That Night in Texas

After only a week they had a routine, a favorite room and spectacular, soul-moving sex. It scared the hell out of him.

Cam swallowed, stared down the hallway and knew he was walking into a minefield. He’d made certain arrangements today and he knew his decisions would have consequences. Those consequences were still to be determined, but he knew, deep in his soul, that he was playing with fire.

Cam stared at the artwork on the wall opposite him—an expensive piece he didn’t particularly like—and remembered the terror he’d felt when he left Vivi asleep in his bed earlier that day. She’d all but told him, through her actions and the way she’d made love to him, that she completely accepted him and that she might be in love with him. He hadn’t slept, consumed with the idea of testing that theory. Did she really mean that? Or would she bolt at the first obstacle? His family had never managed to stay the course, had always found a reason to disappoint him, and he wanted to see if Vivi stuck or ran.

He’d expected Vivi’s call by 9 a.m., shortly after the first nanny showed up at the front door. By noon—and after what should’ve been three appointments with three different nannies—there was still radio silence. He’d shrugged, thinking that she would definitely call when the local bank manager arrived, bearing papers already preapproving a massive loan to renovate The Rollin’ Smoke. He was providing the guarantee to secure the loan but the loan would be in her name, her responsibility. He had no idea how that meeting had gone because, again, radio silence.

It had taken every ounce of willpower he had to not call her, to see if she was still here, to judge her mood and her reaction.

Would she stick or run? There was only one way to find out.

Cam took a couple of deep breaths and walked down the hallway. He hesitated at the half-open door, conscious of his dry mouth and pounding heart before pushing open the door with his foot. He stood in the doorway and looked around the room. He found Vivi sitting on a chair, her forearms on her thighs, her hands clasped and her head bowed.

He cleared his throat but Vivi didn’t look up. Oh, God. She had to have heard him. Was she that upset? But good news, she was still here. That was a start.

He walked into the room and headed for the alcohol at the far end of the room. He dumped whiskey into two glasses, chased back the contents of one and refilled his glass before walking over to where she sat. He placed one glass on the coffee table in front of her and sat down on the sofa closest to her.

“Hi. Clem asleep?”

Vivi’s face, when she finally looked at him, was blank and cool. “I presume so.”

Cam felt a bolt of fear skitter along his skin. “She’s not here? Where is she?”

“Charlie has her,” Vivi answered him before picking up her glass and throwing the contents back. It seemed she needed the alcohol as much as he did. Not a good sign.

“Why is Clem staying the night at Charlie’s, Viv?”

“She’s not. I’m going to pick her up when I leave here tonight. Then we are going home, Cam. To our home, where we belong.”

She was running. Why had he expected something different from her? God, he really didn’t want her to leave.

“This is the point where you ask why we are going, Cam,” Vivi pointed out, sitting back and rolling the glass tumbler between her palms.

Cam rubbed his hand over his face, thinking that Vivi looked far too controlled, far too calm for what he’d expected to be a humdinger of a fight. Had he read her wrong? Had he read too much into what happened last night? Why wasn’t she railing at him, demanding to know what the hell he was thinking?

“What the hell were you thinking, Camden?”

Well, the question was right but there was no heat behind her words, no anger or emotion. He’d expected her to react in one of two ways—to leave immediately or to rail on him, tell him that he had no right to do what he’d done, that she wouldn’t stand for it and never to do it again. And then she’d stay.

He never expected this quiet, still, intense response. What did it mean? Where was she going with this?

“You know that you had no right to arrange a nanny for Clem, that you had no right to organize a loan for me. You knew I wouldn’t stand for any of it, but you did it anyway. I’ve been wondering why.”