Ignite Me: Shards of Glass, Part One (60 page)

I smiled at him. I was more than happy to sign a statement. I was pleased he wasn't overriding what I wanted either. It hadn't gone down very well with Cameron though.

“Fine, but I think he's a time bomb waiting to go off! But I will support her decision 100%.” He rested his hand on my leg.

I sighed. “Cameron I know you want me to press charges or whatever, but I just think if I do that I open myself up to a whole load of stuff I'm not prepared to waste time on! I'm with you and that's all that matters! He will learn the hard way!”

He half smiled at me. “I know and I do appreciate that fact! I just want you to be safe.”

I grinned at him. “I am safe! What with you and Jones I'm never far from safety am I?”

“That is true!”

An hour later and I had signed a statement and Cameron had given Greg all the CCTV footage on a USB stick. I now stood in the kitchen loading the dishwasher while Cameron said goodbye to Greg.

I picked up the last biscuit and eat it in two mouthfuls. They were French, and one of my favourites.

I pulled open the fridge to find the bottled water and found all the shopping that Cameron had spoken about had been neatly put away. I wondered if Jones had been in. Did he ever get any time off?! I found the water and shut the fridge as I turned around I saw Cameron leaning in the doorway, his hands in his pockets he looked brooding.

I unscrewed the bottle cap as I studied him. “Are you cross with me?! Cause I'm not gonna change my mind so your just gonna have to get used to it!” I raised a brow and fixed him with a defiant look.

He didn't speak for a while, he just studied me.

I sipped my water, and waited.

“I'm not cross at you, I respect, and that’s what you wanted! But I need you to understand something though, you and he can't ever be friends again, that means no hanging out with him, no meeting for coffee, I just can't cope with the idea of that fucker being around you knowing how he feels!”

I would have normally flipped it at being told whom I could or couldn't be friends with but I understood why he couldn't tolerate it and he had given me a perfect opener so I put the lid back on the bottle placing it down as walked over to him.

“I don't honestly think I would be able to be his friend after what he did and said so that's a no brainer, but at the same time I need you to understand something for me!” I looked up at him.

He placed his hands on my shoulders and nodded at me. “And that is?!”

He sounded unsure and I could understand why.

“You and Erin, I don't trust her! She's got it out for me because of us and I don't want you to meet her without someone else being there as a witness! I don't want her to be able to, I dunno seduce you or play the damsel in distress to get your attention!” It wasn't unreasonable, I wasn't saying I didn't want him to never see her again, I knew in business that'd be impractical.

He nodded. “Well, I'm glad to hear you trust me! And if that's what you want, I will make sure I don't see her alone! Jones will always be with me and she won't be more than three feet from me, trust me darling I don't want her touching me either! I don't have a lot to do with her now anyway! So if we are done brokering deals, shall we start prep on our meal for tonight?!” He stroked his hands down my arms.

I grinned. “Shouldn't we tidy that broken vase up first?!”

He smiled down at me. “No I'll leave that to the housekeeper! It's out of eyesight and frankly, right now I don't care about a vase! Let's start on food!” He pulled me into him, holding me against him. I grinned, feeling his body pressed against mine.

I wrapped my arms around his back and snuggled my head into his chest. “But we did break it so maybe we should tidy it away, I mean it's not fair on your housekeeper to do that!”

He rubbed my back softly. “I know the concept is alien to you, but that's what she is paid for! Gwen has been alerted and is on her way to fix it as we speak! So don't worry!”

I grinned. “Gwen?! That's Jones's wife right?!” I tipped my head back to study his face. “And yes, having a house keeper is alien to me cause I've always tidied up after myself and my dad since as long as I can remember!” Having a housekeeper would be absurd to my father! When he was at home he did his own cleaning!

He raised a brow. “Yes, well now you don't have to! I mean, obviously if I drop something in here I would clean it up, but she would only moan at me if I let you clean it up or I did it myself! Trust me, she's a perfectionist!”

I grinned. “Okay, I trust you! Well will you at least let me go fetch our clothes that we left in there?!”

He rolled his eyes and let me go. “Go on then! You're a strange little thing!”

