Heart of Light (18 page)

Cam’s breathing increased and he inhaled her scent. Leaning down, his lips almost brushed her skin, his eyes remaining glued to her flawless complexion, wishing with everything that he could feel her. “You have the most beautiful skin I’ve ever seen,” he whispered. “It’s perfect. Undamaged, just like you, no matter what you may believe.”

She shivered, the warmth of his affectionate words stirring a yearning deep inside her. “You’re making it nearly impossible for me to maintain control here.”
 

Cam smiled before stepping back, watching as her shoulders continued to rise and fall in a quick rhythm. “Turn around, Jolene.”

She frowned, no longer able to sense him standing right behind her. Taking her time, she spun around and gasped in surprise when he immediately closed the distance between them once more. She could see the burning desire that was evident in his eyes.

He curved toward her, his lips almost touching hers. Wanting him to move even closer, she remained blissfully frozen in place.

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to not kiss you right now, Jolene? All night long, I could barely focus. All I could think about was how your lips would taste. They’re fucking perfect…so full and soft.”

She stared at Cam’s mouth, thinking how amazing it would feel to have his lips move with hers. At that moment, she knew that she was done fighting her attraction to him. She was no longer going to keep him at a distance to protect him from a threat that may never find her. She was finally ready for something more with Cam. Slowly raising herself on her toes, she very nearly skimmed her lips against his.

“But I’m not going to try to kiss you tonight, Jolene…or tomorrow, or next week,” he explained, his lips still hovering over hers, barely able to control himself when he noticed the adorable pout on her face. “You need time. But know this. I
will
kiss you. And after that, you’ll never want anyone else’s lips on yours for the rest of your life.”

“I’ve never been kissed before.” The words escaped before she could stop them.

“What?” Cam asked, pulling back, shocked at her response. “You can’t be serious.” He paced the deck, running his hands through his hair, rethinking his previous opinion about what had happened in her past to make her run and want to remain hidden. If she was hiding from an abusive partner, surely she would have been kissed. Now his mind was reeling, his thoughts returning to Lori’s story.

“Why not?”

She shrugged, opening her mouth to speak, not sure how to really explain why she had just turned twenty-eight years old but had yet to kiss anyone.

“No. Don’t tell me,” Cam said, his anger rising. “I don’t think I want to know.” His voice was quiet and reflective. He wished it wasn’t true. He didn’t want her to be
that
broken.

“What? Really?” Jolene said, stunned.

Taking a deep breath, he closed the gap between them once more. “I’m very good at what I do, and I already have an idea about what you went through. If I hear the words come out of your mouth, I don’t know if I’ll handle it well. I may just kill someone, and I don’t think I’m made out for prison.” He winked.

Jolene giggled. “You’re really good at lightening up a tense situation, ya know that?”

“Yeah. It’s my job.” His face became grave. “But seriously, as much as it will hurt to hear those words come out of your mouth, I will listen. Or I can recommend someone else for you to go see if you want. Sometimes it helps to talk about it. And I assure you that I will never…”

“Oh just shut up and almost kiss me, please,” Jolene said, interrupting him.

Cam chuckled. “
Almost
kiss you?”

She nodded, inching toward him, her mouth nearly touching his. “Like this,” she said softly, licking her lips as she breathed against him. “I like almost kissing you.”

“I like almost kissing you, too,” he said, his eyes glued to her lips. “And I’m happy to almost kiss you for as long as you need me to almost kiss you. I’m not going anywhere. I promise you that.”

She closed her eyes, basking in the warmth of Cam’s patient words. “Thank you.”

They stood on her front deck, their lips a mere breath away from each other, listening to the waves crash on the dark ocean.

“I should go inside,” she said, opening her eyes. “Before we
almost
do other things, too.”

He laughed. “Yes. That’s probably a good idea.”

Taking a deep breath, Jolene turned around, wishing that she could almost kiss Cam for the rest of the night.

“Hey, Jolene,” he said loudly just as she stepped inside her beach house.

“Yeah?” She faced him once more. Her heart skipped a beat at the boyish grin on his face, his dimples popping.

