“So I’ve been told.” The dark, dark night continued to cocoon them, giving a sense of intimacy that Katie couldn’t tell was real or her own hopeful imagination. The trees swayed in the wind, accompanied by the occasional hoot of something wild that she didn’t want to know about. “Serena made a bad error in judgment, Cam, and the women before her were idiots. So your ancestors raped and pillaged the landside. Duly noted. Now tell me how that makes you bad?”
“I disappoint the women in my life.”
“Not Annie.”
“Serena is a friend of hers, a friend she didn’t want me to date in the first place. She’s in the middle and hates that. I put her there.”
“Okay, maybe, but I don’t buy that Annie would choose a friend over you. What about your mother?”
“Not a factor.” He said this flatly, subject clearly closed.
When she just looked at him, he shook his head. “She left right after I was born.”
He stood there casually, hands in his pockets now, looking like this was all okay, even perfectly normal, but it wasn’t, and she felt something inside her crack open up to him.
He’d been so let down. Over and over again. “Putting aside the fact that none of any of that is your fault,” she said quietly. “The Cameron Wilder I know so far? I’m pretty damn impressed with. Even if he won’t have sex with me.”
He choked out a laugh as they came to her front door.
“Yeah.” She leaned back against the door. “I know you like that whole no regrets thing, but actually, I kind of feel the opposite. No holding back. Because if you hold back, it’s boring. You shouldn’t be bored with life, Cam. Not ever.”
“I agree with that.”
“So why aren’t we naked?”
He let out a breath. “My radar’s off,” he said so sincerely that she laughed; then he laughed, too, and tugged her in for a hug. Turning them so that he was the one leaning back against the door now, he held her against him. “Are you sure, Katie? Are you sure you’re not just saying what you think I want to hear?”
“I’m not that nice.”
“So you’re not out here looking for something permanent.”
“The job’s temporary. My being here is temporary. What could I be looking for?” At his expression, she had to laugh again. “Are you asking if I want a husband and two point five kids? Okay, you caught me. I do, but they’re for the future. Don’t be scared. In a week and a half, I’m out of here for the Real Adventures of Katie Kramer.”
“Where are you going to go?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ve saved every penny from my time here. I was thinking of doing that whole backpack across Europe thing.”
“By yourself.”
“Or that Alaska trip that T.J. is on sounds cool. Maybe I’ll book one of those.”
“What does your family think?”
“That I’m crazy. But in their defense, I’ve been the quite little Goody Two-Shoes all my life, never rocking the boat, never questioning authority…never doing any damn thing.”
“Okay, I get that. But, Katie, have you ever backpacked before? Or gone mountain climbing?”
“That’s sort of the point, big guy.”
“And what about after that?”
“A plan, Cam? Really? You want me to have a plan when you don’t?”
“Okay,” he said. “That’s not fair. You and I are different.”
“Not as different as you think. Look, I’m not Serena. Or any of those other women. I hardly ever run people over. But things happen. Life’s too short. Hearts get stomped on. We both know that better than anyone. It’s no big deal.”
“It is a big deal.”
“Only if you dwell.”
“Of which I’ve done my fair share of.”
She smiled up at him as she slid her hands up his chest and into his hair. “You about done?”
That dragged another laugh out of him. “I think so, yeah.”
She pressed her mouth to his jaw and nibbled. He groaned and turned his head, meeting her mouth with his, his tongue sliding against hers in a movement so delicious, so perfect, her knees wobbled.
That was new, having all her bones just sort of melt right out of her legs, which turned out not to be a problem because he had her. Then he turned them again, pressed her back up against the wood, a motion that freed up his hands, which she was all for. Except…She went still. “Did you hear that?”
He was kissing her neck. “I can’t hear anything over the roar of the blood in my ears.”
God, he was sexy. But she’d heard something. And if it was a hungry bear…“I think we should go in. You coming?”
“Hell, yeah, I’m coming. You’re going to come too.”
“You’re talking about-”
“Yeah.”
Her legs impersonated a bowl of jelly, and she yanked him against her, just as her door opened behind her, causing the two of them to fall inside.
Above them, still holding the door handle, stood Annie, staring down at them sprawled at her boots. “Oh, for the love of Pete.”
“Annie,” Katie gasped and sat up. “Hi.”
“Oomph,” Cam said when her elbow accidentally planted in his belly on his way up.
“I came to show you my new clothes.” Annie put a hand on her hips. The other held a plate of brownies as she stared at Katie. “I brought these and Will Smith’s latest DVD. Say you’re going to pick me, my brownies, and Will over my knucklehead nephew.”