Chasing Love's Wings (31 page)

“They can wait,” I tell her. My presents, no matter what they are, are unimportant.
Today is for Cami and no one else. But I can see she won’t let it go, so I dutifully
go back to the tree, grab my presents and bring them back to the sitting area we’re
in. I worried and worried over all the blueprints; the other stuff was minor, but
the house — especially the house — was freaking me out for two reasons: one, how she
would react to the amount of money; and two, because she’d done the same for me for
my birthday a few months ago.
 

I sit down and ask her, “Which one?”
 

She shrugs. “Pick one.” So I do, and she blushes bright red.
 

“Hmm, wonder what’s in here?” I tease her, and tear into the paper.
 

“More for me than for you.” She smiles and I open the box.
 

“Hmm, to use on me or for me to use on you?” I ask her.
 

She shrugs again. “Either, or.” I like that idea. Inside the box are a pair of leather
cuffs and a blindfold. We’ve played around with restraints before, but not recently,
and I rather like the idea of restraining her, especially with the blindfold. The
idea stirs my cock awake. “I can see your wheels turning,” she says, and laughs.
 

“Oh, of course.” I put the lid back on and pick another one. I made her wait patiently
for each gift, but I know this is a little different for her and it’s not about me,
so I move on quickly. I tear open the paper, and it is a sleek black box. I already
have a watch. I open the lid, and lying on some black tissue paper is a key. A car
key. I smirk. “What is this to?” I ask her.
 

“The R-eight.”
 

“No way,” I say, very excited. “Why?” I ask her, and she doesn’t say anything; she
doesn’t need to. She just brings her hand to rest on her bump. “It’s still your car,”
I say.
 

“Lift the paper,” she says, and I do; underneath the paper is the title to the car,
transferred from her name to mine. “No, it’s yours. It is practically brand new, I
couldn’t part with it because it is my favorite car, so I thought that you might like
to have it.”
 

I smile and shake my head. “I love the crap out of you,” I say, and she busts out
laughing.
 

“Go on, you have more to open,” she says as she watches me. I grab another package;
this one is smaller, more gift card size than an actual present. I open it.
 

Inside is a gift card. “Skeleton Key?”
 

“It’s to X, my tattoo goddess. You once talked about getting a tribal done on your
shoulder. I can’t take you to get it now, since we’re here, but I thought maybe you’d
like to get it done another time.”
 

“Cami, it’s perfect. Thank you.” I hadn’t actually thought about it in some time,
and it’s not that I couldn’t afford it on my own; she wants it to come from her, and
I love that about her.

I finish with my presents: some clothes — well, more specifically, Ravens gear. I
think we both did really well, considering neither one of us said anything about what
we wanted for Christmas.
 

The rest of our friends join us early in the afternoon. Travis, the one man I never
thought would settle down, has decided to move to Phoenix with Naomi — at least until
the houses in L.A. are done. It makes me happy to see that he’s making a commitment
to her, and that was his big gift to her for Christmas. Cami and I had gone together
and gotten something for everyone, though it wasn’t anything huge because the trip
is on me; well, after Cami and I talked, we decided that we’re going to split the
cost. She said it was important to her.
 

The girls all disappear around four and are gone until dinner arrives in the suite
and is set up at the big table outside at six. When the girls come back up, they join
their men, but Cami isn’t anywhere to be found. “Where’s Cams?” I ask.
 

“She said she needed a minute.” Oh. I give her a few minutes, but she doesn’t come
out to join us, so I go looking for her. I knock on the bedroom door.
 

“Come in,” she says, and I open the door, step inside and close it behind me.
 

“Hey, sweets, you okay?”

“I’m freaking out a little bit.” I look at her then: She has her shirt pulled up and
her pants rolled down slightly, and her hands are on her belly.

“What’s wrong?”
 

She looks up at me and smiles. “Come here.” I take the few steps toward her. “Feel.”
She takes my hands and places them on her belly.
 

