Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Do you take classes to learn to walk in these things?”
Jo laughed, turning her ankles in the snakeskin Stuart Weitzman stilettos she’d worn all day. Cam undid the buckle and pulled them off. He wrapped his long fingers around the arch of her foot, squeezing and massaging. He worked his way up from her heel to the tips of her toes. She fell back onto the bed again, feeling like she could die happy right now.
“That feels good?”
A moan-sigh was all she could manage. Consciousness slipped away. The muscles of her face slackened and her breath deepened. And then bliss and then nothing.
“Hey.” Cam hovered over her, a knee on either side of her hips. “Wakey, wakey. I have plans.”
Jo creaked one eye open to peer up at Cam from her puffy, perfect bed.
“Plans that involve me getting up?”
“We could just stay here.” Cam stood and leaned against the bedpost at the foot of her bed. “I thought we could have our first date, but if you—”
“I’m up! I’m up!” Jo bounded off the bed and stood in front of him, unable to restrain the grin that broke its leash and landed on her face. “What should I wear?”
“Oh, I get to decide?” Cam spanned her waist with his hands and pulled her close.
Jo took his hand and led him to her closet. She faced him and spread her arms wide to encompass the small village that was her wardrobe.
“Take your pick.”
An hour later, they parked just off the Rivermont Square. Cam turned in his seat, eyes appraising his handiwork—the mist-colored sundress Jo had never worn.
“I must say, I chose well.”
Jo glanced down at the dress she had forgotten she owned. Even now that he had money himself, Cam’s eyes had saucered at the two-thousand-dollar price tag.
“Yes, you did. It’s a great dress.”
“I wasn’t talking about the dress.”
Jo turned in her seat, leaning her back against the window, settling in for whatever Cam had to say. He could read the phone book. Recite the Bill of Rights. She really didn’t care, as long as he was talking to her and not running in the other direction.
“If not the dress, then what?”
“I chose well last night.” Cam reached across the console to stroke each finger one by one. “In the gazebo.”
“It took you long enough.”
Jo laughed when his face told her he wasn’t sure if she was joking. She could joke now that he was hers. And he was. Whatever defense he had built up against her before had completely fallen. He might still have some secrets to share, but his heart…it was in every glance, in every touch, in every kiss. His mind might still be figuring things out, but his body told her in every way it could that he knew he was hers.
Cam opened the passenger door for her, helping her out of the car. He trapped her between his body and the Land Rover Aunt Kris had left him. He bent the few inches until their mouths were close, but not touching. His words humid and sweet on her lips.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to choose you, Jo.” His eyes, beautiful cloud and stormy sea, softened. “It’s not because I never wanted you. I didn’t think I should have you. That I deserved you. I still don’t. I just can’t fight it anymore. Do you get that?”
Jo didn’t respond. Her elation that he wanted to be with her had risen to the top, but just beneath lay a heap of rejection and hurt, accumulated and nursed for years. Watching him choose everyone else with not even a sign that he would ever choose her—yeah, that was like a splinter she was still coaxing out from under her nail.
“I assume food is part of this first date.” Jo pressed her hand to his chest, her smile sweeping away some of the painful residue.
“Of course.” He led her to the cluster of restaurants bordering the square, stopping in front of Stream, a seafood spot she had been wanting to try.
“This okay?” He gestured to a strip of bistro tables dotting the sidewalk just beyond the restaurant sign. “We could go somewhere else. I didn’t think you’d want anything formal after such a long day, but if you want, we can—”
“It’s fine. It’s perfect. You know I love eating outside.”
Jo reached up to kiss him on his stubbly cheek, loving that he had left some bristles for her on the strong line of his jaw. Cam had cleaned up. None of the usual paint under his nails. Hair tamed into dark half waves, half curls past his ears and just shy of his shoulders. Dark jeans and a well-tailored chambray shirt. Even out of his brash T-shirts and battered jeans, there was still something provocative and exotic about him. Something that drew and wouldn’t relinquish your focus. Jo braced herself for the inevitable attention that came with Cam. It had taken her this long to get him. She certainly wasn’t sharing him now, but she could be civil to any women wanting to express their admiration. Like their server, who couldn’t seem to look anywhere but at Cam. He didn’t even notice.