Semi-Sweet On You: Hot Cakes Series

by Nicholas, Erin

  “Wait.” She grabbed his forearm with her other hand.

  “What?”

  “What was this?” she asked, looking around the bathroom and then at him, her gaze dropping to his mouth.

  He immediately turned back and leaned in. “This was holy-shit-you-look-gorgeous-and-I’m-so-fucking-happy-to-see-you-and-I-love-that-you-came-over-here greeting.”

  “Really?” She looked happy. “I know your mom is too polite to turn me away but—”

  He laughed. “She is. But I promise that’s not what this is. I’m so glad you’re here. I would have been bringing you over here every night if you’d been at home and…” He cupped her cheek again. “I love that you knew you could show up here with all of us.”

  She frowned slightly but then nodded. “Yeah. I guess… I didn’t even think about it. I was focused on surprising you. But it didn’t occur to me to be nervous that the other guys would think it was weird that I was here.” She looked like she’d just had a realization. “That’s new.”

  He smiled, his heart expanding. “It is. You know you belong with us.”

  Her smile grew and, damn, the brightness in her face almost brought him to his knees.

  “And you can still have your girls’ night,” he said, starting for the door again, tugging on her hand. “Zoe and Jane and Josie are out back.”

  Whitney immediately stopped moving, jerking him to a stop.

  He looked back.

  She wasn’t smiling. Now she looked nervous.

  “Whit?”

  “I… oh my God, how did I not think of that? Of course they’re here.”

  “Of course they are,” he agreed. Dax and Grant were good friends of his but they hadn’t started showing up at Maggie’s dinners until they’d fallen for Jane and Josie. Well, Grant had come once… and he’d then been officially ass over nose for Josie after that. Jane and Josie, however, had been coming to dinner here for years.

  “I can’t crash their girl time,” Whitney said, frowning at him. “I can’t just show up at their regular thing and expect them to include me.”

  “They won’t see it like that.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Whitney—Jane and Josie are two of the nicest women I know.”

  “You didn’t say Zoe too,” she pointed out.

  He shrugged. “My little sister is sassy,” he said. “But she’ll be sweet to you.”

  “I’m the granddaughter of her grandmother’s arch nemesis. I’m the daughter of the family that owned the business she’s always thought of as her primary rival.”

  “She’s over that,” Cam said. And she was. Mostly. Aiden had helped Zoe see that they were just two completely different businesses, on two completely different levels. Though, yes, Zoe could hold a grudge almost as well as Letty had.

  “But she’s felt that way for a long time. It’s easier for her to not think of Aiden as her competitor because they’re in love,” Whitney said. “And you’re her brother and Grant and Ollie are your friends. But I’m…”

  “The woman I’m crazy about.”

  Whitney stopped, her mouth open, ready to keep going. But then she snapped it shut.

  He couldn’t help but grin. “You know that.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Whitney,” he said. “You know that.” He wanted to hear her admit it. He hadn’t told her how he was feeling, but he hoped that when she really thought about it, that she would know.

  He thought he knew how she was feeling about him.

  Of course… yeah, it would be nice to hear.

  “I know that we’ve been getting along well,” she finally said.

  He grinned and pulled her in close, resting his forehead against hers. “We have been. Things have been great. But for the record, I’m crazy about you. And I’m so fucking happy that you’re here. And I’d really love it if you spent some time with the girls. That would feel really good. I want my family and my friends to know you better.”

  She swallowed and nodded her head against his. “Okay.”

  “Okay.” Well, she wasn’t saying she was crazy about him too, but that could come later. She was stubborn and proud and she’d been hurt in the past by people she loved. He could give her time. Some time. A little bit of time.

  “Cam?” she said softly when he leaned back.

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks.”

  He lifted a brow. “For?”

  “Being crazy about me. I know it’s not easy.”

  He gave a soft laugh. “It’s stupid easy, Whit. It’s like I can’t even help it.”

