Aiden gave him a little frown. “You sure?”
“We were kids. We’re both different people now.” Cam took a breath and looked at the other men. They were his best friends. They knew him better than anyone. They had his back. “She and I haven’t talked, not really, in years. We haven’t spent time together. When I think of her, I think of the girl I knew. I’m just getting to know the woman who is now my business partner for all intents and purposes. How can I be angry with her? Or hurt by her? Or… in love with her? I’ve just met her in a lot of ways.”
The guys just looked at him. Dax looked confused, Grant looked skeptical, and Aiden looked worried.
Cam shrugged. She might physically want him. They did have chemistry. And a history. But she didn’t want him. Not as a boyfriend. Not as someone she confided in. Not as someone she turned to for help.
Not as a friend.
She might let him kiss her. Maybe even strip her naked and smear cookie dough all over her. But when it came to brainstorming at work, she clearly loved doing that with Ollie and Dax. Obviously she respected and admired Grant and Aiden because it was important to her to impress them. She’d rather work late than come home and hang out with him and Didi.
He wanted to be important to her somehow. Someone she needed. And it was clear that what she needed most was a friend.
“I might be a different guy than I was ten years ago, but there’s something that just makes me want to be what she needs.”
“And she needs an ally right now,” Grant said.
Cam looked at him. “Yeah.”
Grant nodded. “I noticed she seemed nervous, or worried, during the meeting the other day.”
Cam didn’t like that the other man could read Whitney like that. But then again, maybe her discomfort had been really obvious.
“She was,” he said. “I saw it too. She wants to impress us, show us that she can be valuable to us.”
“She is valuable to us,” Aiden said.
“I know. But she has to prove it. She doesn’t just want words. She needs to pull this project off, make it successful.”
Aiden took a breath. “So we just back off? Tread carefully? Be sure to, what? Praise her a lot or something?”
“Nope,” Cam said. “You guys don’t treat her any differently. Treat her like a colleague. Ask her opinions, question what she’s telling you. Nothing different than how you’ve treated her in the past. When she pulls this off, she’ll know it’s because she really did it. There won’t be a question about if you were easy on her or anything.” He paused. “I’m the one who’s going to treat her differently than I have in the past.”
After a moment, Aiden nodded and clapped him on the back.
Cam was expecting to hear, “Good job, buddy. Proud of you.”
Instead Aiden said, “Good luck.”
To which Grant and Dax simply nodded.
Cam blew out a breath. Yeah. He was going to need it.
13
Whitney hadn’t been killing time at the office. Exactly. She’d wanted to dive into the huge to-do list she’d ended up with after the meeting two days ago. But it had been really nice to think that she could stay late. She didn’t need to rush home. She’d never had to rush home. Katherine had been there with Didi. But Didi had been grumpy when she’d gotten home too late and left her with that woman. Tonight Didi was with Cam.
And this had been Didi’s idea. Whitney felt a lot less compelled to get home and “rescue” Didi if she didn’t like how things were going.
Of course, Didi would have to remember that the whole thing had been her idea.
Didi was delightful. She really was. But she had always been a high-energy person and that hadn’t diminished at all with her cognitive decline. In fact, she now got her time mixed up and got bored more easily which made her boundless energy harder on family, friends, and caregivers. She liked to be entertained and, like getting up around midnight to watch Magnum, P.I., she didn’t follow the clock that others did. She just did what felt good in the moment. At times, when she wasn’t sleep deprived or watching an episode of Magnum, P.I. for the seventh time, Whitney actually envied that about her grandmother. Whitney would love to just do whatever felt good when it felt good.
Didi might be in the mood for a burger at seven in the morning or pancakes at seven at night. She might want to go to bed at 10 a.m. and sleep for eight hours or she might want to go for a swim at ten at night.
It was all harmless, for the most part, but Katherine had wanted to try to keep her on a “normal schedule” and they’d butted heads. In Katherine’s defense, it was a little tough for a caregiver to adjust to things like sleeping the day away and staying up all night, but Whitney had been torn between understanding where Katherine was coming from and wondering why the hell you couldn’t just have a burger at 7 a.m. Or 3 a.m.
Whitney had tried to just roll with Didi’s schedule and her family had been lenient… okay, that wasn’t true. Her family hadn’t noticed when Whitney came and went from the office. Because she was never considered vital and was never in charge of anything important. If she wasn’t at a meeting, it didn’t make a difference. She didn’t have deadlines. So she could sleep late with Didi after being up grilling burgers by the pool at 3 a.m. and watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—one of Didi’s favorites—on a huge movie projector from their chaise lounge chairs until five.
Now she couldn’t do that. Not only would the guys notice—something she actually appreciated—but she now did have work to do. Work she wanted to do. Work she wanted to do well.
Work she couldn’t do while a little hung over from 3 a.m. hard root beers that Didi insisted went with the burgers—she wasn’t wrong—or the heartburn that went with eating the french fries dipped in spicy aioli—that Didi also insisted went with the burgers and that she also wasn’t wrong about—at 3 a.m.
