They circled around the wood pile to the back side of the shed.
“I guess…there’s a part of me that feels like if I keep it to myself, if I don’t actually say it out loud, then it can still go away. That they’ll figure out they’ve shot themselves in the foot and call begging me to come back.”
“Do you want them to ask you back?”
“God, yes.” Catching sight of his carefully blank expression, she laid both hands on his arms. “Only so I can tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine. I couldn’t go back to that. Not knowing what I know now.”
Cam relaxed and pulled her close. “You’ll figure the rest out, Wonder Woman. I have faith.”
Norah burrowed in, wrapping her arms around him beneath his open coat. “I’m glad one of us does.”
He stroked a hand down her hair. “I get that you don’t want to spread this around and why you’re not keen on announcing it to the whole family, but I really think you’ll feel better if you at least talk to Miranda.”
“I feel better when I’m with you.” She tipped her head back to look at him. “You’re solid. Steady.”
His lips twisted in an expression that couldn’t be termed a smile. “Yep, that’s me. Solid, steady, boring Cam. Everybody says so.”
“Then everybody’s wrong. You’re not boring. Not at all. You’re just…subtle,” she decided. “I guess next to Mitch or Reed or Tucker, people probably tend to overlook that.” She slid her hands up to brace on his shoulders, rising to her toes until she was close enough to feel the warmth of his breath. “Solid and steady really works for me.”
Now he did smile. “Happy to oblige.” Dipping his head, he brushed his lips over hers, testing. They both listened.
“We have maybe two minutes before somebody starts wondering where we are,” he murmured.
“Then we’d better make the most of them.”
Cam’s eyes darkened, his lips curving into a hungry smile that had Norah’s toes curling. He backed her against the shed and boxed her in with his arms. She loved it, loved that instant leap of her heart, the catch of her breath as he took her mouth.Wanting to feel the heat of him, she slid her fingers into the open collar of his shirt to rest against his skin. His pulse thundered, and she loved that, too. How could such a quiet, steady man be so…potent?
His head snapped up, and Norah made some soft, incoherent sound of
protest before she heard what he’d heard. Footsteps across the dead grass.
Releasing her, he eased open the door to the shed and stepped inside. “Pull out your phone. Flashlight.”
She didn’t stop to ask him why, just did as he asked, raising the poor light above her head to partially illuminate the gloom within. Cam was shifting through the contents of the shed when Miranda came around and blocked the light.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Looking for the wood sling,” Cam replied, not a trace of breathlessness in his voice.
“It was by the back door.” Miranda held it up.
“My mistake.” Cam stepped out of the shed, apparently back under control. “Norah, you wanna grab some kindling off that end?”
Norah followed him out and started gathering the smaller bits, as asked, hoping her flush would be attributed to the cold.
Chapter 6
Tucker McGee was a hard core flirt. The man practically oozed charm, so the fact that he was currently oozing said charm all over Norah had Cam grinding his teeth and repressing the urge to plant a fist in his friend’s face. He wasn’t concerned Tucker was actually getting somewhere with her, but that was his woman, and he hadn’t even gotten a chance to greet her before Tucker had swooped in to escort her from the car to the refreshment tables. Not that Cam could give her the greeting he wanted with Miranda trailing right behind, looking irritable.
“—and here, the pièce de résistance, s’mores fixin’s. And over here we have the roasting rods.” Tucker pulled a slim handled rod from a cluster in a tube and handed it to her, hilt first.
Norah inspected it. The metal was bent back on itself and wrapped to make a sturdy handle. “Swanky. I thought you were supposed to use coat hangers.”
“That’s for amateurs. We take the art of bonfire to the next level. Do you need a refresher on the proper roasting technique?”
“I’m not that citified.”
Tucker held up both hands in a gesture of peace. “Just checking. I didn’t know.”