  She gave him a smile that he could have sworn he’d never seen. She seemed touched and maybe a little surprised and turned on and maybe a little bit in love.

  He wanted her feeling that, whatever it was exactly, for the rest of the night.

  With a lingering look at that expression, he finally led them out of the bathroom and back to the kitchen.

  All the guys and Cam’s parents were in the kitchen and they all jerked to action as he and Whitney came around the corner, clearly attempting to look busy.

  Cam rolled his eyes, but he was grinning and he was certain that his best friends and parents—people who had known him very well for a very long time—would be able to read that grin as stupidly in love. That was okay.

  “Dinner is ready,” Maggie said, handing Cam a plate of chicken and Whitney a bowl of salad.

  No one said anything about him pulling her off to the bathroom immediately or even about her being here in the first place. They just all gathered food and drink and headed for the dining room.

  Aiden went to the back door and pulled it open. “Dinner!”

  Soon the dining room was full. Henry and Didi came in from the family room. Zoe, Josie and Jane joined them from the back patio. There was already an extra chair for Whitney—Cam gave his mom a quick smile for that—and Didi greeted Whitney as if she’d been expecting her granddaughter to show up tonight.

  Even Zoe and the girls didn’t seem shocked to see her.

  Henry was the only one who said anything other than “Hi” and “Welcome.”

  “Didi says you should play Warriors, but that it will be tough for you,” Henry told her, scooping cheesy potatoes onto his plate.

  He was seated between Whitney and Didi, a move that Cam knew was not random but that he wondered about. Why had Maggie chosen that seating arrangement?

  Henry added potatoes to Didi’s plate and then passed the dish to his father. The last time they’d been at dinner and Henry had dished up for Didi and they’d asked him why, he’d said that the casserole dishes were too heavy for her to hold, so he did it for her. He’d said it so matter-of-factly that they’d all just nodded and later agreed that, even though they were playing video games together, spending time with Didi had matured Henry. As the baby of the family, by a lot, there just weren’t many chances for him to care for others. Didi had changed that and it was pretty cool to see his baby brother stepping up to help someone out.

  “She said Warriors will be tough for me?” Whitney asked him, bemused. “Why is that?”

  Henry was only eleven, but he’d grown up with much older siblings and a constant houseful of people older than himself so he wasn’t shy and he could hold a conversation with nearly anyone. “She said you don’t sit still very well,” he told Whitney.

  Whitney nodded. “She’s right.”

  “But she said no one needs a chance to kick bad-guy ass more than you,” Henry said.

  “Henry!” Maggie admonished.

  He looked at her. “What? Didi said it.”

  Didi nodded. “I did. And it’s true.”

  Didi thought Whitney needed a chance to kick bad-guy ass? Cam looked at Whitney and thought about that. Didi saw how Whitney tamped down her urges to yell and fight, he realized. He wondered if she noticed the little chin lift Whit always did when she was swallowing back sharp words. He’d bet good money that she did.

  So Di
di thought Whitney would enjoy swinging a virtual sword and chopping off some troll heads, huh? She might have a point. He’d have to introduce Whitney to the game. He could let Henry do it, but he had the sudden inkling that seeing Whitney glaring at the screen, her hair wild from not doing it for a couple of days because she was engrossed in the game, growling softly as she chased down trolls and ogres and monsters and kicked their asses in the name of saving the kingdom and freeing the people would be pretty hot. He wanted to see that.

  “Can we use the word butt instead?” Maggie asked, but her expression said she knew the answer to that.

  Didi looked at Henry. “You need to remember to use the word butt when you’re repeating this stuff to your mother.”

  He nodded. “You’re right.”

  Maggie sighed, but didn’t say anything more.

  Cam grinned and took a bite of cheesy potatoes—which were the best thing to ever come out of his mother’s kitchen. He loved that Henry and Didi were coconspirators.

  “You don’t want salad?” Henry asked Didi when she shook her head as he held the bowl out to her.

  “No.”