Whitney let herself into the house, wondering what shenanigans Didi had been up to today and how Cam had handled it. Because Whitney was sure there had been shenanigans. Of course, the way Didi had talked him into this crazy plan of moving in here in the first place had Whitney pretty sure that Didi was getting her way with Camden McCaffery. The big, tough bad-boy lawyer was probably wrapped around Didi’s little finger.
Then again, Didi had a thing for muscles and tattoos—something Whitney had found out watching movies with her grandmother and hadn’t particularly needed or wanted to know. So Whitney wouldn’t be surprised to find out Cam had charmed Didi into doing whatever he told her to do.
Either way, honestly, it had been nice to not feel the need to rush home and to be able to focus at work until she got through what she’d determined to be the top things on her to-do list.
The house was quiet. Surprisingly so.
Lights were on and she heard the sounds of water running and a hand mixer from the kitchen. She glanced up the stairs. The upper hallway light was on, as it was once Didi went to bed so that when she inevitably got up in the night, she wouldn’t stumble in the dark.
It was likely Cam in the kitchen.
Whitney’s heart thumped at the realization. She also realized she’d been anticipating seeing him.
She shouldn’t.
She shouldn’t get used to him being here. She shouldn’t like him being here. It was nice that he was here helping if Didi really did want him here. Whitney definitely wanted her grandmother to be happy, of course. And it was only for the month. That made it not one-hundred percent crazy. Maybe only eighty percent.
But the strongest emotion Whitney should feel was gratitude. Gratitude that she could work late. And that Didi was happy. And that her house hadn’t been on fire at any point in the hours since she’d left it that morning.
As far as she knew.
If there had been a fire, it had been taken care of and the house was still standing. That was fine in Whitney’s book. As long as she didn’t have to deal with it.
She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen.
Cam was at the stove, his back to her. He was stirring something in a bowl on the counter next to the stove. There was a pan of something on the stove and she noticed a cake pan next to him as well. It smelled heavenly. Chocolatey. Rich.
He was wearing one of her grandmother’s aprons too. Over a dark gray t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The t-shirt fit snugly to his shoulders and back which tapered to his waist and tight ass. His muscles bunched as he stirred, drawing her attention, as always, to his tattoos.
Yeah, her grandma wasn’t the only one who liked muscles and tattoos.
Whitney sighed.
Gratitude was not the only thing she felt about him being here.
She felt hot and like there were bees buzzing around in her stomach. Not butterflies. Nothing as gentle and sweet as that. The sensation was a lot more insistent and absolutely not sweet.
She also felt conflicted.
So Cam wasn’t really her boss in the way that she might have to worry if she was the VP of Marketing and Sales in any other company. The owners of the company, including Cam, trusted her and needed her. They didn’t treat her like a subordinate. She didn’t actually think they’d fire her if she and Cam slept together. Even if it ended badly and she threw one of Zoe’s muffins at him during a meeting. Or something.
In fact, she had the impression that she might even have the other guys on her side if she threw a muffin at Cam. Provided she had a good reason. Which she would. Of course.
If they were to try to have a relationship and he left dirty socks all over the bedroom rather than putting them in the hamper or something, she’d just throw muffins at him at home. She’d save work muffin throwing for work-related issues.
Not that she and Cam were going to try to have a relationship.
At least not one that involved his socks on her bedroom floor.
They were going to be… something that had nothing to do with socks. She supposed they had a relationship in the strictest sense of the word. The way she had a relationship with Aiden. There was history, sure, but she had history with Aiden too. Hers and Cam’s was more complicated and involved but she was now as involved with Cam as she was with Aiden.
Though Aiden wasn’t in her kitchen right now. With chocolate. Making her think about how chocolate sauce would be far better for nipple-licking than cookie dough.
She really wanted to go into that kitchen right now.
So instead she turned and headed upstairs to check on Didi.
Didi was in bed but not asleep. She had her favorite pink nightgown on and was sitting up, propped against her headboard, reading. Whitney smiled as she stepped into the room. She’d listened to so many stories sitting on that very bed in that same position with Didi.
They’d started with the usual childhood bedtime stories and nursery rhymes but they’d quickly gotten to Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, A Little Princess, The Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie and Nancy Drew. They’d read The Diary of Anne Frank together, a first for both of them, and gone on to read other classics that Didi hadn’t read before, discussing them under the down comforter in their own little world. It had been their own tiny book club and Whitney would always be grateful to Didi for her love of reading.
“What are you reading?” she asked, moving into the room.
Didi looked up and smiled. She turned the book so Whitney could see the front. “I’ve had this book forever, but I don’t think I’ve read it.”
It was Anne of Green Gables. Whitney kicked her shoes off, making sure they landed over near Didi’s armchair and out of the path Didi would take from the bed to the door when she got up in the night. Whitney pulled her blouse from the waistband of her skirt as she joined Didi on the bed, sliding in next to her, and cuddling close. “You have. We read it together.” They’d read it three times, actually.
Didi laughed softly. “Well, it’s like reading it for the first time. Which is actually lovely.”
Whitney put her head on Didi’s shoulder and took her hand, cradling Didi’s between her own. “I would love to be able to read some of my favorites again for the first time. You’re lucky.” She meant that. There were so many unfair things about Alzheimer’s and she dreaded most of them, but she’d take the few silver linings she could find.
