“Sorry about that. Why so jumpy?” He moved over to her dresser and opened the top drawer, incredibly happy with his find.
“Anyone would be jumpy to see a giant standing where no one had been a moment before,” she told him as she turned to grab another shirt.
“Mmm, so you like what you see,” he said before picking up a lacy red thong. “Nice panties.” He held them up and enjoyed the look of horror on her face when she turned back to him.
“Stay out of my drawers,” she snapped as she rushed over to him, grabbed the delicates, and slammed her drawer shut.
“But, darlin’, I’ve spent years trying to get into your drawers. Anyway, I’m just trying to help you move faster. Hawk said not to linger,” he told her as he opened another drawer, striking gold again with what had to be the matching bra.
“Camden Whitman, have you no decency?” She snatched the bra from him, then reached in and grabbed the clothes in the top drawer and shoved them into her suitcase.
“Get the items in that next drawer, too,” he said with a wink.
With a smirk, she opened that drawer. “Gladly.” She scooped out a bunch of socks.
“Come on, Gracie, you know there has to be lingerie in one of these drawers,” he practically growled.
“I don’t think I’ll be needing any of that,” she assured him.
“You’re right. I’d just rip it right off.”
“Really? I don’t think so. You had a chance this morning and turned me down flat,” she practically snarled.
“I want more than a one-night stand. What are you going to do, sue me?”
“And I don’t like being controlled.”
“You’re not being any fun at all right now,” he said with a pout.
“That’s just too bad for you. I’m not exactly in a playful mood. I haven’t even had time to figure out where I’m going to go. I’d call Sage again, but she and Spence won’t be back from the conference until Tuesday.”
“You’re going to stay with me,” he told her, opening another drawer against her wishes and finding jammies, although not the ones he’d been hoping for. Still, he grabbed some and placed them in her bag.
“Staying with you isn’t an option,” she told him before grabbing a few more items and then zipping the bag closed. “Now be a good boy and take this out for me. I have a few more items I need to pack.”
Cam decided not to argue with her. He’d just place her things in his vehicle and she’d either have to follow him to his place or go without her clothes. That sounded perfectly reasonable to him.
She packed two more suitcases, and they were done within fifteen minutes. “I just want to do a final sweep to make sure I’ve got everything I’ll need for the next week or so,” she told Cam as he grabbed her last bag.
“No problem. I’ll wait for you outside.” He moved down the stairs and loaded up the last case, then leaned against his truck and chatted with Hawk.
“I really would like to be there when she finds out what a meddler you’re being,” Hawk said as he chewed on a toothpick.
“Well, she’s not going to find out, so we don’t have to worry about that, do we?”
“We’ll see, Cam. In a perfect world, you just might be correct. But since when have our lives ever gone as smoothly as we’ve wanted them to go?” Hawk chuckled.
“Okay, I’ve got what I’ll need for the week, Hawk. My house is going to be done this coming Friday, so there won’t be a problem with me staying here after that anyway,” Grace said. She was being far more polite to the town fire chief than she was being with Cam.
That only grated the tiniest bit.
“Sounds good, Grace. I hope your night goes a lot better from here on out,” Hawk said before climbing into his vehicle and taking off.
“Okay, follow me home,” Cam said as he moved to the driver’s side of her car and held the door open for her.
“I told you I wasn’t going to your house, Cam. You really need to learn to take no for an answer,” she snapped at him.
“Well, your luggage is loaded in my truck, so if you need anything, you might want to follow me home,” he said with a lazy, crooked smile.
“You’re not amusing me. I’m hungry, tired, and not in the best of moods right now. So be a gentleman and move my luggage over to my car,” she said between clenched teeth.
“We can discuss it over dinner. Climb in,” he told her, pointing to her seat.
“Seriously, Cam, you’re pissing me off,” she growled.
“Good. I like it when there’s fire in your eyes.”
He decided talking was doing him no good, so before she had a chance to blink, he pulled her into his arms and lowered his head. He was planning on kissing her into submission.
The tables quickly turned on him, though, and within seconds she was the one who was controlling him. The softness of her lips molding to his, the scent of her subtle perfume drifting between them, and the barely audible sigh slipping from her throat had his body hard and aching, and he was wishing they were already home.
After a minute or maybe twenty—time didn’t matter—he pulled back and looked into her smoldering eyes. “Follow me home, Grace.”
He didn’t give her time to answer him, just assisted her into her car and shut her door. Then he moved over to his vehicle and climbed in the driver’s side. And waited.
Five minutes passed, and he wondered if the stubborn woman would sit there all night just to punish him. Grace Sinclair was certainly tenacious enough to do just that. But then her car started and he gave a sigh of relief. Maybe he should follow her, just in case she tried to change her mind and give up on her bags.