I stepped back and grinned at him. “Yeah, but I'm your strange little thing so get used to it!”

He laughed and moved out of the way of the door frame letting me out.

I moved past him and made my way to the entrance hall, as I pushed the door open, I pulled a face, water from the vase had spread across the floor so I had to pick my pathway to our tops now laying up the corner with my backpack. I grinned to myself as I bent down to pick them up.

“Eww, it's all wet.” I pulled a face as I wrung out the hoodies as best as I could. I shouldered my backpack, which was thankfully dry when I heard the door open. I glanced up expecting to see Cameron but instead was a woman in her 40s with long curly black hair.

“You must be Evangeline! I'm Gwen! Ceredig said you were pretty, but you are a stunner! Don't worry about the mess, that's what I'm here for!” She beamed a smile at me.

I blushed at her compliment. So this was Gwen! She was very pretty. She had pale skin and lovely brown eyes and spoke with a broad Welsh accent.

“You're too kind! So is that Jones first name?! How do you pronounce that?!” I stepped forward missing the puddles of water and held my hand out.

She grinned and shook my hand firmly. “Oh, it's a Welsh name, you say Ker-Ed-Ig, he prefers Jones though, that’s an Army thing!”

I smiled. “Yeah, so Cameron said, I feel bad you've been called away from your day off to do this, I could have done it.” I loitered near the door.

She stepped around me and placed down the bucket and mop. “It's what I'm paid for! It's why both Jones and I live where we do! I don't mind!”

I felt the door open behind me.

“Ah, I wondered what was taking you so long my darling, I was suspicious, you were cleaning up, but I see you've found Gwen!”

I felt Cameron's hand on my lower back, as he stepped into the room beside me.

Gwen grinned up at him as she started to mop. “Sorry if I kept Evangeline, we were just chatting! I'm sure I'll see you again sometime, nice to meet you.”

I smiled. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Come on, let's get those in the washing machine!” He held the door open for me to pass him.

I grinned up at him as I passed by remembering just what we had been up to in the hall.

“Thanks Gwen.” He let the door shut and indicated to go back towards the kitchen.

“So where's your washing machine?!” I asked as we walked into the kitchen.

“It's just around here, in the utility area.”

We walked around the counter and passed through into a smaller area, it had a washer and dryer and various other things including Cameron's wine fridge.

I pulled open the washer and chucked the two hoodies in.

“Gwen was really nice! She's prettier than I imagined and very Welsh!” I grinned.

Cameron laughed. “Well, I assumed you'd found each other, did she have much to say?!”

He tried to keep his tone casual but it was an odd thing to ask and it made me suspicious.

I shrugged. “Uh, no, she told me what Jones's name is, how to pronounce it and she said I was a stunner and that she didn't mind cleaning the vase up!” I didn't tell him she'd said Jones had told her I was pretty because I knew he'd not like it and I didn't want to get Jones into trouble.

He smiled. “Well, you are a stunner! And all mine! Lucky me!” He stepped towards me, his head tilted to one side.

I took a breath in, occasionally he looked at me like he was stalking his pray, but I didn't back away, I waited for him to make his next move.

He pulled me into him as he reached me and kissed me.

I wound my hands into his hair and I kissed him back softly.

After a few minutes he pulled back from the kiss. “I wish we hadn't been interrupted earlier! I had plans for you! Which will now have to wait! Are you hungry?!”

I grinned up at him. “I am sure we can make up for lost time later on and baby, I am always hungry!”

He kissed down my neck, softly nibbling as he went. “Was your backpack dry?!”

I ran my hand up the inside his shirt and grinned as his skin erupted in goose bumps as my fingertips traced his spine. “Yes, it was fine.”

He took a breath in through his nose. “That's actually very comforting, you’re stroking!”

I grinned, I liked that my touch relaxed him.

“So what's the plan for food?! Are we doing roast potatoes?! Can we have them fluffy?! My dad always makes them fluffy, I think you have to part boil them and then roll them around the colander!”

He rested his head on my shoulder. “We can definitely have fluffy roast potatoes!”

I stroked a hand through his hair, smoothing it. “Thank you.”

“Why do you always thank me?! It's just potatoes!”

