Almost Just Friends Read online

  He looked at her, and she did her best to seem like something he couldn’t go without right this very second.

  He took a deep breath and started to speak, but with the feel of him so hard against her, she was done with the speaking portion of this event. Especially because he looked so turned on and stern at the same time. So she leaned in and kissed him again, very seriously.

  With a rough groan that spoke to all her good parts, he wrapped her up tight and kissed her back. At some point, he rose to his feet with her still in his arms. His big hands went to her ass to hold her against him as he walked, and she gave an involuntary squeak of terror as she remembered they were on the docks, surrounded by water.

  “Close your eyes,” he said.

  “You just told me to open them.”

  “And now I’m telling you to close them again.”

  He walked only a few yards, it seemed, before taking a big step onto something. Something that rocked.

  A boat.

  Oh good God. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest, and not with lust this time. “Cam—”

  “Keep ’em closed, Piper.”

  She heard a door open and then shut, and what she thought might be the click of a lock before she was finally settled on something soft. Before she could decide what, Cam’s big, warm body came down over her. Entangling his fingers with hers, he slowly drew her hands up to either side of her head.

  “Okay,” he said.

  Her eyes flew open to find his dark and heated on hers. “We’re on a boat,” she whispered.

  “Yes. Away from anyone’s view. Unless you’re changing your mind.”

  Not in this lifetime. “No.”

  He nodded, but still looked so . . . solemn. “I don’t have a condom.”

  She couldn’t remember ever feeling so disappointed about anything ever. “Why?”

  He almost smiled at that, she could tell. “Because I’m a very stupid, stupid man.”

  “So stupid.”

  That did get her a smile. “I realize you’ve got zero reason to trust me, but I’m disease free. Are you on the pill?”

  She gave him a bobblehead nod. “And I’ve been checked too.”

  She felt his thumb glide over her lower lip. “Tell me to stop,” he murmured huskily. “And I’ll stop.”

  “Just like that?”

  His fingers sank into her hair, his eyes softening. “Always just like that. I mean, there might be some grown-man crying, but this is your show, you’re in the driver’s seat here.”

  Since her body was already damp and trembling for him, stopping was the last thing she intended to do.

  “Piper?”

  “The only thing I want you to stop doing is talking so you can do stuff to me and make me forget that we’re on the water.”

  “Bossy. I like it.”

  “Then you’re going to love this. Lose the wet suit, Cam. Quickly.”

  He lifted up and did just that, leaving her speechless for a moment, because just like that first night in her house during the storm, he was commando.

  He, however, was not speechless. “Just so you know,” he said, his mouth making its merry way along her jaw to her ear, “you can be bossy in my bed anytime.”

  She nodded and started to answer, but he dipped his head and licked the hollow of her throat at the same time that he stroked his hands down her body and then back up again, this time beneath her shirt.

  And then the shirt was gone.

  Everywhere he touched, her skin came alive with fiery trails, and she shivered as he lingered as if wanting to remember every second of this.

  She most definitely would. She heard a soft, breathy moan and realized it was her, as her fingers curled into the muscles of his back. He shifted, angling their hips closer so she could rock up into him, and the friction . . . the delicious eroticism of it had her halfway to orgasm. His mouth claimed hers again, the kiss ratcheting up her body temperature, and when he pulled back, she nearly cried. “Don’t you dare ask me if I want to stop,” she gasped.

  He let out a rough laugh and nipped her earlobe as his hands worked to liberate her from her pants. They got caught on her steel-toed work boots, making him swear. She sat up to help, laughing at the sight of him sliding off the bed—and they were on a bed, on a boat, good God stop thinking about it—and onto his knees. Naked, he bent over her boots to work the hopelessly tangled laces. Swearing again, he finally just muscled the boots off, tossing them impatiently over his shoulder, where they hit the wall with twin thunks.

  She was grinning when he freed her pants from around her ankles and crawled back up her body.

  Seeing the man in clothes had been heart-stopping. The sight of him without was perfection.

  “I’m tired already,” he murmured, smiling into her laughing face. “You wore me out.”

  “Poor baby. Does that mean I get the top?”

  “Next time,” he said, and bent his head to her body, where he proceeded to rob her of the ability to speak more than words like “oh God” and “don’t stop” and “please, more” for a very long time.

  When she was boneless and still gasping for air, he entered her and revved her up all over again, their wild kisses moving in rhythm with their bodies.

  It was shatteringly intense, and this time they lost themselves together. When she could finally uncurl her toes, she blinked the real world back into focus. There, for a moment, she’d forgotten her own name, though she was pretty sure all the wildlife on the lake now knew his. “Wow.”

  At her side, Cam laughed roughly, sounding lighter than she’d ever heard him. “Yeah.” He pulled her into him and buried his face in her hair. “You just destroyed me. You know that, right? You own me now, Piper.”

  He was just teasing; she knew that. “We’re going to do that again, right?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He came up on an elbow and stroked a finger along her jaw and down her body, the calloused pad catching on a nipple, watching as it tightened for him.

  “Now?” she asked hopefully.

  “Now.” He rolled onto his back, pulling her on top to straddle him.

  She grinned down at him. “You remembered.”

  “I remember all my promises.”

  IT WAS FOUR in the morning when Piper snuck into the house. She blamed Cam for exhausting her so thoroughly that they’d fallen asleep. Luckily, the morning wasn’t particularly cold, so when she shivered, she knew it wasn’t a chill. It was the memories of one Camden Hayes, all hard muscle under firm skin, the feel of his mouth on hers, the taste of him, the sound of his deep, rough groan in her ear when she’d touched him.

  It was still dark, but she didn’t need to turn on any lights as she tiptoed up the stairs and down the hall, stopping short at the sound of someone throwing up.

  She pushed the bathroom door open and found Winnie on her knees, hugging the porcelain god and puking her guts up. Sweet Cheeks was winding her way around Winnie’s legs with worried little cat chirps.

  Piper nudged Sweet Cheeks aside. Then she pulled out her own hair tie and used it on Winnie’s hair to hold it back for her. Turning, she grabbed a towel, wet it in the sink, and set it against the damp, heated nape of Winnie’s neck.

  Winnie moaned, flushed, and lay her cheek on the side of the toilet seat, eyes closed, skin green and clammy.

  “Okay,” Piper said, dropping to her knees at her sister’s side. “This isn’t food poisoning. It’s time to get you to a doctor.”

  “You’re a doctor.”

  “I’m an EMT.”

  “But you’re going to be a physician assistant once you finish school.”

  “Which I haven’t even started yet,” Piper pointed out. “And why are we talking about that instead of you? Something’s clearly wrong, Win.”

  “Yeah.” Her sister closed her eyes. “But it’s not what you think.”

  Piper stared at her, and when her own stomach dropped to her toes, she leaned back on her heels. “Oh my God. You’re pregnant.”