Marti sighed deeply. “Thanks, guys. I’m so happy I got all of that off my chest. I feel so much better.” The sarcasm didn’t fool them. She took another big bite of pie. “I feel like crap,” she said around the bite.
“Chew your food, for God’s sake. I’ve never seen anyone eat pie so fast,” Jenna teased.
“So he loves you, wants you, and turns around and is a complete asshole to you.”
“Thanks for summing things up for me, Elizabeth.”
“Speaking of the asshole, here he comes,” Jenna said.
Cameron saw all of them the minute he came through the door. He’d been in a bad mood all day. He’d left thinking of all the questions she’d asked him to answer about her and he couldn’t answer one. Her last name was at the top of his list of things he wanted to know.
Besides the questions, he couldn’t get the memory of making love to her in the rain out of his head. His body acted like he was a testosterone-strung-out teenager, keeping him in a perpetual state of arousal.
He walked right up to her, spun her seat at the bar around to face him, and leaned over her and took her mouth with his. He held her face in his hands and wouldn’t let her turn away. He kissed her hard and insistent until she opened her mouth to him. He rubbed his tongue over hers, tasted apple pie and chocolate on her lips. He didn’t stop until he knew she was kissing him back with all the ardor he gave to her. When he pulled away, he looked her right in the eye and asked, “What’s your last name?”
She went from stunned silence to spitting mad and shoved him away and stood. “You can’t do this to me. You can’t kiss me like that, come home tonight, kiss her hello, and think it doesn’t hurt me.
“Tell me, Cameron, will you kiss me like that now and sleep with your fiancé tonight? Do my feelings mean so little to you, you think it doesn’t matter how you treat me, so long as you get what you want? Did you ever once consider my feelings before you did any of this?”
She didn’t wait for a reply. She grabbed her purse and ran out of the restaurant crying.
“You’re an asshole,” Elizabeth and Jenna said.
“Thanks. I didn’t know that already.” He sat in the chair Marti fled and rubbed his hand over his face and neck, digging his fingers into the tense muscles. “Do either of you know her last name?”
“We wouldn’t tell you if we did,” Jenna said.
“That’s what I thought.”
“You’re an idiot. She loves you and you treat her like some cheap piece of ass. Shelly is a cheap piece of ass and you ask her to marry you. Tell me, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“Shelly is pregnant.”
“And you love Marti,” Jenna said. “Finish Marti’s pie.”
He looked at her plate. Less than half of a piece left, it had chocolate sauce, ice cream, and whip cream on top. Olives on the side?
“What’s with the chocolate sauce and olives?”
“I think she was having a craving.”
“That’s just gross,” he said and pushed the plate away.
“You’re an idiot.” Jenna walked away with that parting shot.
Elizabeth left and went back into the kitchen, carrying a package.
Cameron was left sitting there alone, brooding.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
* * *
CAMERON ARRIVED HOME and found Shelly having a fit because the staff wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. She wanted to get the house in order for the wedding, but Marti stepped in and told her she couldn’t move any of the furniture. He pointed out she shouldn’t be doing anything like moving furniture when she was pregnant. He’d never forget the look on her face, almost like she’d forgotten.
He made everyone dinner, disappointed Marti didn’t come down to join them. He made enough for all of them, but as he was cleaning up the kitchen, she came in long enough to grab a bottle of water, banana, and a spinach, chicken, and berry salad, and go back up to her rooms.
The whole time she was in the kitchen, she spoke on the phone in Italian. Maybe it was Italian. It sounded like Italian. He wondered how many languages she spoke and how and why she’d learned them all. He wondered if she was talking to a friend or doing business. He still had no idea what it was she did for a living. Hell, the woman didn’t even speak English when