If someone was after her, he wanted to know why.
Her brain fuzzy and her vision unfocused, Grace woke up to the smell of fresh coffee, bacon, and something delicious that she couldn’t identify. Sage had to be making breakfast. Grace lay there a moment longer, her lips turning up and her stomach growling.
When she took in a big breath of air, she nearly laughed aloud for pure joy when she realized her nose was no longer stuffy. Wiggling her legs, she still felt aches and pains, but they weren’t as debilitating as they’d been the past few days.
Then her eyes snapped back open. Wait a freaking minute. Sage had moved out six months ago. She was married to Spence now—Cam’s brother. Cam! He’d been at her house the night before. Thinking hard, Grace tried to call up the last thing she remembered. The tub!
She’d been in the tub and had obviously fallen asleep. Her hand shot to her chest and touched the silky smoothness of her nightie. Slowly lifting the blanket, she peeked underneath. That nightie was all she had on. Her face went crimson as she realized that Cam must have pulled her from the tub, dried her off, and dressed her.
She racked her brain for any other memories, and came up blank. She knew there was no way they’d done anything. As much as she wanted to “monsterize” Cam, he wasn’t a bad guy and he would never take advantage of a sleeping woman, not even if the two of them were in a relationship. So her horror was strictly at knowing he’d seen her naked—again.
Then, with the morning light streaming in through her blinds, she noticed her bedding had been changed. Had he done all of this for her? Why? Since she’d come back to town, not a single conversation had ended without one or both of them either yelling or the one time at her best friend’s wedding with them ripping each other’s clothes off, she thought in shame. So why in the world was he taking care of her now?
“Good morning, Grace. You look much better than you did last night.”
Grace froze as she looked to her doorway and found Cam leaning against the jamb with a cup in his hand, smiling at her.
“What are you doing, Cam?”
She clutched at her comforter, pulling it to her chin as she stared at him. Age had only made him better. He’d been so dang handsome when he was in his late teens and early twenties. She’d been in love with him from the time he was sixteen and she was only twelve, and he’d thought of her as nothing but a child.
He was all man now, his cheeks still chiseled but filled out nicely, his shoulders wide and making the perfect upside-down A-frame, and his arms . . . oh, his arms were solid, and looking at them led her gaze down to his stomach and beyond.
Shaking her head, she snapped her eyes back to his, which were, of course, twinkling. “Like the view, darlin’? Need me to turn around?”
“I asked you a question, Camden.” She was growing grumpier by the minute.
“I stayed the night. You were so sick and out of it that I was worried about you. And now I just finished making breakfast. You hungry?”
Her stomach growled her answer and he chuckled. She wished she could be stubborn enough to insist he get out, but she really was starving, although she didn’t see how she could be after pigging out the night before.
“Would you leave so I can get up?”
“Why? I saw plenty last night,” he said with an exaggerated wink.
“That’s just plain rude, Cam!” she snapped, sending him a look that should have shaken his confidence, if only a little.
“You weren’t thinking I was rude last night.”
“I was drugged and out of it. A real man wouldn’t have taken advantage of that fact.”
He stepped into the room and her heart thudded as she wondered what he was going to do. Slowly, so slowly, he approached the bed, set his coffee cup down on her nightstand, and then leaned down, his face now only inches from hers.
“I showed more restraint last night than could be expected of any mortal man. Now, if you want to thank me properly . . .” he said, with enough of a growl that her stomach was now flipping for reasons that had nothing to do with food.
“I need privacy,” she managed to squeak out, but was afraid to move even an inch as his scent enveloped her, making her realize if he were to touch her, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep from grabbing him.
“As you wish,” he said, backing off immediately, picking up his cup, and sauntering out of her room.
Breathing deeply, she lay there until she felt that her body was safely under control, then finally flipped back the covers and climbed out of bed. She couldn’t wake up to Cam. It was far too hard on her hormones.
Stepping into her bathroom, she decided a shower was in order. As hungry as she was, she hadn’t washed her hair in a while, and until she scrubbed every inch of her poor body, she wasn’t going to feel as if she’d beaten the cold that had dragged her down for days.
After she dried off, she peeked in her bedroom—no, Cam wasn’t there—then walked over to her closet and selected a warm outfit. Style, for once, wasn’t on her mind.
Now clean, clothed, and craving food, she couldn’t put off seeing Cam any longer. She emerged from her bedroom and found him sitting at the table, reading her newspaper.
The phone rang before she could say anything. Stepping over, she picked it up and then immediately regretted that decision.
“What can I do for you, Kitty?” she said, trying to have patience. The woman had been her client only for a few days and already Grace was wondering how she was going to get through this wedding. At least she wasn’t drawing the event out for a year.