Capturing You (Maple Grove Romance Book 1)

by Katana Collins

  Noah’s expression melted into something utterly unreadable as his gaze landed at where Cam’s hand rested on her.

  Maddie tugged their hands once more. “Come on. Everyone’s waiting on you!”

  “Okay, kiddo.” Lydia squeezed Maddie’s hand and followed the bouncing ten-year-old to her seat at the dinner table. The only other empty chair was directly next to her and Noah slid in beside her, his gaze cutting through to her core. That icy glare was enough to slice open her guts and reveal all her secrets.

  *

  A clinking glass tore Cam’s eyes away from Lydia and instead he focused on Mr. Tucker, standing at the head of the table with a glass of wine in hand.

  “I just wanted to say a few words before we dine. This past month has been a lot of work for many of us, but no one has put as much heart into this cause as our very own Maddie Tripp.” He tilted his glass to her as a chuckle escaped. “And as strange as it feels to toast a glass of wine to a ten-year old, I wanted to say thank you. To Maddie.” He winked at her much in the way a grandfather would and sipped his wine as a chorus of people echoed his toast.

  “To Maddie.” Cam tilted her own glass of pinot, warmth spreading through him as Maddie’s beam grew wider.

  “Yeah, Madds!” Callie shouted over top of everyone and the room chuckled. Cam rolled his eyes and kissed Maddie on top of her head, brushing a stray hair back from her face.

  “You did good, kid,” he whispered.

  Cam’s eyes raised and met Lydia’s once more as a flush fell over her body. Pheromones raged between them like the rapids and he managed to smile in her direction. The blood rushing through him was electric, and his pounding heart was so loud, he was certain she could hear it from across the table. What the hell had happened between her and Noah? After tapping the edge of his glass to hers, he looked to Noah, who unfortunately, since the three of them had been the last ones to the party, was seated next to Lydia.

  Noah raised his glass. “To Maddie,” he said. “And to making headlines.” Raising a brow at Lydia, he clinked her glass and took a sip, staring at her from over the rim.

  Lydia shivered and put her glass down without drinking. Anger and discomfort resonated between them and hummed around the room.

  She took a deep breath and winked across the table at Maddie. “To making the good kind of headlines,” she added softly. Noah’s lips thinned and with one more eye roll, he drank his wine.

  She shivered, rubbing gooseflesh that rose on her arms, and Cam shrugged out of his suit jacket, handing it over the table to her. “Here you go.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, ducking her gaze lower. As if that could escape Noah’s glare. Lifting her camera, she snapped a few images of Cam and Maddie at the table. Then, standing, she moved around, getting various shots of the food as it was served—piles of pasta with various Italian sauces. Meatballs, sausage, and ravioli were passed down the table, family-style.

  Mr. Tucker’s chuckle, though quiet, still managed to cut through the quiet chatter of the dining room. “That’s enough work for tonight, Lydia. Sit down, enjoy your dinner.”

  “I tried to tell her the same thing earlier, Mike,” Marty laughed from the other end of the table.

  She snapped a couple more images, then made her way back to her seat, tucking her camera under her chair. “I’ll pause while we eat and resume later,” Lydia said.

  Mike Tucker sent Cam a knowing smile and jerked his head to Lydia. “She’s a hard worker. Fits right in here in Maple Grove.”

  Noah grunted, eyes clamped shut, and dropped his fork to his plate with a clatter. Up until then, no one other than Cam had really noticed the animosity between the two.

  “Noah,” their mother said from across the table. Her tone wasn’t scolding or even a warning… it was confused. Questioning, her brows furrowed together. But Noah barely returned his mother’s eye contact. Instead, his gaze darted back and forth between Cam and Lydia, eyebrows heavy and low over his normally bright eyes.

  “Dad.” Maddie tapped him on the shoulder. “I can’t twirl like you can.” She clanked her fork against the plate.

  “Here, Mouse. I can cut it up for you.” Cam leaned over her, knife in hand.

