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)
“Actually, I thought you could come home with me.”
“With you?”
“Who else is going to take care of you? Make sure you get some sleep?”
“Oh, the irony. Will you sleep?”
Cam loosened his fingers on Jo’s legs, but she gripped his arms. Just as he was letting go, she pulled him close.
“You want to take care of me?” Jo leaned up and left a kiss on his mouth. “Well, then I want to take care of you, too.”
Cam touched her shoulders, frowning at the muscles knotted beneath the thin silk of her dress. He was too worried about her to be concerned that she was digging into his complicated insomnia.
“You first, baby.” He wrapped his arms back around her waist and felt her slump against him. “You first.”
Chapter Fifteen
Wheels?” Jo read the sign with the giant rotating roller skate. “You brought me to a roller-skating rink for our second date? Stay classy, Rivermont.”
Cam pulled into a parking spot and turned to face her, a grin breaking up the monotony of concern on his face ever since they had left the office.
“We can do classy anytime.” He leaned one elbow on the steering wheel. “Tonight you need fun.”
“And roller-skating is your idea of fun?”
“It used to be. You’ve been roller-skating before, right?
“Not exactly.”
“Does ‘not exactly’ actually mean no?”
“In this case, yes. I mean, it means no.”
Cam shook his head, got out of the car, and came around to open Jo’s door, pressing her into the passenger door, a habit he was forming.
“So you’ve been skiing in the Alps, but you’ve never been roller-skating?” He curled a warm hand around her waist, his thumb ghosting the side of her breast, sending her thoughts and good sense on a scavenger hunt. “The gaps in your education.”
Jo leaned forward until the last inch between her breasts and his chest disappeared. She looked at him through her lashes and rasped her voice to a whisper. “Are you going to close all my gaps, Cam?”
Want slow-boiled in the look Cam draped over her body, and if it was up to Jo, there would be no skating tonight. Foggy windows and a rocking Land Rover…yes.
“You make it sound really dirty, which is fine with me.” Cam turned that look down to a simmer Jo hoped would hold for the rest of the night. He raised her hand to his lips and nipped her wrist with his teeth. “Now stop trying to seduce me in the parking lot and come on.”
Jo drew a deep, mind-clearing breath, reminding her nether parts that she was a lady and mounting her new boyfriend in broad daylight would be frowned upon. She had no idea what to expect of this run-down skating rink, with grass growing through the cracks in the parking lot and missing bulbs in the neon sign. It looked basically like an ’80s time capsule, garish colors and all. Cyndi Lauper might come rolling out on wheels any moment singing “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” And this somehow inspired the anticipation all over Cam’s face and humming from his body the closer they got to the dilapidated building.
“I take it you’ve been here before?” Jo stood beside him in line for rental skates.
“Countless times.” Cam walked backward toward the desk, blessing her with his rakish grin. “A couple of times I even paid.”
Before Jo could respond to that glimpse into Cam’s delinquent youth, they reached the front of the line.
Cam leaned forward, peering past the teenaged employee with the braids and oversized hoop earrings. “There used to be a manager here years ago named Lashaun. She lived in the neighborhood. You know her?” he asked her.
“I know her. She don’t work here no more, though.” The girl—Brandee, according to her peeling name tag—eyed Cam like he was a box of the Whoppers shelved behind her. “You want me to take your number in case I see her?”
Cam aimed that devastating arrangement of lips and teeth at Brandee.
“Nah. Thanks, though.” Cam’s face sobered a little. “You know if she’s doing okay?”
“Oh, yeah. She just works at Target now.” Brandee twirled a braid and popped her gum. “The new one off MLK. She might be in tonight, though, ’cause it’s Grown and Sexy Night.”
“Fridays used to be called Old School Night,” Cam said.
“Not for a long time.” Brandee’s eyes made quick work of Cam’s casual but well-cut clothes. “You from around here? I ain’t seen you before.”
“It’s been years since I’ve been back.” The slight smile Cam wore faded until there was nothing left of it. He pointed to the shelves behind Brandee. “We need skates.”
A few minutes later, Jo settled on the bench beside Cam, casting a discreet glance at the people around them lacing up skates, buying snacks, and rushing on wheels around the rink. She bent another inch trying to tie the laces on her skates.