“Cameron?” I said. He stopped what he was doing to look at me. “You shouldn’t worry so much. I want to try the yoga and meditation. With you. But I… I’m okay. For the most part, I think. After last night, I don’t want you to feel like you need to fix things for me. I’ve been doing fine on my own for a long time.”
“I know,” he answered simply. “I’m beginning to understand just how long.” The emotion in his eyes seemed to brighten, making them look as green as ever. I couldn’t look anywhere else. “I don’t intend on slaying your dragons for you. Not because I don’t want to, believe me, I do. But because you would hate it, and you don’t need me to.”
Pressure rushed to the backs of my eyes. And something strange happened. Something in the middle of my chest. A flutter I didn’t understand. A longing for those things he’d just said I didn’t need or want.
An emotion crossed Cameron’s face, and I could tell from the way he widened his stance that he was stopping himself from coming my way. He cleared his throat. “Josie is picking you up in an hour, right?”
Right. “Girls’ time, yes.”
Cameron looked down at his feet for an instant. “I asked her to drop you back after lunch. And I made her promise to be on time, so I’d have you back soon. There’s something I have planned for you. That okay?”
So I’d have you back soon. The strange flutter stirred. “Of course.”
The relief in his face was so clear that it made me pause.
He’d thought I’d say no.
“I better go shower then,” I said, turning away. I took two steps before turning. Cameron was still looking at me. He hadn’t moved. “I wouldn’t hate it, you know?” I told him, and he frowned. “I wouldn’t hate it if you were the one slaying my dragons for me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Adalyn
“You sure you’re doing okay?”
I nodded my head, not daring to lift my gaze off the path.
“We’re almost there,” Cameron added. I sensed him coming closer to me. He’d been walking behind me, touching my back or shoulder every once in a while, as if he’d known we were approaching a bigger rock or a patchier spot on the trail. He set his palm against the small of my back, his voice falling close to my ear. “You’re doing great.”
My breath swooshed out of me and my words came out garbled. “I’m just walking.” His hand moved up, making its way around my waist, and he gave it a squeeze. I had to swallow before continuing, “This isn’t even a hike or a trek. It’s more like a str…” His jaw brushed my cheek, derailing my train of thought.
“You were saying?” he murmured. And when I didn’t say anything, he chuckled. The dark and rich sound traveled straight to my gut. Maybe even lower than that. “Are you tired or hurting?”
“Huh, what?” I frowned, realizing I’d come to a stop. Oh. Right. I resumed walking. “I’m fine. And before you ask or offer, I don’t need to be carried like a princess, either.” Not that I would mind, honestly. I wasn’t a huge fan of… this.
“A man can still hope,” he said, letting his arm drop and waiting for me to take the lead again.
Before I took him up on the offer, I sped up, or rather, resumed the moderate pace I’d kept for the last twenty minutes. With Cameron’s chuckle behind me, I tried my best to keep my focus on the path. On my legs. On the increasingly fast beating of my heart that had absolutely nothing to do with the exertion.
“So…” I started, glancing back at him over my shoulder. Mistake. That moss-green fleece he wore made his eyes pop like emeralds. I shook my head. I’d never compared anyone’s eyes to gems before. “So I, hmm, I thought you weren’t supposed to go on a hike when the sun is coming down soon?”
“Your foot was not up for a hike,” Cameron said.
I frowned at the trail in front of me. “So what are we doing then?”
“The next best thing.”
My lips pursed, ready to complain about him being so cryptic, but then, his arm snaked around my body again, and he guided me to the left.
Ugh, he smelled so good, so woodsy and fresh and just absolutely amazing, that I couldn’t help but smell him. I sniffed him. Just like Willow or Pierogi did. And Cameron, who hadn’t missed my reaction, let out a hum.
As if that deep, throaty sound wasn’t enough, his head dipped and he said, “I’m finding it particularly hard to keep my hands off you.” I came to a halt for an instant, unable to process the bubbling sensation building between my stomach and chest. He moved us forward. “It’s seeing you in all these clothes I got for you.”