You Only (Cameron Farms Book 1) (21 page)

When they cleared the hallway, Izzy gently grasped her other arm and helped her along.

As they neared the front door, a man in a suit rushed to the group. “Is everything all right, should I call an ambulance?”

Finn spoke up. “No, she’ll be fine.”

“Well, if you are sure.” The man seemed uncertain as he held open the front door.

“Thanks Jon, these things happen. I do appreciate your concern. Ms. Cameron gets terrible migraines. They come on fast and knock her out. It’s a shame that our lovely evening has to end this way.” Izzy shook the man’s hand.

The manager followed the group onto the sidewalk, “That is unfortunate. Ms. Cameron, I hope that you feel better quickly and that you will come back for another dinner.”

“Of course we will,” Izzy assured automatically.

Jasmine had perfect timing, the SUV’s passenger door opened and Hale was deposited into the seat quickly and smoothly. Finn circled in front of the vehicle and climbed in. He leaned in close and pulled her seatbelt around her.

“Get away, I must smell like puke.” Hale tried to push him away.

“Shh, babe, you’re fine. Just sit back and rest.”

She let out a broken sigh, “I’m sorry, I hate this.” She leaned back into the seat.

“Don’t worry. Just try to relax. Do you have prescription meds at home for the pain?”

“I think so, in my bathroom, but they’ve probably expired. I haven’t had a migraine for two years. I thought I was over them.”

“You just need to get home, take some medicine and sleep. No light, no noise.”

“You remember.” When they were together, she’d had severe problems with the awful headaches. “I think it’s the combo of the headache, the getting sick and Major. On a scale of one to ten, tonight’s is a five. More of a thudding than the ice pick kind of pain.”

“I’ve been around them my whole life, first my mom, then you.”

She shifted in her seat, finding a more comfortable position. “I went to see her, your mom, I mean, you know, after we broke up.”

“She never told me.”

“I was in L.A. for work. I called and drove to La Jolla for a weekend. She was so kind, almost gentle with me.”

Finn cleared his throat. “Why did you do that?”

“I liked your mom. She was so nice to me when we were dating. I wanted to tell her what a good son she had. She was very kind to me, when she didn’t have to be.”

“She always liked you.” He was quiet for a few minutes. “The white roses were beautiful. You remembered that they were her favorites.”

Her dad had called, to tell her Finn’s mom had passed about five years ago. “I wanted to go. I knew that it would be an awful time for you, but I wasn’t sure that you would want me there. I wanted to be a comfort, not a painful distraction. Flowers were a poor substitute, but I had to do something.” It was right around that time, that she had realized that she would never find a replacement for Finn. She’d had her one shot at true love, and she blew it.

“It was rough. The morning of her funeral, I realized that every woman that I had ever loved had left me, my gram, you, and my mom.” He continued looking straight ahead at the road.

This glimpse into his pain hurt her heart. My God, was that what he’d really felt? She had to clear her throat before she could speak. “Finn, there are plenty of people who care about you. You know that, right?”

“Does that include you?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, it does.” She watched him, wishing that she could see his eyes so that she had some idea what he was feeling.

Slowly, he turned to look in her direction and smiled.

She must have dozed off, because she woke when she heard Finn open his door. She turned to him.

“Good, you’re awake. I’m going to open the door to the house and let your dog out. Will he let me come into the house?”

“Just yell ‘Miller, come here boy’ and stand by the open door, he should be fine. He’s protective of me but the house, not at all.” She fumbled with the seatbelt latch.

“Stay here until I come back to walk you in.”

“Bossy,” she told him, trying to joke.

“Just stay put.” He smiled as he gave her a look telling her that he was serious.

Moments later, he escorted her up to her room. She sat on the side of her bed and kicked off her shoes. She could hear Finn in the bathroom opening and closing drawers. “Look in the medicine cabinet, maybe the second shelf. I think it should be the only prescription bottle.”

Miller wandered into the room and plopped on the floor by her feet.

Finn came out of the bathroom with the prescription bottle in his hand. “Here, take these, it says you can take two and they haven’t expired.” He held out two tablets and she put them in her mouth, he handed her a bottle of water.

After taking a few more sips of the water, she put it on the nightstand.

“What do you want to put on?” He looked around the room. “Or do you sleep naked?”

“Top drawer on the right.” She pointed to the chest of drawers. “Grab any T-shirt.” Tonight definitely was not the night to whip out the sexy lingerie.

He returned with a blue shirt in his hand. She started to stand, and he was there, holding onto her arm, steadying her.

“Hey, hang on. I don’t want you falling over.” His knuckles brushed her stomach as he lifted her sweater over her head, and stepped closer and unhooked her bra. His hands were moving to the waist of her pants. “Do these unzip or what?”

“What?” She was enjoying resting against his strong body. “No, they have elastic, just pull down.” He pushed them down over her rounded hips, and she could feel the cool air on her thighs. He moved her so she could step to her right and she was free of her pants.

“Raise your arms.” He held up the T-shirt.

She raised her arms over her head. He dropped it over her head and then helped pull it down, over her curves.

“Hold onto me, I need to get the covers.” She looped her arm around his waist.

When he had tucked her into the bed, it suddenly occurred to her that he didn’t have a ride. “You can take my SUV, you can drive it home.”

“Don’t worry about that, just try to rest.” He stroked her forehead soothingly. “Is it all right if I use the room across the hall?”

“You don’t need to go home?”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

She loved that Finn was willing to stay to watch over her. “Yeah, I think it has everything set up.”

“If not, I’ll find it.” He turned the bedside lamp off. “If you need anything, I mean even to get up to go to pee, you call me. You’re pretty unsteady on your feet.”

“Thank you for everything, take whatever you need.” Her eyelids felt heavy.

