Kiss This (41 page)

“Yet you don’t trust me and send a private
investigator to catch me in a lie.”

“My natural instinct is to share things with
you.
History
is what tells me not to and I start
second-guessing myself. There are things about my family that I
shouldn’t be sharing with people. All it takes is an accidental
slip.”

“Are you talking about things you’ve already
told me or things you’ve
yet
to tell me?”

He paused, trying to grasp for anything that
would get him out of this fucking mess; how could he tell her the
answer was ‘both’?

“I need some air,” she sighed, heading for
the door.

Panic seized him and Teague finally jumped
onto the road of desperate truths. “Camryn, I needed to make sure
because…because eventually I wanted to ask you to marry me.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

“
My unit is being sent overseas,” Zach
said softly over the phone. “Camryn, I’m headed to
Afghanistan.”

Her heart slammed into her stomach and she
held back a strangled cry. “Zach, please don’t leave me,” she
barely whispered.

“
It’s gonna be okay, baby. I promise. I
have you to come home to and I’ll do whatever I need to to make
that happen. I love you so much. There’s nothing more important
than you. In fact…I’m done after this tour, Cami girl. I need to be
with you more than anything. I want to knock you up over and over
and live until we’re old and gray.”

She laughed through her tears and said, “Was
that your attempt at a proposal? Because the answer is yes, Zach. I
want to marry you. I can’t wait until you’re home and I can spoil
the hell out of you every day of our lives together.”

There was silence on the other end.

“
Zach? Are you there?”

“
Yeah, I’m here. I’m just marveling at
the idea that I gave the most amazing girl in the world the worst
proposal in the history of mankind and she still said yes.”

Camryn laughed. “I can think of worse
proposals.”

“
Really? Okay, but your answer it still
yes, right? Please say you’ll marry me, Camryn.”

“
Yes, of course I’ll marry you…”

“Camryn?” Teague’s deep voice zapped through
her reverie. He stepped closer to her and placed his hand against
her face. “I love you more than my own life and I want to be with
you permanently.”

Camryn blinked back tears that had pooled
because the past and the present had once again collided together.
But Zach was more often becoming a distant memory, and even though
she knew it was part of the healing process, it was still hard to
understand sometimes.

When she looked into Teague’s deep
blue-green eyes, her heart broke from the intensity in them. He was
in love with her. She could feel it. So why was it so hard for him
to be completely honest with her? He’d confessed a secret he
thought she already knew, which really didn’t impress her much. Yes
she did understand because of who his family was. But what about
his
life? What about other things that were bigger than just
a stupid little P.I. checking up on her? All she wanted was for him
to tell her about Chase and he wouldn’t do it. He was still keeping
it from her, and then he was back on the whole cheating issue
again.

The pressure in her chest was almost
painful. She couldn’t breathe.

“Camryn?”

“I need some air,” she whispered, and she
slipped on some shoes and left the room. She heard her name once
more, but he didn’t come after her when she stepped out the front
door. She was glad because a walk in the night air alone would
clear her head so she could talk to him again.

She was a whirl of emotions. What he’d said
to her about shattering into pieces if what they had wasn’t real
had hit her hard. She believed him. She believed that he loved her
that much. She would take what he said and treasure it her entire
life because she felt the same way about him. But the fact that his
confession was about a private investigator totally threw her off.
What about Chase? When was he going to tell her about his son?
Instead he confessed something completely unexpected, and if that
wasn’t bad enough, the situation was so totally ironic.
He
couldn’t trust
her
? Camryn certainly didn’t have anything to
hide. Her life was pretty cut and dry. Her dance career was public
knowledge if anyone needed to find out, and she didn’t have any
legal issues to hide or some sort of embarrassing secret to cover
up.

Or a child to sweep under the rug.

Before she could analyze any further, she
didn’t walk more than half a block when a sleek Maserati crept up
along the street beside her. “Camryn? Hey, I thought that was
you.”

She didn’t have to see the driver to
recognize the voice and she kept walking.

