His words made Whitney’s stomach swoop and then dive. She felt the air between them heat. This was different than how he’d talked to her in her office last night but it affected her similarly. Being loved and taken care of by Cam was absolutely as tempting as being seduced by him. Honestly, with Cam, all of that had always gone together.

“So you’re going to lie to her?” Whitney asked.

That was so stupid. She wanted to hear him say it wasn’t a lie. She wanted to hear him say that he did love her and wanted to take care of her. But what if he said that? That would make all of this so much harder. She had to resist. Hot Cakes was her focus. She couldn’t do anything to jeopardize her position there.

“It’s a month,” he said after a long pause. “Right? A month until she can move into her new apartment.”

Well, he certainly hadn’t said, “Let me be your knight in shining armor.”

And she was glad he hadn’t said that. That would have been ridiculous. He couldn’t love her. He didn’t really know her anymore.

Which was the point he was trying to make when he said they needed to date and figure things out.

Whitney pressed her lips together, telling herself to stop being ridiculous. She finally nodded. “Right. A month.”

“A month should be enough time to figure out what we are.”

“What we are?” she repeated.

“Coworkers, friends, or…”

Whitney felt that she was holding her breath waiting for him to fill in that last word.

“Or?” she prompted when he just stood watching her.

“Everything,” he said.

Her breath caught again. They were going to find out if they were coworkers, friends, or everything.

“I feel like I’m not getting much say in this,” she managed, noting that her voice sounded scratchy.

She knew that Cam heard it too when he stepped forward one more time. Now they were only inches apart. Close enough to reach out and touch. Close enough that if they didn’t touch, it would be very obvious they were making that choice.

“You can say no to anything I suggest,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t make the suggestions.”

She wet her lips. “Suggestions like?”

“Like that we should sit on the front porch with a couple of beers and talk. Like that we should sit on the couch and watch old movies. Like that we should go for a midnight swim in the pool out back.”

Those all sounded relatively safe. And tempting as hell. Which made them not safe.

“And like we should make chocolate chip cookie dough,” he went on.

Okay she could maybe do this. Chocolate chip cookie dough and playing in the pool. Maybe they could end up being friends. That was a nice, safe compromise between coworkers and… she swallowed hard… everything.

“And you should let me lick it off your nipples.”

9

Whitney sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes flew to his as he turned the sweet, date-like ideas into sexy and oh-my-God-yes in a blink.

Her nipples definitely liked the idea. They tingled as if he was already covering them with cookie dough and tightened in anticipation of the licking.

He reached up and cupped her face. “Let me stay.”

She had to clear her throat before she could answer. She also noted that she didn’t pull back away from his touch. She probably should. In a second.

“I didn’t realize I was in a position to let you stay… or not,” she said.

“I’m not staying if you’re completely against it,” he said, brushing his thumb over her cheek.

“What if I’m a little bit against it?” she asked.

He gave her a half smile. “That I can work with.”

They just stood staring at each other for several heartbeats. His touch felt hot against her cheek, but she also wanted more. More of her body getting hot from him touching.

“We need to figure this out. You have to realize that,” he finally said. “I don’t know if this is all just left over from ten years ago or if it’s real now.”

She knew exactly what he was talking about. The chemistry. The wanting to be closer. The wondering about his life and what he was like now.

She did want to know.

She was just scared.

Because she was pretty sure that she would like all of it. A lot.

“Okay,” she finally said softly.

She did want her grandma to be safe and happy and she wanted to let Didi make as many decisions for herself as possible as long as she could. If Didi wanted Cam around, then Whitney shouldn’t be against it.

She’d be at work all day anyway. She’d be here, with Cam, only a few hours a day. And Didi would be there with them. How intimate could it be?

And maybe if he was here all the time, in her space, in her way, she’d realize that she was over him. That she didn’t want him around all the time. That they didn’t match up anymore. That they’d outgrown each other.

Yeah.

Maybe.

“You know those suggestions I’m going to be making and you’re going to have the chance to say no to?” he asked huskily.

She nodded.

“Here’s one.”

He leaned in, close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips when he said, “Let me kiss you.”

Oh damn. She wanted that. She wanted it so much. She was weak. Some of it was that she simply didn’t feel wanted very much. Not just in the man-woman-naked-bodies way but just in general. That sounded pathetic, she knew, but it wasn’t so much that it made her sad, it was just what she was used to. She wasn’t sad about not being wanted. It was more that she was surprised to be wanted.

No one sought her out for her opinions, no one gave her big, important tasks. People always took her no answers seriously. If she was invited to a function and she declined, that was it. No one pressed. If someone asked her out and she said no, the guy always let it go. She knew it came from being a Lancaster. The Lancasters had power in Appleby and she knew that people were, in general, intimidated by them. Her grandfather and father had put a lot of effort into making sure that people believed the Lancasters were better than everyone else.

So to have Cam pressing to be with her, to get closer, was new. And felt good.

Plus, it was Cam.

She’d never stopped wanting him.

“I—” she started.

“The tea is getting cold!” Didi bellowed from the kitchen.

Whitney and Cam stilled. Then she felt him sigh. But he didn’t pull back. “You going to let me do this or not?”

He was already practically kissing her. When his lips moved as he spoke, they brushed hers ever so lightly. His body heat surrounded her. She swore she could feel his heartbeat pounding. Or maybe that was hers.

She found it funny that they were standing so close, almost kissing, talking about kissing, but not really doing anything. It still felt incredibly intimate. They were very much in each other’s personal space. They both clearly wanted this. She certainly wasn’t pushing him away or stepping back. But the only actual connection was his hand on her face. And their mingling breaths.

Clearly he was going to insist that she make this decision. He wasn’t going to just sweep her up and kiss the hell out of her before she could protest and then let the chemistry take over.