“For the record, that almost kiss was far more satisfying for me than any real kiss I can think of.” He leaped off the deck, blowing her a kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~

“S
O
HOW
’
D
THE
DATE
go?” Benny asked, startling Cam when he walked into his house. He was shocked to see his friend sitting in his living room, waiting for him.

“Just let yourself in, why don’t you?” Cam rolled his eyes, making his way past the living room and into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water. “Don’t tell me you lead such a boring life that you had nothing better to do on a Sunday night than to break into my house to ask me about my date.” He retreated down the hallway toward the living room and collapsed in his reading chair, eyeing Benny.

“Elsie had to work, so kinda. How did it go?”

Cam leaned back into his chair, a look of part satisfaction and part excitement crossing his face. “On a scale of one to ten for first dates, this one ranks a solid one hundred.” He beamed, recalling Jolene’s lips so close to his own.

“Are you sure this is such a smart idea, man? I’m only asking because I care about you. These past couple of years, you haven’t been yourself. But this week, the old Cam’s been back. Don’t get me wrong. I’m fucking thrilled. I just don’t want you to check out again if you fall for this girl and things don’t work out.”

“But that’s part of life,” he replied earnestly. “I know I handled the whole situation with Olivia the wrong way. I knew going into it that there was someone else in her life. But I was stupid and blind and got attached even though I knew she could never give me what I wanted. This past week, I’ve done some serious soul searching, just like I’m always telling my patients to do. Yes, I thought I was in love before. Or maybe it was the idea of Olivia that I loved. Maybe I so desperately wanted a companion and she was the first person I crossed paths with. But I’ll tell you this. I like Tomorrow. And I want to find out where this attraction I have to her goes.”

“How is this all going to work out? I touched her and she freaked. Elsie’s noticed it, too, so it’s not just me.”

Cam sighed loudly. “No. It’s not. She doesn’t like being touched. She’s actually somewhat fearful of it.”

Benny gave Cam a concerned look. “Do you know why?”

He slowly nodded. “I have a feeling. Too many clues make sense. There’s definitely some sort of abuse at play, but that doesn’t bother me. All you need to worry about is that I like her, and I want her to know that there are good people in this world. People who will look out for her and protect her. People that value her for who she is, and not what she looks like. And I plan on proving to her that I’m one of those good people, that she can trust me. I don’t care how long it takes. I have all the time in the world.”

Benny laughed. “Not that much time. You’re getting awfully close to forty.”

“I just turned thirty-eight last month!”

“I’m just saying, you’re not getting any younger, and she’s got issues. How long can you possibly stand by her side and wait for her to sort her shit out?”

“You see, that’s where you have it all wrong, Benny. I’m not going to wait for her to come to terms with her past and what she went through. I’m going to help her do it. I want to make her realize that, no matter what happened to her, it didn’t break her. She survived whatever it was, and it only made her a stronger person.”

He stopped abruptly, thinking about his words. “She’s much stronger than any of my patients that have been through similar situations as to what I think she went through. She’s not weak. She’s not feeble. She is certainly not a pushover. I just think she sees everyone as a potential villain, so I need to prove to her that there is still good and kindness in this world. I don’t know the specifics of what she’s been through, but I know this much. I would hate going through life without feeling a loving touch.”

“That would suck, man,” Benny agreed. “I always look forward to seeing Elsie when she comes home. She always gives me a little kiss on the lips. It would tear me apart if I didn’t have that to look forward to.”

“Yeah. It’s almost like she isolated herself so that, no matter what was going on in her life, she could just turn it off and hide behind the wall that she built. I’m going to make it my mission to turn her back on.”

Benny chuckled loudly. “Did you hear what you just said?”

Cam rolled his eyes. “Yeah. That kind of left my mouth before I realized it.”

“Thought so.”

The room was silent for a minute. “So, Cam, you consult on criminal cases from time to time, don’t you?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Mainly with sexual abuse victims and whatnot. Why? And this better not be about any of my cases or clients. You know I can’t talk about that stuff.”

