Page 78 of His to Seduce
Chapter 26
Camden
I had a sneaking suspicion of what David wanted to talk to Grant about when the two headed off. Even though I knew he’d tried to lighten the mood before he left—for my sake most likely, and so his mom and sister wouldn’t worry about him—I didn’t miss the glances they shot each other when they thought I wasn’t looking.
Like he’d promised, though, they both walked back into the kitchen ten minutes later. A serious expression on Grant’s face, a thoughtful one on David’s, I had no doubt in my mind that David had been in there not only talking about what had happened in Chicago, but what he was going to do now.
I didn’t push for answers to my unasked questions while we ate pie and then hung out until it was time for Lindsay and Grant to get their kids home and to bed. Instead, I enjoyed the next couple of hours, while the laughter of children filled the room along with their occasional bickering.
I didn’t spend much time around small children growing up and while they seemed loud, and David called them wild, by the time his sister and brother-in-law left with two sleepy kids in tow, my heart clenched a bit when Leia wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a firm squeeze.
“ ’Bye, Camden. I like you.”
I chuckled at her honesty, the way she gave so freely. Before I let her go, I said a quick, silent prayer that she never lost it. “I like you, too, Leia.”
“Will you play with me next time?”
I glanced up and saw David smiling at me, knowingly, easily…like he was already planning on me being at the next family dinner. “Of course I will,” I assured her.
At my promise, Leia let me go, and her softly padding feet carried her to her dad’s outstretched arms. “Come on, buttercup. Time to get you to bed.”
She yawned loudly, not covering her mouth, as Grant carried her out the front door. “I’m not sleepy.”
“Sure you’re not.” His laughter muted when he pressed his lips against his daughter’s hair.
I didn’t watch them leave, because I was pulled into Betty’s arms and given a hug that was even tighter and warmer than when I’d arrived only hours earlier. “You are welcome here anytime, Camden. I’m thrilled you came tonight.”
“It was great meeting you,” I whispered, feeling that rumble of emotions this woman brought out in me so easily. She was just too kind…too good…too sweet.
She dropped her arms from me and pulled David into a hug, too, kissing his cheeks. She had to roll to her toes to do so and I smiled at her small, curvy stature reaching up to press a hand to David’s cheek. “And you…stop running from us.”
“Mom—”
She waved him away as if she hadn’t just pointed out a truth I knew she’d been waiting for months to say. “No explanations necessary, you know that. But now’s the time to stop, you hear me?”
“I hear you.” He bent down and kissed her cheek. “Sleep tight, Mom. No worries.”
“When it comes to you, I have none. Never have. You have a good head on your shoulders…You’re too much like your dad to cause me anything to worry about.”
The admission rocked David back to his heels. “Mom.”
“Go.” She smiled, but her chin wobbled. “Go enjoy the rest of your night. We’ll talk soon.”
He hugged her again, and even though I was just a bystander to a conversation only they understood, I recognized their obvious love for each other in the two-story entryway, warming me from the inside out.
Damn.David wasn’t only sexy, but he came from the most beautiful woman, the most perfect family, I’d ever dreamed of. Yet there wasn’t a speck of jealousy inside me knowing he had that and I hadn’t. I’d realized earlier that I’d had it darn good, even if it was hard.
“Come on,” David said, once he finally said goodbye to his mom. He took my hand in his hands, a place I was deciding it was so natural for my hand to belong, and led me out to his car. “I have one more place for us to go tonight.”
“Where’s that?”
He responded with a grin that shot fire straight to my toes, up my legs, and made desire pool in my lower belly.
“My place, where I’m not letting you go until morning.”
—
We got stuck in traffic on I-75 leaving Detroit proper. Conversation had flowed easily. We talked about the night, laughing about Leia and Grant Jr., sometimes laughing at Lindsay and her husband, but with each passing moment, my curiosity grew.
