Chapter Ten
Maddox
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When I arrived at Cami’s address, there was a huge ladder propped against her roof. Cami was nowhere in sight.
Shit.
As I got out of my car, I inspected the roof, but I couldn”t see what was wrong from down here. Just then, the front door of the small house opened, and Cami stepped out.
”Maddox,” she exclaimed. She was carrying a bucket that looked heavy as fuck in one hand and a box of tools in the other.
I instantly closed the distance between us, relieving her of the bucket.
”What are you doing?” I asked her.
”Huh? Why are you here?”
”I had lunch with Gran today, and she mentioned that you’re planning to do some repairs. I just had a meeting with the head of construction, and I wanted to drop by and see how it’s going.”
”See, you should have led with that. Then I wouldn’t have had a heart attack seeing you on the porch.” She was adorable in her overalls and looked a bit exasperated, making me think things weren’t going well. ”I severely underestimated this. I”ve already been at it for about an hour, but I”m not making much progress. That YouTube tutorial was made by a crackpot. Nothing he said is working.”
I put the bucket down and then took the toolbox from her. She startled when our fingers brushed, and I heard a sharp intake of air. I liked that we shared a similar reaction. I set the toolbox down and straightened up, formulating my thoughts slowly.
”You can’t repair your roof based on a YouTube video.”
”But that”s how I do things. I look up everything on YouTube. Most of the time, it works. But the video didn”t take into account that my house is old as dirt and the structure is a bit different. I at least want to patch things up a bit so it doesn”t leak inside during the next heavy rain.”
”I”ll take a look at it,” I said, and she blinked.
”At the roof?”
”Yeah.”
”Why?” She sounded stunned.
”Because. I can help.”
”You know how to repair roofs?”
”I know how to do stuff around the house.”
”All right, then, be my guest.”
I looked inside the bucket. ”Why do you have so much stuff in here?”
”I wanted to take up everything I might possibly need.”
”Are those cookies?” There was a small container stuffed with them.
”Don’t be judgy.”
I wasn”t. This woman just baffled me.
”There”s never a bad time to eat cookies,” Cami defensively stated.
”Right. I’ll take out everything from the bucket except the sealant and the caulking gun. I”m impressed you have these.”
She batted her eyelashes. ”I bought it thanks to YouTube.”
I looked inside the bucket more thoroughly. ”All right, it”s not all completely useless.” There were two hammers as well.
”It”s starting to look better and better, huh?” She grinned.
”Except for the cookies, most of these things are useful.”
She put her hand on her chest, gasping theatrically. ”Do not talk like that about the cookies.” She grabbed the Tupperware from the bucket.
”You know, you don”t actually have to carry that up the ladder,” she told me. ”I can give you whatever you need from here. I was just going to take everything with me so I didn”t have to go up and down that ladder whenever I needed something.”
”No, that”s good. I like your system.” I didn’t bother taking stuff out of the bucket, just grabbed it and headed up onto the roof.
”There are three faulty tiles,” she yelled from below.
”I see them.” I carefully inspected the ones around them too. ”I see two more that don’t look so good. I”ll seal them, too, unless you have something against it.”
”Oh no, by all means. Please do as much work as you want while I just stay down here and munch on cookies while looking at you.”
This woman is something else.
It had been years since I”d done anything like this. But as a kid, I”d completed a lot of manual tasks. If I was honest, I”d missed it. Being in an office all day made me restless. Maybe that was why I jumped at the opportunity to do something else, like coming out here and meeting with the construction guys.
Roughly thirty minutes later, I came back down the ladder. Cami had disappeared inside a while ago.
”You”re done?” she asked through the open door.
I peeked inside, but I couldn”t see much because it was dark. The place looked cramped. Not as bad as those tiny homes on HGTV, but it was small.
”Yes.”
She rushed out with a tray. There was banana bread on it and two cups of tea.
”What”s this?” I said, looking straight at her.
She held my gaze for a few seconds but then averted hers. A blush spread on her face. It was unlike any I”d ever seen, as if a million freckles appeared on her cheeks.
”I have zero food in the fridge. I was going to buy takeout for dinner this evening, but I always have banana bread. I actually made it for tomorrow morning.”
