Haley mistook his silence.
Squaring her shoulders, she gave him one of her regal looks. "Never mind," she said. "I can see the idea of making love with me just thrills the hell out of you." She spun away, but before he could so much as take a step toward her, she whirled back, fury emanating from her every pore.
"Wait a minute," she said unevenly, pushing her hair from her face. "All my life I've been doing this. Accepting casual criticism without a murmur. Taking rejection silently, painfully. I won't do it anymore, Cam. Not even for you." She jabbed his chest with her finger, her eyes misting, but her voice remained calm. "I thought you were different. These past few weeks have meant something to me."
"Haley-"
She evaded his touch. "No, don't. I'm sorry." She shrugged. "You know what? I've got to go."
When had the conversation taken this bad turn? Cam found his limbs and grabbed for Haley as she rushed out, but she fought him with a strength he hadn't guessed she had. Finally, unable to do anything else, he wrapped his arms around her from behind, restraining her.
"Dammit, Cam," she muttered, fighting wildly. "Let me go."
"You're wrong, Haley," he said gruffly into her ear. "Wrong, if you think I was playing with you, that I don't really want you." He turned her in his arms and shook her gently until she looked at him, her glorious blue eyes bright with humiliation. He couldn't stand it. "I wasn't rejecting you just now. My God, you think I could? You just startled me, that's all." He had to laugh at himself. "You came in here with the offer I've been waiting for and I lost all capability to think."
He realized that, given her limited experience, she might have no idea what he was talking about. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked, because he still couldn't believe that a woman who looked and felt like she did was a virgin.
She shook her head, her eyes wide on his, and his blood surged.
"God, you're sweet," he said, giving her a quick, hard kiss. "You make me ache for you, Haley, everywhere." With a slow, easy gesture, he grabbed her hips and rubbed them against his. He knew by her sharp intake of breath, she hadn't missed his very unmistakable desire. "Yeah, that's what you do to me, darlin'," he whispered, then nearly died of pleasure when, with an instinctual movement, she slid herself over him again.
At the connection, her mouth fell open, her head dropped back. "Oh!" she whispered, obviously finding equal pleasure. Cam wanted to lose himself in her, but he had to make one thing clear. He gripped her waist in his hands to keep her still, waiting until her glazed eyes met his. "Haley," he murmured. "Listen to me. You'll never have to scramble for affection, or attention with me. Never."
She blinked and braced herself by clutching his arms tightly. "That sounds nice," she said, her voice whispery and breathless, making Cam hesitate one last time.
"What is it?" he murmured. "What else is it?"
But she only shook her head. "Come with me," she said in that throaty, sexy voice that could drive a grown man wild. "Please?" Without waiting for an answer, she took his hand and led him outside, her skirt billowing in the gentle breeze. The storm from the day before had vanished, leaving everything sparkling and clean and gorgeous as only the day after a rain could be.
"I'll never forget this day," she vowed with a vehemence that surprised him. "It's beautiful."
"It is." Her hand felt small and fragile in his, and as she led him, he could only see the back of her petite frame. Her urgency, coming on the heels of her hesitation of weeks, seemed out of character. "Haley?"
"Hurry, Cam."
At the front door of the main house, she paused. "Nellie and Jason went to Colorado Springs to shop for the baby." She chewed her lower lip in a gesture he knew to be pure nerves. "Zach went to Tex's ranch to help out with something or other." She stepped inside and twiddled her hands together. "We're alone."
He reached for her. "Alone is good."
"I hope you don't mind, but I have something to show you upstairs."
He followed her, watching the swaying of her narrow hips as she climbed the stairs. There was only one thing now that could ruin this-the unexpected return of his family. "Ah, Haley?" He wasn't worried about himself; he could take the ribbing he knew would be meted out often, especially at the dinner table. But Haley… It would mortify her. "Maybe we should go to your place. Nel's been in a mood ever since the doctor told her she has three weeks left to carry that basketball. Jas won't be able to tolerate her for long."
She only gave him a quick, indecipherable glance and pulled him into his own bedroom. She stopped before his bathroom door, startling him with the mix of emotions he saw in her expression. Hunger and need combined with a strange aura of fear that confused him.
"Are you afraid of me?" he asked, concerned. "Of this?"
"No."
"Are you sure? Because-"
She laid her finger over his lips. "I'm not afraid of you, Cam. Or this. Well, maybe just a little nervous."
He touched her face and kissed her gently. "If it helps, I'm nervous, too." He smiled past the almost-unbearable ache in his heart caused by his feelings for her. "I've never been someone's first." She smiled, and her lips brushed over his fingertips, causing a surge of blood that pooled in his groin. "I don't want to hurt you, darlin'."
"You won't."
Her faith in him gave him strength, but it also fueled the hunger, the need. "This is just the beginning between us," he promised, stroking her jaw. Beneath his fingers, she paled. "Haley?"
She only shook her head, then reached up and unbuttoned her blouse with trembling hands. "I have no standard formula for this." She pulled the silky material away from her shoulders, revealing the virgin-white teddy she wore beneath. No frills, no lace, just creamy silk and smooth, pale skin. His mouth went dry as one of the teddy's thin straps slipped off her shoulder.
"And no guidelines," she admitted. Her fingers started on the long row of buttons down her skirt. "So instincts and needs are going to have to be enough." She straightened as the skirt fell away from her hips, dropping to a puddle at her feet. "But, if it matters, I've never wanted anything so much in my life." She reached for the other strap of her camisole.
"It matters." If her motions had galvanized him, her words stirred him into action. But, God, that body. She was moving too fast, when he wanted to go slow and savor. He stopped her fumbling fingers by brushing them with his. "Let me." His rough palms slid over the silky camisole, feeling the softness of her skin beneath.
Fascinated, he let his hands roam over her as he dipped his head to seek her mouth. Her body seemed as taut as a wire and he tried to use his hands to reassure as well as seduce, attempting to convince himself that her unnatural stiffness was indeed just nerves. "Darlin'?" Even to his own ears, his voice sounded thick with arousal. "Tell me again that you're sure."
He could feel her force herself to relax. "I'm sure." Her voice was husky. Sexy. Unbearably arousing. "I have to have this, Cam. Have to have you." She yielded against him with a sigh that humbled him to his toes. He understood this was much more than passion on her part; she was giving him her full and unconditional trust.
Her fingers slid up under his T-shirt. As her gaze met his, she brushed them slowly over his chest, moving from side to side, exploring… and just that light touch drove him to a pitch of desire he hadn't known before. He kissed her-long, wet, deep-and she moaned low in her throat, letting her head fall back against the door as he devoured her jaw, her neck. Mindless now, beyond thought, he swept his hands down her sides, then slowly back up, his fingertips teasing the undersides of her breasts.
Her low moan turned into a baffled whimper.
Innocent, he reminded himself. Innocent. And he had her backed to the door, pressed between the hard, ungiving wood and his equally hard, ungiving body.