  “No, wait,” Lydia cut in. “Maddie, watch me. Don’t try to only use the fork. Scoop a bunch onto your spoon first and then spin your fork against that. It helps balance it.”

  Maddie did as instructed, beaming at Lydia and Cam as she held a perfectly twirled bite-full of pasta for all to see. “I did it!”

  Lydia smiled too and held up two hands. “See? Easy.”

  Noah nearly snorted into his glass of wine. “Well, aren’t you just a regular Mary Friggin’ Poppins.”

  Maddie’s eyebrows puckered in the center of her forehead. “Uncle Noah, do you know Lydia?”

  The entire table up to this point had very politely been engaging in their own chit-chat. But that’s the thing about these small towns… gossip is like chum in the water. And they suddenly all morphed into malnourished sharks.

  “Apparently, not as well as your dad knows her.” His tone was sharper than a knife’s blade.

  Lydia’s jaw nearly hit the ground.

  “What do you mean?” Maddie asked.

  “Noah,” Cam warned.

  His brother finally broke his stare and his gaze landed on Maddie’s face, scowl softening. “Nothing,” he muttered. “I mean nothing, Maddie.”

  The whole table seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as the tension dissipated. At least, momentarily.

  Callie leaned into Noah, nudging him with an elbow. “Dude, what is your deal?” To her credit, she attempted to whisper, but from across the table, Cam could hear them. Which meant Lydia could, too.

  “I didn’t expect to come home to find myself dining with the tabloid queen, herself.” He jerked his head in Lydia’s direction.

  “Noah Blue Tripp,” Marty scolded. “You’re being extremely rude to our guest. Lydia has been gracious and lovely—”

  Ronnie snorted from the corner, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.

  Lydia stood, dropping her napkin beside the plate. “Marty, it’s okay. I got the photos I needed. I’ll just go back to the cottage and finish up some work—”

  Noah rubbed his temples. “This is insane. How did I become the bad guy here? What happened to my sane, rational family?”

  “That’s what happens when you leave and never visit,” Steve grumbled from the corner.

  “Yeah, and maybe this is why I don’t bother coming home, Steve. I come home to find a reporter more at home with my family than I am!” With each family member that chimed in, the volume grew louder and louder.

  Callie placed a hand on her twin’s arm. “Is this really about Lydia? I think if you get to know her…”

  “No. I don’t want to get to know her. Hannah was great. Hannah was amazing. Hannah was family. Isn’t that what we’re here for? To celebrate her life?”

  “Don’t you talk about Hannah,” Cam said, the anger swelling deep in his guts. “You don’t get to waltz in and have an opinion about my wife.”

  Noah tossed his silverware onto the table and put both hands up. “I’m sorry, I guess I didn’t realize I wasn’t allowed to talk about the woman this event is supposed to be about. Apparently, this weekend is more about playing matchmaker for my brother and some media whore—”

  Cam didn’t know what happened, but something inside of him snapped. He lunged across the table, grabbing Noah by his lapels, dragging him out of the restaurant. “Outside, now. We need to talk.”

  Lydia gasped and hurled herself after them, but Cam stopped her. “Just us,” he said not only to her, but his entire family who was also on their feet following them.

  Noah shrugged out of his grasp, pushing Cam away from him before he shouldered the front door open and stalked outside. New Hampshire’s night air was bitter and Cam’s breath fogged around his head like a cloud.

  “What the hell is the matter with
you?” Cam demanded.

  “You should ask your girlfriend in there.”

  “Lydia is not my girlfriend. I’m not going to stand here and say I don’t like her, because I do, but you’re my brother. And no matter how big an asshole you’re being, you come first. You always come first.” Well, that certainly silenced him. Noah shivered, but Cam hardly noticed the cold. His blood was heated; sweat even dripped down his face. “You come first,” Cam repeated. “But that doesn’t give you an excuse to waltz in here after months and months of being gone and act like a dickhead.”

  “You don’t get it. You’ve always got along perfectly with everyone in this family… but I never fit in with you guys. And whether I would have stayed in Maple Grove or not, that wouldn’t have changed.”