“What are you doing out at night by
yourself?” Max inquired.

“I’m walking.”
Damn it
, he pulled his
car up ahead of her and parked at the curb. This was not what she
wanted. To see Teague’s dad
and
his brother in the same
freaking day? What the hell was wrong with these people?

Max climbed out of the car and stepped onto
the sidewalk. She was now walking towards him and was tempted to
turn around and head the other direction, but he said, “I was gonna
visit my brother, but then I saw you. Maybe it’s better this
way.”

She slowed as she approached him and
narrowed her eyes. “What’s better this way?”

He barely shrugged. “Talking to you first. I
hear my dad paid you a visit this afternoon. Did you tell Teague?
Is that why you look upset? Did you guys have a fight?”

“You’re awfully nosy for someone I barely
know,” she answered. She moved past him and kept walking, but Max
was soon walking beside her. “I’m out here because I want to be
alone, so if you don’t mind—”

“Can I at least apologize for my
father?”

That caught Camryn by surprise and she gave
him a side-glance as she walked. “Why do you need to apologize for
someone else?”

“Because Teague probably flipped out when
you told him, and I know that my dad’s intentions were a
bit…misguided.”

“Oh?” she smiled sarcastically. “You know
what? I don’t want anything to do with you people. Teague’s right.
It’s just this big act for all of you. And for your information, I
didn’t tell Teague about it because it would only make him upset.
So if that’s what the hell you guys were going for, you can just
kiss my—”

“You didn’t tell him?” Max asked, coming to
a halt. “Oh, thank
God
.”

Camryn was so puzzled by his response that
she stopped, too. “I’d ask you to explain this little game you’re
playing, but I really don’t give a shit. I’m sure it will only be a
waste of my time.”

“I respect your resistance to my family,
Camryn. I really do. I can honestly tell that you don’t give a fuck
about who I am or who my father is, or what kind of damage we could
do to your life.”

“Damage?” she raised an eyebrow. With a slow
smile she added, “Holy shit, Max. Are you
threatening
me?”

He honestly looked surprised. “What? Oh! No,
I’m not threatening you. I’m just— Hell, that came out wrong,
didn’t it? I just meant the stress we’d add to your life. Because
of who we are. Just being around my dad or me makes Teague pissed,
so I can only assume the headache would be passed along to you as
well. Tainting by association I guess you could say. Not to mention
the fact that your name will be thrown around by the media
eventually. Actually it already—”

“What the hell do you want, Max,” Camryn
exhaled. “I have other things to deal with right now.”

She felt a few sprinkles of rain on her skin
but she began walking again, and to her displeasure, Max did
too.

“Okay, I realize that my dad extended an
olive branch that you didn’t want. But he also said he told you
about Kate.”

She felt bitterness stir in her chest but
kept walking.

“He showed you a picture? Of Teague with
Kate and Chase?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“He shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.
That was a shitty move on his part. My dad doesn’t like to be told
no.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“So you already knew about Kate?”

She didn’t answer at first. Maybe she should
just lie and see what she could get out of him. She would never lie
to Teague, but Max was a different story.

“Look, it doesn’t bother me that Teague has
a son, okay?” she said. “Whatever the hell is going on is really
pissing me off, but I’m not going to do anything about it right
now. I love Teague, and whatever is going on with him will have to
be shared with me when he’s ready.”

“Are you saying he doesn’t know that you
know? You’re gonna let Teague handle his own family issues,
right?”

“You mean am I going to blab his secrets to
the media? Fuck off, Max.”

“Okay, I see that you’re loyal to him, I
just… You can never tell, Camryn. I’m just looking out for my
family.”

“I’m done with this conversation.”

She turned at the corner and Max continued
with her. “Fine, then we won’t discuss it. You don’t know about it,
I don’t know that you know, and nobody knows a fucking thing. See,
you’re more like my family than you think.”

