Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cam
Fletcher inspects every square inch of my apartment as he waits.
“Who’s this?” he asks, pointing to a photo of me with my grandmother, the one whose saltshaker is missing.
“That’s Gan-gan,” I reply while I stuff some toiletries into my overnight bag. I used to be better prepared for the new relationship getting-to-know-you conversations. I used to sleep with men, but lately, it’s all been about the café.
“And this?” he asks, pointing to a family photo.
“Those are my parents, my brother, Winston, and me,” I state, grabbing clean underwear while he’s not looking.
“And—”
I cut him off. “That’s me and Drew on spring break.
That’s our friend Kylie. That’s her brother, he plays baseball.
And that’s Drew, me, and Drew’s cousin. And that’s all of us on the rooftop.
And that’s me, Carly, and Ava at the zoo last year.
And that’s a photo of me with my cousins at a family reunion a few years ago,” I rattle off because I’m tired of the back and forth.
I’m generally just tired. It was a long day.
I’m still sorting out everything that went awry while I was away.
Phyllis did all she could but things happened, orders were placed incorrectly, and invoices needed to be paid.
It’ll take me at least two weeks to sort all of this out.
I turn back to my bag and toss in some other clothes. “OK, I’m ready,” I say as I spin around to face him.
He’s stepped up behind me so we’re chest to chest or stomach to chest. I look up at him and he cups my jaw.
“You have a lot of people in your life,” he says and his voice has a hint of sadness.
Does he not? I realize how little I know about him.
I obviously know who his family is. But aside from a few lighthearted stories he shared about his brothers and the superficial information on the internet, I really don’t know much about him.
I give him a small smile. “I guess I do. Although, some of them are annoying,” I say, trying to lighten the mood. I gesture toward the living room where Drew is watching the latest episode of some reality television series about people falling in love on an island.
I zip up my bag and he grabs it, pausing at the photo of me and my grandmother. “The missing saltshaker was hers?” he asks, motioning to the photo.
“Yeah. She taught me how to bake,” I say, remembering all the times I helped her in the kitchen. She always seemed to be in the kitchen, cooking or baking something or maybe those are just my favorite memories of her.
“You look a little like her,” he says as he examines the picture.
“A little,” I agree, walking out to the living room. He follows me and Drew looks up from where he’s snuggled up on the sofa.
“I’m going to watch a movie over at Fletcher’s place,” I say.
He eyes me and then the overnight bag Fletcher is carrying. He smirks. I glare.
“Have fun watching the movie,” he says, giving me an overly sweet grin.
I sort of want to hit him over the head, but I refrain.
I see him look over at Fletcher and he nods. Frowning, I glance back at Fletcher who is looking at me. What the hell was that about? I’m about to ask when there’s a knock at the door.
“Asswipe, you coming down for game night?” Kasen yells.
“Oh, shit. I forgot about that,” Drew says as he runs toward his room. I roll my eyes and open the door to find my large, ex-military neighbor standing there.
“Where’s Drew?” he asks, stepping into the apartment.
“Please, come in, Kase,” I mutter.
“I will,” he agrees and then stops and looks at Fletcher.
“Where are you going?” he asks us, looking Fletcher up and down.
“Just to watch a movie,” I say, wanting to get away from Kasen because I feel like he knows more than he’s letting on.
I wonder if he found anything when he was looking up stuff about Fletcher and the new store.
He hasn’t said he’s found anything yet but the way he’s staring at Fletcher is making me uneasy.
“OK, gotta go,” I say and quickly pull Fletcher into the hall and down the stairs.
“Slow down,” he says with a laugh.
We get out onto the street and I catch my breath.
“Cam, what the hell?” he asks, now looking concerned as I lean over and breathe. Damn steps! I wish Al would put in a new elevator. I know we’d all have to chip in to pay for it, but right now, I would love to have that.
I hold up a finger. After a few breaths, I stand back upright. “Just in a hurry to go watch a movie. And Drew would have talked our ears off.”
“And here I was worried about Kasen,” he mutters as he opens the car door for me.
