Chapter Seventeen
Tess
“SHOULD I BE nervous?” Cameron asked as we pulled into my family neighborhood.
“Absolutely,” I said.
He laughed.
“No, seriously,” I stressed. “Daddy’s a high-ranking admiral. Mom’s the principal at a private Catholic school. There’s no swearing, no nutsack slapping, that sort of thing. My siblings are nothing like your siblings. We don’t tease each other. At least, not in front of the parentals.”
He linked his fingers with mine. “Got it. Code switching activated.”
“You don’t have to code switch, Bugs. Be you. Just be less like Cade.”
“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” Cameron laughed. “I’ll chew with my mouth closed and do my best not to give anyone a communicable disease.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Oh my god, did he do that?”
“No, honey, I’m teasing you.”
“Oh, god, I need to learn.”
“You will,” he promised. “You sorted everything with him, yeah?”
I nodded. “Navy and I had a very enlightening conversation.”
“Oh? Care to share?”
“She said I was free to,” I said. “But I still feel like it’s private.”
“Well, then only tell me what you feel comfortable telling me.”
“I doubt it’s anything you’re not already aware of. She just said that Cade has abandonment issues and he’d picked a fight with her earlier because she was heading out of town for work, so he was already on edge, so the fact that his baby brother, the brother he loves most of all—”
“She said he loves me most of all?” he asked.
“She did,” I confirmed. “Anyway, she said that every time you take off, and he doesn’t know where you are, he gets this pit in his gut like he’s going to lose you. And then all the stuff with Diana and Devon—”
“Wait, what happened with Devon?”
Devon was Cameron’s nephew and apparently, Cade had been fighting with his ex, Diana, over custody for years. Diana didn’t actually want custody, she just wanted child support.
“Diana tried to file something with the court, citing some erroneous report with CPS that of course never existed, and it was a whole thing that Cade had to take time away to deal with, which he, of course, did not tell Navy about right away.”
He sighed. “She’s an attorney, for fuck’s sake.”
“Her point exactly,” I said. “Navy was able to step in and take care of it, but she said he tried to call you and you didn’t answer…”
“Because we were in Russia,” he deduced.
“Yes. So, Cade’s been very, ah, what did he say to Cricket? Navy used it about Cade.”
He smiled. “Extra.”
“Yes. He’s been extra. And then she told him she has to head out of town tomorrow, apparently, so with all of it, it all got to be a bit much.”
“Makes sense. He lost brothers in the Army, too, so he’s experienced a lot of loss.”
I squeezed his hand. “You all have.”
“Yeah, but Hatch and Cade sheltered us from a lot of it. And I honestly don’t give Cade enough credit.”
“Well, now you can fix that. Maybe go grab a beer when we get home.”
“You just said ‘home.’”
“Yeah, so?”
“Are you saying Portland’s gonna be home?” he asked.
“Bugs, I love my family, and I think you will too, but if I tried to drag you away from yours, I think they would individually hunt me down and torture me until I was dead.”
He laughed. “That is not a reason to give up your life here. I am willing to compromise.”
I shook my head. “I love your family and they fight with and for each other. I’m not saying mine doesn’t, but it’s different.
I will not now, nor ever, ask you to give that up.
I also love the idea of having a gaggle of kids, once it’s safe, of course, and have them grow up in the chaos of cousins.
And especially with an aunt like Cricket. ”
“I love you,” he said as we drove up my parents’ driveway.
“I love you too.” I grinned. “Okay, you have our story straight, right?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Because if Dad finds out…”
“He won’t, Tess, I promise.” He turned to me. “He and I’ll have our man-to-man and as far as anyone in your family will know, I still work with my brothers.”
“But we met while—”
“I was in Spain sourcing tile for a client. I know, honey.” He tapped his temple. “I’ve got it.”
“Sorry.” I blew a breath out through my lips. “It’s just Dad is hard to read, except that I’m pretty sure he knows I’m lying about everything, so…”
“We’ll be fine.” He leaned in and kissed me gently. “Right, I’m going to open your door, so if you touch that handle, I’ll smack the shit out of that ass.”
I reached over and touched the handle with a sly grin.
“Jesus, woman, now I’m gonna be hard all night.”
I laughed. “So will I.”
He climbed out of the car, walking to my side and opening the door for me. He kissed me gently before grabbing our bag of gifts, Dad’s favorite bourbon, and Mom’s favorite wine, along with fresh flowers, then headed to the door.
“Mom, we’re here!” I called after walking inside.
Sinclair came rushing into the foyer, nearly crashing into the wall as she came to an abrupt stop. “Holy crap!”
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Are you an actor?” she blurted as she gave Cameron a full body sweep with her eyes.
I chuckled. “No, seester, he’s not.”
“A model?”