  “But you made it,” Henry said, slightly exasperated.

  “So?” Didi asked.

  “You made something you don’t like?”

  “I put cucumbers in it.”

  “You don’t like cucumbers?”

  “No.”

  “Why’d you put them in then?”

  “You said you like them.”

  Henry grinned at her. “I do.”

  “So that’s why.”

  “You can pick them out of yours and give them to me,” Henry offered.

  Didi shook her head. “I cut them up really small.”

  He sighed. “Okay.” He passed the bowl to his dad. “But next time, make them big so we can pick them out.”

  “Okay.”

  Cam grinned and took the basket of rolls from his sister, but when he glanced at Zoe, he could see tears in her eyes. He frowned. She smiled and shook her head. Then he looked at his mother. She had a wobbly smile and shiny eyes too. He glanced at Whitney. Her eyes were wet and she was watching Henry and Didi with a look of wonder.

  Cam shook his head. But couldn’t help smiling. It was sweet. And he was glad Whitney was here to see it.

  They ate and chatted comfortably and casually, but Cam couldn’t stop from glancing at Whitney over and over. She didn’t say much but she had a happy look on her face as she absorbed the conversation.

  “So we have an announcement,” Josie said as Maggie started to push her chair back at the end of the meal.

  Maggie had mentioned cinnamon roll cheesecake and Dax’s mouth had fallen open in amazement.

  Maggie paused.

  Dax looked from Maggie to Josie to Maggie and then back to Josie. “But… can you make the announcement over dessert?”

  Josie shook her head and looked at Grant.

  “You can’t wait two more minutes?” Grant asked Dax.

  “You heard what she said, right?” Dax asked. “Cinnamon roll cheesecake. There’s not one word in that name that says I can wait two more minutes.”

  “What if it’s something that’s really important to two of your best friends?” Josie asked.

  Dax gave her a look, one eyebrow up. “Cinnamon. Roll. Cheesecake. You better be getting married or something if I’m waiting on that.”

  Josie’s amused smile curved into a wide grin.

  It took a second, but Dax’s eyes narrowed. Then he sat forward. Then he looked from Josie to Grant and back. “Are you getting married?”

  Josie’s grin grew even wider; she nodded and held up her left hand. A gorgeous diamond ring twinkled under the light that hung over the dining room table.

  There was a beat of silence and then all at once, everyone erupted into gasps and squeals and laughter and congratulations.

  Except Cam and Whitney.

  They looked at one another and grinned. They had a shared secret. Grant and Josie were already married. They’d gotten married when Josie had needed her gall bladder removed and hadn’t had the health insurance to cover it. They’d both thought it was a simple favor, a temporary marriage of convenience. Cam and Whitney had realized early on that it wasn’t simple and it shouldn’t be temporary.

  Grant had asked Cam to act as his attorney to make sure the insurance claims went through smoothly. And to draw up the divorce papers.

  He’d done both.

  But he hadn’t wanted to draw up the divorce papers. He’d seen that Josie was exactly what Grant needed—and vice versa—and so he’d gone to Whitney to ask her what he should do.

  It had been an impulse, but he hadn’t regretted it.

  She’d been shocked. Then she’d been pleased. And inspired. Together, they’d come up with the idea to make the divorce papers only mostly official.

  And it had worked. Once Grant and Josie thought they were officially divorced, they’d immediately realized they didn’t want to be. They’d been relieved, if surprised, to find out that Cam had kept them married.

  Things had shifted between him and Whitney then. Things had gotten easier. They’d been a team. One small thing. Not about them. About two people they cared about. But they’d both recognized the love and that Josie and Grant needed each other, and that had felt like a particularly important bond for them to share.

  Now, smiling about it across the table made him feel like he’d love a lot more bonding with her.

  Yep, across his mother’s dining room table with cheesy potato remnants between them.

  “This definitely calls for cinnamon roll cheesecake!” Dax announced.

  They all laughed.

