She somehow got her wits about her enough to whisper a few choice things back. And this time—she swore she saw it—he blushed.
Chapter 25
Cam made a mental note to thank his sister personally for shooing Hadley out of the food tent. He took advantage of the opportunity by taking her hand and running with her to his car. As soon as they reached the beach cottages, they picked his place so they wouldn’t have to deal with the dogs right away. Cam wasted no time keying the door. Or at least tried to.
“I can’t see the lock,” he said, fumbling the key for the second time.
“I’m not blocking your line of vision,” she said innocently.
“No,” Cam said, “but you’re kissing my neck and running your hands up and down my…back.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “That’s what happens when you take too long to let us in,” she added. As soon as he finally got the door open, she hustled him in and kept on with the kissing before he could get the door closed behind them.
Not that he was complaining. Not at all. He let her back him up against the wall. Putting his hands up in surrender, he let out a soft, “Whoa.”
“Do you want me to stop?” she asked, pulling back.
“Not a chance,” he managed. “Maybe we need to oversee big events more often if this is the result.”
“We make a great team,” she said, kissing his chest.
He pulled her up to kiss her lips deeply and thoroughly. “What did I do to deserve you?”
“Nothing,” she said, her eyes warm and dancing. He had to agree. He’d done nothing special to deserve all her warmth, her laughter, her honesty and kind spirit. He felt in his bones that whatever this crazy thing was between them, it was rare. Special.
He cradled her face in his hands and stared at her. She took his breath away. Astoundingly, she saw him for who he really was, not a superstar, not someone struggling to reinvent himself. And she wanted to be with him anyway. He didn’t have to be anything or do anything or prove anything.
When he was with her, he felt that it might be possible to sort through his confusion and find a path forward.
The fevered kisses continued, deep and breathless, and somehow they ended up on the floor.
“Don’t move a muscle,” he said, a little out of breath.
“Why not?” She gave him a puzzled look.
He smoothed back a wisp of hair and gazed at her, a little awestruck. “Just that…I want to remember this forever.” The moon was shining in, beams thrown across the floor, highlighting her hair like a halo. She looked down on him, the strap of her dress falling over her shoulder, her hair tumbling around her. “You want to go somewhere more comfortable?”
She traced a finger lightly over his brows. “I kind of like the floor.”
He tossed his head back and laughed, even as the pleasure from her touching him flushed through his veins. He was losing his mind, his sense, his…heart…to this woman.
“Then the floor it is,” he said as she kissed him again.
* * *
Afterward they lay tangled up in each other, a gentle breeze washing in from the screen door, the constant slow churning of the waves suddenly seeming loud and present. She rested her head on his shoulder, and he bent and kissed her hair.
“Sweet Hadley,” he said. Her hand rested on his chest, and he took it, intertwining their fingers. When she looked up at him, he couldn’t help but smile.
“That was terrible,” he said, closing his eyes and holding her hand over his heart.
She popped up and scanned his face. “Horrific,” she said, her eyes glistening a little. She gave him a quick kiss and nestled in, fitting perfectly against him.
He didn’t laugh. Or move. Just enjoyed being with her.
She glanced around the room. “You do realize we’re on your living room floor.”
“Hey, be grateful the dogs aren’t here. They’d be all over us, thinking it was playtime.”
“I never thought I’d say this,” Hadley said, “but I’m a little sad the gala is over.”
He’d been thinking the same thing.
“I haven’t had time to tell you this,” she continued, “but I’ve been contacting a lot of people about starting a rescue. I have a meeting with the head of the state SPCA next week. And Fuller got his veterinary training program to agree to allow the residents to spay and neuter animals. And I met someone online from a popular no-kill shelter in New York who’s going to talk to me about their business plan.”
“Hadley,” he said, “I know that whatever you decide to do, you’ll do an incredible job.” He believed it wholeheartedly.
“I was thinking the same about you,” she said. “I think maybe you were born to own a restaurant. You love cooking and feeding people. Whatever happens, I want you to know that.”
They were both quiet, listening to the familiar, soothing rhythm of the waves as they crashed to shore and receded, over and over again.
He told himself they’d started this just for fun. Or because they couldn’t help it. Or any of a number of reasons he could try and convince himself were true.
He pushed those thoughts out of his head, determined to celebrate every moment with her. “So I want to know why you only call me Tony during…certain times.”
“Well, that is your name,” she said with a laugh. “Someone should call you that.”
“But you haven’t called me that in a really long time. Well, except the other night…”
“Now you’re just embarrassing me,” she said, but she was smiling. “If you don’t like it, I’ll stop. I’ve gotten used to calling you Cam.”
He lifted his head and looked at her. “I love it when you call me Tony.” He felt like it was his real name, his real self. The one that she somehow saw.
“Well, I suppose I can try it out again outside of the bedroom. Or living room,” she added with a chuckle.
“I do have a bed, you know.”
“Can we just stay here for a little longer?” She smiled up at him in a wistful way that made his heart twist with feeling.
“As long as you want to.” He tightened his grip around her. He understood the feeling of wanting to slow down time. Of wanting this moment of peace and contentment to last.
They lay like that a long time, enjoying the quiet lull of the ocean and the sounds of the soft velvet night. And his heart was fuller than it had ever been.
* * *
Sometime in the middle of the night, Hadley bolted upright in bed. Cam stirred, his arm falling from around her waist. “You okay?” he asked in a sleep-laced voice. Nothing seemed amiss, both dogs snoozing happily at their feet, Bowie’s snores following their usual rhythmic pattern, Cam’s big body curled comfortingly around her.
Yet something seemed amiss. Hadley blinked, half awake, the gray room coming into focus. “I had the weirdest dream,” she said, still groggy. “It was about puppies.”
“You would dream of puppies.” He rolled to his back. At some point they’d brought over the dogs, who immediately thought it was a slumber party and climbed right into bed with them. Bowie, who was lying on his calves, stirred. “Was it a good dream?”