  “We all did our best to include you. Hell, I always did my best with you. I was trying to be both a brother and a dad to you and Callie.”

  “Yeah, well, you did a shitty job at both.”

  Cam stepped back, stunned. He knew he wasn’t perfect, but he’d tried damn hard to fulfill a role he’d been thrust into far too early in life. And he loved his brother, despite everything. It never mattered to him that they didn’t have a lot in common. “This is more about me than it is about Lydia.” He meant it as a question, but it came out more like a statement. “What happened with you two? Did you used to date?” It was the dreaded question that he really didn’t want the answer to.

  Noah pushed a hard breath out through pursed lips and the white cloud melted into the inky night. “God, no. I don’t date ice queen bitches.”

  “Daddy,” Maddie’s trembling voice stuttered from the doorway and Cam turned to find her standing there, bottom lip trembling.

  “It’s okay, Mouse. It’s cold out here. Go back inside and wait with Grandma.”

  “Shit,” Noah whispered. “I really did come here with good intentions. Everyone always says they want me to visit more. Then when I do, I find you and the whole damn town cozying up to a woman who makes me feel like a monster.”

  Cam really didn’t want the details, but curiosity still spiked. “If you and Lydia never dated, what could you possibly be mad about?”

  Noah’s face paled to a ghostly shade of white. “You know what? You were right the first time. This isn’t about Lydia. It’s about the fact that you’ve never understood me. You’ve never even tried. And this family is hardly ever on my side.”

  Cam grit his teeth. “That’s not true.”

  “It is true.” He gave a bitter chuckle and looked up at the stars. “Maybe I haven’t been on my own side.” His gaze back down over Cam’s shoulder. “But I at least attempted to bond with you. I tried to carve wood… disastrously. I tried to play flag football every year. I did it, but I was miserable.”

  “Yeah, and every year I would help build the sets for whatever show you were starring in—”

  “You never came to see the shows, Cam. Yeah, you built the sets. But you never came to a single opening night. Have you ever even watched an episode of my show?”

  The back of Cam’s neck grew hot with that realization. He hadn’t. Not even once. By the time Noah was in high school, Cam was married with a kid. He would help with some things, but Hannah was the one who would see Noah act with the girls while he stayed home with Maddie.

  “That’s what I thought,” Noah whispered. “But something tells me you’re about to understand what it’s like to walk a day in my shoes real soon.” He walked past him and back into the restaurant, where Lydia stood in the doorway, wringing her hands.

  ‡

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Cam raked a hand through his hair, sweat dripping off his brow despite New Hampshire’s snowy January night. Lydia shivered and crossed her arms as she walked in his direction. And in a blink of an eye, she was in front of him.

  The air between them alive and buzzing. Her gaze on him was shrewd, assessing, and Cam’s pulse quickened. He inhaled, and along with the crisp smell of winter in the air, he got a whiff of Lydia—rosewater. She smelled like rosewater. The scent was delicate and beautiful, as was she.

  “So, I guess we need to talk,” she said.

  “I’m a terrible brother.” He scraped his hand against his jaw. There was a rasp to his voice that hadn’t been there moments ago.

  “No, you’re not. You had no idea—”

  “When did you meet Noah?” When she didn’t answer right away, he sighed, looking to the bright stars twinkling above them in the inky night.

  Lydia shook her head, and though she didn’t appear to be crying, the tiniest sniffle squeezed his heart. “Seven months ago.”

  “Right around the time you learned you can’t have children.” Right around the time we met at the café, the thought rang in his head before he could stop it.

  “It was a misunderstanding.” She sounded so heartfelt. So genuine. He stood there, snow beneath his feet, flakes falling in the limited space between them, studying her. “Okay,” she whispered. “I can read between the lines. I understand if you never want to see me again—”

  She moved past him toward the door, shoulder whispering by his. Without thinking, Cam darted out his hand, gently gripping her elbow. Her skin was every bit as silky as he’d remembered, and beneath his fingers, it was electric, sending shockwaves up his arm. The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end, and judging from her pebbled nipples, he was pretty damn sure she felt it, too. “I owe Noah an apology and apparently you owe him one, too. But you know what? He owes us that same courtesy.”