”Cami, I don”t want to eat the banana bread you prepared for your customers. I”m good. I”m going to head back to the city and have dinner.”
But the second I said the words, I wanted to take them back. I wanted to stay here with her for a while longer.
”This will be just enough to keep you from getting hangry on the road,” she said. ”I”d ask you inside, but my place is a mess. I do one reset day a week.”
”A what?”
She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “A day where I deep clean and rearrange everything. It’s the only way to keep the cabin organized.”
She headed to her porch swing and put the tray in the center. We sat on either side of it.
”Thanks for repairing the tiles.”
”You”re welcome,” I said.
She slurped from her tea and took a bite from her banana bread. I did the same.
”I thought Gran was just looking for an excuse to call you when she mentioned that she wanted the recipe for banana bread, but I”m starting to understand why she wants it.”
Cami laughed. ”Why would you think she”d want an excuse to talk to me?”
”I”m not going to tell you right now. But I have a hunch.”
She smiled. ”I think it”s very cute that you take her out for lunch.”
”She told you that, huh?”
”Yes.”
All right. My hint was correct.
Damn, Gran truly is taking her matchmaking seriously.
”Our grandparents are amazing people. It”s an honor for my brothers and me to be able to take care of them.”
“If I had grandparents, I would do the same.”
”Would you look at that,” I said. ”Something we can finally agree on.”
After a beat, she asked, ”How come you decided to open a hotel in Essex?”
I gritted my teeth, exhaling sharply. Why not share the truth? “It’s complicated. In short, because of my dad.”
“Oh, he’s involved in Whitley Industries too?”
Was it possible that she didn”t know? Sometimes I thought the whole United States was aware of the Whitley scandal.
”My dad left the country a long time ago... after it was discovered that he had a double life. He was married to my half brothers” mother, and my mother was his mistress.”
I was sharing far more than she needed to know, but somehow, it felt like the right thing to do.
”Oh my God. I”m not sure how to react to that,” Cami said.
“We had no idea that we weren”t his only family.”
She covered her mouth in shock.
“We lived in Maine, and my half brothers were in Boston. It was a mess.”
”I”m sorry. I didn”t know. God, we don”t have to talk about it. I just... I was trying to make conversation.”
”That”s fine,” I said.
”So wait. Gabe and Leo are your two other brothers?”
”No, Gabe is a half brother, actually. Nick is my other brother.”
“That means you’re on good terms with your half brothers?”
”Yes, but it wasn”t always like that. Though we were always close to Gabe, and even Spencer and Cade. But things were tense with our oldest half brothers, Colton and Jake, for a long time.”
She smiled. ”I”m glad things are better now.”
”They are. My mom is happy that we get along.”
“She’s in Boston too?”
“No. She travels a lot. It’s her passion.”
”And your dad is still... away?” she asked tentatively.
”Yes. He ran Whitley Industries until he fled the country. Literally. He lives in Australia.” I put down my plate. ”What I”m about to tell you now needs to stay between us.”
”Oh, okay,” she said. ”I mean, I wasn”t going to share it with anyone.”
”Not even your dad.”
”Okay.”
”My father was planning on returning to Boston and starting a business in this area. He wanted to buy the property we bought and build a hotel. We snapped it from right under his nose.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth hung open. ”I”m sorry, I”m not following you. Was it a bad thing if he wanted to come back?”
I could see how this might not seem like a big deal from someone outside the family. “When he left, Whitley Industries was in shambles. Most of the companies were barely hanging on, let alone making a profit. But even more than that, the family name had a bad rep in the business world. We didn”t want to give him the chance to screw things up again.” I hesitated, then added, ”And I don”t think it would be good for my grandparents to have him so near and be a constant source of conflict.”
Cami nodded, sipping her tea again. ”I”m sorry. I still don”t know how to react. This whole situation is so complicated.”
”It is. But Gabe and I are handling it.”
”You really are protective of your family.” Her voice held a tone of surprise.
”That”s my number one priority.”
”Hmm!”
”What was that?” I asked.
”I’m wondering when this is going to start turning into a pitch for me to agree to the sale.”
”It”s not,” I insisted. ”That”s not why I came here today.”
”Really? You just came to fix my roof?”
