in her life? That was an entirely different matter. She was strong and independent, and the bottom line was that she just might not need him as much as he needed her.

“Cam, I have to talk to you.”

Cam looked up to find Sage in his doorway. “Of course. Is everything okay with my brother?”

Concern flashed through him at the worried look in Sage’s eyes. She was normally a cool, collected woman. Right now, she didn’t look so calm.

“Before I talk, I really need a drink—a stiff one.”

She took off her jacket and sat down while Cam went to his liquor cabinet and poured them each a scotch. He had a feeling he would need it, to judge from the expression she was wearing. His body hummed with tension.