It takes a moment, but then... “It feels like popcorn.”
 

She laughs. “I thought maybe it was either that I was hungry or had to go to the bathroom.
Neither seemed to be the case, so I just sat here. I couldn’t take my hands off.”
 

It stops when she stops talking. “Say something else.”
 

“Like what?” And it happens again. It is the most beautiful feeling in the world,
and I feel her thumb wipe away a tear before I even realize I’m crying.
 

“You’re so beautiful,” I tell her, and she smiles.

“So are you.” I lean forward and kiss her, keeping my hands on her belly. After a
couple more pops it stops. We both wait anxiously for a few moments and decide that
there is plenty of time to feel it again, and we join our friends.

Beau tries to convince Cami that she can’t see me tomorrow, and she refuses. “I’ve
never imagined not seeing my husband-to-be on my wedding day. So forget it,” she scolds.
 

“Okay, fine, you can stay with him tonight, but come noon tomorrow, you’re mine,”
she says as she and Mick leave our suite. They’re the last to leave for the night,
and Cami and I fall into bed, exhausted, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying each
other one last time as boyfriend and girlfriend. “Mrs. Michaels. I love the way that
sounds,” I tell her, and she giggles.

“Mrs. Tristan Michaels. That does have a nice ring to it.
 

I fall asleep playing her name over and over in my head. Cameron Celeste Michaels.
Cami Michaels. It sounds so perfect.
 

I am kicked out of the suite promptly at noon. I’m trying desperately to figure out
what they need seven hours for, but I decide not to argue when Beau tells me that
she will be ready by five, at which time I need to be ready and she will find me,
and I’m okay with that. I go downstairs to Travis’s suite, thankful that the girls
are all upstairs doing their girlie things. Trav and I hang out, talk about anything
and everything. I come to find out that Trav is completely in love with Naomi and
that he’s been doing everything he can to prove to her that he’s committed to her.
Short of putting a ring on her finger. He hates that she doesn’t travel with him,
but I told him that could be arranged. He just needs to hire her. But he made a few
good points about them working together. He’s afraid he will grow tired of her. But
in reality, I think it is just Trav being a man and wanting something that is his
own.
 

I am eternally grateful that Cami likes to travel with me, though in the coming months
that will become harder for her to do and it makes me sad. But, while I’m filming,
she does other things. She’s not hanging around the set bored or anything along those
lines, so I have mine and she will soon have hers.
 

Three o’clock rolls around, and Mick and Ty show up in Travis’s suite. Mick has my
outfit for today: white linen pants and a matching short-sleeved shirt. He says that
it will go great with what Cami is wearing, and it is perfect for a beach wedding.
We all finish getting dressed and the room phone rings. I answer it because I’m closest
to it. “The photographer is ready for you guys. On Blu’s deck.”
 

“Thanks, Beau. Am I still to come up there at five?”

“Sure, or when you’re done with pictures, whichever comes later.” I roll my eyes.
 

“All right.”

“Bring the guys too.”
 

“Okay.” She hangs up.
 

Cami and I have agreed that we won’t officially have anyone standing with us today
but that, because they’re here, they are automatically part of the ceremony. The girls
will be walking down the aisle before Cami does.
 

When we get downstairs and onto Blu’s deck, it dawns on me that not only will Cami
and I be getting married on the beach on the same island where we met, but that we
literally will be getting married in the exact spot where we first met. It seems like
a lifetime ago, but yet not all that long ago, either. She is who I want to spend
the rest of my life with, no one else.

FORTY-SIX

******

Cami

******

Knock, knock
. “That’s probably Tristan,” Jo says as she goes to the door. She opens it. “Or not.
What are you doing here?”
 

“Who is it, Jo?” I ask from the living room.
 

“Um.” She doesn’t answer, and I look toward the door.
 

“Prime time for you to show up,” I snap.
 

