I took a bite and sighed. I licked some of the icing off my lips and turned my head just in time to see Camden’s gaze focused on my mouth, his eyes dark and intense.
Gulping against the fiery lump in my throat, I again wished that we were alone.
I’d finished off my piece of cake before Dan had passed one out to everybody else. Well, everyone except Mary-Ellen, who said she didn’t put empty calories into her body.
Since it was my faux birthday, I decided not to remind her about the champagne.
I heard Mary-Ellen say to Vance, “I don’t understand that salt and pepper thing. The only good present she got was the earrings.”
She was so wrong. All of my presents were incredible. This might very well be the best pretend birthday I’d ever had.
Carol returned with more drinks for everyone, and I grabbed at my daiquiri. I was feeling a tad overheated with Camden’s general sexiness and needed something to help me cool down.
He smoldered at me again and I realized the drink wasn’t improving my situation.
“What happened to your cake?” Camden asked me, and although he’d received his piece right after me, he’d had only like, two tiny bites of it. “Do you want more?”
I considered what I should say. Should I lie? What was worse—telling him that I hadn’t liked the cake and didn’t want more or admitting that I had already hoovered up my entire piece?
“Um, I already ate it because it was really delicious,” I told him. I couldn’t slander cake’s good name.
“I can see that,” he said, reaching over to clean a piece of rogue frosting from my lips. I caught my breath when he touched me, but then he lifted his thumb to his own mouth to lick the icing off and molten lava started pumping through my veins and I seriously almost passed out.
“Did you want more?” he asked and I had to clamp my teeth together so that I wouldn’t call out, Oh, yes, please, I definitely want more!
Only it wouldn’t have been about the cake. “I do. I would like to have like, three more pieces of it but I’m afraid you’ll judge me.”
He looked perplexed. “Why do you think I’d judge you? I like seeing a woman enjoy herself.”
Okay, that was it. I was done. Somebody needed to stamp the word finished on my forehead and just put me to bed before I got any more bad ideas than the ones I was currently entertaining and spontaneously combusted. I felt dangerously close to that actually happening.
Camden got me another piece of cake while I drank more of my drink. Still not cooling me off. What did a girl have to do around here to not be in a state of constant heat?
“Get me one with the red rose on it. Those are my favorite. Both the frosting and real-life kind.”
“You got it,” he said and handed me a piece that had one and a half roses on it. I liked a man who listened.
I took my first bite and tasted something plasticky in my mouth, but I ignored it. “Ew.”
“What?” Camden asked.
“There was a piece of melted wax on my cake but I don’t even care. This tastes so good.”
That made him laugh, especially since I kept eating without slowing down. He cut me two more pieces and I dug into those, too. I hadn’t remembered to eat dinner. Cake counted, right? It had nutritional value. Eggs, milk, butter. Oh! And vanilla extract! Was vanilla extract healthy? I couldn’t remember.
Krista spoke up. “So Rick knows about this place that does nighttime paddle boarding. Apparently the bottom of the board lights up and attracts all these cute little fish. I thought it would be fun for all of us to head over and try it out.”
“We’re so in!” Mary-Ellen said, linking her arm through Vance’s.
“Us too,” Sadie said.
Dan gave her side-eye and said, “Do you not remember my issues with the ocean?”
“I promise that no fish will touch you,” she said. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”
He didn’t even put up a fight. “Okay, but if I fall in and some underwater creature brushes against my skin, I will remember this. And remind you about it every day for the rest of our lives.”
“Deal.” She kissed him.
“Do you want to go?” Camden sounded hopeful and I couldn’t figure out why. My brain was getting fuzzier. I should probably slow down on the baked goods.
Did I want to go? Not really. I’d spent most of the night wanting to be alone with Camden, to see what would happen. It was like all of my issues and inhibitions had just flown away and I could think about only one thing.