I casually dropped one hand and held the towel over my nether region.
Her gaze snapped up to my chest and she blanched. “I should have knocked. I’m not used to...” She backed up, right into the doorjamb, hitting it with a thud.
I reached out my free hand. “Are you?—”
“Fine.” She stepped sideways and backed out through the doorway.
“Sorry, I should have locked the doors,” I said.
“No, I’m sorry.” She reached for the door handle, missed it, and fumbled after it again, finally grasping it and slamming the door closed behind her. “I’ll start coffee,” she called from the other side.
“I already...” I heard her pulling out dresser drawers. I shrugged in Bella’s direction. “She’ll figure it out.”
The pup wagged her tail in agreement.
Five minutes later, totally dressed, I joined Cami in the kitchen. She was wearing mint green scrubs despite having the day off. I had to admit, while I’d been looking forward to seeing her in her cute pink tennis skirt or something similar to it, she was awfully damn cute in baggy cotton, too. She’d taken out coffee mugs, plates, and silverware, and had plugged in her countertop griddle. The fact that shehada countertop griddle lent credence to Gina’s text listing blueberry pancakes as Cami’s favorite breakfast food.
“I’ll handle that.” I picked up the batter.
“Thanks. This is my favorite breakfast, by the way.”
“I know.”
“How?
I glanced over my shoulder at her. “You haven’t checked your messages, have you? Gina texted us both. Something about sleeping in after being up late, and that the least I could do is be a gentleman and make you breakfast.”
“She didn’t,” she whispered.
I grinned. “She did.”
She turned away from me, but I could imagine she was blushing. Again. “I can’t...” She shook her head. “Can I pour a cup of coffee for you?” She stood with her neck craned in order to look up at me, appearing determined not to drop her gaze below my face.
Continuing on my quest to be a gentleman, I didn’t mention it was a little late for that, since she’d stared at my naked body long enough to have memorized the important parts. I hoped those images haunted her later that night when she was alone in bed. Hell, I hoped she spent the entire day fantasizing about being naked with me, underher rainfall showerhead. Those thoughts kept me grinning as I spooned out batter on one side of the griddle and lined up bacon on the other.
“I’d love a cup of coffee,” I answered. “After all, you did keep me up most of the night, according to Gina. Any reason she would think that, by the way?”
“No idea.”
“Hmm. I like to think maybe she’s rooting for me.”
Cami pointedly ignored me as she set the table.
Bella whined and bumped against my leg, pulling me out of my fantasy. Cami coaxed the dog back to her blanket with treats and spent a few minutes examining her.
“She did well overnight,” she said, slipping easily into professional mode. “She didn’t rest as much as I would have liked, but she was probably just excited about having someone in the same room.”
Yeah, I’d be hard-pressed to sleep if I were that close to Cami, too. “I heard her three different times,” I said. “Maybe I should have set up her crate in the guest room.”
“No, I think it was good for her to know someone was close by on her first night in a strange place. Maybe she can have a room of her own tonight.”
Tonight, Cami might replay this morning in her head and decide she, too, wanted some human company. I flipped the pancakes and bacon, glad to have something to keep me busy so I didn’t do something stupid like stare longingly into her eyes. It was attraction, pure and simple. That’s all it could be since we hadn’t even been acquainted for a full rotation of the earth. But the way Bella wagged her tail and watched us both, you’d think the three of us had been amigos for ages. I liked the way that dog thought.
“Can she have some bacon?” I asked Cami.
“Absolutely not.”
I filled our plates and we ate at the small, circular kitchen table. Bella, undeterred by the vet’s directive, trotted over to me and laid her head on my lap. I shot a pleading look at Cami, who shook her head. I patted the dog. “Sorry, girl. Boss lady says no.”