Just hearing that made Camryn’s blood boil.
But Teague had been right in that aspect. She was beginning to
understand his life growing up in Hollywood even if he didn’t tell
her every little detail. She’d caught bits and pieces here and
there, and of course Melanie always had gossip to share, whether it
was true or not. Teague wasn’t as high profile like his father or
brother, and Camryn was glad, but he was still an interesting part
of the family that the media liked to go after. The McCallans were
your typical Hollywood dynasty, right up there with the Coppolas
and Fondas. Camryn compared Craig McCallan’s career to Kiefer
Sutherland’s, but the only difference to Camryn was that she
liked
Kiefer Sutherland.

“I see that pisses you off,” Max said after
she hadn’t responded. “Don’t like being sucked into the wrath of
secrets, he said/she said, or what the facts really are? Well try
having it publicized ten-fold. Your every move. Your reputation
could be ruined before you even know it, all because of a lie, a
photo, or even a tiny little fact being blown way out of
proportion. You don’t know who believes what lie about you or who
you’re supposed to explain yourself to. Surely you understand that
secrets and privacy are necessary parts of the business
sometimes.”

“I get it, okay? I think you all need to
take a damn chill pill. You’re all overrated, your shit smells like
ours only worse, and the fact that fans obsess over you people is
sickening.”

“God, you
are
a match for my
brother,” he joked. “And I agree with you on everything but the
shit. I’m sure you don’t shit roses, princess.”

She actually laughed at that and it felt
good. The past twelve hours had been way too dramatic for her
taste.

But being around Max made her miss Teague.
Rushing out of the house to get away from the confusion probably
wasn’t the smartest thing to do. He’d said he wanted to marry her.
Even though it wasn’t the most fabulous timing, Camryn wasn’t one
to expect anything grand. It had taken her completely by surprise,
and whether or not Teague said it out of desperation, she truly
believed he meant it.

Her heart ached for him at that moment. It
felt like a piece of her was missing and she needed to return it to
her chest. She slowed to a stop and said, “I need to head back.
Hopefully I don’t have to see you around.”

“Nice try, Camryn,” Max said, flashing
another charming McCallan smile. “I at least need to return to my
car.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to walk with me.”

“True, but I’d—”

“What the
fuck
are you doing here?”
Teague’s voice bellowed in the dark.

Camryn’s breath caught as she saw him storm
down the sidewalk towards them. She didn’t even realize they were
almost to Teague’s house again. She heard Max curse and he actually
took a step backwards.

“Hey, chill out, Teague. I came to talk to
you
, bro. I saw her walking the streets and figured—”

“Well you figured wrong,” Teague growled. He
would have been in Max’s face but Camryn stepped between them.

“It’s okay, Teague,” she said softly. “I was
about to come inside.”

He finally looked at her and his face
softened.

“I’m ready to talk now,” Camryn said,
sliding her hands around his neck. “I’m sorry for leaving like
that. I just needed a little space so I could—”

“It’s okay,” he said softly. His hands
gripped her hips tightly and pulled her to him, and then he
narrowed his eyes at his brother. Max shook his head and left in
silence, but Teague didn’t relax until the Maserati finally sped
by.

Camryn could literally feel the relief exude
from his body. The way he physically reacted whenever his brother
was around was unbelievable. Every single fiber of his being went
into protective mode and it was scary.

“Teague,” she whispered when his lips
nuzzled her neck. He kissed along her jaw and across her chin. It
was sweet and sensual, and it reminded her of their first week
together with no lip locking.

His fingers lightly grazed the back of her
neck and slid into her hair. It gave Camryn a chill and he smiled
his satisfaction. “Yeah, sweetheart?” he whispered back. “I will do
anything for you.”

Camryn slowly smiled as the warm feelings in
her chest began to spread. “Wow, if I thought your voice was
euphoric before, good heavens, your whisper voice is
panty-wetting.”

He lightly laughed and kissed her forehead.
“Mmm, sounds good. Wait— Euphoric?” He leaned back to see her face
in the dim light of the streetlamp. “So
that’s
what’s
euphoric? My voice?”