Intrusion (19 page)

Audra stared out the window, watching the storefronts fly by. A colorful sign caught her attention. “Wait. Pull in here.”

Cam eased off the gas pedal and steered the car into the parking lot. “What for?”

“If I’m supposed to create an effective distraction tomorrow, I need supplies.”

“Fantasy Costumes?” He waggled a brow. “Sounds like a porno shop.”

“Well. You should know, right?” She scooped his cap off the dashboard and squashed it low on her head. “Just give me some money.”

He leaned to the side, yanked his wallet out of his jeans, and drew out a large wad of bills. “How much? Enough for the cheap, flashy hooker costume or the more expensive—and my personal favorite in case you’re thinking of making
my
fantasy come true—French maid uniform?”

She plucked the entire amount of cash out of his hands. “Be right back.”

Costumes littered the racks inside the shop, but it only took her a moment to locate the perfect diversion, hanging on a display next to the cash register.

“How much for this one?”

The clerk leaned his elbows on the counter. “That’s one of our most popular selections. The rental will cost you seventy bucks a day with a credit card deposit.”

“What if I don’t have a credit card?”

“No credit card. No rental.”

She frowned at the money in her hand and then thrust all three hundred dollars at the clerk. “How about you keep all this and we can call it even?”

He snatched the cash out of her hand before her question had the chance to settle between them. “Deal.”

Cam had the motor idling when she slid into the passenger seat. “Where’s my change?”

She tucked the big plastic shopping bag beneath her feet, trying unsuccessfully to wrestle the smile from her lips. “What change?”

“No change?” He scowled as he threw the car into park, but the glimmer in his gray eyes ruined the effect. “I should’ve known you’d go the Catholic school girl dominatrix route.”

Chapter Fourteen

“You hungry?”

Cam looked up from his laptop screen and just about swallowed his tongue at the sight of Audra standing by the propane stove, a pot in her hand. It wasn’t that she was dressed particularly sexy, or that her eyes flirted with him. If she had been wearing a killer dress and a come hither smile, it wouldn’t have been half the turn on as her worn out jeans and her serious brow.

Was he hungry? Oh, damn yeah. He was ravenous. He wanted to carry her to the bedroom, spread her on the bed and demand her complete surrender.

But hungry for food? Not so much. Somehow he didn’t think she’d like hearing that.

He set the laptop on the couch. “I could stand to eat.”

She smiled, oblivious to the turmoil the sweet curve of her lips created in his gut. “Good.”

He wiped his palms on his pants, then stood and crossed over to the table. “So, you’re actually going to talk to me this time?”

She handed him a couple of bowls. “That was the plan.”

“I mean, really talk. Not about molecules or chemical formulas or the weather, but about you. Who you are.”

“How do you know that molecules and chemical formulas aren’t all there is to me?” she asked, tipping her head.

Because he’d seen tiny glimpses of the feisty, scarred woman lurking beneath her straight-laced exterior, and couldn’t wait to uncover the rest.

But instead of prodding her, he just shrugged. “I’ll take my chances.”

He sat down and she set a steaming bowl of chili in front of him, followed by a heaping plate of—God, no—peas.

“Thanks. This looks…good.” All except the damn peas.

“I have to wonder what you’ve been eating at home if this looks good to you.” Her laughing gaze zeroed in on his face and her lips turned up into a full-blown smile. “It was either chili or pea soup. Your friend must have really liked peas. There are cans of it everywhere.”

He suppressed a shudder. Ben always had been a masochist.

Cam picked up his fork and waited until Audra’s focus was fixed on her own plate before he speared a pea on the tines. He grimaced and popped it into his mouth. The little green vegetable stuck in his throat and he forced it down by sheer willpower.

He blinked, but when he opened his eyes the small mound of peas was still there. Shit. He had to get rid of them. He dug his fork into the offensive greens and shoveled them into his mouth as quickly as possible.

The taste of his own memories gagged him and threatened the mouthful he tried to swallow.

“Wow. You must be really hungry.”

The peas slid down his throat, one big ball of his tainted past.

He shrugged. “Not really.”

