Tempting Cameron (Lone Pine Lake 2)

Clenching his jaw, he climbed off her, started pacing the boat, making it sway. “Maybe you should call him back and see what he wanted,” he snipped, surprising her.

“Maybe you should stop being so jealous,” she offered instead.

He turned on her, his eyes wild, his expression…angry. Like she’d never seen him before. “I’m not jealous.”

“You are so jealous it’s ridiculous.” She stood and thrust her face in his as best she could, considering he was a giant compared to her. “I don’t know how many times I have to explain to you that Mac is my friend. That’s. It.” She poked him in the chest for emphasis.

“He doesn’t act like your friend. More like a possessive boyfriend.” Cam shook his head. “Bastard has this way of getting under my skin and irritating the shit out of me at the worst possible moment,” Cam muttered, almost to himself. He rubbed his chest absently, as if her poke had hurt. Good. “It’s like he knows what I’m about to do and interrupts me every single time.”

She couldn’t recall Mac interrupting them before. Oh wait, at Jane’s wedding reception when Cam asked her to dance, but that felt like a lifetime ago. “What exactly are you talking about?”

“My entire life.” He kept his back to her but she knew he was still angry. “Everyone adored Patrick because he was the perfect oldest child. The heir apparent and all that shit. And then there was Mac. The baby. The cute one everyone indulged. I won’t even bother mentioning my sisters. And then there was me. Classic middle child, I was screaming for attention so I chased after it any way possible, including getting in trouble. I was such a pain in the ass, I’m sure they were relieved when I finally left.”

“Better than being the afterthought,” Chloe said softly, not about to feel sorry for Cam. He had no idea how much his family loved him. Needed him.

He’d been too busy ignoring them to realize.

He turned to face her. “Is that what you think of yourself?”

She shrugged, not really wanting to discuss her issues, but it was too late now. “My sisters are so much older than me. I was barely out of elementary school and they were both gone to college. Never to return until they absolutely had to. I always felt like I was some sort of accident. Like, my parents’ last chance to try for a boy and they thought they might get lucky. Instead, they had me.”

His face softened, lost some of that angry edge. “I really doubt that, Chloe.”

“Just like I doubt what you think, too. Everyone loves you, especially your family. You’re the adored brother, the favorite uncle, the one who left, traveled the world and really lived your life. You share only a small part of yourself and leave everyone wanting more.” She’d always wanted more from Cam. Still, she wanted more. “I stayed here like a coward. It’s safer. But boring.”

He sat beside her, nudged her wet hair away from her shoulder so he could lean in and press a kiss there. His lips were cool, soft, sending shivers trembling throughout her already achy, needy body. “You’re definitely not boring.”

“And you’re not underappreciated.” She touched his bristly cheek. “I always thought you had such tremendous bravado and strength. But you’re just as insecure as the rest of us, aren’t you?”

He furrowed his brows. “I’m not perfect, that’s for damn sure.” Pausing, he exhaled sharply, as if gathering strength. “Something happened to me there. In Afghanistan.”

She frowned. “What do you mean? What happened?” Her heart raced, scared to hear what he was about to reveal.

“I was hurt. Riding with a special ops group across the desert, we ran over a bomb and it sent the vehicle flying, threw me out of the truck. I landed more than three hundred feet away from the car.” His gaze got a faraway look, like he was reliving the accident. “Everyone died but me.”

Shock coursed through her, chilling her blood to ice, but she did her best to keep her reaction calm. Neutral. Tentatively, she stroked his cheek, tried to bring him back to her. “How badly were you hurt?”

His turbulent gaze met hers. “Broke my leg, screwed up my knee. Scratched and bruised to hell, kinda like you were from your accident.”

Nothing like what happened to her. It was a stupid car wreck she couldn’t remember. Cam had suffered through a bomb that might’ve blasted him into bits. He could’ve been killed. The idea of losing him… “Why did I never hear about this?”

He shrugged those broad, capable shoulders. “I didn’t tell anyone. I thought…I don’t know. I just wanted you to know.”

Surprise rendered her speechless. She struggled to find words, too shocked that he’d never told his family, the people who loved him more than anyone else in the world, what happened to him. She glanced down at his legs, noted the scar peeking out from beneath his board shorts. Reaching toward him, she touched him there, traced the length of the long, jagged scar. She couldn’t believe she never noticed before. “Is this the wound?”

“Surgery scar,” he said, his voice tight.

She dropped her hand. “Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?”

“I didn’t want to burden them with my troubles.”

“So you kept them bottled inside you instead.” She drew him into her, wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. “Oh, Cam.”

He slipped his arms around her, pressed his face against her neck where he remained for long, silent minutes. He tightened his grip on her, holding her so close she could scarcely breathe.

But she didn’t mind. He needed it, needed her. Needed to unload that burden he’d held on to for who knew how long. She stroked her hand over his drying hair, loving how it clung to her fingers, and she realized she was too far gone now to ever turn back.

She was hopelessly, irrevocably in love with Cameron McKenzie.