Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes #3)(21)

With that, he took her keys and did exactly as he said he would, getting the mess cleaned up in no time at all. “This is what I hate about apartments. The low maintenance is great, but the shared space isn’t so wonderful.”

“When have you ever lived in an apartment?” she asked with a pointed look.

“I lived in one all through college,” he bragged, as if proud of himself.

“What? No mansion on the hill? I thought the privileged Camden Whitman would simply insist on taking over one of the frat houses.”

“Come on, Grace, you didn’t exactly grow up in a cottage,” he told her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, but I wasn’t nearly as arrogant as you’ve always been.”

“Ha! I didn’t live in that big house on the hill until my father adopted me,” he reminded her, his bravado dropping away, and for a moment the lost little boy who’d been found by Martin Whitman showed up in his beautiful eyes.

Grace could have kicked herself. How in the world had she forgotten that Spence, Jackson, and Cam had all been adopted by Martin after they had saved his only biological son, Michael, from drowning? Of course, no one ever really thought about it, because Martin didn’t treat them as adopted children at all. They were just his sons.

“Sorry,” she mumbled feebly.

“Don’t start. I hate it when people do that. I was far more fortunate than most, because I got out of the system and was taken into a home full of love. And I got three brothers out of the deal as an added bonus. Not even a tiny percentage of kids in the system get it as good as I did.”

“Okay.”

“Now, Grace, back to this apartment situation . . .” he began.

“It doesn’t really matter. My house is going to be finished next week. I’ve lived in these apartments for over a year now, so it will almost be sad to leave,” she said before turning and giving him a smile. “I’m totally lying. I can’t wait to have a huge tub and a deck I can sit on while I drink my morning coffee.”

“If you had decided to build when you first came back, you could have been living there now.”

“I wasn’t ready then to make that decision, Cam. I wasn’t sure if I was staying here or not.”

“So you’ve decided to stay for good?”

The hope in his eyes was almost too much to take.

“Or maybe I just want a good investment and I’m going to rent the place out,” she told him flippantly.

“Come on, you know you’re moving into the place you designed,” he said, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips.

She decided to give him a break. “Yes, for now I’ll be moving in there.”

“In that case, I’ll be sure to come help with the boxes.”

“Don’t worry about it. Sage and Spence are helping, and I don’t have a lot of stuff.”

“When someone offers to help you, Grace, the polite thing is to say thanks and give a grateful smile,” he said before leering at her. “And, of course, to jump into their arms, wrap your legs around them, and lay a big, fat, juicy one on their waiting lips.”

He opened the passenger-side door of his car and stood close enough that she had no choice but to brush against him as she climbed in.

“Do you think about anything other than sex?” she asked him.

“Not really. I’ve got the proverbial one-track mind.”

“You’re impossible, but if I need a favor that I’m supposed to repay with kisses, I’ll have to remember that the next time Mr. Longsteine offers to take down my trash for me,” she said as she made herself comfortable in the passenger’s seat.

“Isn’t he something like eighty years old?”

“Yep, so I’ll probably give him a heart attack.”

“You’re an evil woman, Grace.”

“I try.”

Cam shut her door and was climbing into the driver’s seat within seconds. It wasn’t until they were on the road that she realized he’d kept her so busy, she’d forgotten that she hadn’t wanted to ride with him in the first place.

Camden Whitman was too smooth for her own good. What on earth was she going to do about it?





A get-together at any of the Whitmans’ places wasn’t just a casual dinner and small talk around a table. Oh, no. It was laughter, music, noise, children running around, and hardworking people letting go on a Friday night.

Cam and Grace walked inside the mansion her bestie Sage referred to modestly as a “house,” and people were scattered throughout.

“Let’s head to the back. That’s where the real fun is,” Cam told her, and before she could refuse, he was taking her hand and leading her through the maze of hallways.

A brightly burning fire, at a safe distance from the house, caught Grace’s immediate attention, and the smell of barbecued meat filled the air. She hadn’t felt hungry up until that very moment and she was surprised when she began to salivate and the muscles in her stomach started to constrict and growl.

Surveying the tables to the right, she winced slightly—her salad hadn’t made it to the event when countless other delightful dishes had.

“Grace. You’re late,” Spence said as he came up and pulled her away from Cam. She missed the wink he sent his brother, but she didn’t miss the scowl Cam shot him.