Didi kissed the top of her head. “I think so too. I’m very lucky to have you and Cam taking care of me.”
Whitney smiled. Of course Didi already loved Cam. “You had a good day?”
“Oh we’ve had a lovely few weeks,” Didi said. “He’s so funny and kind. Yoga is fun, the kittens are so cute. I’m so good at the east warriors. I had four purple diamonds and killed three trolls just today. I’ve never met a man who can make good mashed potatoes. And the margaritas are the best I’ve ever had. He didn’t even get mad about the dented pot.”
Whitney repeated all of that silently, trying to figure each thing out. Okay, yoga and kittens did actually go together in Appleby. Had they gone to Paige’s? It was possible. Cam did go to yoga at Paige’s studio. It was why Whitney had changed the class time she attended. Watching Cam stretch and bend and flex the one time they’d been in class together had been too much for her. Apparently, it had been too much for several women because, according to Piper, who also attended regularly, Paige had asked Cam to move to the back of the room for future classes.
But Whitney had never thought about taking Didi to yoga. She’d assumed Didi would be bored after just a few minutes and they wouldn’t make it through a whole class. She hadn’t wanted to disrupt class for everyone else and, if she were being honest, she wanted to have a full class. She loved yoga.
As for the east warriors, she assumed that was something about Warriors of Easton, the guys’ video game, but she’d had no idea that Didi knew how to play, not to mention being good enough to win. Then again, Whitney knew nothing about the game. She’d stubbornly ignored learning anything about it over the years because, while she was happy for Cam and happy to have been proven right, it was also a reminder that she had, in fact, been right about him being better off without her.
Moving on from that, Whitney thought about the rest of what Didi had said.
It was possible that Cam had made her grandmother mashed potatoes and margaritas today.
But Didi also thought Cam had been here for a few weeks.
“He’s such a good man, Whitney.”
Whitney tipped her head to look up at her grandmother. Didi might not know what day it was for sure or how many she’d spent with Cam, but Whitney could see that she was perfectly aware of what she was saying right now.
And she was right. Cam was a good man. “I know.”
“Different than what we’re used to.”
Whitney felt her chest tighten. He was that too. So different. She and her grandmother had never specifically talked about the sexism and neglect in their family. It would have been like discussing ugly furniture. Why mention it when it was right there and so obvious and they both clearly saw it and hated it? But it had bonded them. Didi’s support of her had always meant so much and it was why Whitney really wanted Hot Cakes to be the company it should be—a company that Didi could be proud of, run the way she would have run it.
“He’s definitely very different,” she agreed.
Didi’s hand squeezed hers. “I’m so glad. You deserve that. He sees what you’re worth. And he’ll help you see it too.”
Whitney felt her eyes prickling with tears. She sniffed. “You’ve always helped me see what I’m worth.”
“I’m glad.” Didi leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “But you can never be loved too much. And I think Camden is going to love you like you’ve never been loved.”
Whitney felt her breath catch in her lungs and she had to force herself to breathe out.
Wow. That was… a lot. A lot that she really couldn’t deal with right now.
How many margaritas had Didi had today? Maybe that explained some of this.
Well, there was one person who
would know for sure. She should probably go talk to Cam. About the margaritas. And how Didi’s day had been from his perspective. Yes, that made sense. She should for sure check in with him. About the margaritas.
“I love you, Grandma,” she said, lifting Didi’s hand to her lips and pressing a kiss there.
“I love you too, my darling.”
“I’m going to go say goodnight to Cam and then head to bed.” Whitney pushed herself up to the edge of the bed. “Are you good? Need anything?”
“I’m fine, darling,” Didi said with a wave of her hand. “Go spend time with your man. Give him a big kiss for me.”
She winked. Didi actually winked at her.
Whitney was torn. She really should correct Didi about Cam being her man and him loving her and everything being wonderful now going forward. But then again, it was harmless, right? Just like letting her eat burgers at 3 a.m. Okay, it might be a gray area. Just like the middle-of-the-night burgers were. But Cam staying here was temporary and Didi would, unfortunately, eventually forget about it. Just like, eventually, she wouldn’t be able to eat those burgers anymore. At 3 a.m. or otherwise.
Whitney felt her eyes stinging as she headed down the stairs. For as long as she could, she was going to do things that made her grandmother happy. Even if it involved Cam and spicy aioli.
She stepped into the kitchen and found Cam apron-less with the most decadent-looking chocolate bars on the counter in front of him.
As if she needed anything else to make him tempting.
“Hey, you’re home,” he greeted.
“Yeah. A little bit ago. I was just up with Grandma.”
He nodded and stretched plastic wrap over the top of the pan. “She settled down?”
“For now.”
“She had a big day so I’m wondering if she’ll be up a little later than usual.”
Whitney crossed until she was on the opposite side of the island from him. That was closer to him, which she wanted to be, but with a barrier between them. Not that she thought she needed it because of him. She was feeling like she was the one who was on the verge of doing something stupid. Something naked… but stupid.
Semi-Sweet On You: Hot Cakes Series Page 18
