Almost Just Friends Read online

  “Was your mom young?”

  “Yes, very. And bipolar.”

  Her eyes went soft and sympathetic. “That must have made things really difficult for you.”

  He shrugged and ran a hand down her back. To soothe, he told himself, but she was still cold, so he wrapped both arms around her, and for the longest moment, they just stared at each other, sharing air. Until, once again, lightning lit up the room for a single heartbeat, with the inevitable crack of thunder right on its heels.

  Piper remained rigid, silent and tense enough to shatter, until he slowly pulled her in closer, sliding a hand up her back to palm the nape of her neck, where he rubbed at the muscles that were tight with tension.

  “I lost my parents in a storm like this,” she whispered.

  A shock of surprise went through him. “Ah, Piper. No.”

  “It was in the DRC—the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a crazy storm, and my siblings and I got sent home to Wildstone just as it started up because one of my brother’s friends had just been killed by rebel forces.”

  Okay, and now he understood her earlier mysterious bomb comment, far more than he wanted to.

  “My parents decided it was no longer safe for us kids,” she went on. “Gavin was . . .” She shook her head. “In shock. Devastated. We all were.” She drew in a deep breath. “So plans were made for the three of us to come here and live with our grandparents. We got out okay, and our parents were going to follow within the week, but . . .” She closed her eyes. “There was crazy flooding. The clinic was over capacity when the water rose unexpectedly and everyone inside died. It was a whole bunch of years ago, but violent storms like this one seem to bring it all back. The guilt and everything.”

  Yeah. He knew exactly. “If you’d stayed, you’d have died too, and Gavin and Winnie.”

  She nodded. “I know. But it’s small comfort sometimes.”

  “I get that.” So much more than she could possibly know. “Anyone who’s been through what you have would be triggered by tonight’s insane storm.” His hand was still on the nape of her neck. Her skin was soft and he stroked his thumb back and forth, trying to comfort her, which wasn’t something he’d thought himself capable of.

  “I usually try to sleep through storms like this.” As she said it, her hands slid up his chest. He wasn’t even sure she was aware of what she was doing. “But my mind won’t shut up,” she whispered.

  “No?”

  She gave a slow shake of her head, watching her hands move on him.

  Okay, so she was aware of what she was doing.

  “Cam?”

  “Yeah?” he asked, voice unintentionally low and husky.

  “I need a distraction.”

  Several choice options came to him, all of them requiring a lot of nudity. Before he could get ahold of himself, her fingers dug into his biceps and she kissed him.

  At the same exact instant, there came another bright flash of lightning and then thunder, but several seconds later this time. The storm was moving off. Still, he felt an instant rush, though he wasn’t sure which to attribute it to, the storm or Piper’s hot, sweet mouth.

  When she let out a soft little whimper, he pulled her even closer, his hands making slow passes over her back, honestly meaning only to calm her. But she made another sound, a moan of desire that went straight through him, and suddenly it wasn’t about comfort at all.

  But so much more.

  And then she shifted and one of his thighs slipped between hers, and things went straight to DEFCON 5. His fingers tangled in her hair as he deepened the kiss, which swallowed them up in an instant, combustible explosion of hunger and desire. There in the dark, they went at each other, their hands grappling for purchase, her heart pounding against his, assuring him she was in this every bit as much as he—until they broke apart for air to stare at each other.

  She swallowed hard. “Scary.”

  “Yeah.” Terrifying, actually.

  She let out a huff of laughter. “Didn’t expect you to admit it.”

  “What, that you’re scary as hell?”

  She laughed again and tilted her head back against his arm as she touched his mouth. “Maybe it’s you that’s scary.”

  “And maybe it’s this.”

  She didn’t try to pretend not to know what this was. Instead, she tucked her face into the crook of his neck. The safe zone, he presumed. As if anything about their chemistry was safe.

  “You’re quite the distraction,” she whispered.

  “I’ve been called worse.”

  He felt her smile against his skin. “So you’re not insulted?”

  “Seems like a win-win to me,” he said.

  “Mmmm.” But instead of taking things further, she exhaled slowly and sagged into him as if she felt boneless, claimed by apparent exhaustion. With her breath puffing softly against his throat, he let his own exhaustion claim him as well. His last conscious thought was that it’d been a long time since he’d held anyone. Not since Rowan, as he lay dying in Cam’s arms.

  Chapter 5

  “Next time put a sock on the door—leave me a sign!”

  Mornings were always weird for Piper. One moment, she was deeply asleep, dreaming about a warm beach and her sexy, shirtless surfer— Hold up. Not a sexy surfer, but a guy in cargoes.

  She opened her eyes and stared up close and personal at an Adam’s apple and a scruffy jaw. A scruffy jaw with a deep cat scratch.

  Then she realized she was wrapped around the body that came with that jaw, like he was her own personal body pillow.

  Oh, shit.

  Everything came back to her from the night before: going over to check on Emmitt, finding out his son was none other than the new Hot Guy, who then rescued Winnie’s silly cat, and . . . the kissing. Good Lord, the kissing.

  He’d then apparently kept her warm all night.

  She wasn’t sure what to do with that. He hadn’t said much, but he’d held her in a way that had made her feel shockingly safe. He might be stoic and guarded and a little mysterious, but he was also capable and sure of himself in a way she strived to be and usually failed.

  Plotting her exit strategy, she shifted, inadvertently rubbing up against him and . . . oops . . . not all of him was stoic and guarded and mysterious . . .

  Her body parts liked this. A whole lot. But her brain was sure of only one thing—if he opened his eyes right now, she’d most definitely kiss him.

  Again.

  She didn’t know what it was about him, but he kissed like someone who knew the act of mouth on mouth was meant to be erotic and sensual, and the means by which to take someone down in the very best possible way.

  She was still off-center because of it.

  Okay, so the bad news was that she wanted him. But there was good news too. And that was that he was temporary here, and temporary was her specialty. She didn’t have the brain power to allocate to anything more. She was still staring at his throat, running the What-If game through her head, trying to decide if she was going to bolt or make the first move, when she heard someone clear their throat. She looked up to find Winnie standing by the couch, dripping rainwater all over the floor.

  “What are you doing here?” Piper whispered.

  Winnie shook her head. “Oh, most definitely you first,” she whispered back, looking annoyingly amused. “Although I think I can guess. It’s the same reason why you didn’t want me to come home for your birthday. You had your own celebration planned. Did you know you’ve got mud on your nose?”

  Piper put her fingers to her nose and indeed felt dried mud. She tried to imagine what she must look like and decided it was probably best not to. She could also tell by Cam’s alert body beneath hers that he was most definitely awake. She slid a look to his face, and yep, his eyes were open.

  And on her.

  “Oh my God,” Winnie said, and slapped her hands over her eyes. “Gross!”

  Piper looked down and saw that around their mid-body area, th