Kara It felt like I was floating in a river of honey. My limbs felt heavy, and I could barely open my eyes, but something was trying to worm its way into my consciousness. At first it was the scent. It was deep and dark and familiar. It teased my senses, beckoning me to seek for more. My eyes flew open. "Kara." Cameron. I straightened from my slump. Everything was blurry but I could at least tell we were in his truck, parked in the woods. Inside it was warm and cozy, and it smelled of him. I wanted to crawl on his lap and go back to sleep. I was just about to drift off when he said, "Let me take you inside." Inside? Inside where? I pushed my hair back from my face as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. It was dark out. All I could see were the misty shapes of trees. I would have been scared, but Cameron's strong presence made me feel secure. His face was covered in shadows, barely visible in the dim light of the truck. Longing filled my chest. I wanted to reach out, hold his face in my hands. Suddenly everything that happened slammed back in my mind. Cameron walking out. The dinner disaster at Aunt Lisa's house, Dad and Dylan's fight. Cameron waiting for me at my house, me falling asleep as he drove us to his cabin. I blinked away the sleep from my eyes, reached for my jacket that fell on my feet when I moved. I had removed it earlier because it got too warm, but I guess Cameron had covered me with it while I was asleep. I switched the light on so I could see him better. His eyes looked dark. And sad. "I thought you worked today?" I asked quietly. "I did." "Out of town?" "Yeah." "But..." I glanced at the clock. It was four in the morning. "You drove all the way back tonight?" I was stunned. The project site was three hours away from the city. I had even booked the motel for the crew so they could stay there overnight and come back the next day since it would be late when they finished. When he showed up at my house earlier, I hadn't realized it. I was just so damned happy and relieved he was there to think about anything else. "I had to see you." I exhaled a long, shaky breath, my emotions running wild from his words. He was looking at me with something soft in his eyes that made me yearn. Slowly he lifted his hand as if he was about to touch my face, but lowered it to the center console instead, close to where my hand was resting on my lap. He didn't reach for me. I wanted so much to hold him, but we had better clear up what happened last night first. Once he touched me, I might fall apart. "Cam." "Yeah?" "Tell me what made you upset last night." He leaned his head back against his seat, blew out a breath. "You look like you've had enough tonight. Why don't we—" "Don't." He turned his head to look at me. I don't know what he saw in my face, but his eyes became vulnerable. "I think," he said quietly, "that I am a very jealous person, Kara. I'm not like this with anyone else. Just with you." He swiped a hand over his mouth and continued, "I've seen what it can do to a relationship. It's not something you'd want. And it's not something I want to be. I'll deal with it." "Will you look at me?" "I'm always looking at you." I closed my eyes, fought the need to jump into his arms. "Tell me what about last night that upset you." We hadn't been together that long, and we were still getting to know each other, but I knew he had a hard time opening up and expressing himself. I realized it was one of the reasons why he lashed out last night. On my side, I had a hundred percent reaction rate when confronted. It wasn't a good combination. Add that we were both exhausted from working all day and missing the hell out of each other, it was a disaster recipe in the making. Clearly, we had a lot of work to do, but I wasn't intimidated. Not much anyway. I needed him to tell me what was bothering him so we can fix it. Because more than anything, I wanted to be with Cameron. "I didn't like the way he touched you," he said quietly. "It wasn't just once." "How was he—" My brow knotted with confusion, dialed back to the exact moment when Cameron saw me with Damon. "Do you mean when we were fooling around with the paint?" "You really need every detail?" "Yes." "I don't want to talk about this anymore." There was no heat in his voice, not even anger. He just sounded tired. "I need to know. Please." "I'm going to sound like a selfish, petty son of a bitch and you wouldn't like what you're going to hear. Some things I have to deal on my own." "For us to work I need us to be more open with each other, Cam. Not just you, me too. You can ask me anything." He stayed silent for a moment, searching my face. I didn't try to school my emotions. They were all out in the open for him to see. "You ignored me." "I—" "That was my fault. I walked in on you in the middle of your work. I should have waited."