He wouldn’t push her for a repeat, though. He couldn’t risk that she’d put distance between them. Not now, when danger surrounded her. He couldn’t properly protect her if he wasn’t close. And what she needed right now was for him to be there for her, so that was what he’d do.
As for whether he’d manage to keep his hands off her in the long-run … he really couldn’t be sure. It was different when he’d believed she saw him as only a friend. Now that he knew she wanted him just as much as he did her, it would be a hell of a lot harder to fight the sheer temptation of her. And knowing exactly how it felt to kiss her, touch her, be inside her made the fantasies playing around his head a lot more vivid.
In other words, he was well and truly fucked.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Fully dressed, Aspen zipped up the duffel Camden had placed on the bed while she’d been in the en suite bathroom doing her business. She hadn’t slept well, too keyed up and anxious to properly settle. And it hadn’t helped that the pillows and bedsheets were covered in his scent, because it had made it impossible for her to shove him out of her mind.
Blowing out a breath, she straightened her tee and turned toward the door. She could do this. She could totally go out there and act like last night hadn’t happened.
Fortunately, Camden wasn’t the type who’d feel the need to give sex a post-mortem. But if he sensed for even a second that last night had meant something to her, he’d be leery. She really didn’t want to listen to a “I care for you as a friend but that’s all” speech, so she’d need to be her usual self.
Doable.
She was a master at ignoring her feelings. So now she’d simply ignore that she knew him biblically. She’d ignore that she wanted him inside her again. She’d ignore that the marks he’d left on her neck gave her way too much primitive satisfaction.
Her bearcat, on the other hand, had no wish or intention to ignore any of that. Too elemental in her way of thinking, the animal wasn’t properly considering the situation as a whole. She still felt that Aspen was being dramatic.
Her stomach fluttering with nerves, Aspen pasted an easy smile on her face and left the room. Camden was in the kitchen, which was almost a carbon copy of her own—all cream gloss, stainless steel, and sparkling white tiles.
Sitting at the table, he looked up from his phone, and his eyes fixed on hers. Like that, the air thickened. Hell, there would be no blinding herself to their chemistry any longer. Not now when it was hot and electric and fueled by an awareness that hadn’t been there before. An awareness of just how damn good sex between them could be. And didn’t that suck balls.
“Morning,” she said brightly, making a beeline for the coffee pot.
“Morning.” The low rumble made her blood heat.
Oh, help.
Feeling his gaze burning into her back, she grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee. She took a single sip of her drink before turning. Knowing she needed to make a point of not avoiding his eyes, she met them. Or would have if his gaze wasn’t locked on her neck. More specifically, it was drinking in the bite marks he’d left there.
Not all were concealed by the collar of her tee, so she’d tried hiding the others with concealer. It was impossible to completely cover all of them—some were too deep, though not quite deep enough to scar.
They’d raise some eyebrows for sure, so she’d need to invent a little story that would play the matter down. Otherwise, Havana and Bailey would surely begin a little matchmaking, given that they believed Aspen and Camden both cared for each other in a not-so-platonic way.
Aspen cleared her throat. “You working at the center today?”
His eyes lifting to hers, he gave her a slow nod. “Corbin wants me helping him out at the gym again.”
“I’m on lifeguard duty.” Not her favorite thing.
He lifted his mug from the table and sipped from it. “Then you won’t be far from me.”
True. The indoor pool was right next to the gym. He’d no doubt pop his head through the door to check on her from time to time.
“Which is good, because I’m not going to like having you out of my sight much when it’s clear that whoever’s targeting you has upped their level of threat.”
Her stomach twisted at the reminder of what took place in her bedroom. It wasn’t so much the struggle with Jerome that angered her—she liked a good brawl. It was the knowledge of what could have happened if she hadn’t won that brawl. Just thinking about it caused her bearcat’s mood to darken.