Hot Commodity (33 page)

She nodded and reached out to press her hand against his chest, directly over his heart. Unable to stop himself, he covered it with his palm, lacing their fingers together. They lay that way for nearly half an hour, soaking up each other’s silent comfort.

It surprised him when her quiet voice filled the room. "Cameron?"

His eyelashes fluttered open. "Hmm?"

"Not once in those few seconds before he killed himself did he look at me." Her voice was blank, probably numb to the pain. "I’m not even sure if he knew I was in the room. No, actually, now that I think of it, I’m sure he did know. He just didn’t care. He didn’t say anything to me or act concerned about how any of this would affect me." She turned her head to look up at him, her eyes large and pleading. "His blood splattered all over me when he died, and he probably didn’t even care about that either."

Cameron swallowed. "I got Sienna’s blood on me when she killed herself."

Olivia blinked, startled. "You were with her?"

He nodded, his eyes going distant as he glanced over her shoulder. "She didn’t seem to care either. She just looked up at me and said, ‘Let me go.’ Can you believe that? She didn’t apologize for the hell she was putting me through, for the mess she’d made of everything. She didn’t tell me she loved me. She just told me to let her die."

Olivia leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his throat in a show of consolation. "How’d it happen?"

Cameron closed his eyes again, but it didn’t do anything to block out the memory. "I walked into the bathroom one day and found her overdosed on all sorts of pills, hacking away at her wrists. That...that’s why I overreacted so badly after you broke the mirror. When I walked into that bathroom and saw the pills everywhere, the blood on your wrist, it was—"

He shook his head. Olivia buried her face against his throat. He turned toward her, and when she wrapped her arms around him, he shuddered.

"I’m so sorry," she said, running her fingers through his hair. "I didn’t mean to scare you like that in the bathroom. I shouldn’t have slammed the cabinet so hard."

"It wasn’t your fault. It was just an accident."

"I wasn’t trying to kill myself."

"I know. I..." His words broke off. "I wasn’t thinking. Forgive me, Livy."

"There’s nothing to forgive. You’re reaction was natural."

Her easy reassurance was hard for him to swallow. It made him think of his family.
 

"I think your dad cared about you more than you know," he murmured, stroking her hair.

He felt her body go tense a moment before she pulled back to look up at him. "What?"

"When Sienna died," he explained. "There was a part of me that was so mad at her. I couldn’t understand why she’d done this to me, why she hated me that much. But these days, there’s moments where I actually get it."
 

He thought of his parents, of Boston. How many times had he apologized to them for holing up inside himself and been forgiven without thought? How many times had guilt eaten at him for hurting them over and over again?

Licking his lips, he tried to explain. "Sometimes, when emotions get the best of you, you know your pain is hurting others, but you can’t seem to function past wallowing in your own misery. You start to think the solution is to get away from them, so you can stop their pain too. Sienna didn’t mean to hurt me, just like your dad probably didn’t mean to hurt you. They just couldn’t see past themselves."

Olivia let out a quiet sigh and rested her face against his neck. After a moment, she said, "That still doesn’t make what they did right."

"No," he agreed, closing his eyes and sinking against her warmth and support. "But it might keep us from hating them for it."

~ * ~

Time passed.

Olivia nuzzled against Cameron until she grew warm and responsive. She loved this man, and she wanted to show it.

Leaning up, and making sure her body rubbed against his, she cupped his face and kissed him. Her insides glowed when she heard his low groan of approval. Her bare breasts slid against his taut chest, and his body shuddered.

One moment, she was sure he was going to roll her onto her back and crawl on top of her. The next, he pulled away and politely kissed her brow.

"Get some sleep," he murmured kindly. "You must be exhausted." Then he slid out from under the covers and clicked off her nightlight.

In the dark, she listened to him pad from the room. Frowning, she pressed her hands to a couple of different aching body parts and let out a low moan of distress. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to sever all ties between them. He’d started the annulment and this was his way of saying goodbye.

He hadn’t been so considerate before, thinking they could still enjoy each other’s bodies until the papers were signed. He hadn’t cared how having sex and then splitting abruptly would affect her. That knowledge right there told her how things had changed. He’d changed.

He must be starting to care. He must be conscious of her feelings, not wanting to take her body and then cut her loose. He was trying to ease away gently because it mattered to him.

Either that, or he really didn’t want anything to do with her.

She snorted. Okay, that was unlikely.

But there was only one way to get herself an honest answer. Tomorrow, she’d take drastic steps to get him back. And however he responded, well, then that would be that.

~ * ~

Nearly twenty-four hours later, Cameron was still kicking himself.

