Page 94 of Melt for You (Slow Burn 2)
“Bye.”
Wordlessly, I hold the phone out to Cam. He takes it from my hand, stares at me for a beat, then returns the phone to its cradle on the wall, his entire body radiating tension.
I don’t know what’s happening, but it feels momentous.
“That was good,” he says to the wall. “Sounded very natural. When you call him
back, don’t talk for more than ten minutes, and make sure you end the call first.”
“I’m not going to call him back.”
Cam turns around slowly. Our eyes meet with a click. “No?”
“I have a dinner guest. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”
There’s a muscle in Cam’s jaw that’s getting an incredible workout. “You’ve been waitin’ on him for ten years, lassie.”
“So one more day won’t hurt. Besides, I need practice with the golden rule. I’m dropping crumbs, right?”
“I dunno, Joellen. Is that what you’re doin’?”
His voice is gravelly, as rough as my breathing . . . and he has a point.
What am I doing?
As if on cue, the timer on the oven dings. Saved by the bell! I swallow the hysterical laugh rising from my throat and trip over to the oven. Before I can make it there, I’m grabbed by a big pair of hands.
Then I’m backed flat against the wall, staring up into Cam’s face. His dark, dangerously intense face.
Holding me by the shoulders and gazing into my eyes, he says softly, “Whatever it is you’re doin’, you better be sure. Take your time. Figure it out. But be sure. You owe it to yourself.”
He releases me and strolls back to the kitchen table. He sits, props his feet up on another chair, laces his fingers together over his stomach, and smiles. “Now gimme that goddamn pie, woman. I’m starvin’.”
His expression and voice are nonchalant, but his eyes. Oh, his eyes.
How hotly they burn.
TWENTY-FOUR
Nowhere girl
Such long-standing dysfunction
Heart unfurled
Pain like heavyweight punches
Chaos of wings
Inside my head
Bittersweet things
Sleep beside me in bed
Ten years, one hope, an impossible dream
And then he spoke, but how can it be
