Redeeming You(29)

“Why don’t you ask Taylor what she wants?” Bre said chuckling, but Cam could tell the laugh was a poorly executed attempt at covering her rebuke. “You’re not acting very considerate.”

“Don’t worry about me. Cam’s been really considerate this past week. I don’t have any complaints,” Taylor said lifting her hands in front of her briefly before dropping them to her sides. “He’s been really easy to work with.”

“Are you sure?” Bre said with her eyebrows arched. Damn Bre, why couldn’t she leave it alone? The look on her face told him she smelled blood and was going in for the kill.

“Bre,” Jax said, pressing his hands on the top of her shoulders, rubbing her consolingly. “Let it be.”

From the facial expressions bouncing between them, Bre and Jax appeared to be having some sort of silent debate, but he didn’t want to stand around and wait for the conclusion. Reaching behind him, he grabbed Taylor’s hand, pulling her forward. Screw Bre and Jax. He didn’t want to waste any portion of his night with Taylor. They could think what they wanted. At that moment, he didn’t care. He’d deal with the consequences later.

“See you, later,” he called out over his shoulder after he pressed the elevator button.

When they stepped on to the elevator, Taylor slipped her hand from his hold and folded her arms across her chest.

“Are you mad?” Cam asked. She agreed to keep their relationship secret for the time being, so he didn’t think she should be mad, but clearly something altered her mood and not in a good way.

Worrying her bottom lip, she turned to look at Cam. “No. Not really. I just…I don’t know.” Her words trailed off as she looked at the floor.

Not the answer he wanted. Cam sighed touching his finger to her lip to stop her from biting it. “Explain.”

“I thought when you mentioned doing something with me, you planned to spend some time with just the two of us tonight—not Marcus or my brother.” Sucking her lower lip back into her mouth again, she dropped her head toward the floor, the patterned carpet absorbing her attention. “It’s fine. Whatever you want.”

“I do want to spend time alone, but I didn’t think I needed to share that with Bre and Jax.” His eyes searched hers for any clues hinting what she was thinking, but her face didn’t give anything away.

“You don’t want Bre to know about us,” she said, her voice utterly flat and emotionless.

“No.”

“Oh,” she said suddenly more interested in the elevator buttons than any human could be.

He wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her close to his side. She tensed. “It’s not like that.”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re just having fun. That’s what we agreed,” she said, her eyes looking everywhere but at him and he hated it.

“Tay,” he said, squeezing her waist. When she still wouldn’t look at him, he tipped her chin up with his other hand. “I don’t care if Bre sees me with someone else, but I don’t want the guys to know about us yet, especially Jax. He’d probably want to hire someone else to finish the month and I don’t want that.”

“You don’t?” she asked.

“No. You said you needed this job and I don’t want to screw that up for you, and…” Cam hesitated. He didn’t know how much he wanted to share with her. He had feelings for Taylor, but it’d been so long since he’d wanted more than a good time with anyone that he didn’t know how to play the game anymore. He ran his hands through his hair. This was hard. He didn’t want to promise her anything when he didn’t know what he could give, but he didn’t want her to walk away either.

“And?” Taylor prompted.

“I like having you around. I don’t want you to leave. You’re good for me.” And that was the truth. He felt more balanced and centered than he had for years just knowing she was watching and waiting for him. She made him want to be a better person and stop the downward spiral of self-destruction. He didn’t know what that meant except that right now in his life he needed her. That would have to be enough for now or at least until the tour ended because he didn’t want to turn Taylor into another complication. Simple was safe, good, and just what he needed.

“I don’t want to leave you yet, either,” she answered, her voice soft and naked as she tipped her face up to look at him.

Cam smiled as her body relaxed against him. “Good. Let’s go have some fun.” The elevator door opened and he dropped his hand to her lower back guiding her through the doors.