Somebody Like You: A Small Town Single Mom Romance (The Heartbreak Brothers Book 4) Carrie Elks (free reads .TXT) 📖

leaned against the brick of the house, staring at the teenager in front of him. “It’s good that you want to protect your mom. But maybe sometimes she doesn’t need protecting.”

“She’s pretty kick ass.” Michael nodded.

Cam’s lips twitched. “Yeah, she is. Single moms usually are.”

Finally, Michael lifted his eyes to Cam’s. “She missed you. She cried a lot while you were gone. I hated it.”

Cam hated hearing it. All he wanted to do was hold her. “I’ve missed her, too.” He moistened his lips with his tongue. “I’ve missed all of you.”

“Do you think…” Michael trailed off, taking a deep breath. “Do you think you could try again with her?”

Cam eyed him steadily. “I want to,” he admitted. “But only if you’re okay with it. You’re her priority. You and Josh. You should know that. If you don’t want this to happen between us then it won’t.”

“I think I do.” Michael nodded. “Yeah, I really do.”

Relief flooded Cam’s chest. “I do too. But we need to see what your mom wants. If anything happens between us, we’d take it slow. We’d agreed on that. Maybe date for a while. Take you guys out to the movies or a theme park. Nothing scary.”

“But you’ll stay with her tonight, right?”

Cam’s eyes widened. “You want me to stay here?”

Michael shrugged. “I don’t want her crying all night again. It keeps me awake.”

The thought of it wasn’t doing much for Cam, either. “I guess it’s up to your mom,” he said, reaching for the handle of the back door. “Come on, let’s go in. It’s freezing out here.”

“He really said that?” Mia asked, her voice low, so as not to wake the boys up. Michael had gone upstairs shortly after she came down to announce that Josh was finally asleep. He’d muttered something about an assignment due by Friday as he hugged his mom tightly. Then he’d turned to Cam and held out his hand. Cam had shaken it, impressed by how tight Michael’s grip was.

“Yep.” Cam nodded. “He wants me to stay the night.”

She bit down a smile, glancing at him through her thick lashes. “You know the walls are paper thin, right?”

“I figured. He said he heard your crying every night.”

“So we won’t be able to…”

He walked forward, sliding his hands into her hair. “I’m not an animal, Mia. I think I can restrain my basic urges. And anyway, if we’re gonna do this, I figure there will be nights when you’re not in the mood.” He brushed his lips against her brow. “Or I’m not in the mood.”

“Whoa there, fella. I’m not sure I signed up for that.” She pushed him playfully away. She looked so much more relaxed now that she’d had something to eat and gotten Josh to sleep. “I kind of like you being in the mood.”

“Yeah, well tonight that’ll lead to blue balls. So I’m gonna try really hard to think of something unsexy.”

“Maybe think of Sam in bed in the room on the other side.”

Cam burst into laughter. “Yep, that’ll do it.”

She slid her hand into his, leading him upstairs. They took turns in the bathroom, brushing their teeth and changing into pajamas, before meeting back up in Mia’s bedroom.

Cam looked around, taking in the small double bed. That was going to be interesting. He hadn’t slept in anything other than a king in a long time. In his apartment, he had a California king. His body liked room to breathe.

He lifted up the comforter. “So if this is my bed, where are you planning on sleeping?”

She laughed. “This is my territory, Hartson. Play nice or you’ll be sleeping on the floor.”

Once they were under the covers, Cam’s body taking up more than his fair share of space, Mia snuggled into him, her cotton pajama top brushing against his bare chest. She splayed her fingers on his pectorals, smiling at him.

He smiled back. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

“You starfishing in my bed?” She arched an eyebrow. “I’ll put up with it for now, but you’re going to have to learn to share.”

“I’ll buy you a bigger bed,” he muttered. “And no, I didn’t mean the starfishing. I meant us. This.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “The last time I saw you it was to say goodbye.”

She pressed her lips to his chest, kissing him softly. It was a force of will to divert the blood from shooting straight to his groin. “I never stopped wanting you. Seeing you walk away was the hardest thing I did. So yeah, I’m good with you being here.” She lifted her head to look at him. “In fact, I’m great with it. But how do you feel? You had the full gamut today. A teenager with crazy mood swings. A little kid who makes the worst decisions. And their mom…” she trailed off, shaking her head. “Their mom who fell to pieces.”

“You didn’t fall to pieces,” he whispered, kissing her head. “You were strong as hell. I don’t know how you did it.”

“I did it because I had to.”

He traced a lazy line down her spine with his fingers, pushing them inside her pajama top until his palm met her skin. “You don’t have to do it on your own anymore,” he told her.

She inhaled sharply as he traced the waistband of her pants. “I like the sound of that.”

“And you three really need to move in with me. I have a dishwasher that works, a bed that can fit us all in it, and a yard that won’t make you wince. Hell, you can bring Sam if you want.”

“Where?” she asked.

“Where what?” He frowned, not understanding.

“Where will you be living?”

“Here in Hartson’s Creek, of course. Where else would I be?”

She traced the line of his stomach. Damn, she knew how to tease him. “You told me you were moving to L.A.”

“Yeah, well I’ll tell my agent to stop the negotiations in the morning. I’m not going anywhere.” He caught her hand before it could