“Ah, then you’re one of those health enthusiasts with a love affair for veggies.”

“Hardly.”
Be a man and eat your peas, son.
He shuddered. “I try to get them out of the way as quick as possible. My dad—”

Wasn’t worth talking about. He shook his head and reached for his knife, hoping to end all talk of the man who’d made sure to hammer home the lesson that losers were unlovable.

But Audra wouldn’t let it go. “No, what?” She raised a brow, her amber eyes light with curiosity for once, instead of shuddered with their usual darkness. “Come on, you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”

He grinned. “That’s an interesting invitation, Dr. McCain. Exactly what are you agreeing to show me?”

“A bit o’ me past, of course.”

He laughed, loving this rare teasing side of her, but instead of the smile he expected to turn her lips, she frowned.

He looked down at his plate now devoid of the nasty greens. His relationship (or lack thereof) with his father wasn’t something he discussed. He preferred friends to see him as Cam the Carefree, rather than Cam the Confused. But the humor he normally hid behind made him feel like a fake in Audra’s presence. He didn’t just want to know her; he wanted
her
to know him. The real him.

His mouth tightened. “My dad didn’t like it if I didn’t clean my vegetables from my plate.” He shrugged off the bitter memories and sucked in a cleansing breath. “And since I was determined not to do anything my dad didn’t like, I made sure to swallow all those tasteless veggies as quick as my throat would work.”

He met Audra’s eyes. They were serious again. She never seemed able to stray from it for long.

“Old habits die hard, I guess,” she said.

“Yeah, they do.” Sometimes he couldn’t kill them no matter how hard he tried. “So. What about you? Your parents force vegetables down your throat, or did they let you eat chocolate for breakfast.”

A strained smile ghosted across her lips and she looked away for a moment. “No. They were cool.”

They were? Because in his experience parents were rarely ever both ‘cool’. He’d gotten lucky with his mom. She’d been...extraordinary. But somewhere along his journey from womb to birth canal he’d pissed off the Gods of Parenting and ended up with his dad. In all likelihood, one of Audra’s parents had to have been a cretin.

His jaw clenched. “They were perfect, huh? You had an idyllic childhood and all that bullshit.”

She lifted her chin, her eyes wide at his tone. “I didn’t say that—”

“No, you didn’t say anything of substance at all. I know a brush off when I see one.”

“What do you want from me?” She pushed to her feet snagging her nearly untouched bowl of chili off the table. “You keep pushing and pushing. For what?”

His own appetite gone, he grabbed his bowl from the table and dumped it into the sink beside hers. He laid his palms on her arms and nudged her around to face him. God, she was so damn beautiful, but there was so much more to her than just her pretty face and sexy as hell body.

“All I want is the chance to know the real you.” He barely recognized his strangled voice as his own. “Your favorite color, favorite childhood memory. I’ll tell you anything you want to know about me.” He slid his hands down her arms and captured her hands, leaning his forehead against hers. “Whatever you want. Damn it, Audra, throw me a bone here.”

Her jaw went rigid.
She
went rigid.

She swallowed as if trying to force words to the surface. “You want to know my favorite childhood memory, Cam?” She pushed out of his grasp. “I have so many to choose from I don’t know where to start. How about the one where I slept on a filthy cot in a homeless shelter for weeks, waiting for my mom to return? Because, you know, mothers always keep their promises. And she’d promised to come back for me.” She sucked in air, hugged her abdomen. “Or I know, maybe you’d rather hear how none of the foster homes wanted a strange little girl who rarely talked and preferred the safety of science and numbers instead of playing with the other children.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

And he’d thought his childhood sucked rotten eggs. Guilt flooded through him. He’d forced her to dredge up bed memories when he’d vowed not to push.

“It’s not that I want to keep these things a secret.” She blinked away the sheen of moisture in her eyes. “It
hurts
me to talk about them.”

Her pain sliced his heart in half. “The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt you.” He moved in front of her and slid his fingers into her hair, tucking it behind her ears. “But I want to know all of you. The good, the bad,” he swallowed, cupped her cheek in his hand, “the ugly. Sharing your past isn’t a weakness. I’m not going to use it against you.”

