“Good job.”
I meant it. Sometimes it took three or four times to get her to stay in bed, and each time involved countless stories. I turned, the dishrag still in my hand, to see Landon leaning against the wall. His eyes were on me, but they were sober and unfocused. He was still beating himself up about earlier.
“We should tell her tomorrow morning,” I said. “She deserves to know.” What I meant was, he deserved to have her know. He was going through all the trials of parenthood at warp speed.
Landon nodded, but his grim expression didn’t lift.
I set down the dish towel and walked over, touching his arm lightly. “She’s fine, Landon.”
He stared down at my hand for a moment, then his green eyes lifted to mine. They had a bright, unsettling shine tonight. “The two of you need to stop disappearing on me.”
My breath caught. “We will.”
The moment stretched out between us while his eyes burned into mine. Something was happening in it, something I wasn’t sure was a good idea. Still, I felt helpless to break our connection. I’d so rarely seen Landon shaken,vulnerable. It made me want to wrap my arms around him and protect him. Had anyone ever done that? Surely when he was a small child, his mother had. But now he had been the protector for decades. His country. His clients. Me, and now his daughter.
Tenderness and desire swept over me. I moved my hand up his arm to cup his face. “She’s fine,” I whispered again. “We’re all fine, Landon.” I pushed up on my tiptoes and pulled his head down so that his forehead was resting against mine. I could hear the rasp of his breath, in and out. When I flicked my eyes up, I saw his were still watching me.
My breath caught. Though I was trying to reassure him, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable being this close to him. It was like trying to comfort a wolf. Sure, he might have been vulnerable, but I could never forget he could still be dangerous.
I sank down, flat footed again, breaking the connection of our foreheads. I started to pull my hands away, ready to busy myself with something,anything, to distract us from this uncomfortable intimacy.
Before I could, though, Landon’s hands shot up, bracketing my wrists. My breath caught and my heart leapt in my chest. The wolf didn’t look vulnerable anymore. He looked hungry. But his voice was quiet when he said, “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?” I managed to ask.
“Don’t pull away.”
“Landon, I don’t think–”
But before I could finish my sentence, his mouth was on mine. Hungry, as his eyes had been. Hot. Demanding. Familiar.
I met his demands before I gave myself a chance to think better of it, parting my lips and meeting his tongue with mine. The kiss deepened, the world darkening as he angled me against the cabinets and plundered my mouth, his head blotting out the light. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him even closer, pushing helplessly against him even though we were flush against each other.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, devouring each other while the sun sank completely outside the window, plunging LA from twilight into full darkness. When Landon pulled away finally, minutes could have passed, but it also could have been hours. I felt hazy and disconnected from reality, and I pulled at his shoulders, wordlessly trying to tell him I didn’t want time to reconnect.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Landon muttered, like he was trying to convince himself.
“Why not?” I whispered, running my hand down his chest. “We already know we’re good together.”
Landon’s eyes flickered up to mine, and I saw that his defense was paper thin. Power surged through me. I could break him down. He wanted me as badly as I wanted him.
“What about Emma?”
“She’s asleep.”
“You’re the mother of my child, Cami. We can’t fuck this up.”
Landon’s resolve was gaining strength. Panic trickled through me. I couldn’t let him pull away. Not now.
“We won’t. We’re both adults. We both know what this is.” I knotted my fingers in his shirtfront, pulling him back to me. He gave resistance, bracing his hands on the counter on either side of my hips. Not touching me but not pulling away either.
“We do?” he asked, testing.
“We’re cooped up here together for the next few weeks. We might as well…enjoy it.” I leaned in to press a kiss against the hollow of his throat. I could feel his heartbeat throbbing in it. I kissed him again, working my way up to the scratchy underside of his jaw where I knew he was sensitive.
On cue, his breath snagged. His grip on the counter tightened, his knuckles going white.
“Fun,” he muttered, his green eyes slitting.