“I’m just across the hall.”

She was already drifting toward sleep.

She woke and it was a good sign that she could read the clock’s numbers. She had slept six hours and the pounding in her head had slowed. She shifted onto her back and wondered if Finn would come in to check on her before he left in a few hours. Who was she kidding? She knew he would. He had been so careful with her last night, jumping right in to care for her and surprisingly, she hadn’t even considered Jasmine’s offer to go to her house. This gentle and caring side of Finn made her feel warm all over. She could get used to it.

Hale was standing in front of Lily Rose’s bathroom mirror trying to put another coat of mascara onto her lashes. She had arrived a few hours early to help Izzy and Jasmine with the finishing touches for their annual Thanksgiving party. Their home was decorated with fall leaves, pumpkins, and gourds. The night wasn’t too cool, but Izzy had the three fireplaces burning throughout the first floor to add coziness. The caterers were busy setting up the two bars and were finishing the food preparations. Caleb and Lily Rose were spending the night with friends so their parents could enjoy themselves.

She was nervous; this was a large public outing for the new couple. She mentally shook herself; it was ridiculous at her age to have so many butterflies in her stomach. She finished and started coating the lashes on the other. Finn was to meet her at the party, and she knew that he planned to spend the night with her. “Stop being silly,” she told her reflection. It wasn’t like it was going to be their first time or that she was inexperienced. She remembered sex with Finn very well, maybe too well, and that had her worked up. She hadn’t been a virgin when she was with him before, but it was obvious that she hadn’t known anything about good sex. She remembered him as a lover who intuitively knew what she needed. It had been vanilla, but it was good. Whew, her body heated just thinking about that big body riding hers.

She had finished putting her makeup away in her bag when there was a knock on the door. “What?” she hollered.

Jasmine opened the door and stuck her head in. “I’m going down, do you need anything?”

“I’m almost ready.” The doorbell chimed. “Go greet your guests.” Hale ordered.

She sat on the bed pulling her thigh high hose over her foot gingerly. She was reaching for her dress as another knock rattled her door, and it opened before she could reply.

Finn stepped into the room. He looked her up and down with a huge smile on his face. “Now I see why Jasmine told me where to find you. I like.” His voice sounded like it had dropped an octave lower, the growl of it causing a shiver of desire to flow through her body.

She fought her first instinct to cover herself. She was wearing a black bra and matching silk panties, her hose and silver pumps. She stood, continuing to dress. “Do you?” She felt her cheeks heat, competing with the jolt of excitement in her pussy. “Need something?” She hoped her hands didn’t shake as she lifted the hanger holding her dress. She was so happy with this dress, it was sexy and playful. A deep berry, the color of that rare fall leaf, and the style made her waist look tiny and her boobs and hips, lush.

“You. You only.” Finn sounded a little out of breath as he crossed the room to her. He took the hanger from her hand and threw the dress on the bed, his other arm circled her waist, pulling her against him. “You look beautiful.” He bent to kiss her.

She pushed on his chest, laughing. “You’re going to get my lipstick on you.”

“Good.” He closed the distance and kissed her.

This was not a gentle hello kiss, it was hungry, and his tongue met hers and tangled. Her arms circled his neck and she held on. Far away, she could hear the doorbell chime repeatedly. She lowered her arms as he finished the kiss, and caught his bottom lip with her teeth, lightly pulling on it. “Sounds like people are arriving. I need to finish getting dressed.”

He didn’t shield the hunger in his eyes. “I’ll help.”

“I have the feeling that your kind of help won’t speed things along.” She stepped away and walked to the bed, picking up the dress.

“That seems like a lot of dress.” Finn leaned against the closet door watching her.

She could feel him looking at her body, it made her feel sexy. “Compared to Jazz’s, definitely.” She turned to pull the dress over her head. It fell over her hips. She straightened the bodice and smoothed the fabric, twisting her hips a few times, to enjoy the very full skirt’s movement. She quickly secured the buttons, and turned to face Finn.

“Wow.” He moved to give her better access to the mirror.

She smoothed her hair and checked her reflection.

“I can’t find enough words, you look amazing.” He moved closer, she watched his approach in the glass. He traced the neckline of the dress, his callused finger lightly teasing the tops of her breasts. “Just don’t bend over.”

She smacked his arm as she smiled at him. He did have a good point, she had better bend at the knees tonight.

He tugged gently on the skirt covering her ass. “Let me amend that, I’d like to have you bent over Izzy’s desk, with those black panties around your ankles.” He ran his hand over her ass a few times.

“I don’t think Izzy would like that very much. He doesn’t like anyone to mess with his desk.” She teased, but she was enjoying the possessive look in Finn’s eyes.

“I’d buy him a new desk, hell, I’d buy him two.” He roughly turned her to face him and kissed her again.

She chuckled while he kissed her. “I think that would definitely cause talk, you the respectable mayor and such scandalous behavior.”

“You OK with this? I don’t think I can stay away from you tonight. You’re too beautiful.” He caressed her cheek. “The people downstairs won’t have any doubts about us being together.”

“I’m fine. I don’t think we’ll have trumpets blasting as we walk down the steps or anything,” she teased.

“So, me beating my chest and circling the room getting high-fives is out of the question?” He pulled her closer, aligning their bodies.

“This is a formal event, no high-fiving, but maybe a few discreet fist bumps would be acceptable.” Being able to joke about it helped offset her nervousness. She lifted her chin to signal that she wanted another kiss.

The doorbell rang several times in quick succession, and she broke the kiss reluctantly. “We need to join the party.” She walked to the bed and organized her overnight bag. She tried to keep her focus while closing the zipper, then moving closer to the door. She turned and motioned with her finger for him to follow her.