The Thing About Trouble (Crystal Lake 1)

Her mouth fell open.

“All of them,” he added for good measure.

“You’ve watched all three of the Fifty Shades movies?” He could tell she didn’t believe him. He added the kernels to the sizzling oil and put the lid on.

“With my mom.”

“You’ve watched all three Fifty Shades movies with your mother?” Again, her mouth hung open.

“You don’t want to know.” He wasn’t lying about that. But it had been under protest and extreme duress, and only because he’d been laid up with a broken leg at his parents’ place.

“Oh, but I do.”

He shrugged. “My mother and her girlfriends decided to have a girl’s night and watch all of them while I was high as a kite on pain meds with my leg elevated on her sofa.”

Fifty Shades one.

Fifty Shades two.

Fifty Shades three.

Cam. His mother. Her girlfriends. And all that sex. The only thing more cringe-worthy than watching a guy go down on a girl in front of your mother is listening to said mother and her pals laugh about. Hell, they even critiqued it. Cam sure as hell didn’t need to know his mom preferred what she called “a different approach in the bedroom.” Something she called the “bop and go.” What the hell? He’d zoned out after that, downing more pain meds than he probably should have.

He got busy with their snack while Blue checked out their options, and by the time he joined her with a big bowl of dill-salted popcorn, she’d settled on the sofa. He glanced up at the television and grinned.

“I knew you were my kind of girl,” he growled, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. Seriously. Any movie with Bruce Willis in it was okay in his books. She was a keeper.

They watched the movie, and as it neared the end, Blue had crept into his arms, and they sank together into the soft leather. As the credits began to roll, Cam reached for the remote and turned off the television. With only one lamp in the corner, the room was dark and full of shadow.

“When was the last time you made out with someone?” he asked, studying her carefully.

“Made out?” She squirmed in his embrace. “You mean like…”

But he was already trailing kisses along her neck, and he smiled against her when she gasped.

“Yeah,” he murmured, “I mean, just like this.”

His hands sank into hair, and he slid his mouth along her jaw, loving the way she shook ever so slightly in his embrace.

“I don’t remember,” she said breathlessly, arching her body a bit as he moved closer to her mouth.

“Then it’s been too long.” With one deft move, Cam had her on top, every long, delicious inch of her pressed against him. He held Blue for a few more moments, enjoying the play of shadow against delicate features that couldn’t hide her thoughts. She was aroused, he knew that, but there was a part of her that still hung back. It was that part he was after. That part that he’d need to treat with kid gloves.

Bluebell Barnes was a woman made up of many layers. And if he wasn’t careful, some of them would rip.

“You can say no at any time.” His voice was gruff, his chest tight, full of something he couldn’t quite put a finger on. But it was a heavy something. A strong something. And the woman in his arms played a part in that something.

Cam held her gaze as he urged her mouth toward his. And when he claimed her lips with his own, she opened fully, kissing him back with a passion and ferocity that should have surprised him but didn’t. He knew her cool façade was just that. Fancy packaging to hide the flesh-and-blood woman underneath.

They kissed long and hard, their mouths hungry, feeding the need each of them felt but maybe didn’t quite recognize. Hands wandered, finding new treasure beneath cotton and denim and silk. Heated palms touched scorched skin, and when they finally came up for air, Blue’s mouth was bruised, her cheeks were rosy, and Cam wanted nothing more than to sink inside her.

But he didn’t.

Carefully, he pulled her top back down, though he couldn’t help himself and trailed his fingers along her collarbone, and then up to that soft skin beneath her ear.

She shivered.

He smiled.