Cameron set his plate on the counter next to hers and put his hands on his lean hips. “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
Audrey only shrugged. “Just making an observation.”
Again, he just watched her. Audrey didn’t like people getting too close either. People were unreliable. From her mother disappearing when Audrey was eight, her estrangement from her brother, and the men who’d come and gone, Audrey learned it was better to keep herself at a distance from people. If she stayed isolated, she couldn’t be hurt anymore. Even Dianna’s death had left her hollow.
“Why are you always looking at me like that?” she blurted out.
“How would you like me to look at you?” he countered.
Don’t answer that. It’s a trap.
She opened her mouth to form some really witty reply, because that was the only way to keep this man at a distance, when Piper saved her.
“Can I have more eggs?” she pipped.
Cameron gazed at Audrey for a moment longer. Then she breathed a sigh of relief when he redirected his attention to the six-year-old bouncing on her stool. This was why she carefully thought everything through. Blurting things out like that always got her into trouble, but she had to remember that Cameron was different. He saw her differently than everyone else. She hadn’t been around him enough to identify what exactly that was. But it was definitely a threat, a threat to the isolation she’d built between herself and the world.
“Here you go, kiddo,” Cameron said as he dumped another spoonful of eggs on Piper’s plate.
“By the way,” Audrey announced as she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket, “I have a list of school supplies Piper needs.” She handed him the paper, but Cameron just set the thing down on the counter.
“If you leave that there, you’ll forget about it.”
He gave her a look like she’d lost her mind. “No, I won’t.”
She didn’t believe him. So far, she’d been the only one to make an effort to get Piper into school. “Better to put it in your pants pocket.”
“My pockets have giant holes in them. It’ll just fall out.”
Audrey’s gaze dropped to his pants, as though she could see the holes through the material. But all that did was draw attention to his thighs and how, even through the loose cotton, she could tell how big they were. Strong. An image of those powerful thighs pinning her to a mattress sent a shiver down her spine.
“Why are you always looking at me like that, Audrey?” he questioned.
Yeah, touché and all that. He had her on that one.
“Good one,” she answered with a tight smile. She picked the paper off the counter and folded it back up. “Just take it.”
When he only stared at it, she shoved it against his chest. Colossally big mistake. The tips of her fingers got an instant impression of carved muscle, of grooves and dips that outlined what had to be seriously fantastic pecs. She’d always been a sucker for a man’s chest perfectly sculpted for a woman to trail her fingers over. And judging by what she’d felt just now, Cameron had one in spades.
“You should really stop doing that, Audrey,” he warned in a low voice.
Yeah, she knew, but she had to ask anyway. “Doing what?”
He wrapped his warm palm around hers, which trapped her against his chest. He was warm and solid and so undeniably male that Audrey almost whimpered. Why did it have to feel so good to be pressed against him? Why couldn’t he smell like he hadn’t showered in a week, instead of being all spicy and woodsy and stuff?
“Looking at me like you’re trying to picture me naked,” he murmured against her ear.
This time she actually whimpered.
“All you have to do is say the word.”
She shifted her eyes to his and found them dark and smoky. Intent. On her and her only.
“What word?” she asked like the idiot she was.
He inhaled deeply and pressed his mouth harder against her ear. “Yes,” he whispered.
If only it were that easy. If only she could toss all her structure and self-imposed rules to the wind and just go for it already. Couldn’t he tell how hard it was for her? He seemed to be able to read her so easily, to see through everything she said. How could he not see how it was killing her not to drape herself all over him?
Just when she was about to give in and utter the single-syllable word that would destroy her, Audrey pulled away. She shoved the paper harder against him.
“Just take the damn list.” With a good yank, she was free and striding across the room, away from him and everything he represented. “And fix your pants.”
Eight
Audrey took Piper to the Bobcats’ next home game. Luckily, Annabelle and Stella had saved a seat for her, because the stands were packed. She’d shared a brief introduction with Stella’s hunk of a husband, Brandon, while carrying Jellybean under one arm and holding on to Piper with the other hand.
The child had been particularly cantankerous all day. First, she’d thrown a fit when Audrey hadn’t let her have popcorn for breakfast. They’d compromised on s’mores Pop-Tarts, and she gave Piper a bowl of popcorn an hour after breakfast. But at least she’d had breakfast first, so whatever.
Then Piper had folded her arms and pouted when Audrey had mentioned taking her school shopping for clothes and supplies.
“I hate school!” Piper had screamed as she’d run into her room and thrown herself on her bed.
Audrey hadn’t bothered to point out that Piper hadn’t even been to school before, so how would she know? Dianna had opted not to send Piper to preschool because she’d been on the downhill slide of her cancer battle and wanted to spend as much time with her daughter as she could.
Two hours later, she’d finally gotten Piper out the door, but only because Audrey had told the kid that Jellybean wanted to look at