Her warm, ragged breath blew across his cheek. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to know you’re unlovable? To always watch the ones you love walk away because, somehow, you weren’t enough?”

“Yeah, actually I do.”

“No one in my life has ever stuck around. My pain is just that…mine.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t have the power to hurt you so much if you learned to share it.”

Jesus, he’d been watching way too much Dr. Phil on his days off.

She touched his jaw, her thumb skimming his cheekbone and sending a shaft of lust straight through his groin. “I just did. And it still hurts.”

“That’s because you’ve skipped the most important step.”

He slid his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against him. Her mouth teased the hollow between his neck and shoulder, sending the remaining blood left in his brain rushing south. He squeezed his eyes shut and held on to her as he tried not to breathe in her lilac scented skin.

She rested her cheek on his shoulder. “Cam?”

“Yeah?” His heart thumped against his ribs.

She leaned back and skewered him with narrowed eyes. “Do me a favor and lay off the Dr. Phil, okay?”

***

Lay off the Dr. Phil.

Audra’s parting shot from the night before still made Cam smile despite another crappy night spent on the couch instead of in bed with her. She saw through him. And for the first time, he liked having a woman who understood what made him tick.

He rubbed the back of his neck as a picture of Coburn Industries front entrance filled his computer screen. With his mouse, he cropped out a small area near the front door then tapped in a series of commands on his keyboard. The program zoomed in on the section. He magnified the area again and a silver insignia came into focus.

He squinted at the words. Ares Security. He googled the security firm and clicked on their website, familiarizing himself with their background and employees. Ares was well known in security circles as a firm that dominated the competition. Its reputation and good customer service would work in Cam’s favor.

He picked up his cell phone and dialed Coburn Industries main number.

“Coburn Industries, this is Sandra. How may I direct your call?”

“Good morning, Sandra.” He infused cheer and efficiency into his voice. “This is Tom over at Ares Security. Russ asked me to stop by today and take a look at your network.”

He gave the receptionist a rough estimate of when he’d arrive then hung up the phone. Soft footsteps plodded across the cork floor; the scent of lilacs filled the air. He didn’t need to turn around to know Audra had entered the room.

“Ares Security, huh?” Her hair brushed his neck. “Let me guess, you’re their new employee.”

Arousal tightened his gut, blocking out everything except the need to take her in his arms. He spun around in his chair—and almost toppled to the floor.

What the hell?

He blinked, shook his head, but no, he wasn’t seeing things. Audra stood there with a full-fledged grin on her face. One hand supported her lower back, and the other rested on her belly. Her very pregnant belly.

His jaw dropped, robbing him of the ability to speak. When she’d expressed the need for a diversionary costume he’d expected her to choose a tight dress that showed off plenty of cleavage. Instead, she’d gone in a completely different direction.

“So, what do you think?” She raised a brow and swished the bright yellow flowered print maternity dress at him.

He swallowed hard, his senses still reeling, and gestured at her belly. The baby bump should’ve been a huge turn off, but strangely he found himself even more aroused by the sight of her.

“How did that happen?”

She laughed, the frothy sound still rare enough coming from her lips it caused his heart to jump.

Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “An immaculate conception, I guess. As soon as I saw it at the costume shop I knew it was perfect.” She grabbed his hand and pressed it against the bulge. “Feels real, doesn’t it?”

He nodded. His palm slid over her pliable belly. Not that he’d ever felt up a pregnant woman before to know how one should feel, but the emotions swirling in his chest and squeezing at his throat certainly were all too real. And far too desirable.

Like a movie in his head, he could see him and Audra starting a little family: a little girl with wide amber colored eyes and red hair, or maybe even a boy—

He hit the pause button.
Whoa, Scott. Where are you going with those thoughts?
Yeah, a family would be…everything he’d always wanted. It was also a heavy responsibility that came with far too many pitfalls.

What if he failed them?

Hell, forget the imaginary family. What if he failed Audra? She was counting on him to get them out of this mess. He’d convinced her that his plan of action was the right one and she’d agreed to go along with it, but every choice he’d made so far put her in greater danger—and closer to the slammer.