Be Mine Forever Read Online Free

mixture of sea and clouds. At least that’s how Jo Walsh had always thought of them. She couldn’t see them right now with Cam’s forehead pressed to the viewing window. Watching him unobserved for a moment was a privilege. The dark hair, always unruly, fell around his neck, undecided about whether to wave or curl. The broad shoulders pushed forward and his hands burrowed into the pockets of the jeans it had taken this long to look that good.
    The clack-clack of her four-inch Manolos brought Cam’s head swiveling in her direction. Jo drew in the bracing breath she always needed at the first sight of him after a long time. She kept thinking, kept hoping that one day Cam wouldn’t affect her this way. That her heart wouldn’t seize with disbelief that any man could be this beautiful in real life. That all the steel-reinforced walls she’d erected wouldn’t topple when that blazing white smile flashed at her like lightning. She was never fully prepared for that smile, always a bolt to her unsuspecting system.
    Only there was no smile tonight.
    Sadness cloaked and slumped Cam’s shoulders and turned down the corners of his mouth. He offered her those one-of-a-kind eyes for a few moments before considering the babies again without saying a word.
    Jo slid damp palms across the soft material clinging to her hips. She had just gotten back to the office after a fund-raising luncheon when Cam called. She still wore the Kelly green dress outlining her every asset. Convenient. She hadn’t had time to think about what she would wear or how she would style her hair or any of the nonsense she typically considered when she knew she’d see Cam. A lot of good it ever did her.
    She stepped into the space beside him, turning her head to study his rugged profile.
    “You doing okay?” Jo pressed the tips of her fingers to the glass separating them from the infants.
    “You mean since we last talked or since I had to help Kerris and Walsh start their little family in the delivery room?”
    Jo caught the wince before it made it to her face, but inside she ached for Cam. He’d fled to Paris after Amalie’s death. Stayed there while Walsh wooed Kerris. He had done so well for himself away from them, but she’d always known he’d be back. The thing Cam had wanted more than anything in the world was a family. Walsh’s mother, Kristeene Bennett, had treated Cam as a second son, and he’d loved her more than anyone on earth. With Aunt Kris gone, Jo, Walsh, even Kerris might be the closest he’d ever come to family. But to be drawn into the pulsing center of Kerris and Walsh’s new life together had to be hard. Had to resurrect feelings he might have thought settled.
    “I’m sorry it happened like that, Cam.”
    He finally looked away from the babies long enough to offer her one of those smiles that, without any real effort, punched a hole in her chest where her heart used to be before Cam stole it over fifteen years ago. Some days, she didn’t think she’d ever get it back. She didn’t really have much use for it anyway.
    “It’s fine.” Cam drew his dark brows into a quick frown. “I mean, it’s shit, but it’s fine. I’m fine. How are Kerris and the girls?”
    Even Jo couldn’t govern the joy that pressed its way past her impassive expression.
    “Kerris is fine. The girls are gorgeous. In ICU, of course, but that’s pretty standard for preemies.”
    “Names?”
    “Brooklin and Harlim.” Jo snorted. “We’re lucky it’s not Apple and Orange, I guess.”
    Cam added a grin to the knowing look he slid over to her. They had always loved teasing Walsh about his “high life” in the city. Jo might never miss Fashion Week in New York, and she might make regular shopping pilgrimages to Paris, but Rivermont was home. Always had been. Always would be.
    “How is Walsh?” Cam’s mouth dropped the smile it had managed to hold on to for a few seconds.
    “As you would expect, going crazy because he can’t get here at the