Midnight Sins (55 page)

that had made her feel even lonelier. She hadn’t just

felt as though she were on the outside looking in; she

had been.

It wasn’t their fault. It was hers and perhaps, in

some ways, her parents’.

Giving her aunt and uncle a final quick hug, Cami

allowed Rafe to wheel her to the elevator where he,

Logan, and Crowe crowded around her. The doors

were closing before she realized something.

“They never believed you hurt Jaymi,” she

murmured, frowning at the doors as the elevator

moved slowly to the lobby floor. “They couldn’t have,

or they wouldn’t have let you leave with me so easily.”

She didn’t look at Rafe, but she heard his grunt,

mocking, disbelieving.

She shook her head. “You don’t understand,

Rafe.” Eyes narrowed, she glanced up to where he

stood at her side. “If they even suspected at the time

that you had hurt Jaymi, they would have been going

crazy over me leaving with you.” It didn’t make sense.

“Why would Uncle act as though he believed it, if he

didn’t?”

“Because he’s an ass,” Rafe grunted.

“Because, like everyone else in Corbin County,

he believed if our mothers hadn’t married Callahans

then they wouldn’t have died,” Crowe answered for

him. “Kim Corbin, Mina Rafferty, and Ann Ramsey

weren’t just best friends and the daughters of the most

financially successful families on this side of the

mountain; they were also very well loved by everyone

in the county. So much so that during those years

before they they died in that wreck those who did love

them were actually giving the Callahan brothers a

chance.”

“What chance?” Cami asked as the elevator

door slid to a stop. “The last I heard they were reviled

before and after they married their wives.”

Crowe shook his head as Rafe stopped at the

passenger side of the truck and she stared up at him

in confusion.

“You don’t know?” he asked as he stared down

at her.

“Know what?”

“Because of Kim Corbin, Ann Ramsey, and Mina

Rafferty they were beginning a future, Cami. In those

few short years, the Callahans were doing something

no one else had accomplished. They had actually

found an investor for a resort in Corbin County that

had all the earmarks of success. They were doing

something the Raffertys and Corbins had nearly

bankrupted themselves attempting to accomplish

more than once. When they died, everyone in this

county who was counting on that resort lost that

dream. And they had only one way to punish the men

who failed them.”

“Through their children.”

He inclined his head slowly, resigned. “Their

children.”

CHAPTER 17

“It isn’t necessary that you stay here,” Cami informed

Rafe as he moved from the bathroom into the

bedroom, his damp hair tasseled around his face, his

bare chest and shoulders looking a mile wide as he

strode across the shadowed room toward the bed.

Cotton pants hung low on his hips, emphasizing the

lean, muscled hips, the tight, hard, rippled abs.

She could feel her stomach tightening, her thighs

softening, tensing, her heart rate increasing.

“I know it’s not necessary,” he assured her as he

padded barefoot to the bed and pulled the blanket

and sheet back before sliding into her bed as though

he was supposed to be there.

Cami turned her gaze to the ceiling, swallowing

tightly as she fought the edge of panic that seemed to

be building inside her. How was she supposed to

handle this? He wasn’t supposed to be here. He

wasn’t supposed to be in her house and in her bed as

though he were suddenly some fantasy come true.

This wasn’t how it worked.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. Not

yet. Not until she had found a way to handle it. Right?

Her head jerked in his direction just in time to

see him standing and pushing the pants from the tight,

well-rounded, muscled contours of his ass.

Naked. He was naked.

Sliding into her bed.

As though he hadn’t been there before, a part of

her scoffed. But still, it was different. There was

something about this that had her entire system going

crazy with the implications of it.

She had never shared her space with a man, and

only in her fantasies had she shared it with Rafe

“Okay?” he asked as he lay back and pulled the

sheet just over his hips.

Just barely over the hard, engorged flesh of his

cock. He was aroused and so clearly very interested in

assuaging the need she could feel beginning to burn

inside her despite the bruises on her body.

“Fine.” Clearing her throat, she fought to keep

from sounding as though she had just swallowed a

golf ball. Even if that was what it felt like was lodged in

her throat.

He turned to her, his expression dark and

brooding.

“Are you having a problem with it, Cami?” he

asked silkily.

“A problem with what?”

“With me being in your bed with you,” he

explained.