  “H-he does?”

  “For how he treated you in there? And Maddie? Absolutely. He needs to grow up and take responsibility for his actions, too.”

  With a shaky inhalation, she opened her mouth, but no words emerged. Tension in his hand strained around her elbow, and he pulled her into his arms. As her chin angled to his, he captured her lips, tasting their sweetness.

  She moaned against his mouth, and his groin tightened, spearing her hip. God, she felt good. His lungs felt like balloons about to pop. No one had felt this right pressed against him since Hannah.

  Could he do this again? Really do this? With the same unabashed passion and love he’d done once before in his life?

  Lydia gasped as she rolled her pelvis across his with an intention and grace that damn near made him explode. Her mouth opened to his, and he dragged his tongue across hers. It was his turn to give a muffled groan. Her hands dove into his hair, and she clawed at the back of his neck.

  Marty’s voice broke the moment from behind him. “Cameron? Is everything alright out here?”

  They pushed off of each other, Cam closing his eyes, taking the moment to catch his breath. It was just the adrenaline. The adrenaline from a crazy night fueling their moment of passion.

  “Yeah, Mom. Everything’s fine.” Eyes still glued to Lydia, he heard the door click shut. “I need to check on Maddie. She’s got a sleepover to get to tonight, but…” His words faded and left a spark of invitation in the air.

  Lydia’s fingers brushed her lips as though they could wipe away what just happened.

  “I have to give Kyra a ride home. But maybe after we could talk some more.”

  Lydia looked frightened for a moment before she rolled her shoulders back, standing taller. “Of course.”

  Only talking was the last thing on Cam’s mind.

  *

  Back at the guesthouse, Lydia searched through her notes, pacing and reading aloud. Every now and then, she peeked through the curtain, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She needed to concentrate on the story. She’d just about figured it out, she thought. And yet, her focus was all over the place. Tossing the notepad on the bed, she dove her hands into her hair, brushing her fingers through the strands.

  The folder from Mara with her photos and terrible captions rested on the desk, a bit of the corners peeking out, mocking her. How bad could their history possibly be to warrant that sort of slanderous behavior?

  Tension released
from her shoulders and that little twitch in her forehead faded for the first time all week. Once she figured out what went wrong between the two of them, the rest of this article would just fall into place.

  The tip of her pen tapped against the lacquered desk in quick rhythm. Or so she hoped. Lydia stretched, stealing a glance at the clock. An hour? A whole hour had already passed since she had gotten home and started writing. Home. The word echoed in her mind. How had she gotten so comfortable here so quickly? She’d been in New York for six years and never felt as settled as she did in Cam’s little guest cottage. A rumble rolled through her stomach and flashes of the pie case in Elsa’s cafe came to mind.

  Unfortunately, with all the drama at Angelina’s, she hadn’t gotten a chance to eat too much of her dinner. It was almost ten—not too late by her standards. Maybe Elsa’s was still open? Taking a quick detour, she examined herself in the mirror—striped cotton pajama pants and a matching tank. Not exactly suitable for going out, but also not altogether inappropriate either. Besides, she’d be in her rental car most of the way. Water filled her mouth as she thought again of that pie. It was worth the risk.

  She swung the door open, making sure to grab her sweatshirt, keys, and purse. A shadowed figure was framed by the doorway. “Cam, your timing is impeccable.”

  His smile was shaky, and he gave the smallest shrug with only one shoulder. “Hi.” Hi… that’s all he had to say?

  “Is everything okay?” Her heart skipped a beat. “Maddie? Is she—?”

  “Maddie is fine—at a sleepover.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “You were leaving?” Cam’s expression fell. Though it was subtle—it wasn’t lost on Lydia, and his eyes lifted unmistakably, the dim lights from the guesthouse glistening in their blue depths.

  Lydia’s gaze dropped to his hands. He held Candy Land, Twister, Operation, a caramel apple, and several DVDs.

  “Whatchya got there?” she said through a smile.