Undone by Her Tender Touch (Pregnancy & Passion #4)(23)

Carly squeezed her in a huge hug. “We’re sorry. We just wanted to help you celebrate the new place!”

Pippa stepped back and stared into her friends’ excited faces. “How did you even know? And how on earth did you get in?”

Ashley smiled. “Cam called me. He thought you might like a surprise. He dropped a key by the house early this morning.”

“The place is awesome, Pip!” Tabitha exclaimed. “I can so totally see your customers out here sitting and enjoying your yummy treats.”

An insistent honk interrupted the women’s celebration. At first Pippa wrote it off as normal street traffic, but the horn kept blaring and the women turned, frowns on their faces.

A young man, who couldn’t be more than twenty, stood outside the door waving frantically to them.

“What the heck?” Pippa murmured.

“Be careful, Pip!” Sylvia cautioned when Pippa went toward the door.

The women crowded around as she opened the door to stare out.

The guy grinned, then gestured toward the street.

“Oh, my God,” Carly breathed.

Pippa stared in shock at the brightly decorated delivery van parked in front of her shop.

It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. How on earth could Cam have pulled this off?

Just as with her store sign, Pippa’s Place was splashed in hot pink across the side of the white van. There were lavender, yellow and orange flowers surrounding the lime-green tagline: Catering Done Your Way.

“Here are the keys,” the guy said with a grin as he held them out to her.

She held out her palm, tears filling her eyes as she stared in astonishment at her delivery van. It was too much.

Her friends crowded in behind her, hugging and squeezing her as they squealed in excitement.

“Let’s go for a ride!” Tabitha suggested.

Sylvia’s eyes lit up. “Ohhh, let’s do it!”

“Don’t you have to have a commercial license or something?” Pippa asked. “Or any license at all?” she added with a laugh.

Ashley chuckled. “How would I know? I think you’re supposed to hire someone to drive it for you, but hey, we should totally try it out.”

Pippa grinned, excitement overtaking her. “Okay, let’s do it. Last one in is a rotten egg.”

Laughing like hyenas, the women ran to the van, oohing and aahing as they jumped in.

Pippa climbed into the driver’s seat and inserted the key into the ignition. Before she cranked the engine, she turned and shot them all pointed glances. “If any of you rats me out to Cam, I’ll murder you. That means you, Ash. He’d have a cow if he knew I was driving around the city without a license. I’d have to endure endless lectures on safety and God only knows what else.”

Ash blinked innocently. “Who’s Cam?”

“Let’s go, Pip!” Sylvia said from the seat next to Pippa.

Pippa started the van and then carefully pulled into traffic.

“Turn on the radio,” Carly called from the back. “Put something good on.”

“I’ll do the radio. You drive,” Sylvia said as she leaned forward.

Soon the van streaked along the streets of the city, the radio blaring as the women laughed and sang along. Okay, so this was the most fun Pippa’d had in longer than she could remember. This pregnancy thing wasn’t so bad. Nothing had changed. Except for the fact she was going to be a mother.

But she still had good friends. Her career was finally going places. And some of the worry was gone.

She had Cam to thank.

Cam, who swore he couldn’t give her a damn thing. Cam, who swore he didn’t do commitment, wouldn’t call and only wanted sex. She nearly snorted. He sure didn’t act like a man who wanted to distance himself.

“Let’s drive to Oscar’s for lunch,” Tabitha said. “My treat today. Then we can head back to your shop after and make cupcakes.”

Pippa grinned. It sounded like a perfectly wonderful plan to her.

* * *

She LOVED it. You did good, Cam.

Cam read the text from Ashley and smiled despite himself before sliding his phone back into his pocket. He felt a pang as he imagined Pippa’s eyes lighting up when she saw the van. He could well picture how beautiful her smile was and how radiant she looked now that she was pregnant.

He curled his hand into a tight fist, then rubbed it over his chest in an attempt to dispel the uncomfortable sensation.

But it wasn’t something he could wipe away any more than he could wipe Pippa from his thoughts. He was consumed with her every waking moment and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Eleven

Pippa stood on her stoop until she saw Cam’s car coming down the street. Then she hurried to the curb to wait as it came to a stop.

She slid into the passenger seat, cupping the sundress she wore firmly to her rounded abdomen so the ends wouldn’t billow up. The city was on the cusp of spring. Still raw and windy, prone to chilly rains and the occasional snow flurry, but today the temps had soared into the sixties and the sun shone brightly, a promise of what was to come.

The past few months had been…nice. It seemed too tepid a word, but it fit. Accepting friendship from Cam had been hard—it was still hard. There were times when she could so see them together long-term. Then it was almost as if Cam realized how close they were getting, and he would back off and erect the wall between them once more.