“You just said you were going to lay off,” she pointed out.
“I said ‘for now.’ ”
“Ah, you’re always such a gentleman,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Let me tell you, though, that if I need warming up, I am perfectly capable of finding someone . . . else . . . willing to do it.”
The flare in his eyes told her he didn’t like that response at all. That was just too bad for him. It made her feel a lot better to get under his thick hide.
“Don’t forget your coat. The sun’s almost down. It’s going to cool off within the next hour.”
Before she could get it herself, Cam was gathering up her coat, handing it to her, and pushing her out the door. They reached the top of the steps together, and for once, Grace was incredibly grateful Cam was there, because her foot slipped, and she almost went tumbling down the solid wooden staircase.
If it hadn’t been for Cam’s quick thinking, she didn’t know what would have happened. He dropped her salad bowl but caught her, and the two of them teetered for a few terrifying seconds while he regained his balance.
“What the heck?” she cried out as she clung to him.
“You’re not usually so klutzy,” he said, his voice a little breathless. “That scared the hell out of me!”
“What did I slip on?”
Cam backed up, still holding on to her, and they both glanced around for the culprit. Something green and slimy was on the top step. “What is that?” Cam bent down to take a closer look.
“Jell-O?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but if your neighbors drop something, especially right here, then they should have the decency to clean it up before someone else comes along and gets seriously hurt,” he said, looking both ways down the open walkway. “Give me your keys. I’m going to run inside and grab some paper towels. We don’t want someone else to stumble on this.”
With that, he took her keys and did exactly as he said he would, getting the mess cleaned up in no time at all. “This is what I hate about apartments. The low maintenance is great, but the shared space isn’t so wonderful.”
“When have you ever lived in an apartment?” she asked with a pointed look.
“I lived in one all through college,” he bragged, as if proud of himself.
“What? No mansion on the hill? I thought the privileged Camden Whitman would simply insist on taking over one of the frat houses.”
“Come on, Grace, you didn’t exactly grow up in a cottage,” he told her with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t nearly as arrogant as you’ve always been.”
“Ha! I didn’t live in that big house on the hill until my father adopted me,” he reminded her, his bravado dropping away, and for a moment the lost little boy who’d been found by Martin Whitman showed up in his beautiful eyes.
Grace could have kicked herself. How in the world had she forgotten that Spence, Jackson, and Cam had all been adopted by Martin after they had saved his only biological son, Michael, from drowning? Of course, no one ever really thought about it, because Martin didn’t treat them as adopted children at all. They were just his sons.
“Sorry,” she mumbled feebly.
“Don’t start. I hate it when people do that. I was far more fortunate than most, because I got out of the system and was taken into a home full of love. And I got three brothers out of the deal as an added bonus. Not even a tiny percentage of kids in the system get it as good as I did.”
“Okay.”
“Now, Grace, back to this apartment situation . . .” he began.
“It doesn’t really matter. My house is going to be finished next week. I’ve lived in these apartments for over a year now, so it will almost be sad to leave,” she said before turning and giving him a smile. “I’m totally lying. I can’t wait to have a huge tub and a deck I can sit on while I drink my morning coffee.”
“If you had decided to build when you first came back, you could have been living there now.”
“I wasn’t ready then to make that decision, Cam. I wasn’t sure if I was staying here or not.”
“So you’ve decided to stay for good?”
The hope in his eyes was almost too much to take.
“Or maybe I just want a good investment and I’m going to rent the place out,” she told him flippantly.
“Come on, you know you’re moving into the place you designed,” he said, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.
She decided to give him a break. “Yes, for now I’ll be moving in there.”
“In that case, I’ll be sure to come help with the boxes.”
“Don’t worry about it. Sage and Spence are helping, and I don’t have a lot of stuff.”
“When someone offers to help you, Grace, the polite thing is to say thanks and give a grateful smile,” he said before leering at her. “And, of course, to jump into their arms, wrap your legs around them, and lay a big, fat, juicy one on their waiting lips.”
He opened the passenger-side door of his car and stood close enough that she had no choice but to brush against him as she climbed in.
“Do you think about anything other than sex?” she asked him.
“Not really. I’ve got the proverbial one-track mind.”
“You’re impossible, but if I need a favor that I’m supposed to repay with kisses, I’ll have to remember that the next time Mr. Longsteine offers to take down my trash for me,” she said as she made herself comfortable in the passenger’s seat.