Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes) (13 page)

“Did you ever talk to him again? Have you and your mother reconciled?”

“Jimmy tried calling me for the next month. He finally gave up. I didn’t speak to my mother for three years. Finally, for the sake of my father, I came home. He never knew. I didn’t tell him and neither did my mother, of course. Our relationship was forever altered that day. We now talk once in a while, but it will never be more than obligatory meetings. I decided it was best if we came to a mutual understanding. We’re more like acquaintances than anything else. I’m a party planner, and she has a lot of contacts, so she’ll send business my way. I walk in the door, she gives me air kisses. We’re stiff and formal, but so are a lot of other families.”

“I don’t know how you could even look her in the face after that,” Cam said. He was completely blown away. What in the world was wrong with her family?

“I was never in love with Jimmy. It’s just . . .” She stopped herself from whatever she’d been about to say. “Never mind. It’s not even worth talking about. The bottom line is that I climbed in my car that day and drove to New York. It took me several days, but when I arrived, I thought at first that it was the greatest place on earth.”

“But that didn’t last, either?”

“No. After a few months I was extremely homesick. But the problem was that I didn’t really have a home. I couldn’t move back in with my parents. My only true friend was off in college, and I didn’t feel like there was anywhere I belonged.”

“Grace, I’m so sorry you ever felt that way.”

“It doesn’t matter. I went to college, got a degree in hospitality, and then started my event-planning business. But I realized after a few years that New York was just too much for me. So I came back home to Montana, but I decided to settle here in Sterling rather than in Billings.”

He waited, but she was quiet for several moments. “Did you meet anyone of importance in New York?”

“I had one semi-long-term relationship in New York, with Vince. The sex was good—your standard hot Italian lover, you know—but there was no emotion,” she said with another laugh.

Her comment stung more than Cam would ever admit. No, he hadn’t been a saint since they had parted ten years ago, and yes, he’d had other relationships, but none had worked out. How could they when his heart wasn’t his to give to another?

Cam didn’t know why, but for some reason he had pictured Grace back in Sterling waiting for when he was done with his degree. He’d wronged her in the way he’d left, but he would never forget that summer that had broken him apart.

“Your New York guy is still a lead. I need his information.”

“Really? I haven’t heard a word from him since I left New York. What would he matter?”

“If you dated him, he’s a suspect, Grace.”

“There’s not much to tell. He was from a wealthy family, but he was trying to be an artist, all living free and stuff. We shared a tiny loft, and after a while I realized he was perfectly content to live off either his daddy’s money or mine, and I grew tired of it. He didn’t even fight me when I left. He cheated on me, of course. But it was just something I expected at that point in my life. And I didn’t have enough emotion left in me to care. He was the last relationship I’ve been in.”

“Dammit, Grace. You are worth so much more than you can ever imagine.”

“Then why do I keep getting left?” she asked.

Cam was silent as she looked down and reined in her emotions. Cam felt like the most disgusting of human beings at that moment. He’d hurt her so badly, and he didn’t know how he was going to make it up to her. He might not be able to.

“Grace . . .” He didn’t know what he planned on saying.

“I don’t think I can talk about any of this anymore tonight, Cam. I’m so tired.” The painful memories seemed to choke her voice.

Even though she resisted, Cam put down the computer and then pulled her into the cradle of his arms. “I’m sorry, Grace. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through.”

Her entire body was stiff for several tense moments, and then, finally, she rested her head on his shoulder and he felt a shudder pass through her.

“It was a long time ago. I just learned that I can’t trust anyone,” she whispered.

“That’s no way to be. I think you’ll learn to trust me again—in time.”

She said nothing, but it didn’t take long before he felt the steady, shallow breaths on his neck indicating she’d fallen asleep.

Cam eased himself carefully up off the couch and stood with her in his arms, then headed to his room. She might wake up angry in the morning, but he doubted it. Tonight she needed someone to hold her and let her know she wasn’t alone in the world.

Tomorrow they could go back to their battle of wills.

The rhythmic sound of a heart beating beneath her ear was what pulled Grace from her slumber. It took a moment for her to realize where she was, and then the smell of Cam drifted through her and she had no doubt she was lying in his arms, in his bed.

She should be upset, but instead she felt comforted. The night before had taken a lot out of her, and although there wasn’t even the tiniest glimmer of light peeking through the curtains, telling her it was the middle of the night, she still felt like it was a new day, like it was almost a new beginning.

She hadn’t wanted to share her story with Cam, but doing so had freed up something inside her, something that had needed to be released for a long time. Was she over everything that had happened? No, she certainly wasn’t. But at the same time, some of her anger had drained away.

“How are you feeling?”

She wasn’t even startled by the sound of his voice. She’d heard the shift in his breathing and knew he was awake.

“Better,” she told him.

“Grace, I don’t know how many times I can apologize for what happened in the past, but I hope if I do it enough, then someday you’ll believe me and forgive me,” he said, his hand coming up and caressing the back of her head.

“You hurt me, Cam. You hurt me more than any of the others because you were the one I loved,” she told him.

Maybe it was the security of darkness, or maybe it was because she’d already opened up to him, but for some reason, it just felt right to tell him how she really felt.

Besides, right now all she seemed to be feeling was the warmth of Cam’s bare chest, warm beneath her hand. She should be pulling away, leaving his arms and reaching for the blankets to cover herself, letting him know this wasn’t what she wanted. So she didn’t understand when, instead of leaving his arms, she fluttered her fingers against his chest, the feel of him too enticing to stop.

