Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,54

there was me.

Probably the script called for me to be grateful – not just for being allowed inside, but also for the in-room beverage service.

But I didn't feel grateful. Mostly I felt silly for being so easy to predict.

Before Mason could think to answer, I forced another laugh. "Never mind. Don't answer that." Again, I glanced around. This time, I spotted a plaid blanket draped over a nearby chair. "Hey, can I borrow that?"

"Borrow what?"

I pointed. "That blanket. You know, so I can return to my bedroom." I kept my gaze trained on the blanket. "I mean, now that it's over."

When Mason spoke next, his voice was softer than I'd ever heard it. "Cami."

Again, I turned to look. "Yeah?"

"You don't get it."

"I don't get what?"

"I wasn't keeping water under my bed for when you came to me. I was keeping it to stop me from going to you."

My breath caught. "What?"

He reached out and gently stroked the side of my face. "Do you know how crazy you've been making me?"

"Seriously?"

"Dead serious," he said. "There were times I'd leave my room in the middle of the night, and I'd happen to glance toward your bedroom door or hell, run into you in the kitchen. And then get I'd to thinking..."

When his words trailed off into silence, I couldn’t stop myself from saying, "Thinking what?"

"About you. And this."

"Really?"

"Really," he said. "And I promise you this. If you're thirsty tomorrow night, my door – it'll be unlocked."

Chapter 33

Mason

She never came, not that night, nor the night after that.

I didn't get it. Whenever Willow was around, Cami acted like nothing had happened between us. There were no secret looks, no sly bids to get me alone, nothing except for the same warm professionalism she'd shown from the beginning.

And when Willow wasn't around? Neither was Cami.

If I were the kind of guy to question my own skills, I might've wondered if I'd left her wanting in the bedroom.

But I hadn't.

She'd been satisfied and then some. I knew this, just like I knew that when she'd left my bedroom near dawn, she'd left with a smile, along with every intention of returning.

Maybe she hadn't said so, but the look in her eyes had been crystal clear as I'd bundled her into the blanket and kissed her goodbye at my bedroom door.

Hell, I would've walked her back to her own room if only she hadn't insisted on going alone. It wasn't a big deal. Her bedroom was only a short walk from mine, and there were no wolves roaming my halls.

Well, none except me.

As far as the future logistics, I figured we had the next night to work out the details.

But we worked out nothing.

And why? It was because Cami never showed.

Another guy might've asked her what was going on, or maybe tried to get her alone for a repeat performance. But that wasn't me.

I wasn't looking for anything serious. I wasn't looking for anything at all. And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

I started living for her smiles and watching her from the corner of my eye, wondering what would happen when she left my house for good. Would Willow be the same?

Would I?

I didn't think so. And slowly, I came to a startling conclusion. If I had a heart to give, I'd give it to Cami, assuming she'd accept.

But would she? Now I wasn't so certain. And this, too, was a new sensation. I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

I wasn't sure about anything.

And this, too, was a first.

After the first week, I stopped listening for a knock at my door. After the second week, I debated knocking on hers.

But I'd told Cami up-front that I wasn't looking for anything serious, so I refused to give her the wrong impression, to lead her on with promises of something I couldn’t give.

She deserved better.

So I tried to let it go.

Tried. And failed.

At Thanksgiving, Cami went home for a long weekend to visit her family while Willow and I spent the holiday at Brody and Arden's place, where we had the first traditional Thanksgiving dinner we'd had in years.

It was nice. Or it would've been, if only I weren't missing a certain someone – Cami.

As far as her trip back to Petoskey, it was only fair to give her the time off, along with the use of the orange SUV to drive there and back. It was something we'd agreed on maybe a month earlier, before we'd given in to whatever urges had made us