“Well, it’s not as though it’s the first time we’ve

shared a bed, right?” She could see his expression,

and there was something there, something in his

gaze, that warned her he wasn’t nearly as calm as he

appeared to be.

“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “Though I have to admit,

it did feel rather strange walking in the front door. Do

you think anyone saw us?”

What the hell was he getting at?

She watched him carefully. “I’m certain they did,”

she said. “I believe half the neighbors came out to

view the event.”

And it wasn’t a joke, despite the mockery in her

tone. There had been plenty of interest in their arrival.

As the vehicles had pulled into her drive and Rafe had

carried her into the house, several of her neighbors

had stepped outside to view the event.

She could just imagine how hot the telephone

lines were this evening. Gossip was probably raging

like a fire burning out of control. Which was only

slightly cooler than the hunger burning through her

body. The need was like a craving that couldn’t be

assuaged.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the phone calls,

Cami?”

She stilled. The breath seemed to stop in her

chest. Her tongue swiped over her lips in what she

knew was a terrible mistake. It was a sign of

nervousness, and they both knew it.

His gaze tracked it, his eyes narrowing on the

movement before returning to hers.

“What phone calls?” She fought to come up with

an explanation, a glib response, or some way to throw

him off.

It was obvious he had to have talked to Jack.

Only Jack and his wife knew about the phone calls.

Rafe’s brow arched, slowly, with mocking

emphasis, as his expression tightened with brooding

irritation.

“Don’t play games with me, Cami,” he warned

her, his voice dangerously soft. “And don’t lie to me,

kitten. I would be very, very displeased if I caught you

lying to me.”

“And that displeasure should affect me?” She

only barely managed to keep her voice from

squeaking.

She might not be frightened of him, but she had a

very healthy respect for the fact that there definitely

were ways he could make her regret anything she did

to piss him off and still maintain the emotional abyss

she was slipping into.

His arm lifted from where it had lain along his

side as he stared at her, his head propped on his

hand, his long, lean body spooned against her side.

His fingertips stroked down her bare arms,

raising goose bumps and reminding her, forcibly, that

he thought perhaps she should be concerned with his

displeasure.

The pleasure was impossibly erotic. A touch that

simple yet combined with the look in those sapphire

eyes sent her senses reeling.

Against her hip, the heavy proof of his erection

was cushioned between their flesh only by the thin silk

of her short gown. Heated and heavy, the feel of it

sent the blood thundering through her veins as she

drew in a hard, deep breath.

“I want to know about those phone calls,” he

warned her. “And now is a very good time to tell me,

Cami. Before I become frustrated with your attempts

to distract me. And that frustration could lead to all

kinds of punishments.”

And did he truly believe such an erotic dare

would go unanswered?

Oh, she knew she would have to tell him about

the phone calls. He was already aware of them, likely

already knew the full story; he only wanted her to tell

him. He wanted to know why she hadn’t told him. He

wanted to delve into all the reasons why, on a totally

deeper level, she hadn’t come to him.

And ultimately, he wanted to ensure he had

created a tie between them that she couldn’t break.

The fact that she hadn’t told him about those calls

assured him that the tie he wanted in place wasn’t as

tight as he would have liked.

And he thought that was going to come easy?

She almost smiled at the thought.

She wasn’t easy, even for him. Especially for

him, the emotional ties he was determined to build

were not going to be given without an assurance of

ties in return. And there was no assurance. Not yet.

And neither was there a confidence that she could

handle the man he had become.

It wasn’t, she had realized over the past days, a

fear, shame, or embarrassment of the town. It wasn’t

that she didn’t want to face fighting everyone around

her for what she wanted. It was the fear that fighting

everyone else would prove fruitless when he walked

away.

“Cami, you’re not making much effort to help me

out here,” he drawled, his tone velvet rough as it

rumbled from his chest.

As he spoke, the blanket that covered her to

beneath her arms was slowly pulled away from her,

leaving her beneath his gaze clad only in the short,

silky plum-colored nightgown she had donned after

her shower.

“Am I supposed to be helping you out?” she

asked him. “It seems you’re only asking rhetorical

questions, Rafe. You already know the answers.”

“Let’s say I know of the subject at hand, but the

details have eluded me. And you will give me those

details.”

Would she?

She had no intentions of allowing him to order

her to do anything. Just as she had absolutely no