“Whoa, what’re you doing?”
She blinked at him with a strip of limp bacon hanging from on hand. “Making the bacon?”
Cameron resisted an eye roll. Typical amateur cook. “Bacon doesn’t go in the fraying pan. It goes in the oven.”
“The oven,” she repeated.
Cameron turned the oven to 400 degrees, then took a baking sheet out of the bottom drawer. “It cooks more evenly and doesn’t make a huge mess,” he told her as he took the strips of bacon out of the frying pan.
“But it tastes better when it cooks in its own grease.”
Cam lined the baking sheet with parchment paper. “It’ll still cook in the grease, only it won’t splatter everywhere.”
“Who cooks bacon on parchment paper?” she questioned.
Cameron slanted her a look. “People who know what they’re doing.”
Audrey narrowed her eyes and folded her arms, which only enhanced the plumpness of her breasts. The first day they met, he’d gotten a nice view of the goods underneath, cupped nicely in a pink bra. Yeah, she had a nice rack. But when she crossed her arms like that?
Daaaaaamn.
Cameron almost dropped a slice of bacon.
Audrey waved her index finger at him. “I’m not sure about his whole setup.”
“Then feel free to take a step back and let me do the cooking.”
She shook her head, sending her ponytail sliding over one shoulder. “Nuh-uh. I came over here to cook the dinner, not to let you take over.” She yanked a piece of bacon out of his hand. “Give me that.”
“Not too close together,” he instructed, then backed off when she shot him a withering look over her shoulder.
It was safe to say they were both OCD about how they liked things done. Great makings of a relationship.
Relationship? Had he lost his mind? There was no such thing in the future for them. She was here for Piper; then she’d be gone.
“By the way, I’ve decided to stay until the end of the football season,” she announced, as though reading his mind. “Which has sent my business partner into fits, but it’s best for Piper.”
He lifted a brow at her as he started tossing pancake ingredients together. “Because you’re not sure you trust me yet?”
Audrey finished with the bacon and set the pan aside while the oven continued to preheat. “I don’t know, can I?”
“She’s my niece,” he pointed out.
“I’m aware of that, but…”
Cameron tossed baking powder into the bowl. “But I didn’t make the greatest first impression.” Yeah, he was man enough to admit that.
She offered a tight smile. “You were insistent on me taking Piper back to Boulder with me, so…not really.”
Okay, he’d give her that.
“Cut me some slack,” he told her. “I wasn’t exactly prepared for…all this.”
Audrey lifted a brow.
Yeah, I mean you too, sweetheart.
The oven dinged, so Audrey slid the pan in and set the timer. “Well, all things considered, I’d say you’re not doing too bad.”
He smiled despite himself. “Gee, don’t be too nice.”
“Cut me some slack, okay? I’m just trying to protect Piper.”
Cameron whisked the ingredients together, then set the bowl aside. “Okay, I’ll give you that.”
“How magnanimous of you.”
Cameron leaned a hip on the counter, deliberately crowding Audrey. She smelled damn good. Like cinnamon and peaches. Last time he was around her she smelled like lemons, but both scents were intoxicating and reminded him of summer. Hot afternoons. Hotter sex.
And he really needed to stop thinking about sex around her.
“Why are you always so suspicious?” he asked her.
Audrey’s shoulders went stiff when Cameron entered her personal space, close enough that he could see a faint scar that bisected her chin. But she didn’t back up. Not that he expected her to. No, Audrey wasn’t the sort of woman to back down from anyone. She’d stand her ground, chin lifted and spine straight, a trait that he admired.
Hell, it turned him on.
“Not suspicious, just…cautious,” she answered.
He took a step closer so that his hip rested near hers against the counter. She sucked in a deep breath, which nudged the tips of her breasts against his chest. Cameron knew the second she noticed the contact because her eyes went wide, and her pupils filled her golden irises.
Damn. If such a brief glance could make his pulse elevate like that, what would happen if they really touched?
He cupped her chin and stroked his thumb across her scar. “And why are you so cautious about everything, Audrey?”
He liked the way her name sounded on his lips. Natural and sweet. Kind of like her.
“I’ve learned from experience that things rarely ever work out the way you plan.”
“You sound more jaded than cautious,” he pointed out.
Her tongue swiped across her lower lip. “If that’s what you’d call it.”
“I’m asking what you’d call it.”
“I already told you,” she murmured.
He wasn’t so sure about that. In fact, Cameron would bet all the money in his bank there was a lot she hadn’t told him. A lot she no doubt wouldn’t want to tell him. And it seemed as though they both had trust issues. Cameron didn’t trust people to do what was right, and Audrey…well, he had a feeling that Audrey didn’t trust anyone.
Where did that leave them?
More important, where could they go from here?
Audrey’s gaze dropped to Cam’s mouth as he shifted his thumb to graze along her lower lip. She was soft and full and everything a woman should be, and how was he supposed to keep his distance from her?
It would be a completely shitty thing to sleep with her. She was here for Piper; then she’d return to her life in Boulder. And all Cameron could offer a woman was a good time between the sheets. It was all he wanted to offer a woman, and Audrey didn’t strike him as the type who was into recreational sex. Plus, it would make the situation too awkward, and he needed to start thinking about Piper.
Audrey shifted closer, as though she wanted to test the waters. Maybe place her mouth against his? Yeah, he wasn’t opposed to trying
