Norah tugged off his shirt and then her own, when it got caught around her shoulders. She took her mouth on a sprinting journey down his torso as she made quick work of his belt and jeans and found only him beneath.
“Behind on laundry,” he muttered, dragging her back to return the favor. Both brows winged up as he found her bare as well. “What’s your excuse?”
“Optimism. I was banking on fabulous make up sex.”
“You make optimism look really good.”
They dove at each other, gorging themselves on touch and taste in frantic, greedy bites, as if the speed and heat could eradicate the distance of the past weeks. Fevered, she scissored her legs around his and rolled until she straddled him. Capturing his hands, she curled her fingers through his, pressed them back against the bed and lowered herself, glorying as he filled her in one long stroke. She held at the edge for a long, humming beat, body gripping him, the last of the space between them gone.
At last. She was home.
Cam freed his hands, pulling her down to take
her mouth in a kiss that left her branded. She began to move, driving him with a blistering pace that sent them both careening toward the peak. His tongue danced with hers, echoing the rhythm she set. She took him deeper with every rocking thrust, her muscles coiling, his breath straining as skin slid against slick skin, until she shattered, dragging him into the free fall with her.
Boneless and quivering, Norah lay draped over Cam, her face pressed into his throat. Her heart—or maybe it was his—she couldn’t tell—continued to gallop as little aftershocks trembled through them both.
Cam’s hand slid limply down her thigh. “That was…”
“Cathartic.”
“I was going to say mind blowing.”
“That too.” She folded her hands across his chest and propped her chin so she could see him. “I missed you. Not just this—although definitely this—but everything else. You’re the first person I think about in the morning, the one I dream about at night. You’re the one I want by my side, Cam. A partner in the truest sense of the word. I don’t ever want you to have reason to doubt that again.”
He stroked a knuckle across her cheek, a feather light touch that soothed, even as it aroused. “I’m not perfect. I’ve got issues, and I’ll do stupid things. But I learn from my mistakes. I won’t doubt you again.”
She kissed him, softly, sweetly and then grinned.
“What’re you smiling about?”
“I’m still wearing my socks.”
“How is that possible?”
“They weren’t all that important in the get naked portion of the program.”
He rolled her beneath him. “I take that as a personal challenge.” He pressed his hips forward to prove it.
“Then I suppose you’re honor bound to rectify the oversight.”
~*~
Cam shut the door to his truck and, for the first time in his life, stared at his grandmother’s house with trepidation. “I can’t believe you called a family summit this early in the day.”
“It’s the most expedient means of putting everybody at ease and catching them up on my situation. You weren’t the only one I didn’t talk to while I was away.” Norah linked her hand through his and dragged him up the walk. “Come on, I’m desperate for more coffee.”
So was he, but Cam would’ve preferred having that coffee at home. Or better yet, skipping the coffee all together and spending the day in bed, sleeping and making love as they’d done most of the night. But Norah had rousted him at 6:30, with little more than a shower and one measly travel mug of coffee to prepare him to face the entire family—all of whom had wanted to string him up the day before.
In accordance with custom, everybody was in the kitchen. And they all promptly stopped talking the moment he and Norah walked in. The weight of their stares hit him like a slap. Yep, they were still very much on Norah’s side, even without knowing the details.
Miranda, clearly at least two cups shy of functional, pinned them both with a furious glare. “You barely talk to me for two weeks, send one text to say you’re back in town, then you freaking disappear for the rest of the day, without answering anybody’s call or text. I took a double shift and spent half the night at the ER waiting for you to show up in an ambulance. And now you haul my ass out of bed after only an hour without an IV drip of coffee?”
Without batting an eye, Norah strode up to the lion and hugged her tight. “I’m sorry I worried you. I’m sorry I worried all of you. But I had to talk to Cam first.”
Miranda took her by the shoulders and gave her a hard once over. “Are you pregnant?”
Cam choked on the last of the coffee in his travel mug.