But there were no sides here. That was the truth. She just did not want these men to get into a conflict with Cam. There was no need. She wasn’t upset with Cam. Now.
“No. It’s… okay.”
Aiden shook his head. “I’m not sure it is.”
Whitney felt her head shaking as well. “No. Honestly it is.”
Even before the kiss, it had gotten okay. But since the kiss… well, she wanted him to stick around. It hadn’t even been a kiss. She wanted a kiss now. Which was really stupid and a pretty great way to ensure that she made a really big mistake—an even bigger mistake than kissing him in the first place. But she was sure of one thing…she didn’t want him to leave.
“When he first told me about helping with Didi, I thought he was crazy, I’ll admit. But you should hear him explain it.” She gave them a grin.
Aiden didn’t smile back. “Cam can convince most people of most things. It makes him an amazing attorney.”
She lifted a brow. “You think he somehow tricked me into this?”
“When Cam wants something, he gets it,” Dax said. He said it in a very matter-of-fact way.
“So he wants to help my grandmother out,” Whitney said.
Dax gave her a look. “I don’t think that’s all he wants.”
“Oh, Cam will be great with Didi.” Piper swept back into the room. She proceeded to set cold bottles of water in front of each of them.
None of them had asked for water, but three of the four men reached for the bottles right away. Whitney smiled, amazed by the dynamic. Either Piper could sense when the guys were thirsty even from fifty feet away, or the guys just assumed they were thirsty if Piper was giving them water.
“You think so?” Ollie asked. “Cam doesn’t seem like the… nurturing type.”
Piper shrugged. “Exactly.”
“What do you mean?” Ollie asked.
“I’m guessing a woman who started her own company and helped grow it into a multimillion dollar company isn’t the type to want nurturing,” Piper said. “If she’s in the early stages, then she’s probably aware of the fact that she’s forgetting things or that usual tasks are more difficult now. The last thing she’ll want is to be taken care of. She’ll understand that she needs to be safe and she needs some help. So why not choose a hot guy who’s funny and who can be sweet, but who won’t coddle her, to spend time with if she has the chance?”
“Cam can be sweet?” Ollie asked. “I haven’t really noticed that.”
“He can be very sweet,” Piper confirmed.
“Give me three examples.”
“He sent a plant to Conner Daniels when his father passed away.”
Ollie looked surprised. “He did? Or you did?”
“He did. He asked me for a florist but he even made the call.”
“Isn’t Conner the lawyer who sued us over the use of the name Vandragon Dungeons?” Dax asked.
Whitney could have kissed Dax. On the cheek of course. But she was so glad he’d clarified who Conner was so she wouldn’t ask. She knew she should not be, or act, interested in Cam and details like who he was sending plants to, but dammit, she was.
“Tried to,” Grant said with a nod. “Cam won. Of course. But yeah, he and Conner were absolutely not friends.”
“See?” Piper said to Ollie. “That was sweet. They were on opposite sides in business and Cam kicked his ass, but he still sent his condolences over a personal issue.”
Ollie narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Two more.”
“The donations he makes to Appleby.”
“You mean the donations he makes that get his name in big block letters on the side of things?” Aiden asked with a smile.
Okay, Whitney knew about those. He’d donated money to build the youth sports complex, and that did, indeed, have his name—his last name anyway—on the side of it. He’d also donated to various projects around town when the community needed something but had trouble coming up with the funds.
“Those,” Piper said. “But also the scholarships, the medical bills, the service dog training.”
Whitney glanced around the table and saw that Cam’s friends looked as surprised as she felt.
“The what?” Aiden finally asked.
Piper nodded. “He has a foundation where people can apply for funds for all kinds of things. Help paying medical bills or help buying a handicapped accessible van or anything like that.” She looked smug. “He never makes a big deal about that.”
Clearly. Whitney had never heard about any of that.
“He knows that the people needing the funds don’t want to make their needs public and he’s fine just helping out behind the scenes. Believe it or not,” she added with a little smile.
“Huh,” Ollie finally said.
“Sweet, right?” Piper asked. Her eyes met Whitney’s.
Dammit, that was sweet.
“Fine,” Ollie conceded. “One more.”
“You think he gets stupid drunk after seeing Whitney every time he comes home because he’s emotionless and cold-hearted?” Piper asked.
Whitney felt her chest tighten.
“Only a guy who’s sweet, down deep anyway, would still have get-drunk feelings for a girl ten years later,” Piper said.
Now Whitney’s throat tightened too.
She didn’t get drunk after she’d seen him, but she knew exactly how he felt.
“Fine,” Ollie said. “I guess maybe he has a sweet side.” He rolled his eyes.
Piper laughed. “He does. But he’ll be good with Didi. He won’t baby her and he won’t let her get away with anything that’s not safe.”
Ollie laughed. “Yeah, Cam is not the type to baby someone.”
Piper nodded. “He’ll make her behave.”
“How will she take that?” Dax asked Whitney.
“Well.” Whitney shrugged. “My grandpa was pretty domineering.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. But…” Whitney started actually thinking about the question. “Grandma kind of did whatever the hell she wanted anyway, honestly.”
“That sounds like Letty,” Aiden said with a small smile.
Whitney returned the smile. Aiden hadn’t been Letty’s grandson by blood, but he’d still been her grandson in the ways that counted. His mom and Cam’s had been best friends