“I was so young and stupid and running on pure hormones,” Cam admitted.

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “But still, I thought I meant more to you than just any girl who could be easily forgotten.”

He stiffened beneath her before his hand continued caressing her head, before moving lower and rubbing against her back.

“How could I ever forget you?” he finally said. His fingers slid below the hem of her shirt and traveled up bare skin, reaching her ribs, the tips circling around and brushing the side of her breast, making pleasure heat her core.

“What are we doing here?” she asked quietly, but even as she spoke, she pressed her hips forward against his hardness, seeking relief.

“We’re talking,” he murmured. He moved his face toward hers and gently caressed her lips, just a whisper of movement, just enough to make her entire body tingle in anticipation of what was to come.

“You’re seducing me,” she moaned.

“I’m not doing anything you don’t want me to do,” he countered, sliding his fingers down her back now. How she wanted to have those fingers where they had been, so he could cup her swollen breasts.

“I didn’t say I wanted this,” she panted.

“Your body is telling me exactly what you want. If you need me to stop, just say so,” he said against her neck, tracing the smooth skin with his tongue and scorching her with his touch. His hand trailed over her behind, and she cursed the panties that barred her from skin-to-skin contact.

Grace refused to tell him how much she wanted him, but she also couldn’t tell him to stop, so she lay there quietly, small whimpers escaping her open mouth as his hand moved down the back of her leg and then circled her knee and began gliding slowly up the inside of her thigh.

When his fingers stopped at the elastic of her panties, then retreated, she moaned her disapproval. He rested his hand on the inside of her thigh while his mouth made a trail of kisses from her neck to her collarbone, making her stomach tighten, her breasts tingle.

“Please . . .” she moaned, too desperate, too needful now to keep from begging.

“What do you want me to do, Grace?”

“Don’t tease me. Don’t offer me something you won’t really give me.”

“I’ve been trying to give this to you for a while,” he said as his lips traced the top of her neckline and he dipped his tongue beneath her shirt, but not reaching the place she wanted it most.

“Have some mercy, Cam,” she cried, pushing her hips into him again before reaching for his head and dragging it downward.

He opened his mouth over her nipple. The cotton of her shirt prevented him from tasting her skin, but when he sucked through the fabric, her body sang anyway, and need poured through her.

He moved his hands down to her behind and then she was on her back and he was on top of her, pressing his hardness against her while he sucked harder on her straining nipple. Their clothes were a maddening barrier between them.

“More,” she demanded.

Letting go of her peaked nipple, he ran his tongue up her throat and finally kissed her the way she was meant to be kissed, possessing her mouth as he pulled against her hips and ground himself against her core.

“I need you, Cam,” she murmured into his mouth.

He released her lips briefly. “I’ve wanted to hear that for so long,” he said, and he lifted her shirt away and then ripped the side of her panties to free her for his easy exploration.

Sliding his mouth down her throat, he at last circled first one nipple and then the other, wetting them, hardening them, making her scream out her passion. When she was at the point of madness, he kissed his way down her quivering stomach and spread her thighs apart with his hands.

Grace arched off the bed, into his mouth, greedy for what he was about to bring her. His tongue toyed with her swollen folds, and she felt her pleasure hanging right on the edge as he flicked his tongue around the one point of her body that cried out for him the most.

“Now, Grace,” he groaned before sucking her swollen bud into his mouth at the same time that he pushed two fingers inside her.

She didn’t disappoint either of them. Her body let go, explosions of pleasure ripping through her, making her call his name over and over again until there was nothing left inside her. He slowly climbed back up her body and let his hips—still clothed, dammit—rest against hers, making her burn once again, and even hotter than before.

“I want to do that over and over again,” he said, his lips touching hers so softly, with so much control.

“Mmm,” she murmured, in complete agreement.

“Tell me you won’t pull away. Tell me this isn’t just one more time, and then six months will pass again without you allowing me to touch you.”

He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. She tried not to, but he wouldn’t let her go, his passion-filled gaze nearly undoing her.

“I can’t make that promise, Cam,” she said, her lips quivering as she reached for his hips and pulled him against her. “I just can’t do it, so please don’t make me. You want me, so take me.”

She tried reaching for his lips again, but he wouldn’t kiss her. He just lay there, poised above her as his hips ground against hers and the two of them stared at each other.

“All you have to do is admit you’re mine, Grace, and I will continue to make your body sing,” Cam said.

He shifted his body slightly to the right so he could reach up and cup her still-aching breast and trace her nipple with his thumb. She had to bite her lip to keep from groaning.

“You’re only punishing yourself by withholding, Cam,” she told him as she pressed up against him once more.

“Yes, I’m punishing myself,” he said, then pressed hard against her, showing her how thick and full he was, showing her how good it would feel if he cast aside his shorts and thrust inside her. “But I want more than to have you only once in my bed.”

“This is all I can give you right now,” she said. She nearly cried out when he pulled away from her. “Don’t do this, Cam. You want me.”

He paused next to the bed and looked down at her, something burning in his eyes that she couldn’t comprehend, couldn’t imagine being for her. It appeared to be love, but there was no way he loved her. No one ever had.

“I do want you, Grace. And I
will
have you.”

With that parting shot, he left her alone and aching in his bed.