Unstoppable Love: The Kelley Family Series

29. Cameron

I loved my brother. I did not love the fact I was pulling into his driveway with Ava sitting next to me, needing to share her for even the shortest amount of time when we only had such little time together to begin with.

I missed her like crazy when I was separated from her. It felt like it took twenty years for us to get together, and we only had brief weekends, and only then when I wasn’t traveling.

“You’re cute when you’re grumpy,” she said to me as we pulled into Caleb’s driveway.

“You owe me for this.”

“I’ll make it up to you when we get home, I promise.” As she said it, she reached across the center console and slipped her hand over my groin. I grabbed her wrist, brought her hand to my mouth, and kissed the back of it.

“Don’t tease me, or I’m turning around.”

Ava had the nerve to laugh at me and unbuckle her seat belt. “Come on, Grumpy. Let’s go see your favorite nephew.”

“He’s my only nephew.” Landon was a freaking cute kid. Bonus: He loved football before he ever saw a hockey rink in person, so in truth, he probably liked me more than he liked his dad.

Something I thoroughly enjoyed rubbing in Caleb’s face.

We climbed out of the truck, and I took Ava’s hand in mine. If we were going to have to spend time with people, we’d do it with me holding her, touching her, reminding me she was there and wasn’t going anywhere even during the time we were separated.

A few weeks we’d done this back-and-forth thing, and I was already over it.

If her dad hadn’t bought her that home in New Haven, I’d be begging her to move in with me.

We weren’t yet to the bottom of the stairs leading to the front door when it flew open and Landon’s little body raced down the stairs.

I dropped Ava’s hand right before Landon launched his body at me.

“Unca Cam! You did great today!”

I tossed him in the air and caught him before giving him a quick hug. “Thanks, little man. You watch the whole thing?”

“Until they made you leave, yeah.” He pouted and kicked his feet, so I set him on the ground. As soon as he was there, he was reaching back for my hand, pulling me right into the house with him. “Come play catch with me!”

Ava had no choice but to follow, and I glanced back at her to find her grinning down at Landon before meeting my gaze.

“That pout he makes is exactly like the one you had in the truck,” she said, laughing and not bothering to hide it.

“Don’t be a brat.”

She shrugged and headed straight past Landon and I toward the kitchen. “Takes one to know one.”

“Takes one to know one, what?” Emily asked, slipping off a kitchen stool.

“Cameron was pouting, and he looked just like Landon.”

“Ah, Landon does have that look, doesn’t he?” she said, knowingly.

“So glad I could show up to get made fun of,” Cam said.

I glanced at Emily.

She grinned at me.

We both burst out laughing.

“What?” Cameron asked.

“You’re pouting!” Emily shouted, pointing at him, and we both doubled over in laughter.

He was. He truly was.

He smacked my behind enough to leave a sting and kept on following Landon out to the living room. “You’re in trouble, Sunshine. Keep it up, and I’ll show you who’s better at pouting.”

“Oh my god,” Caleb muttered, walking into the room with his hands slapped over his ears. “Please tell me that threat did not mean what I think it meant, because I do not need to hear about little Ava Decker being forced to pout.”

Emily tugged his hand off his ear. “She’s also not little.”

“Apologies, wife.” He kissed her temple, gave her a look that was more scorching than pouty, and then came and gave me a hug.

“How are you? Enjoy the game?”

“It was fantastic. What’s for dinner? It smells incredible.”

“It’s garlic from the sheet pans of vegetables I’m roasting in the oven. Caleb has some steaks ready for the grill, but we didn’t want to put them on until you got here.”

“Oh my god. That sounds delicious. Thanks for inviting us over.”

“Needed the break for sustenance?” Emily teased.

Caleb made a vomiting sound and quickly left the room. “I hate you both.”

“Now that the men have been successfully cleared, can I get you something to drink?”

A glass of red wine would go great with dinner, but since it also made me tired and I had more exciting plans ahead for the night… “Water, please.”

She filled a glass from the fridge’s door and grabbed her own from the counter. “Come on. It’s gorgeous outside. Let’s go sit out there. I have no doubt Landon will have both guys tossing him a ball out there any second, and while that means dinner will be delayed a bit, I can never stop them.”

“Catching up for lost time?” I asked.

She gave me a knowing smile that made her already sweet face look prettier. No wonder why Caleb fell so hard for this woman so fast, she wasn’t only sweet, she was the perfect, soft complement to him.

“Exactly.”

Turns out the guys didn’t play football for long. Cameron, the grump he was being, faked a sore shoulder when Landon threw him a pass he had to leap to catch it. Considering the boy wasn’t yet even five years old, I had no doubt he did it to hurry the night along.

We ate outside because Emily had been right. It was gorgeous. The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and our plates were piled high with perfectly roasted vegetables and even more perfectly prepared steaks, complete with sautéed, garlic mushrooms I adored.

We spent most of dinner listening to Emily talk about the beginning of her school year, getting ready for Caleb to start his season, and how Landon was adjusted to going to a new preschool. They’d been back in Denver for a few weeks, and they were so in sync with each other, Caleb was such an incredible father, it was difficult to believe a year ago he hadn’t even known Landon existed.

Cameron cut a bite off his steak and asked, “So, why didn’t you guys go home this weekend? I thought that had been the plan.”

