Be Mine Forever (28 page)
“Six months.” Kerris turned to face him, her back against the sink. “I’m only six weeks pregnant. Déjà Vu is just getting off the ground. I want to have our baby here in the States with a doctor I trust, surrounded by our friends. Our life is here.”
Cam’s smile dissolved into a straight line.
“Working that dead-end job isn’t much of a life. This money from Kristeene is a godsend. It’ll give me the freedom to pursue my dream.”
“I’ve always been your biggest cheerleader, you know that.” Kerris evened her tone and placed a calming palm against his chest. “I’m just saying the timing may be a little off. Maybe in another eighteen months or so?”
“Eighteen months.” Cam stepped back and stalked over to lean against the granite countertop, facing her with arms folded across the muscles of his chest. “You expect me to stay in Rivermont for eighteen months when I’ll have money in the bank to pursue my dreams?”
“And my dreams?” She deliberately quieted her voice, not wanting this to explode between them. “What about the things I want to do? The business I
just
started? The family we’re
just
starting? Are you considering any of that?”
“You know, maybe I’m missing something.” Cam leveled his creased brows, his face giving nothing away. “Maybe there’s something else you want to stay in the States for. Or should I say
someone
.”
Kerris reached behind her to clutch the rim of the sink. She turned her back to him, rinsing out the dishes she had left there. The muscles of her back tightened under the unrelenting burn of Cam’s stare. They hadn’t spoken of that moment again since that first night, but she knew it was still between them. He was a wounded animal secretly nursing his hurt.
“Cam, do we need to talk about Walsh again? I always thought we should have. We can’t sweep it under the rug and pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Oh, I know it happened.” His voice frosted over with fresh bitterness like new snow. “Do you think I will ever forget seeing you in my best friend’s arms?”
“I told you it was only a kiss,” she whispered, knowing that he would hear it in the eerie silence surrounding them. “We got emotional talking about Haiti—”
“Don’t give me that shit again!” His voice erupting into the quiet made her jump. “Do you think I don’t see how Walsh looks at you?”
Kerris, the way my son looks at you is like a starved man. It’s like he can’t bring himself to look at anything else in the room.
Kristeene’s words in the hospital room that last day before she went home for good drifted back to Kerris. It had been months, but it felt like yesterday. Kerris tunneled her hands into the dark hair on either side of her head before turning to look directly at her husband. She clasped her hands together over the tightly coiled dread in her belly.
“And how do I look at him?” She braved the question, refusing to even blink until he had answered, determined to be as honest as he would allow.
“Most of the time you don’t, which I think says just as much as the way he eats you up every time he looks at you. The two of you—”
“There is no two of us!” The volume of her own voice surprised her, reverberating in the solitude of their cottage.
“I’m out.” He didn’t acknowledge her statement, unfolding from his deceptively indolent stance against the counter and leaving the kitchen. “I’m gonna be late for this job you want me to stay stuck in for the next eighteen months.”
Kerris charged out after him into the living room, ignoring the gibe about his job.
“There is no two of us.” She stopped to stand in front of him at the door. Cam turned to her, his face tight, eyes hard.
“You think I’m stupid, Kerris? Is that it? You think I don’t know how you feel about him?”
“What do you want me to say?” The words heated up in her mouth and boiled over. “I’ve told you that I love you. That it was a mistake. I’m not going anywhere. We’re having a baby together.”
“But is that enough?” Emotion chipped away at the hardness in Cam’s eyes until they were a little softer, a little sadder. “What if it isn’t enough? Then what do we do?”
And there it was. The fear that had skulked around in her heart since Cam first approached her about marriage that night so long ago. That what she felt for him wouldn’t satisfy. Would they have ended up here anyway, or had those few moments with Walsh cost her everything she’d thought would make her happy?
“I gotta go or I’ll be late.” Cam’s eyes scanned her face, and Kerris wondered what he was searching for. She wondered if he found it. “Think about Paris, Ker. Maybe all we need is a fresh start somewhere new.”
He leaned down to whisper something against her stomach, something she couldn’t hear. Something between him and the child they had made. He looked up and hesitated before standing and dropping a kiss on her cheek. And then he walked away.
The Bennett Series
When You Are Mine
Loving You Always
Kerris Moreton knows how to make things work. Bounced from foster home to foster home as a kid, she adapted; when opportunity arose, she thrived. Now, about to open her own business and accept a marriage proposal, Kerris is ready to build the life she’s always wanted. The only thing missing? A passionate connection with her would-be fiancé, Cam. Kerris wants to believe that sparks are overrated—until Walsh Bennett lights her up like the Fourth of July.
As one of the East Coast’s most eligible bachelors, Walsh enjoys financial independence, fulfilling work with his family’s nonprofit, and plenty of female attention. But lately he’s been distracted by the one woman he can’t have. Lovely to look at and even sweeter to know, Kerris is the soul mate Walsh never thought he would find. The problem is, his best friend found her first…
Kerris Moreton should be the happiest woman in the world: She has a successful business and is about to start the family she’s always wanted. But the man of her dreams—the one whose green eyes see straight into her soul and whose gentle hands make her body hum with pleasure—is not hers.
Each secret moment with Walsh Bennett serves to remind Kerris of what she’s missing. And every stolen hour makes it harder to see her future without him. But being with Walsh would betray a sacred promise and upend her perfect life. When tragedy strikes, the razor’s edge between love and loyalty grows sharper than ever. And Kerris must decide where her heart will fall…
Attorney Hannah Sterling lives a life she’s worked hard for. So when she unexpectedly inherits an inn, Hannah decides to take that long-overdue holiday and settle her eccentric grandmother’s estate. She knew there would be challenges, but what’s hardest about returning to Mirabelle, Florida, is facing the man who gave her the most passionate summer of her life—and then broke her heart.
Nathanial Shepard never forgot the redheaded goddess who lit up his world and got away. Now that she’s home, Shep vows to make up for their years apart—and if the fire in her kiss is any indication, they’re well on their way. But when a devastating secret from their past threatens their future, Shep must fight to heal Hannah’s heart. Because this time, their love will truly be unforgettable…
Publicist Abby Fields’s career is on the rise. And with failed romances in her past, she has no time for men. When a job opportunity opens up with a sports team in Florida, Abby eagerly packs up and heads south. Yet after a work event in Mirabelle, Florida, Abby finds herself in the arms of a hockey player whose heart-stopping smile leads her to the steamiest night of her life…
Logan James is hot on and off the ice. With his team on an epic winning streak, life couldn’t get better…until he meets Abby, the fiery redhead assigned to protect his team’s image. Now Logan’s finding it difficult to concentrate on anything other than getting Abby undressed. But after a secret is leaked to the press, the taste of betrayal opens old wounds. If they can’t learn to trust each other, they may risk losing more than their hearts.
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