Meredith stood on her side of the yard, which was now separated from his by a line of clanking metal, with her hands on her hips and tried not to panic.
This was it. She had a sitter. She’d shaved her legs. And Cam was standing in front of her, dropping hints even she couldn’t miss. If she was going to have sex with this sexy neighbor of hers, tonight was the night.
Stop thinking about it. Just do it.
As much as she appreciated Reyna’s advice, she couldn’t stop the thoughts racing around in her head. It was a big deal and once she got naked with this man, there was no going back.
And she couldn’t handle having him in her bed. Maybe it didn’t make sense, but she hadn’t shared her bed with a man since her husband. And it was her home. Sophie’s home. It felt like a much bigger deal to her.
But Cam had a bed. And he’d more or less just invited her into it. All she had to do was accept, but she was having a little trouble saying the words.
“You’ve been staring at me for a solid minute,” Cam said, amusement obvious in his voice. “Let’s rewind back to the blood on your leg. Carolina had a first-aid kit, so why don’t you come in and let me clean it up for you.”
It was a tiny nick, hardly worth the bother, but it got her inside the cottage, where it would be easier to fall into his bed. “That would be nice, thank you.”
Before he went inside, he took the wind chimes off their hooks and laid them in the grass next to the hangers. “I’ll put those away tomorrow.”
“Maybe just one would be okay. But four on a windy night is a bit much, Cam.”
He chuckled as they walked toward the cottage. “I had no idea they’d be that loud and it wasn’t windy at all when I put them up. Believe it or not, I wasn’t deliberately torturing you with my noise pollution.”
Once they were inside, he told her to sit on the sofa and he went into the bathroom. Elinor leaped onto the cushion next to her and she stroked the cat’s head, smiling when she kept headbutting Meredith’s palm. She’d always thought cats were slightly strange, but she did like this one.
Except when she was tormenting Oscar. Cam and Elinor were a good match, she thought. Both could be really annoying neighbors at times, but also very sweet if they wanted to be.
Cam returned with a white plastic box bearing a first-aid label and pushed the coffee table away so he could kneel in front of her. It was nice to be fussed over once in a while, she mused as he ripped open the packaging on a cleaning wipe.
“Okay,” he said with a frown, holding up the square inside. “I think this is supposed to be wet.”
“They work better that way. Did you check the expiration date?”
“I didn’t know they had expiration dates.” He picked up the box and squinted at the label for a few seconds. “Oh, 1992. Thanks, Carolina.”
She laughed at the expression on his face as he stared at the tiny bit of blood on her leg. The man was seriously vexed. “I promise it’s not a big deal.”
“Wait here.”
He was gone only a minute, and then he returned with a paper towel he’d dampened the corner of. Kneeling in front of her, he dabbed carefully until the blood was gone.
With his other hand, he held the back of her calf, and the feel of his hand on her body was enough to raise goose bumps on her skin. His grip was firm, but he was stroking her leg slightly with his thumb at the same time. She wasn’t sure if it was meant to be comforting while he dealt with the almost nonexistent cut, or if he was even aware he was doing it.
After he used the dry corner to make sure she wasn’t still bleeding, he caressed the curve of her calf before letting her go. Then he tossed the paper towel into the first-aid kit and closed it with a snap.
“I’ll be throwing that away,” he said, his voice tight.
Stop thinking about it. Just do it.
Meredith leaned forward and ran her hand over his hair, her fingers threading through the thick strands. “Thank you for tending to my leg.”
He froze for a second, then closed his eyes as she stroked the back of his head. “It was my pleasure.”
There was probably a sexy quip to be made about her pleasure, but Meredith wasn’t very good at sexy quips. Instead she curled her fingers in his hair and tugged slightly, so he got the hint.
As she leaned forward, he rose up on his knees and their mouths met halfway with a hunger that left no doubt she hadn’t shaved her legs for nothing. His tongue danced over hers and she moaned against his mouth. His hands slid up her legs and cupped her hips for a moment before moving to her waist.
