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“What made you come here?” I asked, still annoyingly breathy.
“Amanda told me you had a place to stay,” he said, glancing inside the house. “I figured you came here. You shouldn’t stay here, though. We don’t even have the plumbing on.”
Right.
As my death grip tightened on the cardigan, it occurred to me that I was at a bit of a disadvantage here.
He struts in—windblown and saving the day and needing a shave and wearing a long-sleeved black Henley like he’s God’s gift to the cotton shirt industry.
Then there was me. One flight of stairs had me wheezing like a pack-a-day smoker, wearing fuzzy slippers, my hair in a tangled mess, and I had to face the truth that there was no way to exit this situation with my composure intact.
“I didn’t think of that,” I admitted primly. Then I arched an eyebrow. “So you were, what? Coming to warn me not to flush the toilet?”
I swept a hand over the tangled hair falling into my face, attempting a graceful motion, but failing when the knot fell right back down.
His lips twitched again. “I was going to offer you a place to stay, actually.”
“If you say your bed, I swear…” I said, eyes narrowing dangerously.
Cameron’s eyes traced quickly over my face, irritating fondness warming his gaze. “Do you think I have a death wish?”
“Honestly, I have no idea anymore.” I sighed. “Where is it?”
“I told you I live on my parents’ property, right? They have fifteen acres just on the other side of those trees.”
“Which ones?” I hissed. “There are trees in every direction. All you can see is trees.”
“Yeah, it’s miserable, I know.”
I gave him a long look.
Cameron held up his hands in concession. “To the left side of the property, that’s where my parents live. But they have another smaller house that no one uses unless my brother and his wife are in town from Seattle.”
“Three houses, huh? They building a little Wilder family commune over there?”
His eyes gleamed with amusement, and I wanted to smack the shit out of him.
“I always knew you were smarter than me,” he said, all smooth and easy and so unruffled it was obnoxious.
I sniffed. “So there’s an extra one lying around for weary travelers like myself?”
He hummed, leaning his shoulder against the house while we regarded each other in that open doorway. “Something like that. It’s yours if you want it.”
Gawd, what a choice.
Briefly, I glanced behind me at the faded blue wallpaper and stained carpet. Then, up the stairs, thinking about the marked-up wall that I didn’t have a chance to study, and the absolutely-the-hell-not sounds that were coming from somewhere on that second floor.
No, this choice was remarkably easy.
The grip on my cardigan loosened a touch, and I straightened, trying to salvage something about how I must look to him.
His eyes lingered on my face, and my cheeks warmed.
“This isn’t going to be one of those cheesy romcom moments where you accidentally lose the key and oops I’m forced to sleep in your bed but you swear you won’t touch me at night because the bed’s big enough?”
Cameron didn’t answer right away, his gaze turning speculative, then that firm, delicious mouth of his curled up in a wry grin. “Wasn’t planning on taking it in that direction, no.”
“Good to know.”
