Page 93 of My One and Only

“Jo!”she said. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Cam told me you’d been abducted. I’ve been worried to death.”

“I’m fine, Mrs.Pierce. Carole. How’s Fiona doing?”

“She had dinner, then fell asleep on the couch. I put her to bed.” She glanced at Cam. “Do you want to leave her here tonight? Let her sleep?”

Cam frowned. “I don’t want her to worry about me or Jo.”

“I told her you were both fine. That Jo had gotten away from Don and was safe, and you were, too. She seemed satisfied by that.”

Cam drew in a deep breath. “Then I think I’d like you to keep her for tonight. She needs the sleep, and if we wake her up, it’ll take her a long time to fall asleep again.”

“I agree,” Cam’s mom said. “I’ll call you as soon as she wakes up in the morning.”

“Sounds good, Mom. Thanks.” Cam bent to kiss his mother’s cheek, and Jo reached in to hug her.

“I don’t know what Cam and Fiona would do without you, Carole.”

Carole’s cheeks pinked, and she said, “You know I adore Fiona. I’d do anything for her. And for Cam.” She fluttered her hands at them. “Go home and have dinner. A glass of wine. Relax. We’ve got Fiona.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Cam said.

Bending to kiss her cheek again, Cam turned and walked down the sidewalk, holding Jo’s hand. After what had happened, he didn’t want to let her go.

Hell, heneverwanted to let her go. But she had a job, and it wasn’t in Ogden, Illinois.

He wasn’t going to think about that right now. All he wanted was some time with Jo when they could focus completely on each other.

Chapter 30

Jo finally let her shoulders relax. She couldn’t believe it was over. Don was in the hospital, and he would go from there to jail. But Cam still needed her protection. They hadn’t figured out who had put the bomb on his truck.

The police had told Cam they’d lifted fingerprints from it, but they didn’t match any prints in the IAFIS national fingerprint database. Don had been fingerprinted, but the prints on the bomb didn’t belong to him. Which wasn’t a surprise, because as far as she knew, Don had no expertise in bomb-making.

Until they knew who’d made the bomb, Jo wasn’t going anywhere.

As Cam pulled out his key and opened the door, Jo pushed the issue out of her head. They could think about that tomorrow. Tonight she just wanted to spend time with Cam.

“You want something to eat? A glass of wine?”he asked as he closed and locked the door behind them.

The only thing she wanted right now was Cam. She had no idea how many days she had left with him, and she wanted to spend as much time as possible together.

She put her hands on his cheeks, loving the prickles of his whiskers against her palms. “There’s only one thing I want right now, and it’s not food. Or drinks. I just want you, Cam.”

Cam swallowed, and she pressed her mouth against the ripple in his throat. Wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly, feeling the rapid beat of his heart against her chest.

“I could have lost you today,” he murmured into her ear as he stroked his palm down her back. “You could have disappeared from my life in the blink of an eye. If you hadn’t had that backup gun? If Don had managed to drive you into the river? He would have held your head down, just like he did to Ashley.”

She pressed her mouth against his neck and smiled into his skin. “I don’t think he would have succeeded,” she said. “I knew he intended to kill me. That definitely focused my attention. I figured that shooting him would take his mind off me. And once I was able to put the car in reverse, I knew I wasn’t going to drown in the Fox River.”

“Thank God you were able to keep your composure and save yourself.” He stroked his hand over her hair and down her back again, making her shiver, and stared into her eyes. “But it was too close. I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that Don was behind everything.”

Jo drew in a deep breath. Blew it out slowly. “I’m so sorry, Cam,” she said, tightening her hold on him. “You trusted Don, and he betrayed you. That’s on Don all the way, and he’ll have to answer for that.” Tears gathered in her eyes -- for Cam. Never for Don. “With his admission that he killed Ashley, and his attempt to kill me, I’m sure he’ll be in prison for a long time.”

Cam shook his head. “I never suspected him,” he whispered. “Didn’t even consider it. What does that say about me?”

Jo grabbed his hands. Held on tightly. “It says you’re a good man who trusted the guy you thought of as your brother.” Her mouth tightened. “I suspect he’s going to try and convince you not to testify against him. And to persuade me not to, either.”

Cam closed his eyes. Opened them and stared at her. “That would be a fool’s errand,” he said, his voice hard. “He almost killed you, and he was willing to kill Fiona. I’m done with Don.”

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