Savor You (Fusion #5)(13)

“Mia’s not here,” I say when he picks up the phone. “She should have been here a half hour ago. Can you please call her?”

“Of course. I’ll call you right back.”

I end the call and narrow my eyes as I take another long sip of black coffee. This is unlike Mia, and it sets me on edge.

Which is stupid.

My phone rings.

“Hello.”

“She didn’t pick up,” Trevor says with a sigh. “Oh wait.” He mumbles something to Riley. “Give me a few more minutes, Camden.”

And with that, he hangs up. What in the hell is going on? Is she okay?

Just when I’m about to call Trevor again, he calls me.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry, man. She’s okay. She should be there in less than an hour.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

I walk over to the Starbucks to get another coffee for me and a fresh one for her. The line is long at this time of day, so by the time I get back to Seduction, Mia is just running up to the front door, her keys clutched in her hands.

“I’m so sorry,” she says breathlessly. She unlocks the door and ushers me in, then locks it again behind us and walks quickly toward the kitchen. Her hair is still down around her shoulders, and her cheeks are flushed, the way they used to be after I’d fucked her senseless.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she says again and turns to look at me. “I overslept. I never do that. Is that coffee for me?”

“Under one condition,” I reply and pass my phone to her. “Put your number into my phone and you can have the coffee.”

“You’re holding the coffee hostage for my phone number?”

“Yes.”

Her eyes dance with humor as she accepts my phone and punches in her number then hands it back. “Gimme.”

She takes a sip of her hot drink and sighs. “It wouldn’t have made a difference if you had my phone number today or not. I forgot it last night.”

“Here?”

She frowns. “No.”

She was with a dude. Of course. She’s successful and beautiful. It makes sense that she would be with someone.

Doesn’t mean I don’t want to punch the fucker, though.

“I ended up having dinner at Landon and Cami’s place, and I forgot my phone when I went home. I slept late. So late, in fact, that I didn’t wake up until Landon was standing over me yelling my name.”

She turns on the faucet and washes her hands.

“Do you have any idea how mortifying it is to have your brother break into your house to wake you up? Especially when I sleep naked, and it was warm in my house last night, so I didn’t have any covers on.”

I can’t stop the bark of laughter that shoots out of me.

“Yeah, you can laugh, but I think Landon would give his left kidney to be able to rewind the last two hours and have Cami come wake me up.”

“Let’s go back to the naked part,” I say, but she just shakes her head with a laugh. “Seriously. You never used to sleep naked.”

“I was twenty,” she reminds me with a wink. “That was a while ago.”

I tilt my head, watching her. “What else has changed?”

“Only everything,” she says with a smile. “Way too much to list right now. I’m seriously very sorry, Camden. This never happens.”

“It’s not a big deal,” I reply with a shrug.

“It sort of is, because now I don’t have time to work on our recipes. I haven’t done any prep work for the day, so I’m going to have to dig in. And, at some point, I’d like to have a chat with you.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Am I in trouble?”

“No.” She smiles and reaches for a big bowl. “But we have to save it for later. I have too much—”

Her phone rings, making her frown. “Shit,” she mutters before she answers. “Hello. Okay. That’s the third time this month.” She sighs and rubs her fingers over her eyes, which means she’s stressed out. “Fine.”

She hangs up and glares at no one in particular.

“What’s up?”

“My sous chef just called out sick. Again.” She sighs. “Looks like it’s just me today.”

“You don’t have anyone you can call in?”

“Nope. I was already down a chef, and I haven’t had time to hire someone. At least I don’t have to wash dishes.”

“I’ll help.”

“No.”

“Jesus Christ, Mia. I’m obviously qualified and I’m here. I don’t have other plans today.”

She blows a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Fine. I mean, thank you. First, I need to marinate some chicken for tonight’s special.” She marches into the fridge and then right back out again with frustration written all over her face.

“My supplier didn’t bring the thighs. He brought extra breasts. So I have to shift tracks.”

“Suggestion. Let me take care of the special tonight.”

“Are you going to the store to get me chicken thighs?”

“No.” I list off all of the ingredients for my chicken marsala. “Do you have all of that?”

“Of course.”