Jill Shalvis - Instant Attraction

“No,” Katie said, “I mean what’s it going to cost me to have the two of you, to have everyone, stop looking at me like I’m stealing their favorite son?”

“Well, you could leave town,” Serena said helpfully.

“Play nice, Serena,” Harley said mildly.

“I was just kidding. Mostly.”

Uh-huh. Katie reached for the cookies, needing the sugar. “I’ll take a dozen to go.”

Serena picked up one of her black-and-white bags and started to fill it with a smug look on her face.

“Two dozen,” Katie corrected, playing right into her hands and no longer caring.

Cam came back to Wilder after a long two-day trip and went straight up to the offices to check in with Stone.

Okay, lie. He went straight up to the offices to catch a glimpse of Katie.

Because he’d been wrong about the whole being able to breathe after sex with her. Very wrong. He hadn’t taken a good deep breath since the last time he’d seen her. He had no idea what exactly to do with that information. None. He only knew that he had to see her again.

“Looking for something?” Stone asked when he came out of his office and caught Cam staring at Katie’s empty chair.

“The mail.”

“Mail’s on my desk. Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know.”

“All right.” Cam searched his brain. “Where’s the schedule?”

Stone just looked at him. It was the same look he’d perfected years ago, the older brother what-have-you-done-and-what’s-it-going-to-cost-me-to-bail-you-out look. “Is it that hard to admit you’re attached to something, someone?”

“Okay. You’re right. I missed you.” Cam stepped close and hugged him, slapping him extra hard on the back. “Whew. Glad to get that off my chest.”

“You didn’t miss me.” Stone shoved him away with a laugh. “You know who you missed. You missed the pretty temp.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cam turned to look at Katie’s desk.

“So you don’t care that she left a week early.”

“What? What the fuck-” He whirled back to Stone in time to see his brother’s wide-ass grin. “That’s just mean.”

Stone just kept grinning but was wise enough to back up out of arm’s length. “She’s at the bank.”

“If you sent her on the snowmobile by herself, I’ll-”

“Car. Christ, you’ve got it bad. And-” he said quickly, holding up his hands when Cam growled. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing. Which is why, maybe, you should ask her to stay instead of leaving next week.”

“Are you crazy? Why would I ask her to do that?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re going nuts at the thought of her going?”

“I am not. I don’t care.” At Stone’s long look, he turned away again. “And she wouldn’t stay. She’s got plans. Adventures.”

“Then no one is more equipped to take her on than you.”

“So, what, I should up and leave again?”

“I don’t know. I don’t want you to. But the alternative is to walk away from her.”

“She’s walking. She’s the one walking.”

“Come on, Cam.”

“What?”

“You know what.”

“You think I’m walking? Again? Quitting, again?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Cam’s chest hurt, like he was having a heart attack. But it was a ball of anxiety and he knew it. He wanted to turn around and walk. Hell, he wanted to run. And keep running, until his chest didn’t hurt anymore. “You keep throwing that at me.”

“And maybe one of these days it’ll stick. You’ll stick.”

“Jesus, what do you want from me?”

Annie came up the stairs, took in the sight of them standing so close, steaming with temper, and quickly stepped between them, a hand on each of their chests. “What? What are you fighting about?”

Stone eyed Cam over Annie’s head. “I’m just reminding Cam he’s good at quitting.”

Annie’s hand was like steel against Cam’s chest when he pushed at her in response. “And I was just going to remind Stone what his face would look like with my fist in it,” he said through his teeth.

“Okay, back off, both of you.” Annie added a shove to the directive. “You want to fight and get out all this stupid tension, fine. I’ll even join you and beat the hell out of the both of you just for fun. But we do it outside. I like the furniture in here.”

Stone made a sound of disgust in his throat and turned away, and Cam’s chest hurt worse for it, because he knew.

Stone was right.

He strode to the stairs, needing some damn place to be alone.

“Where are you going?” Annie asked.

“He’s running,” Stone said.

“Shut up, Stone.”

“If you’re running off,” Annie said to Cam, “then run into town to get my damn pies.”

Cam sighed. “Tell Nick to do it.”

“I’m not talking to him.”

Code for Nick had been an idiot for some reason or another. “Maybe you could not talk to me either.”

“No such luck for you. Two cherry, two apple, and don’t eat one on your way back.”

Stone snorted.

“One time,” Cam said. “That happened one time.” He took the stairs, grimly satisfied to see Annie smack Stone upside the head.

With frustration still fueling him, he drove into town, unable to ease any tension on the semislicked roads. By the time he drove into Wishful, he was even more tense than when he’d left the lodge.

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?”