against him.
He didn’t laugh. Or move. Just enjoyed being with her.
She glanced around the room. “You do realize we’re on your living room floor.”
“Hey, be grateful the dogs aren’t here. They’d be all over us, thinking it was playtime.”
“I never thought I’d say this,” Hadley said, “but I’m a little sad the gala is over.”
He’d been thinking the same thing.
“I haven’t had time to tell you this,” she continued, “but I’ve been contacting a lot of people about starting a rescue. I have a meeting with the head of the state SPCA next week. And Fuller got his veterinary training program to agree to allow the residents to spay and neuter animals. And I met someone online from a popular no-kill shelter in New York who’s going to talk to me about their business plan.”
“Hadley,” he said, “I know that whatever you decide to do, you’ll do an incredible job.” He believed it wholeheartedly.
“I was thinking the same about you,” she said. “I think maybe you were born to own a restaurant. You love cooking and feeding people. Whatever happens, I want you to know that.”
They were both quiet, listening to the familiar, soothing rhythm of the waves as they crashed to shore and receded, over and over again.
He told himself they’d started this just for fun. Or because they couldn’t help it. Or any of a number of reasons he could try and convince himself were true.
He pushed those thoughts out of his head, determined to celebrate every moment with her. “So I want to know why you only call me Tony during…certain times.”
“Well, that is your name,” she said with a laugh. “Someone should call you that.”
“But you haven’t called me that in a really long time. Well, except the other night…”
“Now you’re just embarrassing me,” she said, but she was smiling. “If you don’t like it, I’ll stop. I’ve gotten used to calling you Cam.”
He lifted his head and looked at her. “I love it when you call me Tony.” He felt like it was his real name, his real self. The one that she somehow saw.
“Well, I suppose I can try it out again outside of the bedroom. Or living room,” she added with a chuckle.
“I do have a bed, you know.”
“Can we just stay here for a little longer?” She smiled up at him in a wistful way that made his heart twist with feeling.
“As long as you want to.” He tightened his grip around her. He understood the feeling of wanting to slow down time. Of wanting this moment of peace and contentment to last.
They lay like that a long time, enjoying the quiet lull of the ocean and the sounds of the soft velvet night. And his heart was fuller than it had ever been.
* * *
Sometime in the middle of the night, Hadley bolted upright in bed. Cam stirred, his arm falling from around her waist. “You okay?” he asked in a sleep-laced voice. Nothing seemed amiss, both dogs snoozing happily at their feet, Bowie’s snores following their usual rhythmic pattern, Cam’s big body curled comfortingly around her.
Yet something seemed amiss. Hadley blinked, half awake, the gray room coming into focus. “I had the weirdest dream,” she said, still groggy. “It was about puppies.”
“You would dream of puppies.” He rolled to his back. At some point they’d brought over the dogs, who immediately thought it was a slumber party and climbed right into bed with them. Bowie, who was lying on his calves, stirred. “Was it a good dream?”
“No, they were crying. Like—”
The faraway sound of whimpering suddenly filled the room. Hadley exchanged a did-you-really-hear-that glance with Cam, then jumped from the bed. Jagger, who’d been asleep near the edge, lumbered to the floor. Bowie sat up and shook himself, ears flapping. Hadley ran to the window in a flash, throwing it open. “Like this.”
Distant strains of mewling drifted in from somewhere at the back of the house, brought in by the gentle breeze. Suddenly she felt the radiant warmth of Cam’s body right behind her. “What is it?” he asked. “Cats, maybe?”
She turned from the window to face him. He was adorably disheveled, his hair sticking out at odd angles. “Something newborn. Puppies or kittens would be my guess.” Grabbing her robe from a chair, she ran out of the bedroom, but Cam got to the kitchen first. By the time she caught up, he was standing at the door, his hand resting on the knob. Jagger was pacing back and