His words echoed inside my chest, making it hard to breathe. Desire flared up inside me, like the flame surrounding the logs in front of us. “Why are you flirting with me?”
“Maybe I just enjoy flirting with you?”
“But why?” The jig was up. He didn’t need to keep doing this.
He leaned across his armchair, so that he was in my space. “I like how your cheeks flush, how you grab your lower lip with your teeth, the way that you pretend you don’t like it, but I can see in your eyes that you do.”
“That’s . . .”—entirely correct—“entirely untrue. And back to my point earlier: if I was a corporate spy, I would have willingly fallen into your honey trap.”
“Unless that was your plan all along. Act as if you didn’t like me so that I’d be even more interested.”
I shook my head at him. “That is one messed-up dynamic that human beings enjoy.”
“Agreed.”
I focused on my s’mores, making a few more. Okay, five more. Ignoring Camden’s intense gaze and eating my dinner.
Or, more accurately, trying to ignore his gaze and how it made me want to throw this chocolate-and-marshmallow concoction to the ground and leap into his lap.
That’s how much my body liked Camden. It was willing to forsake chocolate and gooey goodness.
“I’m going to get a bottle of water,” he said. “Do you want one?”
“No thanks.” I needed one, but I didn’t want to feel any more indebted to him. He got up and I realized that my right shoulder was aching. I rolled it a few times and it made a crunching sound. I had probably tweaked it during the pillow fight.
“Is that bothering you?” Camden asked. I wondered where the water bottles were located; he hadn’t even been gone for ten seconds.
“Just an old acrobatic injury,” I told him. When his eyes widened, I laughed and added, “I’m kidding. It’s just a little sore. I’m fine.”
“Do you want me to massage it for you?”
No. What I meant to say was no. No, thank you. No, your hands on me is a very bad idea and no, you can sit over there and just not touch me.
What I actually said was, “Yes, please.”
He stood behind me and I was already shaky with anticipation before his hands made contact with my shoulders. I let my eyes drift shut slowly as his strong fingers kneaded my muscles. My head lolled forward and I had to struggle to not slide off the chair completely. It felt so, so good.
“You carry a lot of tension in your shoulders,” he commented.
“I promise you it’s everywhere.” I meant of the stress variety, but I had no idea how my statement came across because I was too busy wondering what else I could claim was sore. I wanted more of his touch.
As if he could read my mind, he put his palm against the left side of my face, leaning me into it. Then with his right hand he began rubbing my neck, his slightly calloused hands causing a flood of warmth across my oversensitized skin.
“How’s that?” he asked, his voice totally normal, like he wasn’t in the least bit affected.
Meanwhile, the ability to speak had left me entirely. The sound I made was along the lines of, “Viningrah.”
“Better?”
I tried to nod, but nothing in my body was cooperating. I was a heady mess of want and need, rendered speechless and immobile by his touch.
He let me go and I slumped against the chair, my skin still tingling where he’d touched it. Like he’d marked me. It was a good thing my entire skeleton had collapsed or else I would have attacked him then and there. Forgotten about my job, about my rule, everything.
I was in so much trouble.
Hank had us singing campfire songs next, and it was all bad and not very musical, but at least it allowed me to focus on something else as I tried to regain control over my body, slow down my breathing, and generally attempt to calm down the wave of lust that threatened to drag me under.
Friends, I reminded myself. We could be friends or I could just stay away from him completely.
At the moment the second option was sounding like the best one. That way I could stop thinking about kissing him and keep all of my body parts to myself.
“We’ve got enough here,” Hank announced. “We’d like some footage of you returning to your tents.”
I briefly wondered why anyone would care about us going to bed for the night, but it wasn’t my job to question any of this.
To my surprise I was able to stand up all on my own. And walk forward. It was a miracle.