by Stacey Lynn
“You sure?”
Lindsay punched me in the shoulder. “Cowboy, down, you alpha protective Neanderthal. We were talking about dad, and life, and we just got stupid for a second.” I laughed as Lindsay sniffed and then made a face like she’d smelled something sour. “Damn emotions. I hate it when they get the better of me.”
“Dad?” I turned to face my mom. She had that sad look in her eyes she got whenever she thought of him or talked about him, but her lips were tilted up at the corners, and a soft glow filled her face. Her gaze flickered back and forth between Camden and me.
“We’re fine, David. Honest. We didn’t upset Camden.” A line dipped between her brows and she looked at Camden. “We didn’t, did we? I’m so sorry—”
“No.” Camden shook her head and lifted a hand. “You didn’t. In fact, you might have sort of helped me figure some things out.”
“What’s that?” I asked. The vulnerability that she rarely showed shone on her tear-streaked face, but that wasn’t what made me suck in a breath. It was the look she gave me as she wiped her eyes. Determination and joy, two things she showed more rarely than openness.
God, she was pretty. When I first walked into the kitchen and saw her crying, it felt like a piece of my chest had been ripped through my flesh and bone. What was she doing to me?
I didn’t care. I wanted more of it. More of the insanity. More of the overwhelming need to protect her. More of the feel of her along my body everywhere. I wanted the smiles I had to fight for, each one feeling like a Super Bowl victory.
“Nothing we can talk about now; it’s just…I’m learning maybe…” She paused and her bottom lip got stuck between her teeth. She worried it for a moment before letting it pop free. “That maybe I need to start living differently. Better.”
I scowled, not understanding, but then her hand slid farther up my arm before dropping to my hip. Her fingertips squeezed me above my hip bone, above the waistband of my jeans, and sent fire flaring through my veins.
“It’s okay, David, really. We can talk more later, okay?”
I scanned her gaze for truth and found nothing but that in her eyes and the softness in her cheeks.
Turning to my sister, I muttered, “Sorry for yelling at you.”
Her expression said it all as she replied, “No problem, loser.” Her blue eyes softened in that older-sister, knowing, and bossy way. She knew I was a goner.
“Okay.” My mom clapped her hands together, getting all of our attention. “Dinner’s ready, so enough with the heavy talk for a while. Lindsay, go wrestle your crew to the table, and David, please refill our wine and grab some more drinks for everyone. We’ll eat as soon as we’re all gathered. Camden? Would you mind helping me get the food to the table?”
“You sure you’re okay?” I asked Camden, sliding my hand from her shoulder to her cheek. Goosebumps pebbled her skin in the wake of my hand gliding over her skin and I smiled knowingly.
I loved that I so obviously affected her.
She nodded quickly and gave me another squeeze before sliding off her stool. “I’m good, I promise. You?”
Not caring that I could feel my mom’s and sister’s eyes on me, watching our interaction, watching how close we stood and how intimately we touched each other, I leaned forward and brushed her cheek with my lips, whispering in her ear, “Never better, Cam. Never better.”
She sighed softly, resting against me, and we stayed close until my mother cleared her throat.
The sound made Camden blush. I wiped my thumb over her pinkened skin before I stepped back.
When Betty McGregor gave a task in her kind but no-nonsense fashion, you jumped to get the work done, or you’d be sorry.
Like from not being allowed to have raspberry pie at dessert time.
And while we ate dinner, laughing at Leia and Grant, who were more of a handful than Lindsay and I ever were, as Grant Sr. talked about what was going on at McGregor Motors, I sat back quietly, wondering why in the hell I’d ever thought that turning my back on my family to go do my own thing, even if it was a good thing, had been the best idea for me at the time. And why no one had ever tried to talk me out of it when I brought it up.
—
After dinner, as Grant and I helped hand-dry all the pots and pans while Lindsay and Camden and my mom cleaned up the rest of the kitchen, I quit wondering about what-ifs.
Camden slid up next to me and my arm fell to her waist. I settled her to my side like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. She fit perfectly, right there in my arm, next to me.
I held back the desire to tell her that, right then and there, only for fear of ruining what had been a peaceful and hilarious night with my family, most things considered.
Kissing the top of her head as she rested against me, a glass of water in one hand and a drying towel in the other, I briefly questioned if it was the right time, or the right night.
What the hell. “You mind if I go talk to Grant for a minute, babe?” I whispered it low so no one else could hear.
She tipped her head back, a smile shining so bright on her face it erased all the worry I’d had earlier when she’d been crying. Other than after she jumped off a cliff and snorkeled with me, I didn’t know if I’d ever seen her smile so large.
I liked that she did it around me. Around my family.
“Of course not.” Her brows pulled in as if she’d thought of something. “Everything okay?”
“It will be.” I kissed her cheek and turned to Grant. “Hey, man…mind if we go talk in the office for a minute?”
His head jerked back, and the bottle of beer he was drinking from froze on his bottom lip. “Yeah, sure. Things good?”
I chuckled. Why did my wanting to talk make everyone so concerned?
“No business at Friday family dinner,” my mom warned, pointing a finger at me.