“Please don’t be like that, Cameron. Girls, can I have a moment alone with my daughter?”
All eyes snap to me and I nod. I’m sitting on the couch, turning over the sofa to
look at him; he can’t see all of me. The girls leave the room for the foyer. I have
a feeling Tristan will be up here in no time flat, and I’m okay with that.
 

“What are you doing here, Bobby?”
 

“Please, don’t be angry with me.”
 

“How did you even know where to find me?” I don’t want the answer to that question.
 

His answer surprises me. “Tristan.”
 

I gasp. “What?”
 

“He sent me an email. Told me where and what time. Told me that this was going to
be the biggest day of my daughter’s life, a day that I would miss if I didn’t come.”
I watch as the tears form in his eyes. I’ve never, ever seen Bobby cry. “I couldn’t
miss it and I couldn’t watch it from afar.”
 

I stand up. I’m still facing away from him. My dress is a white linen halter top dress
with a plunging neckline that meets a band that runs under my breasts, and it’s open
in the back. My hair is up in a very beautiful, messy ‘do, and I have a purple flower
over my right ear. There are three things happening here. One, I am not wearing a
bra and my breasts have grown a full size since the last time I saw Bobby. Two, every
inch of my back and my shoulders is exposed, showing off my wings as well as my shoulder
tattoos. And lastly, even with the wide, flowing skirt, I am very clearly showing.
 

I hesitate too long, and I know that Bobby is getting a full view of the ink on my
body and I am certain that he is not pleased. “Cameron, turn around, please.” Nope,
not pleased at all. So what. I turn around, and as I do I hear his sharp intake of
breath, but I can’t bring myself to look at him. I feel like the six-year-old who
stole a cookie from the cookie jar and I’m going to have it ripped out of my hands.
“Please tell me—” he starts, and panic washes through me. “Please tell me that you
are marrying him because you love him.” My eyes meet his, which are alight with curiosity
and emotion, and a smile spreads across his face.
 

“Yes, I am marrying him because I love him. I am marrying him right now because he’s
asked and surprised me with this whole thing. Not because I am eighteen weeks pregnant
with his child.”
 

Relief washes over his features, and I stand there staring at him, waiting for the
anger to set in, but he surprises me still. “I’m a horrible person for everything
I’ve done to you. I don’t deserve to be here on your special day. But I am asking
you to please, find it in your heart to forgive me for the God-awful mistakes I’ve
made.” He takes a deep breath. “I can’t right the ship, I can’t make it go away, and
as much as I want to, I won’t be able to fight to have a relationship with you because
I can’t be there for you in a way I know you want me to be. Not because I don’t want
to, but because I can’t.”
 

“What do you mean?”
 

“I’ve had to leave the U.S. I can’t go back, at least not until I testify, which could
take years. Even then, once I testify, I will likely never be safe again. Just because
they’ve managed to take down the one person they needed to.... These rings are complicated,
and just because the big guy is gone doesn’t mean there isn’t someone else waiting
in the wings.”
 

I try hard not to cry because of my makeup. But it’s very hard. “So I’ll never see
you again after today?” He takes a step in my direction.
 

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he says as he draws closer to me. I hear the door click
closed and Tristan comes into the room. “You see, your soon-to-be husband has acquired
a piece of property on an island here in the South Pacific. An island that belongs
to me.” He reaches me then, and I wrap my arms around him. “But that is our secret,
between the three of us here and no more. No one else can ever know either that I
own it or that I have a home on it. If you decide to visit and you’re alone — no friends,
no staff, no nothing — I will come and visit you. But only I will come to you. Tristan
knows how to reach me.”
 

“What about today?” I ask.
 

“Today is your day. Your friends here all know the truth — they know that I’m alive,
which is fine — but by the time anyone knows I’ve been here, if at all, I will be
long gone, disappeared over the horizon.” The way he says it sounds so mysterious
and James Bond-ish. But I understand. I pull back from Bobby to look at Tristan.