The Final Countdown

Chapter 2

Maddie

Ten months later

Germany has been a dream come true.

When I first arrived, I thought I got myself in over my head. I mean, what on earth was I thinking bringing a two-year-old across the country with me?

With it being just me here, I've technically been a single mom for almost a year now, and although it's been hard, I wouldn't have changed anything for the world.

I volunteer at a non-profit when I'm not studying, and Izzy loves it there. The doctors and nurses have accepted her as their own on the weekends she's not in daycare, courtesy of Cameron. He paid for her to attend a top-of-the-line nursery where basically all the kids are prodigies and geniuses. I felt he was going a little bit overboard, but it is Cameron, after all, so I should have expected it.

Speaking of overboard, the apartment he's renting for us to stay in is insane. It's in the best section of town in Hamburg, and despite my utmost refusal to move six months into my program, he insisted. The apartment we lived in before wasn't bad, but it wasn't the greatest. All the other students lived in the same building, but it wasn't to his taste when Cameron visited after he got a free moment away from football (is anything his taste?).

So now Izzy and I live in a luxurious apartment two blocks away from our old complex, and as exciting as the past ten months have been, I'm itching to return home. I haven't been able to see Cameron in four months with his constant traveling and practice as a professional football player, and it's taking a toll on me.

With Iz straddled to my hip, I fumble with my keys to the apartment building, the grocery bags making an indent around my wrist from the weight.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" I ask when she starts to whine.

She nods eagerly when I finally open the door, plopping her down on her butt in the middle of the island. She's pretty easy to handle most days, but if she's been at daycare without a nap? I shudder at the thought.

"Hm..." I sift through the bags, pulling out some mac and cheese and a pack of broccoli. "Look good?"

Her emerald eyes light up at the sight of mac and cheese. The broccoli, however, she sticks her nose up at. "Yucky," she says, her blonde curls seeming to bounce in agreement.

I roll my eyes. "You're being dramatic, baby girl. Go play with your toys in the living room, okay?" Helping her off the counter, she runs over to the toy box, and I grab a pot to fill with water just as my phone starts to ring.

Every time I see Cameron's name, my heart picks up speed. I'm already smiling when I swipe across the screen to answer, and as soon as that handsome face appears, I'm a pile of mush.

The man is way too gorgeous for his own good, and that's not me being biased. He was recently nominated as the world's sexiest athlete and had an entire magazine shoot to prove it. I still have a copy stashed away in the drawer of my nightstand.

With his large, rippled muscles and completely toned eight-pack, the shoot's director knew what they were doing when they asked that the cover be of him pouring a water bottle on himself. I haven't looked at the magazine in a couple of days, but at this point, I've memorized where each and every droplet trickles down his stomach, falling right to the v-line in those sexy light-washed jeans...

"Did I call at a bad time?" Cam arches a dark brow in amusement, clearly sensing what I'm thinking.

It's been four months without sex. Can you blame me?