I grimace. Should I tell Kasen to call off his attempt to find dirt on Fletcher? I mean, it was just an innocent ask for information, not anything super nefarious.
“Kasen’s…intense,” I manage as he shuts the door and then gets in next to me.
“Intense? He looks like someone who kills twelve people at a time with his bare hands,” he says. I giggle. He gives me a deadpan look.
“Look, Kasen is like a…well-trained tiger? He’s completely docile and you can rub his belly, but if you cross that line…yeah, he’d probably kill you,” I admit.
“Rub his belly?” Fletcher looks at me with a raised eyebrow.
I blush. “You know what I mean,” I huff as I look away and scan the people walking in the city. I do love it here. Growing up in the suburbs is nice but there’s just something about the anonymity of walking around city streets. You’re with people, but you can also be invisible at the same time.
I feel Fletcher’s hand on my leg and I glance down. The memory of what that hand can do to my body has my lady bits coming to life. I feel my blush turn into a full-body flush.
“Are you hot?” Fletcher asks as he reaches down and adjusts a temperature dial.
“No. I-I’m fine,” I stammer as I try to pull myself together. What are we doing? Am I making a huge mistake?
I look over and he’s watching me intently.
I’m about to say something when the car comes to a stop.
I look up and see we are at a fancy high-rise downtown.
I nearly roll my eyes because this is exactly the type of place a billionaire would live.
Oh shit, he probably is a billionaire. Why I never thought about this until right now, I have no idea.
My level of feeling flustered just skyrocketed.
I’m about to open my door when I realize Fletcher is already there opening it. He extends his hand to me and I begrudgingly accept it. I hate all this gentlemanly shit, but I’m too far in my mind to care at the moment.
He does that thing where he places his hand on the small of my back, guiding me inside the building where he greets a doorman and then presses his thumb on a security panel beside the elevator. It opens and we enter. There are only four buttons and he presses one.
Huh?
The elevator takes off at a speed I realize would never work in my building because when I look closer, I see level 30. OK, then, that’s a few levels higher than our building.
The door opens and we are in a foyer with double doors. Fresh flowers sit on a circular table with some sort of inlaid wood design.
He presses his thumb to a panel beside the doors and a lock sounds. He opens the door and I step inside and am greeted by the most amazing view of the city.
I walk toward the floor-to-ceiling window, ignoring the rest of the room. Gazing out, I see the water, the buildings, everything, all of it lit by lights. It’s beautiful. I can only imagine what the sunrise looks like here.
Fletcher comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist, resting his chin on the top of my head.
“You like the view, Hollywood?” he says in his incredibly deep voice.
I shiver from his touch and he tightens his grip on me.
“It’s beautiful,” I manage. I turn in his arms and look up at him.
“What are we doing, Fletch?” I ask as he peers down at me.
He sighs. “I have zero ideas.”
“We…how does this work?” I ask, trying to find the right words.
“Well, first, I take you to my bedroom and then…” He trails off and smirks and I groan, giving his chest a little shove.
“You know what I mean,” I say with exasperation.
“I know, Camryn,” he replies. He steps back and holds out his hand. It feels like a pivotal moment, if I don’t take his hand, this all ends and we go back to hating each other, and if I do…well, I have no idea.
He’s patient as he watches me consider what I’m going to do. I don’t know why, but something my grandmother used to say pops into my head.
Grab life by the horns and enjoy the ride.
Should I throw caution to the wind? How can I ever truly trust him? If I pursue whatever this is and then it blows up in my face and ruins my business, will everyone in my life give me the I told you so look? Probably. Do I care at this moment? Not really.
Without a word, I place my hand in his and he tugs me against him, our lips colliding.
“Right decision, Tanner,” he whispers as he kisses me. He pulls back a little and cups my face. “I promise, we’ll figure it all out later. But right now, I want you in my bed.”
I swallow hard. In his deep voice, that sounds super fucking hot.
“OK,” I reply.
He grins like a kid who just won a board game. Only, I’m worried that we’re playing chess and I might have just exposed my king.
But when his lips find mine again, I forget everything else...for now.