of names. Girl names. He was writing down all the women he had slept with. Her initial reaction was pure fury at the arrogance of that man to keep a running list of conquests. Then, she realized that the paper looked really fresh, not ten years old as it should have been. She calmed down, slightly. Then she looked once more…and realized that she wasn’t on it. She studied it even more closely. Neither was her sister.
Well, at least he didn’t look at her as a conquest, just lumping her in with everyone else. On the other hand…he had slept with so many women that he had to make a list to keep track and her sister was apparently completely forgettable. She heard footsteps in the hall. He was coming back. She shut the door and tried to look like she hadn’t been caught snooping.
Adam opened the door just enough to stick his head in. “I just wanted to warn you. I’m not sure what your intentions were for the cookies, but everyone is awake out in the kitchen and eating them. On the bright side, they are getting rave reviews. And you may get hired for wedding favors at the very least…” He winked at her and waited for a response.
She smiled. “Cookies are for eating. I’m glad everyone is enjoying them. I’ll be right out.”
The door closed and she sighed. Yeah, I’ll be right out just as soon as I can wipe this guilty look off my face. Bright side…the cookies were a hit. Soon enough, her catering company would be, too.
There was something magical about the tree lighting. That had to be it. The excitement was absolutely contagious. Adam had watched as Sam and Haley had immediately held hands as they started to make their way through the swarm of people. He saw how Ellen and Ryan had smiled at each other as they walked together pushing Abby in her stroller. Maybe Cammie had noticed, too. All of a sudden, he felt her arm loop through his. Then he felt her face press against his arm. It was nice. It was new and different. It was an intimacy he had never previously experienced. It was the kind of thing he had thumbed his nose to in the past, but now everything was different. He was different.
It slipped out. Just when he had decided to stop trying with her, he looked down, saw her face upturned, like she was waiting for a reaction, and he said softly, “This is nice.” To his surprise, he was rewarded with a smile.
“Yeah, I think so, too. I’m glad we’re here.” She squeezed closer to him for a split second then smirked. “So are some of these people going to be at the house tomorrow night?
Looking down at her he sighed. “Were you just being nice for appearances?” He had to know.
“Of course not. I just started thinking that before I decided to get too comfortable, I should consider our reputations. I am working on building one and you probably don’t want yours ruined by having people thinking you’re screwing the help.” She pulled away the minute she spoke.
Adam sensed what she was thinking. It was probably something having to do with her sister…the sister he didn’t remember, the sister he supposedly slept with. He struggled with that because he had been advised by his father to never sleep with the help because of the very reasons Cammie had just mentioned. Yet, in her mind and possibly in reality he had clearly broken the one of the few rules he thought he’d never break. The other biggie was to keep it wrapped. Though he had done that religiously with every other girl, he never had with Cammie. Clearly he was going to hell. He looked skyward.
“Look,” she said, quickly changing the subject. “There’s everyone!”
So they headed over to join the rest of the group. As chilly as it was, no one objected when Cammie pulled out the huge travel mugs of hot chocolate. When she shared that she also had S’mores ingredients, Haley commented.
“Honestly, girl,” she said with a smile, “you need to stop setting the bar so high. You are making the rest of us look bad.”
“Ha!” Ellen retorted. “Maybe the way to your man’s heart is through his stomach, but Ryan assured me long ago that the way to his was through his penis.” She smirked while her husband laughed heartily and squeezed her close.