Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(9)

“I’ll work harder on it,” Emmitt finally said.

“Good.” She patted a kitchen chair and he sank into it. She checked his blood pressure, pulse, and blood sugar, all while avoiding looking at the elephant in the room.

The sexy, mysterious, and easy-on-the-eyes, dangerous elephant.

“He okay?” that elephant asked.

“He will be.” She locked gazes with Emmitt. “If he behaves himself.”

“Well, now, where’s the fun in that?” Emmitt asked, flashing another of his charming grins, and in that moment Piper knew exactly where Camden Hayes had gotten his irresistible charisma.





Chapter 3


“Fear isn’t a productive emotion.”

It wasn’t all that often that Cam Hayes mentally thanked the Coast Guard for his training, and given that he’d been with them since he was eighteen, being pushed to be the best he could be, there’d been a helluva lot of training. It wasn’t just weapons and physical fitness either, though that was a big part of it. Reading a situation quickly and efficiently was as important, and as ingrained, as breathing.

Piper was clearly off-balance. He attributed this to the storm, but also to him. This wasn’t ego talking; it was fact. Because he was just as off-balance.

Her name suited her. She was different. She was a quick thinker, fiercely protective of those she cared about, and—his personal favorite—also a smart-ass. “Tell me about the diabetes.”

“You really didn’t know?” Her censure was clear. She didn’t approve of him being distant enough to not know.

He didn’t approve either.

“My doing,” Emmitt said. “He lives and works on the other side of the country. I didn’t want to worry him.”

“Dad. This is something we should be worried about.”

Emmitt shook his head. “You had enough on your plate, son. With Rowan, and then getting called out to God knows where this past month. I didn’t want you out there distracted.”

Yeah, there’d been a lot going on, but this was something he should have known, no matter what, and he had to work at banking his frustration. “We can talk about it later.”

“Only if it involves alcohol.”

“No alcohol,” Piper said.

Cam nearly laughed at his dad’s expression. “You know,” the guy said, “you two are a pair of fun-suckers.”

Piper packed up her things and bent to give his dad a kiss on the cheek. “See you tomorrow.”

Emmitt grumbled, but he hugged her. “Thanks, cutie.”

Cam followed her to the door, intending to walk her out to make sure she got home safely, but she stopped him with a hand to his chest. “I’m good.”

“It’s a mess out there.”

“Nothing I haven’t dealt with before. Go deal with your family stuff.”

Yeah, she was definitely annoyed that he hadn’t known about his dad’s medical condition. “We’re on the same side in this,” he said, wanting that to be clear.

“Then take care of him. And don’t let him walk all over you.”

Cam had to laugh. “No one walks all over me.”

“Hate to break it to you, but your dad just did.”

Shit. True story, born from not knowing each other that well, something they were working on fixing. Another truth—he liked how Piper wasn’t intimidated by him in the least, and he mentally added bossy and sassy to her list of positive attributes. “His name should be Emmitt Stubborn-Do-Everything-on-My-Own Hayes.”

She snorted in agreement, and he liked that too, but he wanted to make sure she understood something about him. “Listen,” he said. “I try to call or text him daily. I specifically ask him what’s happening and how he’s doing. He’s damn good at evading when he wants to be. But he should’ve told me.”

“Hell, yeah,” she agreed. “He should have.” She cocked her head. “You’re hurt because he didn’t tell you.”

Hurt? He’d long ago closed himself off to that particular emotion. To all of them.

“I shouldn’t have broken it to you like that,” she said with genuine regret. “It hadn’t occurred to me that you wouldn’t know.”

“Apparently, I don’t know a whole hell of a lot.”

“You two aren’t close.”

“Not geographically, no. I thought we were working on emotionally.” He shook his head. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He should be. Assuming he follows the plan regarding exercise and diet.”

“Shit,” he muttered, knowing exactly how stubborn his dad could be, which was a big part of how his family had ended up broken in the first place. His parents’ divorce had been . . . tough, on everyone. But since Cam’s mom hadn’t been good at staying on her meds, he’d told the judge that he wanted to stay with her. Which was how he’d ended up on the East Coast with his bipolar mom, and his brother, Rowan, had ended up on the West Coast with their dad. There hadn’t been much interaction between the exes, at least not until Cam had been old enough to travel back and forth on his own.

And at the thought of Rowan, a sharp pain went straight through his chest and gripped his heart, making breathing all but impossible. A visceral reminder that he hadn’t managed to shut off his emotions at all.