I considered what he said. “Honestly, I might eat that, too.”
He laughed and grabbed the phone, pressing the button for room service. He ordered his own burger and fries and ice cream for both of us （chocolate for him）。 I had a brief fantasy of dropping some of the melty ice cream on his shirt so that he’d have to take it off again, and then oops, the chocolate would spill onto his chest and being the good person I was I’d have to help clean it off by—
“Rachel?”
“What?” I asked, blinking quickly.
“I said it’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
I nodded, hoping that my face wasn’t saying out loud what I’d been thinking. He put his hands behind his head, and it lifted up the edge of his shirt, giving me another tantalizing view of what was being unfairly hidden from my view.
Clearing my throat I said, “If you don’t want to wait we could grab something from the mini-bar. Although that Wheat Thins bag has like six crackers in it and costs twelve dollars.”
“I don’t mind waiting. I’m pretty good at waiting for things I want.” There was that edge to his voice, the one that told me he was talking about something else.
Someone else.
I pressed my hands into my lap, mostly to keep them from lunging for him. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“Doing what?”
His questioning tone was understandable. We weren’t actually doing anything. Not anything that I’d like to be doing, anyway. “Skipping out on Sadie and Dan’s camping party.”
He studied me for a beat. “Do you always do what you’re supposed to do?”
“Usually.”
“You never just throw caution to the wind?”
There was a time when that might have been true, but life had taught me a hard lesson there. “I’ve tried, but then I just freak out and try to gather up all the pieces of caution before they blow away.”
He sat forward, getting even closer to me. I breathed him in, letting the feel of his nearness wash over me. “We should have some antics.”
“I don’t antic,” I told him.
“Do you shenanigan? Frolic? High jink?”
“Not so much lately.” Wow, that was depressing. I’d told myself I was just really dedicated to my career and the women who worked for me, but it was more than that. I’d shut down the part of my life that remembered how to have fun. Krista was right. I did always work.
“I happen to be a master of antics, and the first thing about having a good time is that you have to let your hair down. Both figuratively and literally. May I?”
For a second I forgot to breathe and then I nodded, not sure I’d be able to get the words out. He scooted closer to me and raised his hands slowly, cautiously. My pulse thundered inside me, heating up my blood. His fingers made contact with my hair and I bent my head slightly, giving him easier access.
It was as bad as I’d feared earlier. His fingers running along my scalp were sublime in a way that was impossible to describe. He very carefully plucked the bobby pins from my hair, letting them just fall to the bed. One by one, and with the removal of each one, somehow my heart managed to beat faster and faster until I thought it might explode.
Then he reached the comb I used and tugged it slightly to get it loose, and my hair tumbled down in one big swoop. My hair was the one part of me that I was vain about. It was long and thick and curled slightly at the ends. I usually wore it up, like a piece of armor. It was my protection from people viewing me as anything other than a serious professional. I didn’t let anyone see this side of me.
Except right now, with Camden. I raised my gaze to look at him and didn’t understand the expression in his eyes.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, his fingers still running through the ends of my hair. His touch made me dizzy, light-headed. I’d never had a man smolder at me before, but it was absolutely happening now. I had to grip the blanket underneath my fingers in an attempt to ground myself and remember where I was.
His face moved toward mine, sending prickles of heat marching up and down my spine. “Rachel,” he breathed.
He was going to kiss me.
CHAPTER TWENTY
He was most definitely going to kiss me, and I couldn’t let him.
I fled. Scrambled down to the foot of the bed and jumped off. It was like I’d torn off a piece of myself, leaving it behind, where it stayed next to him, wanting everything he was offering. “Wait. Just . . . wait,” I said. “We can’t.”