Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,96

and I know I didn’t look twelve, but I sure as shit didn’t look eighteen, either. What the hell does he think he’s going to do with that video? It would literally be a federal offense if he uploaded it anywhere. Actually, you know what? Let’s see if he needs to borrow my computer. A federal prison might do him some good.” She stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. “I need you to find out who’s following him. And then we need to pay them double to become our tail, because if it is pissing Jonathan off enough for him to be making threats, I want to be the one responsible for it. I want that joy, Cam.”

A lot of things were happening at that moment. She was making wild and quasi-amusing statements involving a hitman, Albanian Mafia, and joy.

But I was more focused on what she wasn’t doing.

She wasn’t unraveling.

She hadn’t fallen into a pile of broken pieces.

She wasn’t in that pit of demons at all.

My Nora was standing tall, her shoulders back, pissed all to hell and back—rightly so. And I was so fucking proud of her there wasn’t a parallel universe or alternate dimension out there in which I would have been able to suppress my smile.

My legs devoured the distance between us, and I wrapped her up in a bear hug, leaning back to lift her off her feet. “You are fucking incredible. Do you know that?”

“Put me down! I’m in the middle of a rant.”

I laughed—which, given the subject and situation, shouldn’t have been possible. But, then again, I’d seriously underestimated the power of Nora Stewart.

Setting her back on her feet, I waved an arm out. “By all means, carry on.”

And carry on she did. She cussed and raved, plotting out at least seven different elaborate plans to get rid of Jonathan Caskey.

And I sat on the stool, eating a cruller, grinning like a fool, and sipping on my coffee. All the while having no fucking clue how I could ever go back to a life without her.

Deep breath in.

Soft snore out.

Deep breath in.

Soft—

His arm twitched around my middle. I froze, holding my breath so as not to wake him.

I had no idea how we’d ended up in that position. On the couch. Me the small spoon. Camden curled behind me. However, I was in no rush to get out of it, either.

After I’d stopped ranting enough to hold a conversation, Camden and I had moved to the couch. I’d settled into my favorite corner with my legs stretched out across the neighboring cushion, and he’d sat on the opposite end, as far away from me as humanly possible. We came to the conclusion that Jonathan sucked, and I was thankful his investigator was looking into things. I was not in any way happy or comfortable knowing Jonathan had those tapes, but I wasn’t a scared and alone little girl anymore, so I took it in stride. It would definitely be the hot topic with my therapist over the following weeks though.

I’d turned on the morning news for background noise and it had seemed to immediately ensnare Camden. Though it had bored me to sleep. Literally. What? He’d woken me up early. A mid-morning nap had never been more necessary.

I had no idea how long I’d been asleep or how I’d woken up in the cuddly version of The Twilight Zone, but I was not complaining.

Or moving.

Or breathing at the moment.

His twitchy hand stilled.

And I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“How long have you been awake?” he asked, his voice gravelly and sexy from sleep.

Busted.

“Um…long enough to know you’re a mouth-breather.”

He barked a laugh and sat up, forcing me up with him. “It’s better than being a drooler like you.”

I slapped him with one of the throw pillows. “Lies.”

He stood up and stretched, his T-shirt lifting just enough to reveal a deep V of chiseled muscles disappearing into his waistband. I told myself not to stare.

Then I promptly stared.

And because it was my life and I seriously could not catch a break, he caught me.

“Eyes up here, Stewart.”

I flashed him a tight smile. “Sorry. Maybe leave this part out when you tell your girlfriend about me. Probably the spooning too. I’ve grown quite attached to my eyes and would hate to have her fly down here just to claw them out.”

“Oooh, a catfight. Will there be Jell-O involved?”

“Psh, in your dreams, buddy.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Your eyes are safe. I don’t