He shrugged. “I might as well. Then I can make sure you don’t cause trouble.”
“I never cause trouble. That’s Bailey’s thing. I just end the trouble.”
“Usually in a manner that causes you to go home covered in blood spatter.”
“Ooh, are we judging now? Because don’t think I’m not aware that you like watching a good barfight.”
He inclined his head. “It’s possible that I do. My cat likes watching you fight—he’s bloodthirsty that way.” Camden set his can on the coffee table. “Right now, though, he wants you to pet him for a while.”
It wasn’t an uncommon request. “Your tiger is spoilt.”
Camden gave her a mock frown. “He’s had a tough day. Where’s the sympathy and compassion?”
She heaved a sigh. “Fine. But he’d better not bite me again.”
“He doesn’t bite you hard.”
No, but his nips often left a mark—something she would have said aloud if Camden hadn’t then whipped off his tee, baring sleek tanned skin and hard defined muscle. Hmm, yeah, she’d like some of that.
Silently cursing herself, Aspen forced her eyes away from him and grabbed her bottle of water from the table. She gulped some down, aware he’d stood and was shedding the rest of his clothes. She would not ogle him. She would not blush. And she would definitely not look at his dick. She’d given his groin enough subtle, cursory glances over the years to know he was well-endowed.
Just as she heard bones pop and crack, Aspen screwed the cap back on her bottle and returned it to the table. When she looked Camden’s way again, a gorgeous white tiger stood in his place. “Hey, Cranky Pants.”
He bared a fang.
“Well, you are.”
He let out a chuffing sound and then settled on the blanket, resting his head on her thigh … just as he’d done many times over the years. Most unlike her bearcat, the tiger loved to be petted.
Knowing he might not move for a while, she pressed “play” on the remote control. As Return of the Living Dead started, an irritable growl rumbled out of him—one that she suspected came from his human half.
Aspen indulged the big cat, stroking his surprisingly soft fur, aiming to ease the tension bunching his muscles. True to his nature, the contrary beast nipped her hand twice but didn’t draw blood. It was over an hour later that he rolled onto his back and shifted. Then Camden was staring up at her.
She lifted a brow, fixing her gaze on his face and resisting the temptation to take a good, long look at the rest of him. “Content to retreat, was he?”
“You relaxed him. You always do.” Camden reached up and toyed with a strand of her hair. “Even on that first day when you walked into my room at Corbin’s house and told me only to hurt meanies.”
“He was in a funk that day?”
Camden nodded. “He was all worked up, pacing and growling and raking his claws. He halted when he caught your scent as you came striding into the room. He stayed very quiet as he watched you carefully. He was suspicious at first. Then intrigued. No one had ever tried to genuinely befriend me before, so he didn’t know what to make of it.
“You gave me a little speech about all the things I needed to either stop or start doing. That’s when you really had his attention. And mine. Because you saw me. All of me. But you didn’t judge the way others had. You were determined to help me. Not by changing me, but by showing me how to seem normal so that others would leave me be. In other words, you accepted me exactly as I was. In doing that, you sealed your fate.”
“Fate?” she echoed, tilting her head.
“You thought you’d adopted me that day. It was the other way around, babe. You just didn’t see it. Both me and my cat decided you’d be ours and that we’d keep you. And we did. All these years later, we still have you.” A territorial glint entered his eyes. “We always will, you know.”
“That came out sounding like a warning.”
“It was a warning. Grant might not be your mate, but someone out there is. And he may find you. If he does, I won’t be shoved aside. He’ll have to deal with having me around. I won’t let him keep you from me.”
“I wouldn’t be down with it either, so your warning wasn’t necessary. You should consider that your mate could try that shit, too. Quite a few of your bed-buddies tried to break up our friendship.”
“I never allowed it. Never will. Anyone who demands I cut my best friend out of my life isn’t worth keeping.” He tapped her earlobe. “You and me are a package deal, remember?”
That was what she’d told Corbin years ago when he’d talked about finding new homes for them. She’d insisted that she and Camden weren’t to be separated, and the tiger had been equally as adamant that they stay together. “I remember.”