Character Interview with Cam from When You Are Mine by Kennedy Ryan

Forever is a heartbeat away . . .

Kerris Moreton knows how to make things work. Bounced from foster home to foster home as a kid, she adapted; when opportunity arose, she thrived. Now, about to open her own business and accept a marriage proposal, Kerris is ready to build the life she's always wanted. The only thing missing? A passionate connection with her would-be fiancé, Cam. Kerris wants to believe that sparks are overrated-until Walsh Bennett lights her up like the Fourth of July.

. . . but what about love?

As one of the East Coast's most eligible bachelors, Walsh enjoys financial independence, fulfilling work with his family's nonprofit, and plenty of female attention. But lately he's been distracted by the one woman he can't have. Lovely to look at and even sweeter to know, Kerris is the soul mate Walsh never thought he would find. The problem is, his best friend found her first . . .

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Hi, everybody! It’s Kennedy Ryan. I hope many of you have read my debut WHEN YOU ARE MINE. I have a slightly spoiler-ish treat for you today, so if you haven’t read yet, proceed with caution! It doesn’t give away much, but it does allude to a few things! I get questions all the time about one character in particular, Cameron Mitchell. We never hear his point of view in the book, but one blogger, Ash from Morning Books & Coffee, crawled inside his head and dug around. She found some fascinating answers. I wanted as many readers as possible to hear his side of the story, so she agreed to share with some of the bloggers I love! Thanks to my blogger friends for passing it on to you!

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Ash:  Hey, Cam. How are you doing today?

Cam:  Good, considering. Sorry. Don’t mean to sound pathetic. Just been through a lot lately with…well, with everything that has happened.

Ash:  You have been through a lot lately, and you had a difficult childhood. How do you think it impacted you to become so well educated and so honest and respectful as you got older?

Cam:  Wow. Not many people have called me respectful. I need a second to absorb that one! My childhood was hell. I don’t want to go into all the details, but let’s just say foster care was a big step up for me. Kristeene Bennett and the Walsh Foundation taught me not to use my past as an excuse and taught me to take advantage of every opportunity. My education, painting – everything that is worth anything in my life, I owe to that woman. A lot of people do.

Ash: What is the first thing you notice about a woman?

Cam:  I should say the eyes, right? That’s the PC answer. It’s true, I DO notice the eyes because growing up like I did, you learn to read people in an instant. And the eyes are the fastest way to scope a person. But the “player” answer? I’m an ass man!

Ashy:  What was it like when you first saw Kerris? What was going thru your mind?

Cam: She’s gorgeous, of course. Any guy would notice that first, but there was something about her I just resonated with right away. She and I have very similar pasts, and as beautiful, as sweet as she was, she didn’t let people in. I got that. I’m pretty guarded myself. She wouldn’t even go out with me for months, and we were just friends. Guess that made me feel like the king of the world when she finally did say yes. I thought I was really lucky she didn’t listen to everybody telling her what a player I was. I mean, I was a player, but that was before I met Kerris.

Ash:  Can you tell us a little about your friendship with Walsh when you were younger before Kerris came along?

Cam:  That son of a…sorry. Walsh and I aren’t exactly on the best terms right now. Probably won’t be again. I didn’t have many people in my life I could trust. Pretty much, just Walsh and his family. I told Walsh things about my childhood that I…that I never thought I would share with anyone. We’ve been like brothers since I was twelve years old. I never thought he would…never suspected he was as low and conniving as he is. I don’t care how many orphans he rescues or all the good he does all over the world, someone who goes for his best friend’s girl is not a good guy. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him now. That’s all you need to know about what is left of my friendship with that dude.

Ash:  Some haven’t read your story yet, and may not know what I’m talking about when I ask you this next question, so I’ll be careful with how I word it. We all understand how upset you were when you saw for yourself that there really was something between Kerris and Walsh, but some of us had a hard time with your reaction later that night. You remember what I’m talking about? Do you have anything to say about that?

Cam:  You would ask that question. It’s hard for me to address something so sensitive and private. Something that’s supposed to be between just me and Kerris, but I’ll try. I don’t know that it’ll make people understand or like me any more, but at least I’ll get to give my side of the story. I’ll start by saying I know it was a douche move. When I saw…what I saw…trying to stay spoiler-free for folks…something kind of snapped inside me. Kerris and I promised that we would be each other’s only, and she couldn’t have chosen a better way to betray me. I guess in a way I needed to remind myself and to remind her that she was my wife. On some level I knew she wouldn’t refuse me because of how bad she felt about what I saw. Was that right? In hindsight, no, and I still see how that may have caused more damage in our relationship. In the moment, it felt like the only way I could re-establish myself as her husband. Sex is…complicated for me. I won’t use the abuse I experienced as an excuse. It’s not. I’m still figuring out how it has affected me. I kind of thought, in some ways, it hadn’t affected me, but maybe it did. It’s still something I don’t feel comfortable talking about, so don’t bother asking me to elaborate. Let’s just say If I had to do it over, I would handle things differently. But as I’ve learned with so many other mistakes I’ve made, you don’t get do overs. You only get do betters, and that’s what I’m trying to do, starting with the family I want more than anything.

Ash:  Can you tell me a little bit of where your state of mind is today? Like how are you doing with your marriage and everything that has happened?

Cam:  We’re moving forward. We’ve all lost a lot over the last year. I wish I was the kind of guy who could let bygones be bygones, but I’m not. I feel sick every time I’m in the same room with Walsh, and I’m not sure how we can get past that. Kerris and I…we’re trying. Maybe I had it right when I was a kid. Maybe you can’t trust people. Maybe everyone’s out to hurt you. Maybe you shouldn’t let people in if this is what happens. What’s the point?

Ash:  Can you tell me where you think you will be in 5 years?

Cam:  In five years, I hope to be on my third or fourth art exhibit. Paris, New York. I want my art in museums all over the world, but I also want it on bridges and the sides of buildings where anybody can see it and be inspired by it. The streets have always been my Louvre. The one thing I want even more than my art? A family. Kerris and me, we’re on the same page about that. We want to put all the shit…can I say shit here? Sorry! Can you bleep that, or whatever? We want to put all the stuff from the last few months behind us and focus on making the kind of family we never had ourselves. We both grew up in hell. My kids won’t have that. If that’s the only thing I have to show for myself in five years, I’d be okay with that.

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THE BENNETT SERIES

  

#1 — WHEN YOU ARE MINE
Kindle | Paperback | Goodreads

#2 — LOVING YOU ALWAYS
Goodreads
Out October 7, 2014

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About the Author:

Kennedy Ryan grew up in North Carolina, but loves living in Atlanta with her husband (tall – check, dark – check – handsome – check), and her handful of a son. Though she knew, like writers often do, that she was supposed to tell stories, the road to fulfillment has been paved with “some of everything” jobs that kept her family eating and living indoors. With her degree in Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Tar Heels!), she has focused on writing for non-profit organizations and even doing some non-fiction ghost writing. Only in the last few years did she start telling stories again.

In addition to being a devoted wife and mom, she’s also a passionate advocate for families living with Autism. Her son was diagnosed at the age of two, and she has made it her mission to help as many families as possible find the resources and services they need. 25% of her royalties will go toward her national charitable partner Talk About Curing Autism and Myles-A-Part, her foundation serving Georgia families.

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