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She wrapped her arms around his neck. The poor thing looked lost and ready to be sent away. But she wouldn’t do that. She hadn’t wanted to do it earlier, but the decision to stay had to be his.
But pushing him out. That was not going to happen again. From now on she’d make him stick around and fight. About work and home and friends and even what was for dinner. If they were going to try this, going to make it work, they had to be a partnership, and sometimes that was a rocky thing.
“Are you volunteering for this obsession position?”
He rubbed his hands up and down her back. “Since I’m half in love with you I thought it might be good if you decided you couldn’t live without me. You know, be tied to me and not want to let me go.”
And there she went. Totally, fully in love with him. No partway. No think about it. No waiting to see. It was right there in front of her and she grabbed it.
But they had to backtrack a bit. They’d jumped over the simple steps like getting to know each other and spending time together. They could circle back to those. For now, she was fine with the rest moving at top speed. They’d fill in the blanks, from simple things like meeting his sister to the more complicated, like where to live.
He sighed into her hair. “I’m not great at this, but—”
“Wrong. You might be a slow starter, but you’re pretty great at it.” She kissed his cheek and then his neck. “At so many things. At most things, actually. Come to think of it, you’re not going to be easy to live with.”
“I already listed the pros.”
She gave in to the temptation and ran a hand through his hair. “All very impressive.”
“Does this mean I can stay?”
She dropped a quick kiss on his mouth. “Just try to leave me again.”
“That’s exactly what a man likes to hear.” He picked her up and her legs wrapped around his. They stood there in the sunshine with the warmth pouring over them. “The debrief can wait. Let’s go check out that bed again. I think I left a bit too early this morning, but we can fix that.”
He was full of great ideas all of a sudden. She didn’t know who she should thank, Cam or Shane or both, for the nudge in the right direction, but she would. Because right now she’d never been happier. Never stood on the cusp of getting everything she wanted. And she loved the sensation. “Only if you promise we’ll stay in there all day.”
He smiled. “Deal.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cam read the text from Holt. Read it a second time just so he could enjoy it. Looked as though the big man had found the right words to win Lindsey over. Either that or she’d taken pity on him and let him stay. Either way, Holt won.
Lindsey was a good woman. Right for him. Strong and smart, beautiful and able to handle Holt’s personality. They fit together. Cam had noticed the sparks right away.
Cam knew how it felt. Since he’d been with Julia, everything felt right. The danger worried him. Not for him but for her. He’d lived his entire life on the edge. He didn’t question it, but he’d feared it would drive them apart, but she insisted she went into the relationship knowing about his background and need for danger.
He’d gone from “no, thank you” on commitments to craving one. He even had the ring picked out...not that Julia knew that. Only Joel knew and Connor, since Cam didn’t know a thing about rings and Connor was already married.
Technically, it was too early. Not by Cam’s standards. He’d known after day four that Julia was the one. But he was willing to wait a respectable amount of time, however much she needed. He just hoped that didn’t extend past six months, because a guy could only take so much. When he decided he wanted to see his bride walk down the aisle, he wanted it to happen now.
With Holt partnering up, that left one single guy on the team. Shane wasn’t easy to pin down. Well, for others to pin down. The identity of the right woman was not really a mystery. He just had to get out of his own way long enough to give her a chance. Not make such a big deal of the little problems between them. Let go of his past once and for all.
If the rest of them shunned commitment, Shane was openly hostile to it. Divorce would do that to a guy, and his was of the nasty variety.
But people changed. The rest of the team had. One by one they’d paired up. They’d found stability and women and a home to go to. None of them were ever party types. Their jobs didn’t allow that, because they had to be packed and ready to go on short notice. Being drunk would be a hindrance to that.
