Callie snickered. Tanner grinned.
Of course, having raised Tanner and Kam, Addie had likely heard a lot worse over the years.
Glory didn’t care. “It’s incredibly rude to enter someone’s home and sling around insults and accusations.”
Suddenly unsure of herself, Shara turned to Kam. “I’ve always thought you were all awesome. You know that, right?”
“Sure,” he said with disinterest, then he took Shara’s arm and said gently, “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
“But I wasn’t leaving.”
“Yeah, you are.” He urged her along.
As the silence descended, Glory wished for a quick way out. “Kitchen. I’m, um, yes. The kitchen.” She spun away and rushed back to the dishes. Why was it she could never find the right way to fit in? Every time, she ended up saying or doing something that made her feel foolish. She certainly knew better. If Liz were here, she’d be scandalized. Over and over, Liz had stressed that scenes were to be avoided.
Wallowing in her own humiliation, Glory hoped no one would join her, not even Callie.
Then she heard the sudden roar of laughter. She glanced back to see the three of them hanging onto each other, cracking up. Putting her hands over her face, Glory wondered if she could sneak out the back.
But before long, she, too, was grinning.
Maybe she fit in better than she realized.
The second they were through the door, Kam was on Glory. Damn, it had been hard keeping his comments—and his hands—to himself, while they were visiting Addie and eating cobbler.
Not for a second did he think Tanner or Addie were dense enough to overlook the obvious. He and Glory had some powerful chemistry going on, and even when she tried to hide it, the sparks ignited.
Pinning her to what he now referred to as his favorite wall, Kam took her mouth like a starving man. Even better, she reciprocated in kind. Hands to her backside, he lifted her against him so he could grind his erection against her softness.
When he kissed his way to her throat, she said, “You taste like blueberries.”
He growled. “You taste like heated woman.” To punctuate that, he gave her a soft love bite that had her groaning.
In a rush, she pressed him back, but snagged his hand. “Come on.”
What she meant was: Come to the bedroom, where I can make it too dark for you to see. God, he wanted to explore every inch of her body. He wanted to reassure her that she had nothing to hide.
Night after night, those damn rules stood between them; a brick wall he couldn’t scale and couldn’t ram through, not without hurting her. She’d come up with them for a reason, and until she trusted him enough to share those reasons, he’d keep respecting her wishes.
In the bedroom, he found the blinds already closed. Glory flipped on the small lamp on her nightstand, using the low light to fold back the plush bedding, then setting out two condoms.
“Love your faith in my stamina.”
Hitching her chin, she smiled. “You’ve given me reason to have faith.”
He’d given her reason to trust him, too, but apparently she needed more time.
Coming toward him in a sassy walk, she said, “Give me three minutes in the shower.”
Kam caught her hand and drew her around to him. “Sorry, babe. I can’t wait.” Stealing any chance she had for a protest, and hoping to chisel away on the trust issue, he lifted her inhis arms, took two steps toward the bed, and lowered her to her back.
It wasn’t easy to ignore the way her eyes flared with worry. He slipped off her shoes and tossed them toward her closet. He wouldn’t want her tripping over them later when she tried to move around in the dark room.
Standing again, he reached back with one hand and grabbed his shirt, stripping it off over his head and tossing it toward a corner. He kicked his shoes in that general direction, then opened his jeans.
Glory came up to her elbows to watch.
That’s right, girl. A little stripping can be sexy.He didn’t mind giving her a show. Eventually, she’d repay the favor. He had to believe that.
