Page 15 of Baby Me

“I don’t want to stop living because of him,” Iwhispered.

“You don’t have to.” Cameron sat on a chair besidemine.

“Promise methat?”

He tightened his grip on my hand inassurance.

“Ipromise.”

Just in case, I made a note to go back and see Gary about the little black bottle with a white skull on its label. If I was going to be using lethal chemicals, I wanted to know what theywere.

Chapter 5

Cameron

By the timewe returned to the cabin, the rain was falling steadily. The clouds brought in cooler and stronger winds, displacing all the leaves, funneling and tumbling them through theyard.

“I have to pee.” As soon as I opened the door, Kate rushed into the bathroom on the main floor. I used the opportunity and hurried upstairs, filled the bathtub with water and bath soap, lit a few candles, and went back downstairs just as she returned from thebathroom.

“I almost missed the toilet in the darkness.” She then stopped and listened as I shined the single flashlight we’d used to hang my coat. “Is that water I hear?” she asked, following me as I strolled into the kitchen. It had become almost second nature to follow each other when we only had one flashlight and the candles hadn’t been lit, which again reminded me to turn on the Internet before she woke uptomorrow.

“It is.” I opened the fridge and removed a bottle ofchampagne.

“What’s that?” she asked, with a curioussmile.

That was what I called “closure,” but I wasn’t about to tell herthat.

“It’s time to celebrate yourcasts.”

“I don’t have them on anylonger.”

I grabbed two flutes for the champagne from a cupboard and lowered my mouth to hers, sealing a promisingkiss.

“Exactly. Let me rephrase it, then. It’s time to celebrate the fact that your casts aregone.”

She chuckled. “You’ve got this evening all figured out, haven’tyou?”

“I sure hopeso.”

“Okay. I’m game, but I have to say that I’mtired.”

“Well, then…” I placed the flashlight between my teeth, lowered myself, and holding the champagne in one hand and the glasses in the other, I scooped her into my arms. She let out a high-pitched squee of delight and removed the flashlight from my mouth. “I guess I need to carry youupstairs.”

Her laughter echoed through the cabin. It was one of the best sounds I’d heard in awhile.

By the time we came up, the tub was full. Kate lit a few more candles and double-checked the lock on the bathroom window just as a stray twig snapped against the glass from outside. She jumped back with a fearfulgasp.

“I’m going to chop that birch tree first thing in the morning,” Isaid.

“That scared the shit out ofme.”

“I should have cut it down last year, but my father got sick, and planschanged.”

She walked over to the side of the tub. She tugged at the button on her jeans, and my gaze dropped to her fingers. I followed the downward path as she unfastened herzipper.

“You mean the ones after I blew up the Mafia’s warehouse and you wereblamed?”

“What?” She brought my attention temporarily back to her eyes because now that she was shimmying her ass out of her jeans, wiggling that behind like a pro and slowly exposing her thighs, I couldn’t help but look down again. Her checkered shirt draped over her legs. My mouth watered and my dickhardened.

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