He pulled back and studied me, in the light of the small prep room his eyes looked almost all black.

I frowned. “Cause its good manners!”

“Hmm, okay.” He quirked an eyebrow at me, almost suspiciously.

I shrugged my shoulders, I didn't know what else he wanted me to say. I'd never had anything close to a normal relationship with Sean where we did couple things.

“So what else we putting with this roast?! Do you have broccoli?! It's so underrated as a vegetable!” I grinned up at him.

He laughed. “Nice deflect Miss Watson! We do have a whole selection of vegetables for your choosing! This way!” He held his hand out for mine.

I grinned at him. “Sounds good!” I placed my hand in his and let him lead the way back into the kitchen.

Half an hour later and we had pots and pans all on the go and the chicken was in the oven. Cameron was a very competent cook. I stood whisking the battered pudding mix. “You have some mad knife skills has to be said! I was impressed! Where did you learn to cook?!”

I had learnt most of what I knew off the TV.

He smiled as he checked the mix. “From my grandmother! She used to cook with us, she learned from her mother and so on, I liked learning things and she was more than happy to teach me. I spent a lot of time at hers in the summers, I didn't get on with my brother and it was best I wasn't around him.”

I smiled. “Your Grandma sound epic! I get on quite well with my maternal grandparents, I tried to see them when I could when I was in America, they live in Palm Springs! My mother hates it though, which actually just made me visit them more! I write to them from here, I sent postcards when I first moved.” I smiled, remembering.

“They were so pleased I had stayed in contact after all the stuff that kicked off with my mom and her kids!” I handed him the bowl.

He smiled. “It's good you can have contact with them, at least they aren't like your mother!” He took the bowl and covered it with a cloth. “Just needs to rest now! We can go to my study and I can dig out some photos to show you!” He grinned.

I put the whisk in the sink. “Oh baby photos?! I am so pleased my dad doesn't have any dodgy ones!” I giggled.

“Hmm, maybe! I can show you the house and such! It's a beautiful property! I actually own it, I'll explain that in a moment.”

“Oh wow, okay.” I wondered why he'd have brought his parents’ house?! I found that bizarre, but maybe they'd fallen on hard times or something, though I doubted it because his father was something big in law.

We headed into the study and I sat myself down in the reading chair.

I watched as he went to one of the shelves and pulled out a box. He brought it back over to where I was sitting and perched himself on the arm of my seat handing me the photo album.

I grinned from ear to ear as he slid his arm around my shoulders.

I studied the album in my hands it was a rich navy blue color with a silver embroidered thread.

Cameron Alaric Hamish Ballard.

“Alaric Hamish, that's a lovely middle name!” I traced my fingers over the thread, I liked to touch things, to get the feel of them, and this clearly wasn't opened very often.

“It's a family name! I was given that on my 21st birthday and I've added to it since!”

I felt very privileged to be sitting in his library room and to be looking at the album. I opened it up carefully and found the most adorable photo of him as a baby, he was wearing a little blue sailor outfit.

“That is the cutest thing ever! Aww, you had little chubby arms and legs!” I giggled thinking about how long they were now.

He laughed. “Yes, I was a chubby child, I didn't start my growth spurt until I was 16! My Dad jokes and says they most have fed me magic growth beans or something because within three months of turning 16 I had just shot up, I went from being just over five feet to being just on six foot.”

“How tall are you now?! Cause I'm five'7 and I have to tiptoe if I'm not in shoes!” I turned the page and found a group photo. Cameron was a few years older in this photo he was sitting with an older boy, they both had nearly brushed over hair and suits on there was a noticeable gap in the photo between them.

“I'm six foot 2 without shoes! And I like you being smaller than me, I can rest my head on your shoulder.”

I grinned. “Yes, I also like hearing your heart beat! Being shorter than you has its advantages.”

“That's my brother! We don't get along!”

I didn't like to ask so I turned the photo and grinned lopsidedly. “Aww is that you with Georgia?!”

A 15 year old Cameron was looking back at me, his hair was messy with curls and he had a smart shirt on and held a small baby in his arms.

“Yes, that is indeed! My folks had her late, an accident, I'm sure.”