“No.”
My sister ran a hand up Cameron’s arm and leaned in close. “Are you sure?”
“Sinclair!” I hissed. “Why are you touching him?”
“Because he’s so pretty!” She sighed. “Why aren’t you a model and an actor?”
“Don’t have the talent for it,” Cameron said.
“You just have to stand there and look pretty,” Sinclair said.
“Don’t have the temperament for it, then,” Cameron countered, giving her a million-watt smile.
“Oh my god, who cares? Just stand there and smile like that. You could be a complete dick, and no one would care.”
I grabbed the neck of my sister’s shirt and tugged her away from him. “Move away from my pretty man.”
“Do you have any brothers?”
“Three of them,” Cameron said. “All of them taken.”
“Damn it,” she hissed. “Come on in. Everyone’s waiting to meet you.”
I leaned into Cameron, kissing his bicep. “I’m sorry about my sister.”
He chuckled. “Baby, your sister’s cute. I never mind a cute girl coming onto me.”
I slapped his chest with a mock gasp. “You’re going to pay for that later.”
His eyes flashed and he leaned down to kiss me quickly. “I hope I do.”
I bit my lip, taking his hand and leading him through the house into the kitchen. It took a minute, because he wanted to stop in every room to admire the architecture.
“Did you get lost?” Mom asked once we finally arrived.
“Sorry, that was my fault, Mrs. St. Marks,” Cameron said, reaching his hand out. “Your home is incredible. We don’t see architecture like this on the West Coast. 1840s colonial, am I right?”
Mom put her hand over her heart, and I nearly did a little dance of joy.
He had her.
One thing about my mother was her love of history and if you compliment her home, you score points, but if you recognize the history of her home, you’re in.
“1841, yes,” Mom confirmed. “The house had been added on a few times, but the bones were great when Dan’s father bought it back in the fifties. He raised Dan in this house, and then we inherited and gutted it, bringing it back to its glory.”
“You did an amazing job.”
“Tess mentioned you’re in construction?” Mom asked.
“I am.”
“How long have you been doing that?”
“Pretty much out of high school,” he said. “I work with my brothers.”
“Oh, goodness.” She smiled. “Working with family can be tough.”
“It’s not so bad,” he countered. “We’re a close-knit unit. We lost our parents young, so we had to be.”
My brothers chose that moment to bombard him with introductions, then my father walked in and all eyes were on him.
“Sorry,” Dad said as he strolled into the room. “My call went a little long.” He smiled, reaching out to shake Cameron’s hand. “Nice to put a face to the voice.”
He and Cameron had already had some kind of man-to-man chat when Cameron had insisted on asking for my hand in marriage. I’d thought it was an antiquated tradition, but Cameron had made the argument that my parents were important to me, so they were important to him.
It was sweet, if somewhat old-fashioned.
“Nice to finally meet you in person,” Cameron returned.
“Why don’t we chat in the den?”
“What?” I squeaked. “Why do you need to chat in the den?”
Cameron chuckled. “It’ll be fine, Tess.”
Cameron followed Dad out of the kitchen and I faced my mother. “What’s that all about?”
“I’m sure I have no idea.”
“I’m sure you have every idea.”
“You know, you are both welcome to stay here,” Mom said, changing the subject.
“No, that’s okay,” I rushed to say. “We found a lovely hotel down by the water and it’ll give me a chance to show Cameron the city.”
“Translation: they want to have sex,” Sinclair sassed.
“Sin!” I squeaked.
“What?” she asked innocently. “You’re engaged now. Obviously, you’re doing the deed.”
“Sinclair Ruth St. Marks, that is highly inappropriate,” Mom admonished.
“Just speaking the truth. If you didn’t insist on us all sleeping in separate bedrooms until we were married, we might be willing to stay here with our significant others.”
“Stop poking the bear,” I hissed.
“Maybe if you promise to be super quiet—”
I found the closest thing to me and threw it at her head.
It was an apple and my aim was true.
“Ow!” she squealed as the fruit hit her square in the middle of her forehead.
“Well, that’s going to leave a mark,” Mom said, then smiled. “Next time, you’ll duck.”
“Mom!” Sinclair cried. “She could have given me a concussion.”
“Oh, pish. The apple was starting to soften. I was either going to use it for a pie or chuck it, so no chance of that, darling.” She handed Sinclair a platter of ham. “Take this to the table, please.”
“Can I get an icepack or an aspirin, or something maybe?”
“I don’t know, can you?”
“Oh my… may I get an ice pack and an ibuprofen?”
“Once you take the meat to the table, absolutely.”
“I want proof I’m not adopted. Hard proof.”
“Oh, my darling girl, you’re always so dramatic,” Mom said.
“I was assaulted with an apple!” she squealed. “I was affruited.”
