“Yeah. I always thought she was a heartless woman who only cared about herself and her husband,” he admitted.
“What do you think I should do?” I asked, turning to look at him. He was staring at me, looking stunned.
“What?” I asked.
“Sorry.” He chuckled. “I’m still getting used to this new you—the one who can open up to me and even ask me for advice.”
“Get used to it,” I said playfully.
“I will,” he said with a smile. “Because I love this.”
“So,” I began again, “what should I do?”
“Do you want to give her a chance?” he asked gently.
I thought about it. I had been thinking about it nonstop. “I’m still not sure. I like who I am now. I don’t know if I can let her in and risk ruining everything.”
“Then don’t let her,” he said. “Let her prove herself to you first.”
I glanced at him, a small smile tugging at my lips. “Just like you and I did?”
“Yes.” His smile widened. “Just like we did.”
Our eyes locked, and silence fell slowly, settling over us.
Something electric stretched between us in that quiet, a current winding tighter with each heartbeat we shared in silence.
The world faded, dissolving until there was only him and the fire unraveling inside me. Heat surged, sparking through every nerve, burning beneath my skin as if his gaze alone could set me ablaze. Desire coiled in my core, stealing my breath, leaving me raw with the need for him to finally, finally close the space between us.
“Sloane,” he whispered.
“Yeah?” My voice trembled, betraying the storm inside me.
“Let me stay tonight,” he said softly, the words brushing over me like a plea. “I want to be with you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cameron
“Sloane,” I whispered, every ounce of the courage I’d been holding back breaking free.
“Yeah?” Her voice was so soft I almost missed it.
“Let me stay tonight.” The words came out like a plea. “I want to be with you.”
She blinked, lips parted, and I could see it in her eyes that she wanted it too. But she was still weighing it, still caught in her own hesitation. My chest tightened as I waited, heart hammering, every beat whispering desperate prayer:please say yes, Sloane. Please.
Sloane let out the faintest breath, and then her smile broke through like light. “Okay,” she whispered, eyes softening as if she’d been waiting too. “Stay.”
It took me a moment to take it in. For a heartbeat, I thought I’d misheard her.
And then my mouth found hers.
She froze for a single, heart-stopping heartbeat. I could feel the shock in her, the sheer audacity of what I’d done. For a second, I was certain I’d ruined everything. But then a sound, a muffled vibration against my lips, half a sob and half a surrender, broke from her throat.
And she melted.
It was the only word for it. The tension snapped clean in two. Her hands slid up my chest, fisting in my shirt as if I were the only solid thing left. She hauled me closer, and I claimed her mouth in the next breath. She surged up against me, all heat andhunger, her body fitting to mine with perfect inevitability. Her nails raked up my arms, sharp and demanding, and the sting only stoked the fire tearing through me. She locked her arms around my neck, clinging with an absolute certainty that I wasn’t going to let her go.
