“So you’ve said. But the only way she’s going to get back to a normal routine is if people stop treating her differently.”
Audrey ran her gaze over his strong profile, taking in his straight nose, unruly dark hair, and early-morning scruff darkening his square jaw. “Sounds like you’re talking from experience.”
Again with the shoulder shrug, as though it didn’t matter to him. “I have a vague idea of what she’s going through.”
Audrey supposed he would, given how he’d lost his dad. And maybe that was why Dianna had chosen Cameron for Piper. Setting aside the family aspect, she wanted to leave her daughter with someone who could identify with her. Someone who could match his own grief with hers, someone who knew how it felt to be alone. And for the first time since she met him, her apprehension loosened. She hadn’t been sure about Cameron, because his reception of them had been lukewarm. Ever since Dianna’s death, she’d been obsessed with Piper having the best, so she didn’t have to feel another minute of grief.
“It’s okay, you know,” Cameron commented.
Audrey blinked at him.
“For her to be sad. She needs to be able to grieve without people making her feel like it’s not okay.”
The comment took her aback. She hadn’t made Piper feel like that, had she? She shook her head and placed her plate on the counter next to Cameron’s. “I’m not trying to make her feel like that. I just…” She blew out a breath. “I just want her to be happy. She deserves that after what she’s been through.”
“I know,” Cameron agreed. “And I’m not saying you’re doing anything wrong. But she needs to feel like it’s okay to let it out, rather than bottling all her sadness for her mom inside.”
“Do you think that’s what she’s doing?”
Cameron watched Piper feed a bite of French toast to Jellybean. “I think she’s trying her best to be a good girl.”
“Is that what you did?”
Cameron was silent for so long that she didn’t think he was going to answer. “My mom did her best with me after my dad took off. She worked two jobs to make up for the loss of income. But she was…unusually happy. Too happy for a woman whose husband walked out on her and left her with a kid to raise. She was always asking me if I was okay and telling me to smile.” He shook his head. “Made me mad.”
“Why would that make you mad?” she asked. “She was just trying to protect you.”
“Yeah, I know what she was doing. But I wanted to grieve in my own way, and she wouldn’t let me.”
She watched Piper again, trying to make sense of Cameron’s advice. She’d been so sure she’d been doing the right thing with Piper, always making sure she was happy and adjusted, because she couldn’t stand to see the shadows in her eyes. No child should have to grieve the way Piper had. She was too special for that.
A warm hand on her arm jerked her out of her thoughts. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I know you mean well. But if she wants to be sad, let her be sad. By the way, I’m taking Piper shopping this afternoon.”
Cameron was going to shop with a six-year-old? “For what?”
“School stuff,” he responded. “She still needs supplies, right?”
“Well, yeah, but…” Actually, she had planned on taking Piper and hadn’t expected Cameron to just up and do it himself. Logically she knew he should. It was his place now to take care of these things. “I’ll get changed after breakfast and go with you.”
Cameron shook his head. “Nope. Just me and her.”
“Wait—”
“No arguments, Audrey. You want me to do this, right?”
She blinked at him, still thrown off by the conversation. “Yeah.”
“So let me do it. And also, you were right last night.”
Huh? His change of subject was so fast, she could only blink. “Right?” she repeated.
“I did kiss you to get you to shut up,” he murmured.
Had he moved closer to her? All of a sudden she could smell him. Like, smell. And she bet it was the natural smell of his clean skin and not some body wash or cologne. Did he just roll out of bed smelling like an orgasm in a bottle? Because her insides were, like, seriously dancing.
“But I’m not sorry,” he told her.
“Um, okay?” What else was she supposed to say? She was too focused on the pulse beating at the base of his strong neck. She bet he smelled really good there too.
“Most people go around apologizing for things like that,” he continued, as though she’d asked for more explanation. “But I’m not going to.” He stepped even closer and lowered his head. She readied herself for another kiss. Instead, his lips bypassed hers and went to her ear. His nose nuzzled her lobe; then he inhaled a deep breath. “Do know you why?”
Her hand curled into his bare shoulder. Yeah, his skin was as warm as it looked. “Because you’re a big tough man who apologizes to no one?”
His throaty chuckle in her ear sent a shiver zinging down her spine. “Because you liked it just as much as I did. And you tossed and turned a lot last night, didn’t you?”
Hell, yeah, she had. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.
In a hasty and sudden move, he pulled back. “By the way, my mom is coming to dinner next Sunday.”
And with that, he was gone, out of the kitchen and taking her quivering stomach with her.
And wasn’t that just great? She went from kissing him to meeting his mom.
Ten
The following Monday at practice, Cameron was still thinking about Audrey. To his surprise, his thoughts this morning hadn’t centered on kissing her or the way her hungry gaze had left a scorching path over
