Page 75 of Feels Like Coming Home

“It does.” He kissed me again. “You can boss me around whenever you want, Jones, and I willhappilycomply with your demands.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Johnson,” I teased. Suddenly very sleepy, I leaned over Cam to look at what time it was. “Holy shit, it's almost one in the morning!”

“Time flies when you’re getting what you ask for,” he joked. He brushed his nose against my neck and kissed it softly. He sounded tired too. I looked back toward his face and sure enough, his eyes were closed and heavy.

“Cam…” I whispered. “Are you tired?”

“No…” he whispered back. His body was starting to get heavy next to me and I could tell he was falling asleep. I pulled his arm around me tighter, breathing in his familiar scent. Pine, earth, and AstroTurf.

“Cam…” I whispered again. “Did…did you mean what you said earlier? About loving me…”

His eyes didn’t open and his body didn’t move. Breathing heavily next to me, I thought he had fallen asleep. My heart sank as disappointment started to creep in. I needed to know if Cam had meant it when he said he loved me. Did he mean it, or did it just slip out? I didn’t mean to say what I had said, but did he? I also didn’t regret saying what I’d said, but maybe he did. I needed to know or else I was going to go crazy.

He started to shift beside me, turning over so he was on his side and facing me. Without opening his eyes, he draped his arm over my waist and pulled the covers up closer so we were both under them. Then, he leaned in and kissed my forehead with his eyes still closed. Our faces were close and I could feel his breath on my lips as he whispered one single word that made me realize that this wasn’t just a fun fling anymore.

That this could be real.

That the feelings I’d had for Cam so long ago never truly left my heart. It was as if they were a book I started to read but never finished, waiting on a shelf for years until I was ready to pick it back up again.

One single word that told me exactly how he felt for me, and exactly how I felt for him.

“Yes.”

37

HALEY | NOW

I'm starting to believe that time moves faster when you’re happy.

When I lost Connor, the days felt as if they were five hundred hours. Now they felt like they were five seconds.

Without realizing it, two more weeks had passed and it was the end of February. The She Who Thrives! conference was six weeks away, which meant Piper and I only had four weeks before we would be leaving the bungalow and heading home.

Thinking about leaving made my stomach sink because I had started to feel so at home here. Both in the bungalow and out of it. The people around town waved at Piper and me when we went to grab coffee at Coastal Brews and we were even on a first-name basis with the elderly couple across the street. Dianne and Dale were sweet, and one morning, Dianne brought over fresh cookies for Piper and me, which we ate for lunch because we hadn’t made it to the grocery store. Again.

The biggest thing that made me anxious about leaving the bungalow though, was Cam.

Ever since that night in his hotel room, after our date on the beach, things were different between us.Gooddifferent.

I replayed that moment in my head at least once a day when he told me he meant it when he said he loved me. How he looked. How he smelled. How safe I felt lying in his arms, feeling his breath rise and fall in his chest as he fell asleep next to me. How I wanted to say it back, but I didn’t. Not because I didn’t think I loved him, but because we had been in this place before and it nearly broke me.

He’d told me he loved me before but by the next morning, he was gone. I wanted to believe him when he said he wasn’t going anywhere, but something in my heart had me guarded and unsure if I could trust him.

Instead of telling him I loved him, I kissed him on the cheek and rubbed it in with my thumb as he fell asleep. The next morning, we went for round two before walking to Coastal Brews to get coffee.

During the day, Cam was sweet and kind. He held my hand, told me I was beautiful, and offered to bring me coffee or Piper and me food whenever we wanted it.

Once the sun went down though, he became a completely different person.

He was hungry, ravenous even, and wanted me to sneak away to his hotel room every night as if we were in high school and breaking some kind of rule. As much as I wanted to, sometimes I just couldn’t. Piper and I still had so much to do before the conference and running off to play sex kitten with Cam every night of the week did not help me get my work done.

The past two weekends I have spent both Friday and Saturday night in Cam’s bed, staying up till the wee hours of the morning with him between my legs. Or on top of me. Or under me. Anyway we could have one another, we would.

When we were alone, things were hot and heavy and we were doing things I’dneverdone before. Role play, dirty talk, and one night, Cam tied my arms behind my back and didn’t untie me until I came.Twice.And that was before he even got inside of me. I didn’t even know it was possible to have three orgasms in one night, but Cam proved that it was.

Things weregoodwith us, really good.

But still, a part of me worried that the end of our trip would also be the end of what we were growing here. Could we make it work once we were home? He was a professional NFL player for god’s sake, he probably didn’t have time for a relationship. Did we feel this way because of where we were? It’s not like the bungalow or this tiny town was anything crazy romantic, but being in a new place can stir up new emotions.

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