5 #4
That was sure as hell his preference. “I vote yes, but I will never pressure you.” I am not Mike, he wanted to say, but if she didn’t know that by now, it was already too late for them.
“So you want to stay the night?” Her eyes searched his, measuring his intent.
“Tonight, tomorrow—until we know Mike has hit the road and things calm down?”
Her lack of objection encouraged him.
Shocking him, pleasing him, she said, “Okay—but even if it’s only a day, I have some ground rules.”
As long as she didn’t tell him to take a hike, he could deal with anything. “Let’s hear it.”
“You sleep the whole night with me.”
That’s how he wanted it anyway. “Done.”
“There’s more.”
He wrestled his tone into calm moderation. “Go ahead.”
In a sudden rush, she went through a list. “Lights out, some clothes on, no questions, and . . . and we can’t tell anyone.”
What. The. Hell. Pulling back, Kam stared at her serious expression and was lost. “Want to tell me why?”
Shoving away from him, her voice high and thin, she reiterated, “No questions!”
Kam took in her panicked stance and knew nothing else mattered except reassuring her. Whatever she hoped to accomplish, he’d
work past it soon enough. Then they could move on to better arrangements.
Lifting his hands in the universal sign of surrender, Kam said, “Sorry. I forgot that rule.”
She was breathing too quickly; her entire body tensed. “I know it sounds absurd, but I don’t want sex to ruin things.”
Absurd covered it. Tension gathered in the back of his neck. “Should I be insulted? I mean, just because it was my fantasy,
doesn’t guarantee you feel the same.”
She assured him, “I do.” Those two little words, which sounded too much like wedding vows, had her spinning away again. Arms
hugged around herself, she moved into the kitchen until the bar separated them.
“Slow down, babe.” To help put her at ease, he took a seat at the bar. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.” Somehow.
“I love seeing Callie so happy, and I love Tanner because he gave that to her. I love Addie, too. I’ve never known anyone like her.”
She threw that word out like confetti, leaving love scattered everywhere. Normally, hearing it just once would make him twitchy.
This time, with Glory, he didn’t have a problem with it. “Addie is special,” he agreed. But what Tanner and Addie had to do
with anything, he didn’t know.
“You know my parents died when I was younger.” Needlessly, she straightened the canisters beside the stove. “Callie’s parents
have been wonderful—”
He snorted. Liz and Frank were a unique type of obtuse critics, especially when it came to Glory. To be fair, it was more
Liz than Frank, but Frank didn’t intercede, and in Kam’s book, that made him guilty, too.
Moving past that, Glory said, “I appreciate everything they did for me, but I’ve never quite measured up to them.”
Unable to bite off the words, Kam said, “They set impossible standards. Ignore them.”
When she looked up at him, she wore a gentle smile. “That’s what Callie always says.”
“I knew right off that Callie was an insightful woman.”
The smile flickered a little more, before it disappeared. “Addie just accepts me as I am.”
Like a ton of bricks, it hit him. She’d found acceptance here and she didn’t want to risk it. “Glory.” Fuck the distance between
them. He strode around the counter and tugged her back into his arms. Right now, that’s where she belonged. “I would never
do anything to hurt your relationship with Addie or Tanner. I couldn’t. You’re family now and that’s not something either
of them would take lightly.”
Resting her cheek to his chest, she slid her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. “Still. Promise you won’t say anything
to anyone.”
“They saw me kiss you earlier.”
“One kiss. That’s all. But this . . .”
Yeah, this was definitely more.
“No one needs the distraction right now.”
So he was a distraction? He supposed he’d been worse things in his lifetime. Pressing a kiss to her lips bought him a little
time. He cupped her face, tipped it up, and deepened the kiss. Once they were both breathing hard, he lightened up. “I promise.”
Glory let out a grateful breath. “Thank you.”
There she went, charming him again. “You’re welcome.” Hopefully, once he settled down with her in a bed, she’d forget her
silly rules. “People are bound to notice that I’m staying here, too.”
Dismissing that as insignificant, she said, “You’re protective, so that’s fine.”
She honestly thought anyone would believe they were beneath the same roof and not doing anything?
“Just don’t mention the sex.”
Right. The sex. Lights out. Some clothes on. “I’m not an asshole who brags, so no problem.” He thought of how she’d stretched the shirt so low and wondered what she was
hiding. He’d held her ass in his hands and as far as he could tell, that sweet part of her anatomy was perfection.
Though for sure, he’d never approached sex with a list of rules laid out first. Especially not minutes after ungoverned carnality
in a foyer.
Then again, nothing with Glory felt standard. It was all new and different—and more exciting because of it.