Chapter 21
‘Caught you – again,’ Cam said. His arm had snaked around my waist, and in one impossibly swift motion he’d pulled me up before I’d fallen. How did he manage to move like that?
But he’d always been like this, so physical and capable and annoyingly good at almost everything.
And me? I’d had to fight for what I had.
Always needing to work harder, be faster, better, just to prove to everyone that I deserved to be there and could hold my own.
As a woman in a man’s world, you were automatically underestimated.
Cam had known this, had known how hard I’d fought just to be seen as an equal, and he’d still betrayed me.
My back was pressed into his chest and he wrapped his arms around me.
I looked down at his hands resting on my stomach, and something stirred inside.
Something that felt like exhaustion, but somehow even deeper.
I was so tired from this battling that Cam and I did – had always done.
Constantly vying for dominance; pushing, pulling, hitting, catching, throwing, punching. It was draining.
‘I’ll always catch you, Lizzy,’ he whispered. ‘If you’ll let me.’
And for a moment, just a second, I wanted to do exactly that. A part of me wanted to throw my hands in the air and scream, ‘I give up!’ Fighting Cam was seriously screwing up my work focus. I’d even missed the fact there was a hitman on the island!
‘Let’s call a truce, Lizzy,’ he said softly.
And then, to my utter horror, he rested his chin on my shoulder.
His stubble rubbed against my skin and his closeness felt far too .
. . close. Instinctively I placed my hands over his, ready to prise them off me and tell him no, as I always did.
But before I could, I heard a familiar voice.
‘Are you okay? You almost fell.’
I turned to find a pair of piercing blue eyes looking at me.
Once, I’d found them rather captivating, but now that I knew his middle name was ‘the Blade’, those eyes didn’t seem that pretty any more.
Instead, they were cold and dangerous. Icy and unforgiving.
You did not want those glacial eyes to be the last thing you saw before you died.
‘I’m fine,’ I said, forcing a smile.
His gaze flicked from me to Cam. ‘Is everything okay here?’ he asked slowly.
‘We’re all good. She’s always been a clumsy dancer, especially when she’s had a cocktail or two,’ Cam said in an upbeat tone. Maybe too upbeat?
‘I see.’ The Blade looked at me once more and raised his brows meaningfully. ‘Are you sure everything is okay?’ he asked again, his tone serious. It took longer than I’d like to admit, but I finally understood what the hell he was getting at.
‘Oh! Oh yes. Uh, this is my, uh . . .’ Shit. This was not ideal, not ideal at all. ‘Fiancé. He’s my fiancé.’ I poked Cam on the shoulder and then shot the Blade a smile.
His gaze lingered on Cam, dripping with something that could’ve been disdain or outright disgust. Danger!
I sighed out loud and readied myself for the performance of a lifetime. ‘I know, I was so, so surprised when he arrived earlier today. I wasn’t expecting it at all. But there was a knock on my door, and there he was.’
Cam smiled fondly at me. ‘I couldn’t stay away,’ he said.
The man gave Cam a dirty look and given that this man killed people for a living, the look was loaded with far more danger than it probably should have been.
‘Of course he told me what a terrible, terrible mistake he’d made,’ I added. ‘Admitted how he’d behaved like a total and utter dickhead! Such a dickhead.’
Cam frowned. I could see he was confused, but like a seasoned improv actor he started nodding anyway.
‘Total dickhead.’ He lowered his head and shook it for added effect.
‘He said he’d just had cold feet, and then he begged for forgiveness.’ I glanced at Cam. ‘Right? Begged for my forgiveness? You begged.’
‘Begged,’ he repeated.
‘And he cried and cried.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘He really cried.’
‘I’ve never known tears like that before,’ Cam said, and he almost looked like he might tear up right there and then. Damn, he was good.
‘At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to react, after what he’d done to me,’ I said, casting Cam my best wounded look. I took a deep, pained breath for added effect.
‘But she was very, very generous,’ Cam said, pulling me closer and squeezing his body to mine. ‘She’s a very forgiving person.’
‘I’d say.’ The Blade raised his brows again. ‘I don’t think I could ever forgive someone for humiliating me like that at the altar, in front of all my wedding guests.’
Cam’s eyes widened. ‘At the altar . . .’ he repeated. I covered his hand with mine and squeezed.
‘Yes, the altar,’ I said sadly. ‘I’ll never forget the humiliation of standing there alone. In front of everyone we cared about, my bridesmaids by my side, waiting for someone who never showed.’
‘Worst mistake of my life,’ Cam said sagely, pulling me even closer. ‘I’m just so lucky you decided to give me another chance.’
I forced a smile. ‘So, so lucky,’ I said through gritted teeth, trying not to make it obvious how I was busy trying to slither free of his grip.
And then Cam took it too far. Of course he did! He placed his hand on my cheek and turned my face so I was forced to look into his stupid eyes. His expression made me want to stop breathing, for reasons I did not like.
‘I’m so lucky I’m with someone like you,’ he whispered, as if it was meant just for me to hear.
He began to lean closer. I widened my eyes at him, trying to broadcast a clear message: Back the hell off.
But as his face drew nearer, as his gaze lowered to my lips, as it lingered there, shit, skimmed them, traced them, something in me began to wobble.
I could feel my previous defiance melting away.
‘So understanding. So forgiving,’ Cam said, his eyes still locked on mine. There was something in them now, not playful, not smug any more, but real.
I leaned back. ‘Of course, it was only when you told the truth that I was more inclined to be that way,’ I said, making sure the emphasis was clear.
He nodded. ‘Thank you for believing me when you initially didn’t think I was telling the truth,’ he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. I had never – not once, not for a single second – believed him when he said he hadn’t used that map.
But surely, after all the time that had elapsed, he would’ve just come clean.
What did he have to lose now by admitting it?
Nothing. He didn’t even work for the police any more.
For the first time ever, doubt crept in. What if . . . what if it wasn’t a lie? What if he really hadn’t used it? Hadn’t betrayed me like I thought he had. What if everything I’d believed about him for all these years was . . .
‘I didn’t use it, Lizzy,’ he whispered, so softly that I almost didn’t hear it.
I nodded. I think I might have been about to say that maybe I was starting to believe him; that I needed some time to think about it. But then he leaned in again . . .
I bent my head slowly, almost reverently. The world around me blurred, all sound fell away, and for a moment it was just her and that impossibly strong gravitational force she seemed to exert on me. I pressed my lips to hers.
It was like they belonged there. Like they had been waiting six years to come home. Her lips were warm, slightly damp from the heat and humidity of the island.
The kiss was brief, but it said everything that I couldn’t.
At least I hoped it did. That I was sorry.
That I meant it. That I remembered. That I still loved her.
That I’d tried not to love her, but she was impossible not to love.
Every unspoken word was etched into that one quiet moment, and I let it speak for me.
I just hoped she was prepared to listen.