“It’s not business,” I replied, lying. It was totally business related. “It’ll just take a few minutes.”
She huffed playfully. “Fine. I suppose us women will just get first dibs on the pie, then.”
I gasped, a hand flying to my chest. “You wouldn’t.”
“If you’re not back in ten, I most definitely will. I’ve been smelling it all afternoon and it might be my best one yet.”
Camden must have sensed my sudden hesitation because her hip bumped against mine, pushing me away. “Go. I’ll hold them off until you get back.”
“You think you can take her?”
She smiled again and laughed, a sweet, sweet melody I wanted to hear every day. Damn. I had it bad for her. “Yeah, David. I think I can handle her.”
I flashed her wide eyes, flickering my eyes to my mom playfully before moving back to Camden. “Okay…if you’re sure.”
The sting of her towel hitting my arm smacked me before I saw it coming. “Hey!”
“Go!” She waved the towel in the air, and Grant set his hand on my shoulder.
“Best come with me,” he muttered. “I don’t think you want to get on that girl’s bad side. She’s got bite.”
“I like her bite,” I teased, grinning at the red hue that immediately shaded her cheeks. “And she doesn’t have a bad side.”
“My God, you’re like a little puppy,” my sister chimed in. “So freaking adorable when you’re all cutesy-lovey-dovey.”
“Back off, woman. Or I’ll tell Grant all your secrets.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been married too long to have any secrets.”
She had a point. Still, I bet there were things she hadn’t mentioned. “Yeah? You remember when we were in France on vacation—”
“Get out!” she shrieked. “Go…go now…go do your manly things you must discuss.”
“France?” Grant asked, his shoulders shaking with laughter. “What’s this?”
“There was this beach—” I started.
Lindsay rushed to the other side of the counter and glared at me. “And we went swimming. End of story.”
> I stepped back, out of my sister’s reach. She could go crazy with the snap of her fingers, but I couldn’t stop myself. Glancing at Grant, I nodded toward the direction of the office and pushed him out the door. “You see, Grant, there was this beach and we went swimming—”
“I’m going to kill you! I will share all your embarrassing stories with Camden if you don’t shut up!”
I laughed harder. “And she was naked—”
“I thought it was a nude beach!”
Grant’s shoulders shook as hard as mine. “Except it was a family vacation spot, so why she thought that—”
“Hey Camden,” I heard, right as Grant and I turned the corner. “Did you ever hear of the time David went streaking at the high school football game?”
Her laughter rang out, vibrating along the walls through my mom’s house until Grant and I were in the office.
“She will kill you for that, you know.”
“Who cares. She can tell Cam anything she wants about me—I’m an open book.” I was now, at least. There were no more lies and no more secrets, at least not from me.
“Your sister stripped at a beach thinking it was a nude one—are you shitting me?”
“No.” I shook my head. “She was also like, twelve, so it’s not that big of a deal, but I’d never heard my dad shout so loud when she came out of the ocean without her swimsuit on.”
Grant laughed, crossed his arms over his chest, and shook his head back and forth. “Your sister has always been a bit nutty.”
“And you married her.”
He shrugged it off. “Normal is boring. I like her brand of crazy.”
I made a face and lifted a hand. “Say no more, please…say no more.”
“I wasn’t going to.” All joking vanished from his features and he dropped his hands to his side. “So, what do you want to talk about? Make it quick, because your mom’s pie is the best, and that frosting on those cupcakes really is the shit.”
Chapter 26
Camden
I had a sneaking suspicion of what David wanted to talk to Grant about when the two headed off. Even though I knew he’d tried to lighten the mood before he left—for my sake most likely, and so his mom and sister wouldn’t worry about him—I didn’t miss the glances they shot each other when they thought I wasn’t looking.
Like he’d promised, though, they both walked back into the kitchen ten minutes later. A serious expression on Grant’s face, a thoughtful one on David’s, I had no doubt in my mind that David had been in there not only talking about what had happened in Chicago, but what he was going to do now.
I didn’t push for answers to my unasked questions while we ate pie and then hung out until it was time for Lindsay and Grant to get their kids home and to bed. Instead, I enjoyed the next couple of hours, while the laughter of children filled the room along with their occasional bickering.
I didn’t spend much time around small children growing up and while they seemed loud, and David called them wild, by the time his sister and brother-in-law left with two sleepy kids in tow, my heart clenched a bit when Leia wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a firm squeeze.
“ ’Bye, Camden. I like you.”
I chuckled at her honesty, the way she gave so freely. Before I let her go, I said a quick, silent prayer that she never lost it. “I like you, too, Leia.”
“Will you play with me next time?”
I glanced up and saw David smiling at me, knowingly, easily…like he was already planning on me being at the next family dinner. “Of course I will,” I assured her.
At my promise, Leia let me go, and her softly padding feet carried her to her dad’s outstretched arms. “Come on, buttercup. Time to get you to bed.”
She yawned loudly, not covering her mouth, as Grant carried her out the front door. “I’m not sleepy.”
“Sure you’re not.” His laughter muted when he pressed his lips against his daughter’s hair.
