But Katie’s car was parked out front of the bakery, interestingly enough with a pair of pliers sticking out of her tire. He walked inside and caught sight of her, and then…Then all the seething, churning, shitaceous crap inside of his gut eased. Inexplicably.
Irrevocably.
She was laughing, sincerely laughing in the way only she could, with her eyes, her face, her entire body, while Serena and Harley stood one on either side of her looking at her as if maybe she had a screw loose.
Which was entirely possible, but Cam liked her exactly as she was, and if either of them had been rude to her, he’d-
What? He’d what? He staggered to a halt, stunned by the overwhelming, gut-wrenching emotion churning inside of him. Protectiveness? And even more shocking, possessiveness-two emotions he’d never had any use for when it came to women. Hell, he never had any use for them when it came to anything-not his home, his business, nothing.
But shockingly, he realized she mattered, and he stared at her, feeling like he’d been hit by a Mack truck.
She glanced over, and though she stopped laughing, her smile didn’t fade. If anything, it warmed. Something came into her eyes too. Something that said, I’ve held you in my hands and watched you come.
Shit.
She pulled off her glasses and wiped them on the hem of her sweater, and he wondered if he’d fogged them again.
And was he the only man to do that to her?
Serena sighed, walked over to him, and gently tapped on his chin, reminding him to shut his mouth. “You didn’t have to come rescue your little girlfriend. We’re doing just fine.”
“Annie wants pies. Two apple, two cherry.”
“Aw, and you came to me? How sweet.”
“You’re the only pie in town.”
She sighed again. “Okay, one of these days I’m going to get through, Cam. One of these days.”
Katie was clutching a bag in one hand, with a cookie in the other, and if he wasn’t mistaken, there were more than a few chocolate crumbs on the left corner of her mouth. “Saw the pliers,” he said.
“Yeah. Only me, right?” She shook her head and licked the crumbs off her lips. She also took the last bite of the cookie, then stuck her thumb into her mouth and sucked the crumbs off of that, and he found himself hungrily watching the motion of her tongue. “Harley’s going to fix it.”
“After I take a test.” Harley smiled in greeting and moved close for a hug.
They’d gone to high school together and had spent many, many, many days together in detention. “You getting close to that degree yet?” he asked, affectionately rubbing the spot of grease on her chin.
“Very close. So…” She hesitated. “How’s T.J.?”
She and T.J. had spent considerable time together too. Not in detention. “Still in Alaska.”
“Freezing his balls off, I hope,” she said sweetly.
Thankful he wasn’t T.J. at the moment, he reached for the pies Serena had bagged up and eyed Katie. “So you’re stuck in town.”
“A little bit, yes.”
“Want a ride?”
“Please.” She slid off the stool. “Do you have the snow-mobile?” she asked hopefully.
“Sorry, no.” Up at Tenneman Falls he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t take advantage of her for the week she had left. If there was a move to make, she’d have to make it, and he’d just be there for her.
Yeah.
That’s what he’d promised himself. But now, with her right here in front of him, he wanted to grab her, toss her over his shoulder and into his truck, where he’d get her naked in two point zero seconds flat.
Instead, he opened the bakery door for her. Outside, she lightly kicked her tire. “Probably I should have wished for grace and poise on that falling star.”
He thought she had grace and poise in abundance, just not the traditional kind.
“But actually, I’m glad about the wish I did make.” Her smile went just a little bit naughty. “Very glad.”
He got hard. Shaking his head at himself-that wasn’t her making a move, he told himself-he opened the passenger door of his truck for her and managed to lean in for a sniff of her hair. Fucking pathetic, he told himself as he came around to the driver’s side and started the engine. He pulled into the street and relaxed marginally at the silence, because maybe she wasn’t going to talk. That worked for him.
“What’s the matter?”
So much for that. “Nothing.”
“Nothing’s making you tense enough to shatter?”
He silently pleaded the Fifth.
“How about a kiss? If you don’t want to talk,” she said when he slid her a look. “Kind of like a hello-after-two-days thing.”
“I’m driving.”
“You could have kissed me before, when you first saw me.”
“I promised myself you had to make the first move.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Listen, I’m clearly having a problem communicating today across the board. Maybe we could not talk.”
“Pull over, Cam.”
“You’re right. That was rude. I-”
“Pull over right now, please.”
He did, then reached for her so that she couldn’t escape, because that’s what he figured she would do. She’d slam the door on him, then go off and pout like all the women in his life ever had. Or maybe she wanted to throw something at his head. At least she didn’t have her own car, so he was fairly certain she didn’t plan on trying to run him over, which was a small comfort because he didn’t want her to leave his truck at all.