Fallen

“Why are you following me?”

“Because I was asked to.”

“Asked to? By who?” She looked around as though the mysterious who might step from the shadows at any moment.

“The guild. I’ll tell you more, but not here.”

She regarded him. Guild members? From Farrow? Wanting her followed? Okay, yes, she absolutely needed to know why that was happening. If it was happening. But could she trust this man to tell her the truth? He’d already lied to her. Numerous times.

“If you’re merely following me, how’d you get into that party?”

He paused, looked away. “I got a good education in sneaking around unseen,” he murmured.

She felt her face screw up. “What does that mean?”

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Please, Scarlett. I’ll tell you more,” he repeated. “Can we go somewhere?”

“Why? Why tell me more? Why protect me? Over and over? Why install locks on my house, and show up when I call in the middle of the night, and . . . and . . . feed baby birds in my kitchen, and tell me things I don’t think your friends would want me to know? Because that stuff? It really doesn’t make much sense if your goal is to get access to my house and eventually run me out of town. Before I listen to anything from you, I need to know . . . was it all a lie, Camden? All of it?”

He stepped closer, his chest rising and falling, his masculinity rolling off him in waves. His gaze raked over her body, eyes meeting hers. “Do you think I want to feel the things I feel for you, Scarlett? Do you think it’s convenient for me? I can’t help this any more than you can. I wish to hell I could.”

The breath left her. Her shoulders dropped and a sound came up her throat, part breath, part humorless laugh. I can’t help this any more than you can. Of course he knew how she felt about him, or at least . . . how her body responded to his. It wasn’t exactly a secret. But the admittance of his feelings for her? His confession brought confusion and surprise and yes . . . a whisper of happiness too. “I don’t understand,” she whispered. “None of it makes sense. Tell me what I got myself into when I bought Lilith House. When I moved my daughter and me to Farrow.”

He scrubbed his hand down his face, taking a small step back. He suddenly looked so incredibly weary. He exhaled slowly, running his hand over his dark hair, water flying out around him as the rainfall dwindled to nothing. He looked suddenly defeated. “I’ll explain it to you. All of it.” He looked down at his clothes, and then at her. His gaze went to her bare skin where she could feel the water droplets sliding over her neck, her décolletage, and pooling between her breasts. Camden looked away and when he spoke, his voice was gritty. “Can we please go somewhere where we can both get dried off? I have a hotel room up the street.”

She paused, considering. She had so many questions and he seemed prepared to answer them. Yes, she was still deeply distrustful of him, but as she pictured the way he’d held the baby bird with such reverent gentleness, the way he made beautiful, impossible art with extraordinarily patient fingers and a simple blade of grass, she was filled with the certainty that he wouldn’t hurt her—at least not physically. She could ask him to go back to Merrilee’s, but it wasn’t her home, and she didn’t feel taking a stranger there was appropriate. “All right. Let’s go. But if you give me some stupid double-talk, Camden West, I’m leaving.”

Although his eyes remained grave, his lips twitched minutely before he turned, signaling her to follow.CHAPTER THIRTY-THREECamden rubbed the towel through his hair one last time, flinging it over the shower stall and then leaning his head forward so it touched the glass. He stood that way for a moment, collecting himself before leaving the bathroom.

Scarlett sat on the patio, clad in his T-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts, folded over several times at the waist. She sipped from a bottle of water he’d taken from the mini fridge. He took a minute to stare at her, letting out a slow, controlled breath.

Jesus, he was nervous. He’d never confided in anyone other than Mason and Georgia before. With everything at stake, he knew this was a risk. But . . . God, he felt her goodness. He wanted to trust himself with that. If he couldn’t, what else did he have? A life of bitterness and revenge? Constantly feeding that voracious dark wolf inside? No, he wanted to protect this woman who’d unknowingly found herself tangled up in this unholy mess.