Page 50 of Teach Me
Cameron made a sympathetic noise and squeezed my hand reassuringly. “So you drifted apart?”
I murmured an assent. “Yeah. There wasn’t a lot of animosity or drama. Our wants, our needs, and plans for the future changed. She wanted to stay in DC; I’d been offered a position at the U. It just felt right—funny thing to say about divorce, but it did. What about you?” I asked, turning us down a street where colorful racks of clothing and sales signs had been placed outside.
Cameron made a face and shrugged. “I like kids, but—” He ran the fingertips of his free hand along a rack of long-sleeved shirts. “I don’t…I wouldn’t want to mess them up or something.”
I grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face me. “You wouldn’t mess anything up, baby. You’d be a phenomenalfather if that was what you wanted. Don’t you dare let your past dictate your future that way.”
A soft blush crept onto his cheeks as he looked down, then up at me, a myriad of emotions playing across his face as he looked deep into my eyes. “You really think so?”
“Yes.” I tipped his chin up and pressed a gentle kiss to the frown on his lips. “Really.”
He offered me a small smile in return and then shrugged. “Who knows what the future holds?”
Our conversation was interrupted by the buzz of my phone. I pulled it from my pocket to see an incoming call from Cooper. “My agent,” I explained to Cameron and then answered with an expectant “Hey, Cooper, what’s up?”
“Still game for a publicity tour?” he said, voice brimming with excitement. “The publishing house wants to push this book hard, put some serious marketing money behind it and send you on a three-month US tour to push it ahead of the release in September.”
“A publicity tour?” I repeated, dumbfounded as my brain tried to shift from the azure of Cameron’s gaze to business. Cooper’s voice sounded like it was miles away and beside me at the same time. I blinked, looking back at Cameron, whose expression had morphed into one of cautious excitement.
“I know, I know. You’ve got classes. But it will be during the summer months, and I remember you saying you thought you’d be able to take a sabbatical. Grady, this is huge. Ginormous!” Cooper’s enthusiasm was infectious, even through the phone. “This could be the tipping point for you. And don’t worry about the details,” he continued. “We’ll have everything covered—travel, accommodation, meals, the works.”
My mind raced. It felt like I’d mentioned the possibility of a sabbatical years ago. Maybe it even had been years, a passing thought I’d never expected to become a reality.
“Wow. That’s…stunning news, to be honest,” I stammered out finally. “Let me…can I get back to you on this?”
“No problem!” Cooper responded brightly. “Just wanted to give you a heads-up. We’ll discuss the details later. Also”—Cooper’s tone became more serious—“keep in mind that since you’re going to be in the public eye, your reputation needs to be impeccable. Not that I’ve ever had to worry about you going on a bender or anything, but don’t start amassing a harem or something.” He chuckled heartily at his own joke. “Leave that for after you’ve been on the bestseller list for six months.”
I glanced at Cameron again, and my chest tightened with a familiar feeling, caught between professional ambition and my burgeoning relationship with him. Except, it wasn’t a relationship, exactly, was it? But whatever it was, now it was suddenly even more of a liability.
“Talk soon,” Cooper said, the excitement returning to his voice as he ended the call.
I tucked away my phone.
“A fucking publicity tour?” Cameron was all wide-eyed incredulity, a smile tipping high on his face.
“That’s what he says. I?—”
“That’s incredible, Grady!” Cameron was the one to grab me by the shoulders this time as he bounced around. “Seriously!” He cupped a hand to his mouth and pointed at me. “This guy wrote a badass book and is going on a publicity tour!”
A few people slowed their strolls, and Cameron wrestled away from me playfully as I tried to cover his mouth. “Quit, you damn imp. People are staring.”
“Let ’em! It doesn’t matter here!”
Uneasiness coiled in my chest because itcouldmatter, but I pushed it away. We were in a remote area where no one knew who the fuck I was, anyway.
“We should celebrate! But how?”
Cameron’s enthusiasm was contagious, and I finally gave over to it with a grin. “How about a picnic in a cool spot my sister showed me once?”
The creek burbled merrilybeside us, water shimmering with dappled light filtering through the overhanging trees as we polished off the sandwiches and sodas we’d grabbed from a deli downtown. I settled back on the old blanket we’d picked up along the way from a secondhand store and tipped my face up toward the sun, my mind wandering away from details of the publicity tour to focus on the present. This was my kind of celebration.
Cameron lay next to me on the blanket, propped up on one elbow, his hair catching the sunlight and gleaming. His hand slipped over mine, fingers locking together in an easy gesture of intimacy. His gaze traced my face, a subtle smile playing over his lips.
“You know,” he murmured, “there are other things we could do to celebrate.” His eyes flickered down to my throat, where I knew he had a certain fondness for the pulse that fluttered there whenever he was close.
“Oh? What do you have in mind?” I teased playfully, knowing full well what his mischievous grin meant.
Cameron’s gaze smoldered with heat and promise as he leaned in closer, his breath warm against my ear. “This,” he whispered, his hand smoothing down my chest toward the top of my jeans. I watched as he undid the button, fingers deftly slipping beneath the fabric.