  “What do you see in me?” Jane asked. “I don’t bake, and with your sweet tooth, I don’t know why you’re with me.”

  “Well, honey, there’s sweets and then there are sweets,” Dax told her, sliding his arm over the back of her chair and leaning in to nuzzle her neck.

  Grant and Josie were beaming about their engagement, Dax and Jane were nuzzling, Zoe and Aiden were whispering about something and… Cam wanted that. All of that. Looking across the table at Whitney gave him a sense of anticipation and nostalgia at the same time. Nostalgia didn’t completely make sense. They’d never had this. They hadn’t been a couple in public. They’d never sat at his mother’s table together. They’d never hung out with friends together. But he’d wanted to. He’d imagined it. This. He’d wanted and imagined this.

  And now he had it.

  And he wanted so much more.

  * * *

  Whitney couldn’t believe how nervous she was to step out onto that back patio. She trailed behind the other women as they headed outside with glasses of lemonade. Spiked lemonade. Apparently it was the drink of choice with the girls of the group, and when they’d heard Whitney had brought lemon vodka they’d declared they had to try it.

  She swallowed hard and thought about chugging the drink in her hand. She wasn’t sure why Zoe, Jane, and Josie made her nervous. They were nice women. Jane and Josie were in love with two men that Whitney liked a lot. Men who were on their way to being her friends. That felt strange to think about, but it was true. She and Dax and Grant were getting to be friends. And Cam liked and cared about Jane and Josie. That was a big plus. Surely Whitney would like them too.

  But that wasn’t the problem. She wanted them to like her.

  And then there was Zoe. She was Cam’s sister. She was the sister to the man that Whitney was falling for. If she and Cam were involved, if they really tried to make this happen, it would mean more dinners around that very table in that very dining room in this very house and…

  She felt her heart start racing. She was so glad that she’d been caught up in Didi and Henry and watching everyone interact and then the excitement of Josie and Grant announcing their engagement. The shared smile with Cam when they announced they were getting married had made her heart race too, but not in the panicky, I-need-a-lot-more-vodka way s
he was experiencing at the moment. It had been a very intimate and strangely hot moment between them. Having a shared memory, a shared secret had made her want to have a lot more of those. Secrets like the sound he made when she ran her tongue over the ridges of his abs and down the V on either side that she’d been fantasizing about since seeing him in the hallway in only a towel the other day.

  But also secrets like what they’d gotten Maggie for Christmas. They. Not him, but they. As in they were giving her a gift from both of them. As a couple.

  Or secrets like that they’d let Henry stay up extra late and have brownies for breakfast when he spent the weekend with them. Secrets like that they were going to sneak out of town for a romantic getaway and were only going to text to say they were fine and they’d see everyone on Monday morning. Secrets like a new idea for Hot Cakes that Cam was in on before any of the other partners because he’d sat up at the kitchen table with her designing the presentation and helping her brainstorm. Secrets like that they were engaged for a few days, or even hours, before telling anyone else. Or that the pregnancy test had been positive.

  Her heart squeezed hard. She was getting way ahead of herself here. They weren’t even dating. They were… friends. Good friends. Friends who wanted to get naked together.

  “Hey.”

  She felt Cam move in behind her, his voice low as he spoke just to her.

  “Hey,” she said softly, still looking at the back door that had closed behind Josie a couple of minutes ago.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  He laughed lightly. “Liar.”

  He knew her. She loved that. “I don’t know if I’m a hang-out-with-the-girls girl,” she admitted.

  “Well, you don’t have to be,” he said. He turned her to face him. “You can do dishes with us guys. You can go play Warriors with Didi and Henry. You can go talk to my mom and dad. You can slip upstairs and hang out in my room and I’ll join you as soon as I can. Or you can head home.”

  She looked into his eyes, feeling her heart rate slowing. “Really?”

  “Of course. I want you comfortable being here. I want you to come back. A lot. I want dinner here with all of us to be something you look forward to, not that you dread. Whatever you want.”