Making it home from work after a miserable day at the office, he unlocked his front door and paused before pushing it open. He blew out a breath, bracing himself.

He’d wanted Olivia in that bed last night, more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. But he hadn’t been able to make himself take her. Her warm limbs had been pressed against him, snuggled close. Then she’d kissed him, and oh God, that kiss. It had taken a Herculean effort to pry himself away, mash his mouth chastely to her forehead and walk—or rather hobble—to his room.

This was all about her, he reminded himself. Her well-being was the reason he had to get her away from him in the first place. He had to—

Cameron knew something was wrong the moment he opened his front door. Dead silence greeted him.

She was already gone.

He wandered around the quiet house, noting her absence from her room, where all her things were missing and the bed was made, leaving behind nothing but the smell of her perfume. In another room, he found the scrapbook. He had no idea how she’d found his memory box full of pictures or when she’d started the book. But it caught him right in the chest to see what she’d done. The book wasn’t finished, though, and that tore him up more than anything. He wanted Olivia to come back so she could complete it, so she could add more pictures as the years progressed, pictures of them and someday of their children and grandchildren. He suddenly wanted that future with her more than anything.

But it was too late. She was already gone.

Struck hard with that realization, he decided to drink.

~ * ~

Boston groaned as soon as he turned into his drive. The blonde sitting on his front steps idly twirled a key ring around her finger.

This was not what he wanted to come home from work to find.

"Why me?" he moaned to himself and pulled to a stop in his parking spot.

Dawdling in his driver’s seat for as long as he could, he retrieved his briefcase and stared at the car phone a second, half tempted to call good ol’ Cameron and have him come fetch his wife home. Knowing his cousin, he figured the bastard would refuse.

With a sigh, he opened the car door and slid out.

She stood as he approached, her hands fisted at her sides and eyes blazing fire. "How could you?" she hissed.

"Olivia," he greeted her quietly, not quite sure why she was so pissed at him, but bracing for the onslaught anyway. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I can’t believe you," she growled, stomping down the steps and coming right at him.

He took an uncertain step back.

"How could you start those annulment papers? How could you? And after that heart-to-heart we had yesterday morning."

He blinked. "Huh? Annulment papers? I didn’t."

"I thought we’d become friends. I thought—what? You didn’t?"

"No, I did not. Cameron asked me to begin them, but I refused."

"You...you refused? Really?"

Boston nodded. "I told him to go to someone else if he wanted them done so bad." He winced. "I guess he listened to me." That had to be a first.

"Oh...Oh, Boston," she breathed and flung herself at him, hugging him heartily. "Thank you. Thank you, so much."

He patted her back in an awkward gesture.

"You’re getting home awfully late," she noted as she pulled back. "Did Cameron go home this late too?"

Warning bells went off in his head. For some reason, he knew he was about to get dragged into something he didn’t want to be within ten miles of. He shook his head. "No, I stayed later to fill out a few legal forms."

"Oh." She looked disappointed. "So, he’s been home a while and hasn’t called you yet?"

Boston stared at her a moment, wondering where the hell she was going with this line of questions. He shook his head again. "Why would he call me?"

She glanced sadly at the key in her palm. "No reason," she said, holding out her hand. "Can you return his car to him for me?"

Mouth going dry, Boston stared at key she offered him. No. She couldn’t leave Cam. She couldn’t—

"You don’t have to do this," he blurted out. "He can’t…" When he lifted his face, the words died in his throat. She looked like she could start crying any second.

He felt like an ass because as much as he knew how it’d hurt her to stay with his cousin, he still wanted her to go back to him.
 

"Where’re you going?" he asked.

She couldn’t quite meet his gaze as she shrugged. "A hotel for the time being."

"Which hotel?"

She jerked a frown his way, probably annoyed by his sharp question. He didn’t think she’d answer but was relieved when she finally said, "Some Holiday Inn off I-35."

He nodded. "And how’d you pay for that? I thought you didn’t have any money."

"Alli—" she had to pause and clear her throat when tears glistened in her eyes. "I have some. Allison already paid me to help her plan a party for Chuck’s work."

Wondering what his aunt would think if she learned she’d just helped a woman hurt her own son, he blinked when Olivia thrust the key at him more forcefully.

"So, will you return his car to him for me or not?" Tears dribbled down her cheeks now.
 

Boston eased the key from her hand. "How’re you going to get back to your hotel?"

She blinked and then stared at him a frozen moment before she let out a wet laugh and wiped at her cheeks. "I hadn’t even thought of that."

"Then let me drive you."

She looked hesitant to accept his offer. "To the hotel?"

"Of course," he answered.