A harsh mewling sound from Elinor brought the kiss to an end. Meredith had forgotten she was there.
“Damn cat,” Cam muttered. “I’d tell you to ignore her, but she doesn’t like being ignored. She can be mean and has sharp claws, so if we make her mad, there might be more first aid in our future.”
Before the part of her brain that liked to overthink things could catch up, Meredith went for it. “The bedroom has a door.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
He stood and then took her hand to pull her up. Looking over her shoulder, he spoke to Elinor. “You stay right here or you and I are going to have a problem.”
“You do remember that she’s a cat, right?” she asked, chuckling as he pulled her toward the bedroom.
“Sometimes I wonder.”
She watched him double-check that Elinor was still on the couch before closing the bedroom door. He had to push with his shoulder to make it click, and he even tugged on the doorknob to make sure the cat couldn’t push it open.
Meredith looked at the clutter piled around the bedroom, including more pictures, paintings and embroideries on the wall than she could take in. Cam had carved out a small space for himself. The dresser top was clear of anything but his toiletries and a briefcase, and the bed had a plain gray comforter set on it that couldn’t have belonged to Carolina.
“This is quite a room,” she said as he pulled her into his arms.
“Close your eyes. Trust me, it helps.”
She closed her eyes and was still chuckling when his mouth closed over hers. He kissed her slowly and thoroughly as his hands roamed over her back before coming to rest in her hair. Without breaking off the kiss, she reached up and pulled the scrunchie out of her hair so it tumbled down over his fingers.
Then she put a hand on his chest and broke off the kiss, opening her eyes. “This is probably a bad time to ask this, but do you have a condom?”
“I do. Several, in fact.” He bent his head to nibble at her neck.
“You didn’t find them in a drawer, did you?”
His laugh was like a puff of hot air across her skin. “No, they’re mine. And I’m better than Carolina at tracking expiration dates.”
“Oh, good. I didn’t want to have to stop.” She slid her hands under his shirt and reveled in the feel of his bare skin under her palms.
They explored each other’s bodies as they kissed, slowly losing articles of clothing. Meredith felt a pang of self-consciousness when he tugged her panties down and she kicked them away, but it didn’t last long as Cam stretched her out on the bed and kissed his way down her body.
It wasn’t until he’d rolled on the condom and slowly entered her that she realized just how old the bed was. It squeaked as they moved, as if they were in a television sitcom, and when the headboard banged against the wall, she couldn’t hold back the burst of laughter.
He dropped his head to her shoulder, his body shaking as he laughed with her. “I’d suggest we move to the couch, but Elinor’s probably pissed we locked her out.”
“No, it’s fine. I just... I mean, come on. It’s funny.”
“At least I don’t have any neighbors on that side. Nobody to call 9-1-1.”
Trying to get her amusement under control, she cupped his face in her hands and pulled him in for a kiss. Then she captured his bottom lip between her teeth and he moaned.
She forgot all about the ancient bed when Cam moved his hips and the sensation she’d been craving since they met washed over her body. He kissed her as he moved, one of his thumbs brushing over her nipple, and her fingertips dug into the flexing muscles in his back.
When she cried out, arching under him, he buried his hand in her hair and murmured her name. And when he finally collapsed on top of her, he kissed her neck and her shoulder, his thumb caressing the side of her face.
“We didn’t break the bed,” he said once they were both breathing normally again.
“You sound surprised.”
“I had my doubts, to be honest.” He rolled off her, and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’ll be right back.”
The lights in the living room were still on, so when he opened the bedroom door, she saw that he’d pulled on boxer briefs. And that Elinor was sitting right outside the door, as if she’d been waiting for them.
“Excuse me, Your Highness,” he said, stepping around her.
While he was gone, Meredith fished around on the floor and came up with Cam’s T-shirt, which she slipped over her head. They passed in the doorway and she stood on her toes to give him a kiss. “Be right back.”
“You’re coming back to bed, right?” He reached down and stroked the outside of her thigh, making her shiver. “I’m not done with you.”
“Assuming it doesn’t collapse while I’m gone.”
