“Hey,” he whispered. And he was right there. She could feel him there. The warmth of his body and his breath. His heart.
“I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and did what she did best—smiled her way through it. As long as she didn’t look at him or…touch him, she’d be fine.
“Josie?” And then the jerk had to go and touch her, his fingers against her chin. Pulling her face up so she had to look into his eyes while bearing the incendiary heat of his hand.
Stop, she wanted to say. Stop making this so hard.
But when her eyes met his she saw clearly what he saw. What the family didn’t see. Her friends and coworkers.
“Have you been alone all this time?” he asked.
14
JOSIE
She pushed his hand. “You know something? Screw you. Screw you and your doctor fiancée. And your judgment. You left. You left me. Without one word, Cameron.” She smacked at his hand and got to her feet.
“What are you…Josie!”
She was at the door, her hand on the knob. No plan but to get away from him. Tears burning her eyes and words burning in her throat.
He grabbed her again, her hand in his, and she pulled away but he wouldn’t let her go.
“Cameron,” she snapped, not wanting to yell. Just wanting to leave.
She pushed him, but he didn’t let go and she toppled forward as he stepped back and then…god, if she wrote it, it wouldn’t be believed…she collided into his body.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I am. I am so—”
Her hand curled into a fist and her plan, her instinct, was to smack him right across the face. The way he’d taught her when she was sixteen and was going on a date she didn’t want to go on with Tom Pinkton. But at some point the electric impulse in her brain to slap him changed, shifted.
Ignited.
“You asshole,” she breathed.
And she kissed him.
She kissed him like a smack. Like she wanted to do violence. And he received the kiss like he knew. Like he was going to absorb all her anger and turn it into pleasure. Give her back some of the things he’d taken away when he left.
Things he didn’t even know about.
“Breathe, Josie,” he whispered against her mouth, and she realized she was holding her breath. She gasped and then went back for more, wrapping her hands in the fabric of his T-shirt and pulling him toward her. Their lips met like they’d never been apart. And maybe he’d been dreaming of this kiss for as long as she had. Replaying those messy teenage fumbles until the memories were threadbare. His fingers clenched in her hair and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She moaned, the anger leaving. Fading. Dissipating to mist in the heat between them.
This, her body sighed.
This, her brain marveled.
This, her heart warned.
This was what she’d been missing. What she’d kept hoping she would feel anytime another man kissed her. This full body shiver and delight. This deep from her belly craving.
She dated actors and athletes, men who routinely showed up on lists of New York’s hottest bachelors. And they left her cold.
How ridiculous that the only man who’d ever made her feel this way was him.
Cameron.
There was a knock on the closed door of the room and she pushed him away hard. And so fast, he nearly fell over. Adrenaline made her shaky and she bent down to gather up the presents they’d wrapped so she wouldn’t have to look at Helen as she came in.
“Hey,” Helen said. “The snow is really coming down and Maria just came back from town and said the roads are really slick.”
“Yeah?” Cameron said. “Josie, we should maybe—”
“Go. Before it gets worse,” Helen said.
“Okay,” Josie stood, projecting the unkissed, unruffled version of herself. “We’re mostly done with the presents.”
“Alice has canceled dinner tonight,” Helen told them, looking down at her phone. “Did you get her text? Everyone is fending for themselves. Cinnamon rolls in the morning.”
“I guess I know what I’ll be doing tonight,” Cameron said and then read the text from Alice.
Everyone is staying in homes tonight because of storm. Make cinnamon bun dough tonight? All the stuff in the usual places.
“It’s like nothing has changed,” Helen said, and Cameron, still smiling at his phone, nodded.
Josie and Cameron put on their coats, pulled on their hats, and made very, very sure they never actually looked at each other.
And then they were in the truck. The doors slammed. The silence an echo.
“Josie,” he said.
“Just drive,” she said.
CAMERON
The sky was dark, and the snow was thick and wet on the ground. He pushed the truck into four-wheel drive, grateful the old lady still had it where it mattered. He took tiny glances at the stone-cold woman sitting next to him. Looking at her he couldn’t believe that five minutes ago she’d been holding onto him hard enough to leave bruises.