CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Adalyn
I woke up to a nudge on my face and the characteristic buzzing of a phone.
My eyes blinked open to a set of eyes I hadn’t been expecting.
“Willow?” I mumbled.
Her paw came down again, pressing on my cheek as she sat beside my pillow.
I looked behind her, finding empty the side of the bed where Cameron had been.
After what had been the best night of sleep in weeks—months, maybe even years—I hadn’t even noticed him getting up. I was renewed and sore in the best possible way. Yes. What we’d done last night had been the best sex of my life—ground-shaking, multiple orgasms kind of best.
And Cameron? He was a snuggler. A cuddler. And as much as I’d never been one myself, snuggles with Cameron, I had learned, led to the best in-the-middle-of-the-night sex. Lazy and sultry and—
The phone I’d ignored buzzed again, making me roll in the direction of the sound.
I sat up, resting my back against the headboard Cameron had used as leverage in some of that middle of the night—
Willow mewed over the buzzing.
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” I told her, setting her on my lap while I reached for the phone. “I’m obsessed with your daddy.”
“You’re what?” A male voice came from the speaker of the phone.
I looked up, seeing Matthew’s face on the screen. Oops. I must have accepted the call. “I’m…” I started, but then I took in the dark bags under his eyes. The way his hair stuck in all directions. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Is that a cat?” he asked, ignoring my question. Willow mewed and lifted her head to check the screen. “Why do you have a cat?”
“Matthew,” I said, now seriously. “What’s going on? You’re calling me very early in the morning.” A pang of guilt cut through me. I’d been so wrapped up in my own life that I hadn’t checked on him in a while. “What’s going on?”
His jaw clenched, and he didn’t need to say a word for me to know that there was something wrong. Probably more than one thing.
“Matthew—”
“Oh my God,” he suddenly groaned. He shut his eyes in a dramatic way. “Are you naked under that cat? Wait. Don’t tell me.”
“There’s a comforter between the cat and me.”
A female voice sounded in the background.
Matthew sighed before turning his head around and yelling, “MA! I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO MAKE A CALL.”
I blinked in surprise. “You’re back home? In Massachusetts?”
“Is that Adalyn?” was said in the back. “Tell her to come visit. God knows you need—”
“NOT THAT AGAIN, MA.” He faced me. “It’s a long story.” A shake of his head. “Anyway. I guess that explains why you look…” He trailed off, looking all but miserable. “Like that.”
“How do I look?” I huffed.
“Beautiful,” Cameron answered. “Stunning, really.”
My head swiveled in the direction of that deep, sultry, accented voice that was whispering all kinds of things in my ear last night. He was shirtless, and he looked so handsome and inviting from his spot at the door that I could only gape.
“And thoroughly fucked,” he added, making my jaw drop to the floor.
Matthew let out a strange sound from the phone.
Cameron ignored all of that. He crossed the distance to me with long, determined strides, green eyes boring into mine. He reached the side of the bed and leaned forward. “You’re naked, in my bed, with my cat on your lap, speaking to some other man. Should I be concerned, love?”
“Cameron,” I mumbled like an idiot, instead of a simple no. Or a Don’t be ridiculous, isn’t it obvious that I’m crazy about you? Or a Your biggest concern should be me, helplessly falling for you, if you don’t stop saying things like that. But my brain wasn’t working.
“CAMERON?” My best friend spit from my phone. “As in Cameron Caldani, as in the CAMERON CALDANI?” A panicked pause. “Is that Cameron Caldani’s cat? You’re in Cameron Caldani’s BED.” His voice went high. “Is Cameron Caldani the one who thoroughly f—”
“Matthew,” I stopped him. “Can you please stop saying his name like that? Actually, it would be nice if you would also stop emphasizing all that stuff.”
Cameron placed a mug in my hand and kissed me. Hard. Briefly but intently enough for his mouth to part mine.