He chuckled. “Don’t be too long, then.”
After using the bathroom, Meredith turned out the lights and smiled at Elinor, who’d decided to curl up on the sofa for the night. She still closed the door, though, leaning into it to make sure it latched.
Then she crawled onto the bed and into Cam’s arms. “How much do you think this bed can actually survive?”
He grinned and cupped her breast. “I don’t know, but that sounds like a challenge to me.”
Cam woke to something tickling his nose and for one horrifying second, he thought Elinor was flicking her tail in his face. Then he registered the warm weight curled against him and relaxed.
Meredith. She was in his bed and he didn’t even care that her hair was tickling his face. He imagined some morning cuddle time, followed by drinking coffee on the back deck and watching the bay come to life. Breakfast, maybe. If he had any breakfast food in the house. As contentment flooded him, he kissed the top of her head.
And almost got a busted nose when she bolted upright. “What time is it?”
“Damn, Meredith. Do you wake up like this every morning?”
She clutched the sheet to her chest before turning her head to frown at him. “In your bed? No. Is there seriously no clock in here?”
“Seriously, there’s no clock. I don’t think Carolina worried much about the time, and I usually have my phone and watch on the nightstand next to the crochet doll hiding tissues under her dress and the blue glass jar of something I don’t care to identify.”
“It’s probably vapor rub. You might not want to open that. And I need to know what time it is.”
“I’m guessing about seven thirty.”
She pulled the quilt up from the bottom of the bed and wrapped it around her before sliding out of bed, leaving him the sheet. “Did the wolves teach you to tell time like that when you were growing up out in the wilderness?”
“Wow, you are really sarcastic in the morning. I wouldn’t have guessed that about you.”
He sat up as she pulled open the door and almost tripped on the cat, who was sitting there again, looking as regal and demanding as usual. She went around Elinor, which dragged the quilt over the cat’s fur and made her hiss, and Meredith didn’t go far before she turned around and came back.
This time Elinor moved out of the way.
“What time is it?”
“Twenty after seven,” she muttered.
“So I was right.”
“It’s not seven thirty.”
He couldn’t help it. He laughed at her, even though her annoyance with him was practically rolling off her like steam. She sighed and then started trying to pull on her clothes without dropping the quilt. It was quite a show, and it did nothing to quell his amusement.
“I had you pegged as one of those chipper morning people,” he said once he’d stopped laughing. “I guess not.”
“I have to be home before Sophie. And you could help instead of laughing at me.”
“You know what I think?” He threw back the sheet to get out of bed, not caring that he was naked. “I think you’re trying to pick a fight with me so you have an excuse to storm out without doing the awkward morning-after dance.”
She paused in the act of fastening her bra, which required her to drop the quilt entirely. “I’m not trying to pick a fight with you. And there’s no awkward morning-after dance. Or no need for it to be awkward, I should say. We’re both adults.”
“Then stay and have coffee with me. We can drink it on the deck, and then I can watch you do your really short walk of shame.”
Her face flushed pink for a few seconds, and then she finally laughed. It seemed to release some of the tension in her as she pulled her shirt on. “Sophie probably won’t be home for hours. Coffee on the deck sounds nice, actually.”
“We can have breakfast, too, if you like toast.”
“I do like toast.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her close for a kiss. “I make really good toast.”
“I can’t wait.”
Later, when they were sitting on his deck, drinking coffee and watching paddleboards out on the bay, Cam thought about it and couldn’t remember when he’d ever had such a nice morning.
It was peaceful. Slow and lazy. And he was sharing it with Meredith.
“I don’t want...” She started to say something, but stopped. It was a few seconds before she started again. “I don’t want Sophie being confused by any of this. It was fun and maybe we’ll do it again and maybe we won’t, but it’s best for us if nobody knows about it. Best for Sophie.”
That certainly took some of the shine off his mood, but Cam nodded. “If you think it’s best, then it’s our secret.”
“Thank you.”
“But, Meredith?” He waited until she stopped staring at her coffee and looked at him. “I am going to want to do this again.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Me, too.”