“It was,” Caleb said, glancing at his wife.

She pressed her lips together, and a light pink rose to her cheeks. “We had something come up.”

Cameron glanced between the two of them, his eyes narrowing. “Any reason why you’re being so mysterious about it?”

Caleb rolled his eyes. “Didn’t either of you bother to read Landon’s shirt?”

“What shirt?” Cam asked.

I peered across the table. “Landon. What’s your shirt say?”

But I already knew, and my mouth was dropping and my eyes were widening as Landon climbed to his knees on his chair. “No way,” I said to Emily.

“What?” Cameron asked.

“I really expected you would have seen that,” she said, chuckling.

“My shirt says I’m the best big brother, but Mommy and Daddy made me promise not to say anything!” Landon shouted it.

Cameron covered a curse with a cough and then barked out a laugh. “No sh—crap?! You’re pregnant?!”

Emily nodded, and Caleb slid his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him and kissing her temple.

“We found out earlier in the week,” he said, “because Em got carsick one day.”

“Something that never happened until I was pregnant with Landon,” she finished. “So I took a test.”

Cameron shoved out of his chair, and I quickly followed. We rounded the table, and I bent down to give Emily a hug, while Cameron did the same with his brother.

“This is awesome. And damn, you guys didn’t waste any time.”

“No shit,” Caleb said, laughing and ruffling the top of Landon’s head. “Sorry, little man.”

“It’s all right,” Landon said. “Daddy says it all the time.”

I choked on a laugh. “When are you due?”

“May,” Emily said, scrunching up her face. “Which sucks if they make the playoffs?—”

“When we make the playoffs,” Caleb corrected her.

“Fine. When they make the playoffs, it puts my due date right in the middle of them.” She rolled her eyes, and I didn’t miss how her hand fell to her stomach. “So yeah, we weren’t really trying, and the timing also isn’t great since it’s also the end of the school year. But we’re happy.”

“That’s so wonderful.” I gave her another tight squeeze. “I’m so happy for you both. So happy you found Caleb.”

She hugged me back and laughed. “Not nearly as happy as I am.”

“That was wild,” Cameron said, kicking off his sandals and flinging the baseball cap he’d worn like a frisbee toward the table by the front door. He ran his hands through his short hair and exhaled heavily. “It’s all we’ve talked about for hours, and I still can’t believe Caleb’s going to have another kid. They just got married this summer.”

He was in such a state of shock, but after the surprise of the news settled, I felt nothing but happiness for them.

“I think it’s exciting, though, don’t you?”

He turned to me, smiling so big his cheeks had to hurt. “Hell yeah, I think it’s exciting. It’s just weird. A year ago, I was still living with him. We were both single, and now he doesn’t just have a son, but he got married, built a second home, and is going to have another kid. It’s… weird. He’s my twin brother, and now it’s like we’re on two separate levels or living completely different lives or something. It’s weird.”

Cameron shook his head and headed toward the kitchen.

A trickle of unease slid through me as I followed him.

“You make that sound like a bad thing,” I said. “Like you don’t want those things?”

I’d been so sure Cameron had. Maybe I’d assumed too much.

“What?” His head jerked back, and he slammed the door of the fridge, two bottled waters in his hand. “What do you mean?”

“It’s… you said you’re excited for them, but you think it’s weird he’s doing all of that.” I shifted on my feet. “Don’t you want that?”

Cameron’s eyes widened right before he threw his head back and laughed.

I hadn’t been trying to be funny.

“Sunshine,” he said, still laughing and heading straight toward me. When he did, he plunked down the waters, wrapped his hands around my waist, and then plopped me on the kitchen counter. He caged me in with his legs and his hands on my cheeks. “I would plant a baby inside you right now, move you into this house and kidnap you so you couldn’t be out of my sight for a second if I thought that was what you wanted, or if it was the right time, or if you weren’t so settled and happy in your own new house.”

“Oh.” Well, that was good. Mostly. “I don’t think I’m ready for anything to be planted inside of me.”

A wicked grin curled his lips, and he leaned forward, brushing his lips over my mouth. I fell into this kiss immediately, and he shoved a knee between my legs, separating them until I was pressed right against evidence of his arousal.

“You don’t want anything planted inside of you?”

“Maybe one thing.” I laughed against his mouth. That laugh was quickly followed by a whimper as he rocked against me. The friction of his denim-covered crotch against my panties beneath my sundress was divine.

“Let me make this clear to you right now,” Cameron said. He cupped my cheeks and pulled me back, gazing straight into my eyes with a seriousness that was as hot as it was unnerving. “I’ve loved you for a decade. You’re the only woman I could have ever seen myself marrying. And some day, when it’s right for both of us, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to plant all the babies in you that you want, and when I retire from football, we’re going to spend the rest of our days in New Haven. You have any concerns now on what I’m thinking?”

“Um. No. I think you cleared that right up.”

He laughed, knocked the breath out of me with a kiss, and then he carried me to his bedroom.

Where he wasn’t commanding or bossy. He didn’t tease me, and he didn’t draw out my pleasure until I was begging.

No, he stripped me out of my clothes like I was the most revered thing he’d ever seen, and he made love to me softly, deeply.

He made love to me passionately, like we had all the time in the world.

And I suppose we did. Because according to Cameron, the rest of our lives together were just getting started.