“I was just kidding. Mostly.”
Uh-huh. Katie reached for the cookies, needing the sugar. “I’ll take a dozen to go.”
Serena picked up one of her black-and-white bags and started to fill it with a smug look on her face.
“Two dozen,” Katie corrected, playing right into her hands and no longer caring.
Chapter 18
Cam came back to Wilder after a long two-day trip and went straight up to the offices to check in with Stone.
Okay, lie. He went straight up to the offices to catch a glimpse of Katie.
Because he’d been wrong about the whole being able to breathe after sex with her. Very wrong. He hadn’t taken a good deep breath since the last time he’d seen her. He had no idea what exactly to do with that information. None. He only knew that he had to see her again.
“Looking for something?” Stone asked when he came out of his office and caught Cam staring at Katie’s empty chair.
“The mail.”
“Mail’s on my desk. Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know.”
“All right.” Cam searched his brain. “Where’s the schedule?”
Stone just looked at him. It was the same look he’d perfected years ago, the older brother what-have-you-done-and-what’s-it-going-to-cost-me-to-bail-you-out look. “Is it that hard to admit you’re attached to something, someone?”
“Okay. You’re right. I missed you.” Cam stepped close and hugged him, slapping him extra hard on the back. “Whew. Glad to get that off my chest.”
“You didn’t miss me.” Stone shoved him away with a laugh. “You know who you missed. You missed the pretty temp.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cam turned to look at Katie’s desk.
“So you don’t care that she left a week early.”
“What? What the f**k-” He whirled back to Stone in time to see his brother’s wide-ass grin. “That’s just mean.”
Stone just kept grinning but was wise enough to back up out of arm’s length. “She’s at the bank.”
“If you sent her on the snowmobile by herself, I’ll-”
“Car. Christ, you’ve got it bad. And-” he said quickly, holding up his hands when Cam growled. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Nothing. Which is why, maybe, you should ask her to stay instead of leaving next week.”
“Are you crazy? Why would I ask her to do that?”
“Oh gee, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re going nuts at the thought of her going?”
“I am not. I don’t care.” At Stone’s long look, he turned away again. “And she wouldn’t stay. She’s got plans. Adventures.”
“Then no one is more equipped to take her on than you.”
“So, what, I should up and leave again?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want you to. But the alternative is to walk away from her.”
“She’s walking. She’s the one walking.”
“Come on, Cam.”
“What?”
“You know what.”
“You think I’m walking? Again? Quitting, again?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Cam’s chest hurt, like he was having a heart attack. But it was a ball of anxiety and he knew it. He wanted to turn around and walk. Hell, he wanted to run. And keep running, until his chest didn’t hurt anymore. “You keep throwing that at me.”
“And maybe one of these days it’ll stick. You’ll stick.”
“Jesus, what do you want from me?”
Annie came up the stairs, took in the sight of them standing so close, steaming with temper, and quickly stepped between them, a hand on each of their chests. “What? What are you fighting about?”
Stone eyed Cam over Annie’s head. “I’m just reminding Cam he’s good at quitting.”
Annie’s hand was like steel against Cam’s chest when he pushed at her in response. “And I was just going to remind Stone what his face would look like with my fist in it,” he said through his teeth.
“Okay, back off, both of you.” Annie added a shove to the directive. “You want to fight and get out all this stupid tension, fine. I’ll even join you and beat the hell out of the both of you just for fun. But we do it outside. I like the furniture in here.”
Stone made a sound of disgust in his throat and turned away, and Cam’s chest hurt worse for it, because he knew.
Stone was right.
He strode to the stairs, needing some damn place to be alone.
“Where are you going?” Annie asked.
“He’s running,” Stone said.
“Shut up, Stone.”
“If you’re running off,” Annie said to Cam, “then run into town to get my damn pies.”
Cam sighed. “Tell Nick to do it.”
“I’m not talking to him.”
Code for Nick had been an idiot for some reason or another. “Maybe you could not talk to me either.”
“No such luck for you. Two cherry, two apple, and don’t eat one on your way back.”
Stone snorted.
“One time,” Cam said. “That happened one time.” He took the stairs, grimly satisfied to see Annie smack Stone upside the head.
With frustration still fueling him, he drove into town, unable to ease any tension on the semislicked roads. By the time he drove into Wishful, he was even more tense than when he’d left the lodge.