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Where the hell was this thought going? He’d met Brenna one day ago and the “M” word had already entered his brain?
“Now is a good time,” Brenna said, bringing him out of his reverie. “If you’re not going to turn it down, that is.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He ran his palm down her back, then edged his hand up under the towel to cup her ass.
She cuddled against him, and it just felt right. Or mostly right. But something was missing.
As he skated soft kisses across her neck and let his free hand roam her skin, Cam knew that it wasn’t something missing, but someone.
Damn Thorn!
“I’m sorry about the things Thorn said, and I hope you don’t—”
“I’ll do my own apologizing, Cop.”
Brenna gasped, and Cam whirled. In the doorway, Thorn stood looking both tense and arrogantly male.
Cam resisted the urge to smile. He honestly hadn’t believed Thorn would come around. The bounty hunter ran through women faster than a gallon of water through his taps. If Thorn came around, Cam had never expected it to be this quick. Maybe that meant he was hooked more than anyone suspected.
At least Cam hoped so.
Until Brenna had come along and they’d spent their first night as a trio, Cam had never noticed Thorn as anything but a bounty hunter and pseudo-friend. But now… He hadn’t been attracted to another guy since college. What he felt now was a complicated mix of curiosity, anger and pity. There were layers to Thorn and a lot of hurt, Cam suspected. But no way was he letting Thorn stay here if he intended to use the sex to hide.
He’d wait to hear what the bounty hunter had to say, but if it was another load of bullshit, Thorn was going to feel the door on his ass. If he said the right things…well, Cam had a plan to make sure that what was inside Thorn’s heart backed them up.
* * * * *
“I’m sorry, baby.” Thorn stood in the bedroom doorway and looked down as he shuffled his feet. His heart knocked against his ribs like a woodpecker with a fresh tree. “I’m no good with words of feelings. Lack of practice. But, um… You’re not just a fuck to me. I’ve had enough of them to know the difference. I wanna keep you safe but it’s more than that. And I…have no idea what else to say.”
Brenna slipped from Cam’s embrace, took his hand, and led him to Thorn’s side. He tensed as they neared. She was totally within her rights to slap him. If their positions were reversed, he’d beat the shit out of himself.
Not Brenna. The woman dragged him into the middle of the bedroom and brushed a soft kiss over his mouth, her small hand gliding over his bare shoulder in gentle understanding. Damn, everything about her amazed him.
“I know what it’s like to be afraid to be hurt again. I don’t know who or what happened to you, and you don’t have to tell me until you’re ready. But I want you to know that I’m nothing but honest. I care about you and I will never hurt you on purpose.”
Holy shit. Under her touch, her words, Thorn tensed. He closed his eyes, drew in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to regain control. It was either that, or bawl like a goddamn baby. Tears jabbed at the back of his eyes like a pickaxe. He wanted to throw his arms around her, beg forgiveness, then spend half the night inside her. But he didn’t dare indulge in his last wish. He hadn’t earned the right. And Thorn suspected that if he tried, he and Cam would argue again.
Finally getting his shit under control, he met her soft stare and caressed her cheek. “That means a lot to me, baby. I’m a bastard by nature, but I’ll try not to lash out when I’m uptight or whatever. You, um…matter. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know.” She smiled.
Thorn wanted to ask how she knew but didn’t. Maybe it was a woman thing or a been-there-done-that thing. Whatever it was, he was grateful.
“But this isn’t just about me,” she said. “I think you two had words, probably some harsh ones. You have to work together after I’m gone, so you need to bury the hatchet.” Brenna stepped aside and pulled Cam closer.
The cop was big and dark and smelled like danger in a way that made his heart pump. Thorn didn’t want to call the reaction sexual, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit there was a bit of that in the mix. At the moment, he admired the hell out of Cam’s honesty with himself. Thorn knew he needed to learn that, not flinch every time he had an emotion. It wasn’t like his old man was going to be here to mock him or beat the shit out of him for it.
“Sorry, man.” He extended his hand. “You got nothing to apologize for except being right all the damn time.”
Cam took his hand, and Thorn felt a weird jolt of attraction. God, he’d never really looked at guys. He’d always been about women since his first at thirteen. But this wasn’t sex. Thorn couldn’t break this down, but it was complicated. A bit of respect, a bond of friendship, a jolt of sexual zing—and still more he couldn’t classify.
The detective tugged on his hand, pulling him in until their bare chests collided. Cam’s arm came around his shoulders until he clapped him on the back. Thorn returned the gesture. Something both glad and forbidden streaked through his blood.
Oh, fuck. He’d gone hard. Thorn gritted this teeth. Now what?
Cam backed away slowly. Thorn tried to keep his gaze just on Brenna, standing beside Cam. But the cop’s heavy gaze compelled him, and Thorn felt his stare creep over to those dark eyes. Knowing eyes. Sexual eyes.
Cam knew he was hard and was aroused by it?
Thorn drew in a deep breath. Flow with it. It’s nobody’s business what you do in the bedroom but yours.
Brenna approached them both and wrapped her arms around their waists. She pressed a quick kiss to Cam’s mouth then turned to him.
“Feel better?”
Oddly, he did. Usually others…he really didn’t give a shit. Cam was the closest thing to a friend he’d had in years. And Brenna, with her kind hazel eyes, was impossible not to adore. But it wasn’t just them. A sense of belonging seeped under his skin and into his bones. That itchy, restless feeling that usually dogged him after he fucked a woman and lingered more than a three minutes was remarkably absent.
“Yeah.”
A smile broke out across her face, and her arm tightened around his waist as she leaned in and placed a sweet kiss on his mouth. “I’m glad.”
“Do you have bounties to catch today?” Cam asked.
He shrugged. “Lars can handle it. I went on a tear last week, so I’m pretty caught up. He can handle whatever is outstanding. That’s what older brothers are for.”
“Call him and make sure. I think we need to hang loose in case Curtis calls back. I have a feeling that whatever happens next is going to be fast.”
Thorn nodded and grabbed the phone at this belt, punching numbers as he drifted out the door. In a few short words, he’d arranged a day to do nothing but lie low.
He stepped back into the bedroom to see Cam pressing whispery kisses on Brenna’s cheek, jaw, neck, his bronze skin brushing over her milky paleness. The sight of them was an adrenaline shot to his dick.
Damn if he didn’t want to join them. Now.
“You cool?” Cam asked, barely dragging his mouth away from Brenna and turning her in his arms so he could rub his palms over her delicate shoulders.
Just a little lower, and Cam could be dissolving that towel from her body and fondling her breasts…and he could be watching and salivating and hoping he got the chance to taste heaven too.
But he did his best to play cool. Business first. “Lars agreed that fifty K was more than enough money to justify giving the bond my all. So I’m dedicated to it for the next day or two.”