“Take that to the table and I’ll get you an ice pack.”
“Oh, sure, the baby never gets in trouble. Once again, Sinclair takes the brunt of all of it,” she grumbled, stomping her way out of the kitchen.
Mom and I looked at each other and burst out into girlish giggles, eliciting a, “I hear you!” from Sinclair in the other room.
It just made us laugh harder.
Once we’d calmed ourselves, Mom handed me the tureen of lobster bisque, my absolute favorite meal on the planet, and I walked it out to the table.
“Brothers,” I called. “Mom needs help.”
The four of them rose to their feet in tandem and headed into the kitchen, while I joined Sinclair outside of the den.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Eavesdropping, duh.”
“Well, stop it.”
“Um, no, I will not.”
“Sin, seriously, it’s rude,” I said.
“Do you want to know what I’ve heard or not?”
“No.”
“Really?” she challenged. “They’re talking about you.”
I shook my head, grabbing her arm and tugging her away from the door. “I don’t care. Get away from there.”
“You’re absolutely no fun.”
“So you’ve said many times.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to know?”
“Fine, tell me.”
“No.”
“Oh my god, I’m going to kill you one day.”
“Can’t wait,” she said and we headed to the table just as Dad and Cameron walked out of the den.
Once we were all seated, dinner began relatively uneventfully, with small talk, questions my family had for Cameron, getting to know him. All normal.
Until…
“Oh, by the way, honey, George Korman says hello,” Dad said.
“Did he?” Mom asked. “That’s nice.”
I did a spit take of my lobster bisque into my bowl.
“Tess!” Mom admonished.
“Sorry, a little hot.”
Cameron slid a hand to my thigh and squeezed, a silent urge to say nothing.
“Yeah,” Dad continued, as though nothing had happened. “He owed me a round of golf and dinner at the club.”
“Did he?” Mom asked. “Why’s that?”
“I helped him procure a private jet a little while back.”
“For what?” Mom asked.
“Oh, I have no idea. It was for some friends of his.”
“Oh, that was nice of you, dear.”
“It was nice of me.” Dad chuckled. “I just hope everything worked out for his friends.”
I glanced at Cameron, then back at my soup as I reached for his hand and squeezed.
“Do you have anymore travel coming up, or are you home for a while, Tess?” Mom asked, effectively changing the subject.
“I think we’re going to head to Portland for a bit, then not sure after that,” I said.
The rest of dinner continued without a hitch and the subject of George Korman never came up again, so I let myself relax.
* * *
Cameron
“Do you think my dad knows about any of it?” Tess asked once we got back to the hotel.
“Oh, I think your dad knows about all of it,” he said.
“Oh my god, no.”
“Baby, don’t worry about it. If he was concerned, I’m sure we would have had a conversation.”
She met my eyes as we rode up the elevator. “He didn’t say anything to you in your meeting?”
“No. We just talked about how he expected me to treat you. It was a great talk.”
She bit her lip and sighed. “Oh. Okay, good.”
“I have a surprise for you.”
Tess’s face lit up as I pushed open the hotel room door. She clapped her hands. “I love surprises.”
“I’m aware.”
“Tell me, tell me.”
“Well, actually, it might be more for me.”
“Cameron Wallace, stop teasing me.”
I grinned. “Sauce.”
She frowned. “What?”
“I had the hotel send up various flavors of sauce. Lots of it.”
Her cheeks pinkened as her eyes blinked. Slowly. “You had the hotel send up lots of sauce?”
“I did. I thought I could lick it off you.”
The tip of her tongue darted out and touched her top lip and then she smiled slowly. “Then why are we still dressed?”
I put the ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign on the door and then we undressed like it was an Olympic sport.
Tess threw the pillows on the ground before flipping the covers down and lying onto the bed, and I couldn’t stop a low growl as I grasped the back of her thighs, tugging her forward.
She let out a quiet squeak as she fell to her back with her legs open.
I grinned, grabbing one of the silver dishes of chocolate and dribbling on her before dropping to my knees and burying my face in her pussy.
Jesus H. Christ, I’d never get enough of this. Ever.
Tess slid a leg over my shoulder, digging her heel into my back, pulling me closer, as I ate, sucked, fucked her with my tongue, and licked her mound.
She panted as she writhed under my mouth, her fingers gripping my scalp as her mews broke the silence in the room. She was coming and she was coming fast.
I sat up, grabbing her ankles and flipping her onto her stomach before grabbing the caramel. “On your knees, baby.”
Tess repositioned herself onto her knees and my dick jerked, ready to fuck her, but I wanted to savor every second.
For the next two hours, we used each other like ice cream sundaes (sans ice cream) before cleaning up in the shower.
To say the sights of D.C. were unparalleled brilliance was an understatement.