Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(47)

She nodded, and he squeezed her hand.

“In my book, that makes you a great sibling, and possibly the best person I’ve ever met.”

She took a deep gulp of the wine. The shockingly good wine. She looked at the bottle. “Wait a minute. Winnie hates wine. Why would she buy herself such a good one?”

“Probably because she didn’t buy it.”

She lifted her head and stared at him. “Because . . . you bought it? You set all this up?”

He held the eye contact. “No.”

She stared at him some more, and then it hit her. “Ohmigod, you think I did this?”

“Didn’t you?”

She closed her eyes. “She set us up. I’m going to have to kill her.” Standing, she looked around, certain they were being spied on by her annoying, meddling, interfering sister.

Cam stood too. “Okay, so you didn’t do this.”

She moaned. “I don’t know what’s worse, that you think I did and then denied it, or that Winnie thought I needed so much help getting your attention that she had to put it all together for me.”

That got her a smile. “Trust me, you do just fine attracting me all on your own.”

“Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded his chin toward the tire swing. “That thing safe?”

“I hope so. Gavin and Winnie spent a bunch of years on it. If you get some good momentum going, you can fling yourself pretty far into the water.”

“As competitive as you are, I bet you went the farthest.”

“I’m not that competitive.”

He practically rolled his eyes out loud.

“Okay,” she conceded with a laugh. “I am. But I never used the swing.”

“Why not?”

Well, this was awkward. She started to turn back to pack everything up, but he stopped her by taking her hand in his.

“Hey,” she said. “If you don’t have to tell your secrets, I sure as hell don’t have to tell mine.”

He considered her for a beat. “How about this? A secret for a secret.”

She narrowed her eyes in doubt, but he looked genuine, and she realized this might actually be too good a deal to pass up. “Okay,” she said, but then grimaced, because this was embarrassing. “I misdirected you when we were at the beach. The water thing . . . it is a phobia. I’m . . . ridiculously and overwhelmingly terrified of deep water.”

His brows went up in surprise.

“What, you think I’m not afraid of anything?”

“I don’t think you often admit it,” he said. “That’s what surprised me. As for the phobia, that was perfectly clear.”

She moaned and covered her face.

He pulled her hands free. “Tell me what happened.”

“Why do you assume something happened?”

“Call it a hunch. Plus, you just crossed your arms and looked away.”

Dammit. She dropped her arms. “One secret at a time. And it’s your turn.”

“Okay . . .” He paused. “I called in a favor and got some extra leave time. I’ve got another three weeks from the DEA, though I’ll still have to fly out for Coast Guard training for a few days. But I’ll be back.”

She stared at him, absorbing that news.

“Look at that,” he said. “I just left you speechless.”

Yes, and he’d also just changed the rhythm of her heartbeat. “To help your dad?”

“Among other things.”

“Such as?”

He just looked at her.

Oh. Oh, wow. She went a little warm and mushy in some spots, while other areas, such as her brain, started to panic, snagging the very air in her throat so that she couldn’t breathe.

“Yeah. Now you’re getting it,” he murmured, apparently a mind reader now, and he touched his wineglass to hers with a soft clink.

They drank, and then he set his glass aside and took hers to do the same. He pulled her into him and was lowering his mouth to hers when she put a hand on his chest.

“Problem?” he murmured.

Um, she wasn’t sure. Her heart was pounding, and then there was anxiety and worry chasing each other through her veins. To distract from that, she said, “If Winnie did this, she’s watching.”

Cam looked around and shook his head.

“Trust me.” She hurriedly began to gather everything, shoving it all back into the basket.

He was sticking around for longer.

For her.

He liked her, maybe as much as she liked him. Which was a good thing, right? So why then did she feel the need to retreat and take a moment to think too hard? “Sorry,” she said as they walked back.

“For?”

“For cutting things short.”

He gave her a long look.

“What?”

“I thought maybe you were going to admit you just freaked out when I told you I’m going to be around for a bit longer.”

She stared at him, mouth ready to deny it, but . . . she couldn’t.

Because he was right.





Chapter 16


“Let’s see what you’re packing.”

Gavin led an annoyed, grumpy CJ through the dark on the trail around the lake.