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CAMERON
Aweek later, Cam walked into the huge office building on the outskirts of Esperance and took a minute to look around. It definitely wasn’t something you’d expect to find on the outskirts of the small, quaint town.
He stopped at reception and waited to be buzzed up to his appointment on the third floor before moving towards the elevators. The first person he saw when he stepped off the elevator was Emilia, sitting at her desk. He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.
“Well, hello, Emilia Beyoncé Emerson.” He took satisfaction in the look of utter shock on her face.
“What areyoudoing here?” Emilia had stood up at the sound of his voice but she seemed to catch herself. A professional, somewhat cold smile spread across her features. “Excuse me, I mean to say ‘can I help you?’”
Adapting to her professionalism in the blink of an eye, Cameron matched her tone. “Yes, I’m here to see Ms. Emerson. I’m her two o’clock.” He was there to see Mia because she’d arranged a huge order of new chairs and desks for her department and needed him to fine-tune the details of moving them in.
“Right, just one moment please.” Emilia turned and all but stalked into the glass-walled office behind her. Cameron watched as the two women spoke animatedly for a few moments before Emilia was holding the door open for him and waving him in. As he went to move past her, he slowed his pace, just to see if she smelled as good as he remembered. Not realizing that he’d slowed down, Emilia went to move through the door before he was completely out of the way. “Ooof,” she said as they collided.
“Oh, sorry,” Cameron grabbed her elbows as she almost lost her balance. Composing herself, Emilia lifted her chin and swept past him with only a slight nod.
“Cameron!” Mia was overly cheerful as she came around her desk to shake his hand. “Thanks for coming by.”
“Of course, thanks for having me.”
“Would you like a coffee? Or something else to drink?”
“Does Emilia have to get it for me?”
Mia tried to hide her smile as she took her place at her desk. “She would, yes.”
“I get the feeling it might accidentally end up in my lap.”
“Oh, if she was going to do that, you’d know for sure and wouldn’t have to rely on feelings.”
“I’m fine, thanks just the same.”
The meeting was short, and Cameron had come prepared. He left Mia’s office, ready to take the measurements, when he heard Mia call Emilia in. Trying not to watch her, or seem like he was stalking her, Cam moved to the first desk and started taking measurements. Sensing Emilia behind him, he turned. “Can I help you?”
“I’ve been sent to help you, actually.” The irritation in her voice was obvious and made him smile. He just couldn’t help himself.
“Well, that’s a fine turn of events. Here, you can take this.” He handed her his notepad and pen unceremoniously before moving with his measuring tape to the next desk. Without giving her instructions, he started calling out the measurements. He was pleased when she immediately started noting them on the desks on his plan.
They eventually moved into the conference room after working in almost-silence the entire time. It would have been hard to have a conversation in an open office space while people were working. And probably rude. He’d just ended up following Emilia’s lead.
But now, he had her all to himself. “So…” He trailed off deliberately.
“You know, Mia and Jack almost had sex in here once.”
He didn’t know what he’d been expecting her to say, but it certainly wasn’t that. He threw his head back and laughed. “You, Emilia, are absolutely amazing.”
“Yeah, and it helps that I’m gorgeous, right?” Cam did not miss the bitterness in her tone, or the way she rolled her eyes.
“Well, obviously you’re fine to look at, but that is not what I mean. At all. I never understood people who pay compliments about someone’s looks. You may as well say, ‘hey, nice face’ which no one ever does. Or ‘nice genetics’. It just never made sense to me. No, I was talking more about how fucking funny you are.”
He did not miss the look of surprise that flittered across her face before she shut it down. “Thanks, I guess. And sorry, I get compliments about my face a lot, it’s made me cynical.”
“It would piss me the hell off, if that’s all anyone ever noticed about me.”
“You don’t think it’s shallow of me to get pissed about it?”
There was an edge of uncertainty to her question that pulled at Cameron, so he took his time answering, sensing that coming up with the right response was important. “Not when that’s the box you get shoved into, even though you have all that other stuff going on. Funny, intelligent, loyal.”
“Thank you,” she said softly, the shuttered look on her face easing. She was studying him closely now. He stared back at her, feeling the air shift between them. As he held her gaze, he felt a ball of heat, hit straight in his gut. Leaning forward, like he was in a trance, all he could think about was kissing her. Until she took a deliberate step back. “I don’t think you need my help with this one,” she gestured to the desk. “I’m going to go finish up and then start heading home. Okay?”
