15. Felicity #2
A few minutes later I was dressed, although going commando since he’d ripped my panties off. I joined him in the kitchen where he was mixing up dinner for Boris.
I glanced in the bowl at a mixture that could’ve passed for human meatloaf. “Looks fancy.”
“Nothing but the best for my boy,” he said proudly.
After he put the bowl on the ground and Boris got to work on it, he turned to me. “I’d say we worked up an appetite. Can I make something for you?”
If dog food could make my stomach growl, then I definitely needed sustenance. “Hold on, you cook?”
He shrugged as he opened the refrigerator. “Not all that often, but I can make a mean aglio e olio. Daniel just restocked the kitchen, so I’ve got some huge fresh shrimp and homemade angel hair from Terranova. What do you think?”
I was practically drooling. “Yes, please!”
“Perfect. Can you go to the butler’s pantry and grab the big white serving dish? It’s in the cabinet by the sink. I usually eat right from the pot, but let’s pretend to be civilized tonight.”
“Civilized men don’t rip women’s panties,” I joked as I walked toward the pantry. I raised the hem of my dress and flashed my ass at him, getting a groan of appreciation.
As expected, the butler’s pantry was huge and beautiful enough to be yet another focal point of the apartment. There were four cabinets, so I started poking through them to find anything resembling a serving dish.
The man was stocked for parties galore. I searched through the first cabinet, which was filled with crystal stemware, decanters, stacks of fine china, cheeseboards, and flatware sets, but no serving bowls.
I opened the second and found stacks of linens.
I ran my hand along the top of the sumptuous fabric, wondering if the bright white napkin had ever been used.
My finger bumped up against something hard shoved in between the wall and the stack, so I pulled it out.
The frame held a photo of Cameron and a stunning raven-haired woman. She was looking directly at the camera and laughing, and Cameron was staring at her, his mouth closed but smiling. My heart lurched at the joy in the image. Who was this mystery woman who had Cameron under her spell?
“That’s Carolina,” he said, making me jump in shock. I’d been so caught up staring at the photo that I hadn’t even heard him approach. “My ex,” he explained.
“She’s beautiful,” I admitted, even though it pained me.
He smirked. “And troubled. Which I found out a little too late.”
“Do you mind telling me what happened?” I asked tentatively.
Cameron let out a weary sigh. “Carolina and I had a whirlwind romance. She was wild and impetuous, which was sexy as hell at first. But then I started to realize her behavior was really just a way to get back at her parents. She had a strict upbringing—fire and brimstone stuff. She wanted to break free, and she saw me as her way out. Her parents hated my lifestyle,” he smiled wryly.
“I was known for being a bit of a hedonist back in the day.”
I squinted at the photo and focused on her hand. “Is she wearing…did you two get married?”
Cameron nodded slowly. “We did. That photo was from our honeymoon.” He let out a harsh laugh. “It lasted almost as long as our marriage: a three-week trip and a two-week marriage.” He reached over to take the photo from me, glancing at it quickly, then slipping it back in the cupboard.
My eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
“Oh yeah. When I realized she was just using me to make a point to her parents, I had it annulled. But really, we didn’t make sense together.
We had an amazing time together when it was all new and fresh—and we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
I admit I got caught up in how damn good it felt being with her, which is why I proposed.
But once we were on that honeymoon, spending all of our time together, we discovered we had nothing in common.
We’d sit at the breakfast table and struggle to find things to talk about.
I lost my head to love and paid the price.
” Cameron paused to consider it. “Well, not really. The damage would’ve been much greater if I’d let the whole thing drag on. Better to cut my losses quickly.”
“I’m…I’m sorry,” I said, unsure of what else to say as I processed this new information about him. It sounded like he was talking about a business transaction, which left a sour feeling in my stomach.
“Well, that’s what I get for letting my heart rule my brain,” he said in a matter-of-fact voice, like it was common knowledge that falling in love would always end poorly.
“Look at Tyler. Same thing happened to him, in a sense. He picked the wrong person, and she fucked him up in a dozen different ways. I can’t exactly blame all the problems with the second album on her—Tyler made some mistakes there, for sure—but she didn’t help, running him ragged with all the partying she wanted to do.
Not to mention all the drugs she was into…
and that she got him into, before leaving him behind with a load of addictions and a broken heart. ”
I felt myself frowning at the revelations. Was that really how Cameron saw love—as something that tore people up and left them broken in the aftermath?
“Anyway, live and learn,” he said, gently closing the cupboard door and walking to the one I hadn’t checked. He pulled out a white bowl and held it up. “The pasta water is probably boiling—let’s get moving.”
I followed behind him, trying not to think too hard about what was happening between us. It was nothing more than a fake relationship with a little bit of good sex sprinkled on top. Incredible sex.
I needed to keep reminding myself of that fact, to keep the reins tight around my heart, because Cameron O’Connor wasn’t the type to make the same mistake twice.
As if falling in love could ever be considered a mistake.