“Are you expecting anyone for breakfast?” The reminder I was in a soccer jersey and commando underneath slammed right back into me. “If someone is coming, I have to change.” I tried to pull myself off the stool, but my legs were up and he’d pushed me too close. “I need to shower. Get dressed. I should probably go see a doctor to get—Oh God, my car. Is it still at the Vasquez farm? Maybe I could call someone to go pick it up. I don’t know where my phone is. I—”
Cameron was suddenly there, by my side. “Ada, darling,” he said with a smile. A big and soft smile. I was dazed silly. “What you need to do is stay where you are. In my kitchen. Hydrate. Eat breakfast. Then, couch or bed, your pick. The doctor will come see you here. I’ve already called.”
I—What? “Don’t—”
“Tell you what to do? Treat you like someone who had a horrible day yesterday and deserves a fucking break?” He gave me a shrug and placed a plate I hadn’t seen him grab in front of me. “First, food. Then, shower. Then, doctor. Then, whatever else you want. Netflix and chill, or nap until lunchtime.” A mug was produced and set in front of me, too. “I left you towels and a bathrobe in your room.”
Towels. A bathrobe.
My room.
My chest felt funny. “Do you even know what ‘Netflix and chill’ means?”
“No.” The smile returned. “But I don’t really care,” he said, returning to the other side of the island. “You didn’t say if you preferred sweet or savory so here’s all I have.”
“Unless you’re planning on feeding the whole town, I’d say that’s a little too much.”
Cameron glanced at everything he’d set on the island. His hand went to his chest, and he absently patted a spot right above a rose that spanned part of his tattooed pec. I decided it was my second-favorite tattoo. His fingers moved, and I wondered how the skin of his chest would feel to the touch with all that ink. Would it have texture? Would it be as soft and smooth as the arm I’d touched what felt like an eternity ago? I wanted to place my hands on him and—
“You need to stop looking at me like that, love.”
My eyes snapped right back to his face.
Ada darling. Love. That smile on his face again.
I couldn’t keep up.
“I was not looking,” I whispered, cheeks flaming.
“You were, and my ego fucking loved it.” He braced his hands on the island and leaned forward. “Other parts of me, too.”
I thought I choked on my own breath. My gaze started to dip but I stopped myself. No more gawking. Specifically, not under his waist.
A chuckle left him, the sound as distracting as the rest of him. “I’ll grab a quick shower while the oven preheats. Then I’ll get breakfast ready for you before I leave.”
And without so much as a nod from my side, he turned around and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me to my thoughts and a set of wildly inappropriate images of him under the water stream.
* * *
Sunday came and went in another blur of naps. And Monday wasn’t all that different. So when Cameron returned he found me exactly in the place he’d moved me to before running out to do some errands: on his larger-than-life couch, clad in an indigo blue bathrobe, with my bad ankle up on a pillow and Willow curled by my side.
He appeared in front of me, his arms full of bags. “What did the doctor say?”
Leave it to him to cut straight to the chase. “You shouldn’t have called and asked them to come. I can move just fine. A house call for a sprained ankle is a stretch.”
Cameron carefully placed everything on the coffee table and ignored my complaint. His gaze returned to my face, his expression waiting, patient. Unbothered. He arched his brows.
I sighed. “It’s a low-grade sprain. I should stay off it for a few days, and I’ll be fine in a week.”
He shot me a skeptical look.
I rolled my eyes. “From one to three weeks. It depends.”
“That’s what I thought.” A slow nod. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m still stuffed from breakfast,” I answered honestly. He’d pulled out so much food—again—that I’d had as much as I could just so he wouldn’t have to throw anything away. And that included a new bag of mini croissants. I averted my eyes, summoning the will to say everything I’d thought about while he’d been away. “Listen, I appreciate you raiding your pantry, feeding me, and… helping me out, but I think I should go now.”
“Why?”
This man and his questions. “Because.”
“Because what?”
I glanced up. He was looking at me with a focused expression. “Because this is your home, Cameron. Because I don’t have my clothes or my things or…” Any dignity left after this weekend, frankly. “You’re an excellent host and even a better neighbor. If I were to leave you a Yelp review I’d call it high-quality grandmotherly care, but I can take care of myself and we can go back to normal now.”
“Grandmotherly.” He let out with a low chuckle. Ugh, those stupidly low chuckles he went throwing around. “Did not expect to be compared to a nan. What about me is grandmotherly?”
“Well, look at me.” I waved my arms in the air. “You fed me, put me in the coziest bathrobe, and found me all the pillows in the house.”
“Are you not comfortable?”
I shook my head. “I am. I don’t think I’ve ever been this comfortable in my life.”
The corners of his lips twitched, and I couldn’t believe it, but he had the audacity to look smug. He pointed in the vicinity of my lap. “Willow doesn’t like people. She hates everyone, and after dragging her here, that also included me.” He tilted his head. “I don’t think she’s that bothered anymore.”
I looked down at the cat, recalling that first time I’d seen her. She’d scratched Cameron’s arm. “Maybe she senses something’s off and feels bad for me.”
“Maybe she can’t stay away anymore.”
Anymore? Our gazes met. And his was so intense, different, that I flushed. Were we talking about Willow? “Maybe I… like that she likes me. It makes me feel special. Is that lame?”
“It’s not,” he said, Adam’s apple bobbing. “But if you keep being that sweet, she’ll stick to your side and never look back. And that…” Something crossed his face. “It would complicate things.”
My heart pounded in my chest. “I’m not stealing your cat,” I croaked, feeling my skin heat up under the bathrobe. “And I should really go.”
Cameron’s eyes were on me for one more instant and then, his focus shifted to the bags. He pulled out the contents. Sweaters, short-and long-sleeved shirts, wool-lined fleeces, pants, socks. Every item in shades of greens, burgundies, and grays. Every item just like the ones he owned, all very functional-looking and… small. Much smaller than what I expected his size to be.
“Cameron?” I asked, my voice coming out rocky, because he couldn’t have, could he? “What’s all of this?”
He grabbed a mustard beanie and inspected it up close. “These are clothes. You know, they’re meant to keep your body warm and protected. And yes, they are appropriate for the area and season even if they’re not up to Vogue’s standards.”
“You’ve lived in L.A., you should know that I’m the furthest thing from a fashionista or whatever you’re implying. You’ve dated—”
“Your ankle begs to differ.”
“My heels—”
“You don’t need them now.” He moved to a new bag and pulled out a pair of outdoor boots. “You’ll look just as beautifully imposing in these.” My lips bobbed silently. Beautifully imposing? “Once your ankle swelling comes down, of course. Until then,” he paused, his eyes traveling down my robe and his face doing a strange thing. “You stay right where you are. I need to run back to town for practice, so Josie will come check on you. She insisted after she heard what shape you’re in.” A pause. “She also mentioned something about helping you move in to Lazy Elk, so be prepared.”
My body sprung up. “I’m not moving in.”
Cameron shrugged, but there was a smirk underneath the feigned indifference.
“Absolutely not,” I croaked, pushing up. “I don’t need—”
“We’re going to hit pause on the independent routine, okay?” His voice lowered, all amusement gone. “You’re staying here until you can walk. And I’m taking care of you, hear me? You’re going to let me. And I hope to God you don’t make me fight you over this, Adalyn, because I promise you, I will. I’ll burn that goddamn shack down if I must.”
Adalyn. It felt so odd to hear him say my name. So… ordinary after knowing what being called Ada darling or love felt like.