“We won’t,” Jonah grinned up at her. “Now, go enjoy the rest of yourparty.”
Cameron playfully smacked his shoulder as she left the kids in the living room. She took the stairs two at a time to her bedroom, thankful she’d kicked off her shoes hours ago. Opening the bedroom door, she found Melanie waiting for her on the edge of the bed. Although she was still clothed, she had her legs spread in a sexy way as she leaned back onto the bed. Wasting no time, Cameron went to her. She straddled Melanie’s legs as she gently laid her down on the bed.
“So,” Cameron inhaled sharply as smiled down at Melanie, “where were we?”
Chapter 28
Melanie
Dating Cameron West was a dream. An amazing dream that Melanie never wanted to wake up from. She loved walking around Portland with Cameron by her side; hand in hand as they strolled through the shops. Melanie loved having a fancy steak dinner with her as they split a cheesecake dessert. And she especially loved her hand on Cameron’s thigh as they sat at a local dive bar at the end of the night.
Cameron’s birthday had been a complete success, if Melanie could say so herself. They’d both left work early and headed to Portland where Melanie had planned a day catered to everything Cameron loved to do. It felt freeing to get away from the Cove for a day and truly feel like the couple they were now.
Melanie still had to pinch herself over that part. How she’d gotten so lucky to fall in love with her best friend Melanie would never know. She must have done something right in her past life. Or her marriage with Rob. Maybe Cameron was her prize for being loyal to Rob all those years.
Even when he wasn’t.
It had been months since Melanie had heard from or seen Rob. The last time had been at the lawyer’s office signingpaperwork. Not a call or text had been made since then. A part of Melanie felt weird about that; she had shared her life with the man for the last twenty something years. But the other part of her was ready to move on. Melanie needed to leave her marriage in the past in order to move forward with Cameron.
“What’s on your mind?” Cameron covered Melanie’s hand with hers as she gently squeezed. “You look distracted.”
“Just thinking.”
Cameron smirked. “About me?”
“Always.” Giggling, Melanie leaned in for a kiss.
Since it was a Wednesday night, there were only a handful of men sitting at the other end of the bar that were more invested in the college basketball game on the TV than anything. They’d ordered drinks and mozzarella sticks, another Cameron favorite, to end their night with before heading home.
Well, to Cameron’s home.
Although they hadn’t discussed if Melanie was staying over, she had assumed as much. She’d spent the last two out of four nights at Cameron’s house anyway. Melanie had to admit that she hadn’t slept as good as she had those two nights in years. There was just something different about waking up in Cameron’s arms.
Melanie missed her pets though. Cameron had told her she could bring them with her, but Melanie hadn’t wanted to mess up their routine. Hank and Lucy were both capable of spending hours on their own; they’d do it before when she’d work double shifts. It was why she’d set up the doggie door and the automatic food feeders for each of them. Although that did little to dim her guilt at not spending as much time with them as she usually did.
Pushing her guilt aside, Melanie smiled at Cameron.
“Have you had a good birthday?”
“I have thanks to you.” Cameron kissed her again. “Thank you so much for today and for my party last weekend. You have no idea how special you’ve made my fiftieth birthday.”
“You deserve it, Cam.” Another kiss. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too.” There was a slight hesitation in Cameron’s voice which caused Melanie to lean back on the bar stool slightly. “What?”
“Why does it feel like there’s abutcoming?”
“Nobutshere,” Cameron laughed, but it fell short. She sighed, twirling the straw around in her half-empty drink mindlessly. “I guess I’m just overthinking everything.”
Melanie’s mind began to race.Overthinking everything?What did that mean? Was Cameron wanting to pump the brakes on their relationship? Or end it all together? She could barely take a sip of her drink without the nervous shaking of her hands giving her away. Cameron placed her hand on Melanie’s arm.
“Mel, no, wait. I didn’t mean overthinking this. You and I,” she paused for a beat, “are one of the few things in this world I know for certain. That and I have the best kids.”
“I don’t disagree there,” Melanie nervously laughed. “But what are you overthinking?”
Cameron looked away from Melanie, adding to her quickened heartbeat. She covered Cameron’s hand with her own, letting her know it was okay to continue when she was ready. Melanie was sure there was nothing Cameron could say that would change the way she felt about her. That much she knew for absolute certain.
“This is going to sound so stupid,” Cameron sighed as Melanie remained quiet to let her continue. “But I’ve been overthinking our next steps. I love where we are, Mel, so much.”