”Yes. A lot of people hurt themselves trying to fix things when they”ve never done it before.”
”I take it you”re speaking from experience,” she said.
”Sort of,” I admitted. ”Growing up, we didn”t have a lot of money, and Mom always tried to do everything around the house. Some things were easier to do than others. Then, as we got older, my brothers and I tried to learn from our neighbors. We offered to help whenever they were repairing something so we could figure out how to do things.”
Cami frowned. ”Your dad ran Whitley Industries, but you guys struggled financially?”
”We were the other family, remember? He told my mother a story about our grandparents not wanting him to marry her and not giving him access to the funds.”
”Jesus,” she exclaimed. ”That’s horrible.”
”It”s all in the past now. Besides, my brothers and I have a lot of skills because of that. I think it”s one of the reasons Leo went into real estate. He”s not just selling houses. He flips a lot of them, too, and does a lot of the work himself. He doesn’t need to, but he likes it.”
”And all of you take care of your gran?” she asked.
I nodded. ”Yes.”
”That’s really cute. Oh, by the way, I have an idea. Jeannie sort of hinted that she’d like to try new recipes. I could lend her one of Mom”s books that has unusual recipes.” She paused before adding, “I don”t know, she sounded a bit restless on the phone.”
I couldn”t believe she”d picked up on it. Actually, I couldn”t believe she”d thought about Gran at all. ”That would be great. She”d be really happy; she’s always looking for things to keep her busy.”
”Perfect. Let me get it for you before I forget.”
I got up from the swing at the same time she did. She stepped inside the house and returned only a few minutes after, handing me an old and worn-out notebook.
”Thanks,” I said. ”I”ll make sure she gets this. She”s going to be even more of a fan of yours.”
”I like your gran.”
She smiled, blowing a lock of hair out of her eyes. It got stuck in the corner of her mouth. She tried to push it away, but she was only making it worse.
”May I?” I asked, pointing to the hair.
She sucked in her breath but nodded.
I pushed the strand behind her ear, then drew my fingers up and down her jaw.
”Maddox,” she whispered. ”Why are you here?”
”I don”t know,” I told her. ”I wanted to help with the roof, but... I had to see you. And this was the perfect excuse.”
”Why?”
”I can”t explain it. Ever since our first meeting...” I still couldn”t put into words what had happened, which was unlike me. ”I didn”t flirt with you because I’m an ass,” I said, looking her straight in the eye. “Or because it’s a habit. It was because I couldn”t help myself.”
She licked her lips, and I kissed her. She tasted like banana bread. I wasn”t gentle or holding back. Fuck, how I needed to kiss her. I tangled our tongues, cupping the back of her head as I kept my other hand firmly on her waist even though I wanted to explore every curve. I wanted to know her intimately. I groaned as a current of her energy shot through me. She moaned against my mouth, and I deepened the kiss even more.
She stumbled backward and then gasped slightly. I came back to my senses, opening my eyes and seeing I’d pushed her into the swing.
”Are you hurt?” I asked.
”Not at all.” She brought a hand to her mouth, touching her lips as if she couldn”t believe it. Then she blushed. She put her hands on her cheeks and looked down. ”I must look like a tomato right now.”
I started to laugh—the description wasn”t that far off.
”Fuck, it only makes me want to kiss you even more.”
”Maddox,” she said.
I cleared my throat, looking down between us for a few seconds. ”Right, this isn”t working.”
”What?” she asked, sounding confused.
”I”m trying to cool myself down. And failing.”
”Oh, good. I thought it was just me.”
I glanced up at her, grabbing the notebook. ”I think the only way we”ll manage to cool down is if I go.”
She licked her lips, nodding. ”Okay.”
I stepped closer. ”But just for the record, I don”t want to go. All I want is to kiss you again.”
She blinked, lowering her hands to her sides, and her cheeks turned a deeper red.
”You don”t mince words, huh?” she murmured.
”No.”
I actually did step back this time; otherwise, I was liable to really kiss her again. As I headed down the porch, I said, ”Thanks for the cookbook.”
”Thanks for fixing my roof.”
I looked straight at her as I got into my car. ”Anytime you need anything fixed, just let me know.” I wiggled my eyebrows, and she started to laugh.
”I sure will.”