Benny took a deep breath before he met his friend’s eyes. “You still do a lot of work with victims of forced prostitution and human trafficking, don’t you? Don’t people move here just to see you about that?”

Cam stood up and paced the room. There were too many coincidences now. His patient, Lori, had been through something similar. She was the one who had said the name Jolene. Now Benny was bringing up the same thing. Cam’s worst fears were slowly becoming a reality.

“Cam?” Benny said, getting his attention.

“Sorry. Yeah. I have a few patients who have been victims in operations like that.” He sat down in the reading chair, meeting Benny’s gaze. “Why?”

“I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. Elsie was drunk and was going on and on about Tomorrow and how she mentioned that she had been involved in one of those and that the guy running it had a lot of powerful friends, but she wasn’t making any sense. I guess I just wanted to say something to you…to warn you that you may be getting in deeper than you initially thought.”

Cam’s heart broke just thinking about what Jolene had probably endured for god knows how long. “I’m tired. Thanks for stopping by and for your concern, Benny, but I’m not going to stop seeing some girl just because she may have been a victim of something horrible.”

“I know,” he replied, raising himself off the couch and following Cam out of the living room and toward the front door. “I just wanted you to be prepared for what you may be facing. If it’s true, she may be more fucked up than you can possibly imagine.”

Cam turned to head up the flight of stairs, looking over his shoulder, a wide smile on his face. “That may be so but, tonight, I had the best almost kiss of my life and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.” He climbed the rest of the stairs to his master bedroom, leaving Benny wondering what he could possibly mean by an “almost kiss”.

~~~~~~~~~~

P
ATRICK
H
ERNANDEZ
LAY
BOUND
to a metal table, the angle slightly pitched, slits in his wrists as he slowly bled out. It had been hours and he was gradually losing strength. He had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembered was being at home, wondering how his only daughter, Marcie, was making out in her new apartment, when a loud knock sounded on the door. He knew he should never have answered it.

“I’m going to ask you one last time and, perhaps, I’ll stop this whole excruciating process,” a large, rotund man with sweat on his brow bellowed out. His white shirt had yellow stains on the armpits, and he smelled of fast food and liquor. “Where is the fucking girl?”

The man rushed up to him and held a knife against his throat, causing him to tense up in trepidation. “I’ll fucking do it. I bet you’re wondering where your daughter is. And your wife. You tell me what you know and they’ll both be okay. You continue to play dumb, and not only will I slit your throat, but I’ll slit your wife’s and daughter’s throat, too.”

Patrick’s heart fell to his stomach, his vision going blurry from the loss of the blood and the thought of his Rosa or Marcie meeting any danger.

The man pressed the knife harder against him. “If I kill you before I get any information, all bets are off about your wife. Or your daughter.”

Patrick’s eyes settled on the police badge attached to the man’s belt, watching in horror as he licked his lips in a disgusting manner.

“The boss said he’s never had a black girl before. He says he’s just itching for a taste of her.”

“
Okay
!” Patrick shouted, unable to take it anymore. “I’ll tell you what I know, but let Rosa and Marcie go. Please.” His voice grew weak as he considered his options. He knew he’d be dead no matter what. All he could hope for was that the man in front of him followed through on his own promises that Rosa and Marcie would be released with no harm done.

“Where is the girl? Tell me and then we negotiate. You could be giving me bullshit information.”

“She’s somewhere between here and Los Angeles,” he replied quickly. “I don’t know exactly where, but I took her to a station an hour out of town and put her on a bus that was heading for California. I told her to get off before the last stop. That’s all I know. Please. Don’t hurt them.”

“
I
won’t hurt them. No guarantee no one else will,” he said, his tone playful.

Patrick screamed in agony as the blade slashed his throat, his world going dark.

J
OLENE
SETTLED
INTO
HER
bed that evening, her mind reeling from her almost kiss with Cam. Every time she closed her eyes, his beautiful lips flashed through her memory. She pulled her pillow close and clutched it to her chest, her world alive with exhilaration. She couldn’t remember ever feeling that happy…all from an almost kiss.