I didn’t watch them leave, because I was pulled into Betty’s arms and given a hug that was even tighter and warmer than when I’d arrived only hours earlier. “You are welcome here anytime, Camden. I’m thrilled you came tonight.”
“It was great meeting you,” I whispered, feeling that rumble of emotions this woman brought out in me so easily. She was just too kind…too good…too sweet.
She dropped her arms from me and pulled David into a hug, too, kissing his cheeks. She had to roll to her toes to do so and I smiled at her small, curvy stature reaching up to press a hand to David’s cheek. “And you…stop running from us.”
“Mom—”
She waved him away as if she hadn’t just pointed out a truth I knew she’d been waiting for months to say. “No explanations necessary, you know that. But now’s the time to stop, you hear me?”
“I hear you.” He bent down and kissed her cheek. “Sleep tight, Mom. No worries.”
“When it comes to you, I have none. Never have. You have a good head on your shoulders…You’re too much like your dad to cause me anything to worry about.”
The admission rocked David back to his heels. “Mom.”
“Go.” She smiled, but her chin wobbled. “Go enjoy the rest of your night. We’ll talk soon.”
He hugged her again, and even though I was just a bystander to a conversation only they understood, I recognized their obvious love for each other in the two-story entryway, warming me from the inside out.
Damn. David wasn’t only sexy, but he came from the most beautiful woman, the most perfect family, I’d ever dreamed of. Yet there wasn’t a speck of jealousy inside me knowing he had that and I hadn’t. I’d realized earlier that I’d had it darn good, even if it was hard.
“Come on,” David said, once he finally said goodbye to his mom. He took my hand in his hands, a place I was deciding it was so natural for my hand to belong, and led me out to his car. “I have one more place for us to go tonight.”
“Where’s that?”
He responded with a grin that shot fire straight to my toes, up my legs, and made desire pool in my lower belly.
“My place, where I’m not letting you go until morning.”
—
We got stuck in traffic on I-75 leaving Detroit proper. Conversation had flowed easily. We talked about the night, laughing about Leia and Grant Jr., sometimes laughing at Lindsay and her husband, but with each passing moment, my curiosity grew.
I desperately wanted to know what he’d talked to Grant about, but not only that, to know him and understand him in a deeper way.
My own failings wanted to keep me from prying. If I started, would he follow with questions about me?
I took the risk.
“What’d you talk to Grant about tonight?”
I dragged my eyes off the window at my side to look at David. His jaw tensed, and his fingers tightened on the steering wheel. For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t speak.
“Talked to him about a job.”
“You what?”
“A job.” He flashed me a hesitant grin before watching the traffic’s steady crawl. “He’s VP of Operations at McGregor right now. True to what my dad always wanted, he’s working his way up, learning everything he can and proving himself along the way. Since I walked away and went to med school, he’s possibly the last family member to run the company until little Grant grows up.”
“He’s not a McGregor, though,” I pointed out and cringed. What a horrible thought to have. “Sorry. I just mean…”
“I know what you meant, Cam.” One of his hands fell to my thigh. His fingers ran along the bare skin at my inner thigh just above my knee. It was meant to be comforting. It was a thousand times more powerful than simple comfort, though, and goosebumps pebbled my skin, making me shiver. “He’s family in all the ways that matter, though.”
“I know that.”
“It still doesn’t mean a McGregor shouldn’t be running the place.”
My head whipped to face him so quickly I almost gav
e him whiplash. “What? You mean…you?”
“I don’t know yet.” He shrugged. His lips pulled into a frown. “I wasn’t exactly a business major.”
All my life, all I’d wanted was a man who cared about me who could give me safety. David had that in buckets, regardless of his job, I’d realized. This was still a huge change.
I reached for his hand and turned it over, until our palms and fingertips aligned. That electric rush that always flared between us sparked and ignited, though this time it felt calmer and deeper.
“Is it what you want?”
I traced his fingertips with mine, running my fingers along the outer edges of his. His hands saved lives. He’d lost several, but there was no denying that in the firmness of his strong hands, all those that could be helped were safe. He was safe, regardless of occupation and bank account.
“I have no idea, but I figured it was a good idea to talk to Grant, see what he had to say.”
He was silent for a moment, eyes softening, lips lifting into a smile.
“And?”
He laughed softly once and turned to me. Arching a brow, he stated, “As Grant reminded me, I’m the great-grandson of the founder, Michael McGregor. There’s always a place for me.”
“That sounds…like a lot of responsibility.”
Hand on the steering wheel, the skin and leather made a squeaking sound as he gripped it tighter, knuckles whitening. “Yes.”
“And Fireside? Would you quit?”
He laughed again, the softness and humor turning to ice. “Declan hasn’t needed me to work there for months now. Possibly ever. He and Trina are doing a great job now bringing in new business with Trina’s marketing efforts, and they’ve got a full staff, plus they’re in the black. He’s never paid me and I’ve always given my tips right back to him. I think the only reason he keeps letting me sling drinks there is because he knows it gives me something to do.”
“Helping you while you’re helping him. Good friends you’ve got there,” I teased, trying to lighten the moment. “Although it’s hard to imagine you wearing suits or scrubs to work.”
